I seem to have had an unintentional break from my blog,
apart from the beginning of the month when I shared the video of our Sydney
& Perth holiday last year, nothing has been recorded since Sept last year! Well here
goes hope you enjoy the highlights of our Family Adventures of the past year😊
Our holiday in the summer time was everything expected of
the cliché a ‘holiday of a life time!' In total we travelled 29,000 miles to
visit family both sides of Australia and to say we enjoyed the experience is an
understatement. The thrills were simple really: enjoying our time being in
Mark and Vicki’s space as we were based in their home at Stanwell Tops on the
coast side of Sydney, a great contrast of seaside countryside compared to the
tourist humdrum of Sydney.We enjoyed
the local surroundings and activities of Vicki and Marks lives as much as the
big sightseeing tourists of Sydney, there is something about being able to be
part of someone else’s life and picture elements of what they live,
particularly when dear to you. Our overwhelming response was how
beautifully stunning the forestry and sea views were, bright blue sky and
brilliant blue sea edged by white crashing surf, all in winter. Quickly we were
aware of the different bird song and vividness of bird colouring, all around us
but the flora at this time less remarkable and sadly very dry with verbalized worry of the threat of fires, which sadly took hold within a short time after
we left. But blown away by daffodils and snow in August, they don’t go
together. We felt like we were in quite a different place from home although
familiar!
A few pictures of our time in NSW, all can be seen on the video too.
The thrill continued when we ventured together to meet
our family based in Perth, Auntie Pam with cousins Kristy and Paul. We stayed in a
holiday accommodation with the most abundant lemon trees, quite
gorgeous. The seas were the deepest blue with the added interest in holding
shark nets. It reminded us on how UK use to be with space being less built up,
a clean city with a slower pace of life. Rottnest was certainly a gem of scenic tranquility enhanced by the Quokkas!
Dylan continues to enjoy cubs and at the end of last year
Gt Ellingham Scout Group celebrated 40years since its beginnings, which turned
out to be dad (Kevin) who rekindled the scout troop and the wider network. The
celebrations was marked by the family camp in September and church service
later. Dad along with other members of the scouting futurity came in their old
uniforms with neckers and woggles to share their stories, took us all back much
further than expected.
Dylan holding the 'standard' at remembrance in Little Ellingham, reflecting on Grandad Bob and his remembrance activities.
Seems strange to think about the number of times we were
out to be entertained pre-lockdown. We took pleasure both locally with the ‘Hingham
Comedy Night’ when local up and coming comics are given a stage and then I and
Rachel (sister in law) saw ‘Pete Tong with Heritage Orchestra’ at the O2. It
was a sublime concert really rocking as we were consumed by the music with Maxi
Jazz/Beverley Knight/Robert Owens, one to go back to. I then followed up with
the local arts centre in Poole, my next contract, both for the cinema and
concert hall when I watched a Russian ballet production of Snow White then the
Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra playing ‘Electrifying Rhythms’ of
Stravinsky/Szymanowski/Rachmaninov. This sounds very impressive but in reality
I had no idea what I was listening too but I sat back, closed my eyes (not
snoring), with large G&T and floated along with the music. The ballet was
quite an extraordinary event too, I was impressed by the strength whist
elegance in how the story was being told. At Christmas the wider family panto
event didn’t happen so we took ourselves to Gt Yarmouth Hippodrome always a
delight. In the New Year we met up with Vanessa and Steven to watch ‘The Hoff’
in the musical ‘9to5’, this being our Christmas present to ourselves. We
enjoined pre-show brunch when Connor and Emily (Vanessa’s youngest son and
lovely lady who had just moved in to their first flat together). The show was a
good laugh with music we all recognised, The Hoff was the highlight of the show
as he was so obviously enjoying entertaining all the way through the show. It
seems in a short period of time I covered a number of entertainment sectors not
realising how abruptly this would end with the pandemic.
We have had some celebrating too when Milo turned 21
years old in early December. All of his life we have holidayed at Centre Parcs
and that’s what he wanted for his birthday, followed by the obligatory wider
family celebrations in the evening at home. Summarized in a video, hope you
enjoy. Christmas was crammed with the usual intertwining of family and friends
including Ma n Pa’s wedding anniversary of 57 years as we tripped around to
celebrate and marvel at their longevity! Reflecting on our wedding anniversary
makes me smile, we celebrated in between the school day with an early afternoon
tea then later a drink in the local with a tray of chips in the bus stop,
perfect!
My role in the Royal London Hospital Whitechapel, came to
an end as I was invited to deliver on a transformation position with the
Integrated Discharge Team at Poole Hospital in Dorset. Dorset is a holiday
destination from home being 222miles door to door taking 4+hours to travel and
much worse when the M25 flows against the aim for home. Dorset has been one of
those places I wanted to visit so along with the role remit I was interested in
being in the area too. My experience to date has been somewhat stifled as the
rain in winter was relentless then when the evenings got lighter ‘lockdown’
came in and everywhere shut! The places I have found have had their moments of
being quite spectacular within walking distance of the hospital. Eventually I
found Baden-Powell on Poole Quay uncaged then he was caged for a while, but
later with an interesting script following his guard of scouts. Walking to Sandbanks
was a good stride better enjoyed with a G&T watching the paddle boarders
and the sun going down.
Working through ‘lockdown’ has been quite a surreal
experience as our working world changed quickly and was all consuming yet
outside it felt like the real world had stood still. Sara was very kind to
acknowledge my efforts and made me a 'nurse fairy', a lovely acknowledgment of the part I have played and stays with me in my car. In the
early days as the pandemic progressed the rules appeared to get more ridiculous
and teams became a bit too detached from each other as working became more
remote. The ‘flow’ conversation changed too, surgery stopped even emergencies
for a while and the rest of the hospital was trying to work with an added layer
of covid. This pushed the parameters in achieving our remit of safe
discharges to a different level.
Milo commenced in the professional world of work in a training executive position just before the pandemic
hit, fortunately within the parameters of then being furloughed returning to work in
July but the car selling world had changed quite significantly, so quite a
contrast to learn his trade. Dylan really missed his routine of school and
clubs, so much he struggled to maintain his happy demeanor missing his friends
giving us countdowns of how long it has been seen he spoke to someone of his
age.
Hope you enjoy Dylan’s lockdown activities, including his 'Lockdown Birthday' celebrations video.
And we waited to relax in our caravan at West Runton: is the next posting 😍
If you have enjoyed my words and pictures, even watched the video’s then please do let me know by replying to my email message or leave a comment on the blog if you can.
