Month: December 2022

Every year, John is charged with the task of decorating the Christmas cake. It’s Tradition, you know …… and this year has been no exception. The ol’ man has, once again, come up with the goods.

We’ve gone for the traditional look this year and some nostalgia. Not gone mad at all and simply put John’s Mum’s decorations on the cake. Happy memories.

The only trouble was, we couldn’t find our little ‘Merry Christmas’ sign that we normally put on the cake. We rummaged in the ‘Teddy Tin’ where we keep all the cake decorations, but it’s gone AWOL. So we’ve made do with (my) wonky writing, which says it all.

Enjoy whatever you are doing to mark the season, everyone! God bless.

We had plans today. But we didn’t quite fulfil them as we thought we might.

John planned to decorate the Christmas cake, but after a walk up to the shops, he thought better of it and slotted the job in for tomorrow instead.

I planned to visit Mum this morning, but thought that, as I’d be visiting her on Christmas Eve morning, I’d gather all the bits together and take them to that visit instead. That decision gave me a bit of breathing space to deliver the remaining Christmas cards round the village. Yay!

We had also planned to visit Pete and Dawn for a cuppa this afternoon, but Dawn and I decided that there were too many Christmas preparations to make right now, and we’d be better off waiting until the dust has settled after Christmas.

John and I had just settled back into the sofa after lunch, to enjoy watching an old film, when the doorbell rang. It was Richard from over the road. I hardly looked at him as he stood there though. My gaze was drawn to the river of water pouring down our drive and lapping at the front door. “The water main has broken,” Richard said, gesturing towards the road just outside our house. Crikey.

The water had lifted the pavement and the grass verge up by a couple of inches, spilled rocks and lumps of clay onto the path and drive, before gushing down the road, over the blocked drains, down into any low area it could find – including our drive, the path down the side of the house and into the back garden. It had stopped short of the garage and, fortunately, hadn’t ingressed.

I went to get John, so that we could come up with a plan of action. We struggled to find our wellies, then went out to see if we could unblock the drains on our drive to ease the water through. All the neighbours were out and making suggestions as to how to alleviate the mess.

Callum, Richard’s son, had a garden fork and was lifting the drain covers to dig out the blockages in the drains along the roadside. Jane, our neighbour, was on the phone trying to get hold of Severn Trent, the Fire Service, the Council or anyone who might be able to help. Will, from over the road, suggested sandbags in front of the drives to prevent the water pouring down. Sally and I carried sandbags to the neighbour’s drive, before some more men came along and joined in.

To be honest, at that point, I could see that the men were loving the excitement of it all. One came bearing more bags to be filled with rubble to help dam the drives; another came running along with an electric pump; yet more stood about discussing how to combat the stream of water which had now cascaded along Station Road, reaching Kemps Green Road before rounding the corner and into the ‘new estate’.

Our ministrations on our own drains and the dam that we made at the top of the drive helped us and the water eased and flowed down the drains. Our neighbours weren’t so lucky, with water pouring into their garages.

Peter and Jack called in, anxious to know if there was anything they could do. They had driven past and seen the chaos. How thoughtful and wonderful to have such friends. As it was, there was nothing more to do, so they went home to Dawn to finish off their Christmas preparations.

John spent an hour holding on the phone to try and get through to Severn Trent, who eventually answered and said yes, it was clearly an emergency and high priority, and someone would be here to deal with it by 10 o’clock tomorrow morning. Hahahaha……. John was so cross that he threatened to get on to ‘ATV Today’ to publicise the issue……

As luck would have it, a member of the council happened to drive by and saw the mess we were in. No, it couldn’t be left until tomorrow morning. He would arrange for one of the pumping lorries to come and pump out water, and he’d get on to Severn Trent to come and effect a repair.

We are not sure what the impetus was for the workmen to come, either the Solihull Council Official or the volume of calls from us all in the neighbourhood but, about six o’clock, Jane called round to say they were here and would call on us.

John was just doing his second job of the day and attaching the VW car battery to a battery charger (it wouldn’t start the other day and it’s been languishing ever since….) when the Severn Trent chappie came and explained we’d be without water ‘for a few hours’ while they sorted it out. They’ve been beavering away ever since.

Meanwhile, we held our regular Quiz Night this evening (at least one of our plans came to fruition), at which we were Quiz Masters – and it was all about Christmas. It was a bit of fun and quite high-scoring because there were lots of bonus points this week.

The last round was especially good fun, because it was a singing round. Points were scored if the team could sing the next line of a carol. Well, of course, they didn’t stop at one line, did they? Raucous singing all round. John was particularly vocal, having drunk the best part of a bottle of wine. Marvellous.

Eeh, we’ve had some fun and games today, haven’t we?

Take care everyone. God bless.

Are we allowed to grumble at Christmas? ‘Cos if so, I’d like to.

It’s not the preparations for Christmas that are difficult in themselves, but there’s just such a lot of it, isn’t there? And not only that, but there’s an awful lot of decision-making to do, which somewhat addles the brain. And then there’s guilt. Oh, gosh, did I write the card for so-and-so? ‘Cos we’ve had one from them. Oh, yes, I see I did write the card, but did I post it? No? Oh, crikey, it’s still in the pile to be hand-delivered. And when I am going to do that?

We are all trying to make the day perfect. We see the adverts of happy families, everyone laughing, with their rosy cheeks and eyes shining, looking lovingly at each other. Where is the image of the grumpy teenager, who flounces out of the room because her make-up isn’t just so? Or the crying child in the corner because they are overwhelmed with the festivities? Or the grizzly Grandma or Grandpa who can’t keep up with the conversation? It feels like we are not supposed to have any of those situations, doesn’t it? But we have them, because that’s family life.

So I’d like to grumble at the onslaught of ‘happiness’ thrown at us at Christmas. I’d like to grumble at the ‘shoulda, coulda, woulda‘ stuff that makes us feel less than adequate. I should have gone to the Carol Service on Sunday? Well, I’d have liked to have gone, but we were spending time with family for the day who were here from overseas, so didn’t go. And then a little devil sits on your shoulder and says…. ‘Aaah, but you didn’t make the time did you?’ Oh, go away, little devil!!!

I’d quite like to remember the reason we’re having this massive celebration in the first place (Winter Solstice, Paganism, Christianity – take your pick), and put away some of those commercial considerations, but I’m human and find myself influenced, every year, by our traditions – including buying lots of presents…….. so I’m grumbling, folks.

Ah, well, we’ll keep wading on towards Christmas and trying to stay cheerful through the preparations and I’m sure I’ll feel better soon. Maybe tomorrow?

And now I’ve got that off my chest, how’s everyone else?

Take care and God bless.

We were at the hospital this morning. Two appointments. Firstly, it was the review of John’s Pulmonary Rehabilitation Course, which entailed him going, doing a few exercises to prove he could, and then being signed off. ‘Yes, Mr Sleath. You can now progress to the next level.’ Boom! Result!!

“How long will you be?” I asked. “About half an hour,” he replied.

While the ol’ man was doing that, I shot to Morrisons in Solihull to see if I could get the one or two items I thought I needed. Then I was distracted. Oooh…. there was a car wash in the car park. As our white car was nearly black, I thought it opportune. I left my keys with the car wash chappie, who wanted to know how long I’d be. “20, maybe 30 minutes?” I replied. “30 to 45 minutes”, he said sternly. I considered for a minute and then agreed. John had said he’d sit in the café if I was going to be longer than him, so all OK.

Before I’d even got to the supermarket, John phoned. “All done,” he said. “Oh, dear,” I replied, “I’ve just left the car in the car wash for half an hour…..”

Anyway, no worries, John happily sat in the café, drinking a coffee and reading the newspaper while I meandered around Morrisons, before collecting the car, all sparkling clean.

I arrived at the hospital just before one o’clock. John was nowhere to be seen. He was in the loo. I sat and waited. When he arrived, two minutes later, I asked him what time his appointment was. For a moment, he looked puzzled. Weren’t we going home? Then….. Oh, yes, the cloud cleared, and he remembered that he had an appointment in the eye clinic. Maybe at one o’clock. or was it half past?

At one o’clock on the dot the optician came and called his name. Phew! Just in time.

We had a good consultation and John came away with an appropriate prescription for new glasses. Well, we think it’s appropriate. Time will tell….. the optician, however, was very through and very reassuring, so we’re hoping for a good outcome. Second Boom! of the day.

Home again and we watched a spot of TV before getting ourselves ready to go out for the evening. The tyres may have been flat on the scooter, but the evening certainly wasn’t. We had a fabulous evening and Margaret and Chris’s. The conversation flowed, as did the champagne, prosecco and wine……hehehe……. We listened to Christmas Carols on their record player, too, and were generally very jolly. After all, ’tis the season, isn’t it? Lush, eh?

Take care everyone. Look after yourselves. God bless.

The weekend was certainly full-on and it ended with great excitement on the football field, didn’t it?

We watched the football round at Michael and Danielle’s. Danielle’s Mum and Dad are visiting from Jersey so it was an opportunity to invite their Coventry rellies round for a festive meal and an afternoon of telly goggling. Opinions were divided as to who would win the World Cup Final – who we wanted to win; whether it would be sealed in the 90 minutes; or would Extra Time be required? Or…. horror of horrors….penalties? A little bit of betting went on with a pound here for a 3-2 victory to Argentina; or a pound there for a 2-1 victory to France; or maybe another pound for Messi to score first, and so on.

Mid-way through the second half, I was bored and I said so. I think the French heard me because from that moment on, they picked up their game and scored two goals in quick succession. How thrilling it was when it went to penalties, and we were all thanking goodness that it wasn’t England in that situation – none of us can bear to watch that!

Anyway, an Argentina win, in the end, with tears all round on the French team.

However, for me, the highlight of the day wasn’t the football. Oh, no. The highlight was seeing Santa in two different guises today…….. Here he is as a baby….. little Oliver all dressed up in his Santa suit, that Grannie Morrin had brought over from Jersey. Ace!

And here he is as a grown-up with his sleigh to take the children’s orders from their Christmas lists. The children were too shy to talk though, of course, so he gave them a sweetie and told them to be good instead.

Meanwhile, leading up to today’s excitement, we had had the thrill of hosting Freddie for a sleepover on Friday night. It was lovely. He was a delight and such good company.

When he arrived, I wondered whether he was up to decorating the Christmas tree which had been waiting for him to arrive. “Not just yet,” he said thoughtfully, “maybe after tea.” I wasn’t convinced he’d remember or really want to do it after tea, but yes, he did. So we set on and hung all kinds of baubles – those made of glass or plastic or…. chocolate, of course! “Oh, look! This one doesn’t have a bit of string on it, Grandma. What shall we do with it?” Well, eat it, of course!!!

Here is Freddie, pleased as punch with his handiwork……

On Saturday, we were up and at ’em early because Freddie had a swimming lesson. “Will you come and watch, Grandma?” he pleaded. “And get in? They have floats to play with afterwards!!” I promised to go and watch. We were going out for lunch over to Dave and Chris’s in the afternoon, so I didn’t think I had time for a swim beforehand.

But, boy, was I impressed with Freddie’s swimming. He listened attentively to the swimming teacher and tried to do exactly as she said. “Can he swim?” I had asked Paul when we arrived, and the reply had been ‘sort of’. Well, Freddie could certainly swim yesterday. For the first time, he swam a whole length on his back – without a float. Absolutely brilliant.

Paul discussed Freddie’s progress with the teacher at the end of the session, and she explained (and demonstrated) to Freddie he just needed to include the action of his arms. The lesson over, Freddie jumped straight in and promptly executed the best backstroke I’ve seen in a long time. I was a very proud Grandma.

John and I hopped in the car at mid-day and drove over to Dave and Chris’s. What a wonderful afternoon we had. Chris cooked the most delicious roast chicken dinner, with all the trimmings and, most important of all, lots of veg and gravy, and then an apple crumble and custard for pudding. We were in heaven.

It is just so good to be among friends and to share food together before an afternoon of chat. We are very blessed.

Just after five o’clock we said our goodbyes so that we could be across to babysit for Freddie again. Paul and Harriet were booked to see the Peter Kay show in Birmingham. John was weary and thought he’d be better off at home, so Paul and Harriet dropped him off on their way and left me to another pleasant evening in Freddie’s company.

We watched TV for a while and then I suggested we switch it off and play a game. “What shall we play?” I wondered. “Let’s play Poo Bingo!” Freddie replied, his eyes shining. Made me laugh. I’d not heard of that one before. But it was a really good game and we had some fun. Freddie won. Ha! I shall be back for my revenge…….

After I’d put Freddie to bed and seen Lily off out to her friend’s house, I spent the evening filling up party bags with sweets and toys ready for Freddie’s birthday party today. Apparently, the party was loud (20 screaming 6-7 year olds) and William said he’d had to put his hands over his ears, but it was very enjoyable, with a scientist showing them all sorts of experiments. Sounds cool. Lucky, lucky boy.

And, like a whirlwind, the weekend is over. It’s been full-on fun. Lucky, lucky us – we have such a lot to be thankful for, even among the struggles of all the health issues we face.

Take care everyone. Stay safe – there’s a lot of sniffles about. God bless.

It’s been one of those days when we went from one enjoyable activity to the next! Brilliant.

Our first bit of enjoyment was to stay in bed for a while this morning, not wanting to get out of snuggly, warm duvets. We were finally up and about by 10 o’clock and ready for action. John’s plan was to entertain Peter, here at our house in front of a blazing open fire, while I went round to Dawn’s for a cuppa and a chat with her, and Alison and Sally.

We both had a lovely time at our respective social gatherings. It’s so good to chew the cud a bit with your mates, isn’t it? And that’s exactly what we did to our hearts’ content. Fabulous.

I was back home by one o’clock, whereupon we had lunch and then chose to doze a bit in front of the TV…… well, I did, anyway! I finally woke up and, in desultory fashion, started to wrap a few gifts, before putting on a festive film. By then, John had fallen asleep, too, but the film sparked him awake and we watched it together, enjoying its saccharin/schmaltzy theme. More ‘Love Actually,’ than ‘Love Actually’ itself…..

We prepped and ate our evening meal before it was time to quiz. We hadn’t quizzed for a couple of weeks for one reason and another – and it was good to be back with dear friends who always make us laugh. See below to see what I mean?

It was a great quiz – which started a bit late, waiting for John to join in, and then finished late because we were debating and chatting so much in between the quiz questions that it prolonged the evening. Eventually, someone called a halt to proceedings, protesting that it was now nearly 11 o’clock and bedtime!

Once again, I thank the Lord for good friends and family. People are what keep us going despite all ills.

Take care everyone. God bless.

We are slap bang in the middle of Advent. Not that I had thought much about it really, just accepted that’s where we are. But I went to my prayer group this evening and we shared our own ‘takes’ on the season running up to Christmas. Some shared a story – for example: ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas’; others music, ‘Mary, Did you Know?’; or poetry: ‘Christmas Bells’ by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow – all of which I thought were brilliant and made us stop for a moment to reflect.

I shared a poem that was introduced to me by my tutor of my writing class, ‘A Winter Blessing’ by Jenna Griffin, as well as some irreverent prayers from a collection by Steve Chalke in his book called ‘Oh, God…..’.

‘A Winter Blessing’ includes lines like these, which have a tenor of Christmas that resonates right now and have set me up for the coming celebrations ahead:

'May you burn candles and log fires and a little bit of food to remind you that things can be good without being perfect. 

May you start a new tradition with people you love. May you start a new tradition all alone. May you step back into traditions that make you think of your childhood.

May you bundle up and go on walks. May you return with pink cheeks and full lungs.

Blessed are you when you endure the growing pains of compassion. Blessed are you when you bless the snow and do not curse it. Blessed are you when look at the gray of the sky and see angels.

Blessed be the Winter. Blessed be the world. May peace reign.'

I am particularly keen on the last sentence…..peace, that’s what we’re all looking for isn’t it?

And talking of pink cheeks……here’s Freddie bossing the look when he visited Santa last week.

Anyway, changing the subject: what about our day? It was exciting this morning – the chimney sweep came!! We worked out that it is probably about five years since we had the chimney swept….. oops! We are pleased it’s been done of course, because there is no longer a horrible smell of smoke wafting into the lounge when we have a fire lit. Boom!

John has spent the day trawling the internet, researching odds and sods and ordering bits where he could, before labouring over installing a new socket in the hall this afternoon. I think it was a fairly difficult job as he had to get the old back part out of the wall and insert a new one. But when I got home it was as neat as a new pin, so I was delighted!

I had been to visit Mum this afternoon. Last week I had been distressed at how she is deteriorating and was keen to get things in train to improve the situation for her. I had a good chat to the manager of the care home, who told me she was unaware of some of Mum’s difficulties, but she immediately spoke to the staff to get things moving. We’ll see how it goes. Meanwhile, I will have to return the brand new slippers I bought for her because they didn’t fit. Disappointing really, but there we are. Another trip to town!!! Ah, well, no peace for the wicked. What was I saying about peace……?

And here are my prayers for this evening, taken from the ‘Oh God….’ book. First, shared by Roger Gale, MP, a grace he heard during a meeting of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association:

'Lord, make me not like porridge: hard and heavy to stir.
Make me rather like cornflakes: quick and ready to serve.'

And second, shared by Linda Nolan, the singer:

Yesterday is a memory, tomorrow is mystery, and today is a gift - 
that's why they call it the 'present'. 
Thank you, God, for the best gift of all: life.

Yep.

Take care everyone. Enjoy the advent month, with chocolates in calendars and candles burning down as we count the days to Christmas. God bless.

There are certain times of the year, aren’t there, when you just feel like you want to clear the decks? Well, now is the time for Michael and Danielle, it seems. And so it was that I went over to the Kenilworth Newbies today to give Danielle a hand so that she could have a good clear out.

Made me smile, too, as item after item came downstairs for the chop, including a couple of vases and a plant I’d offered them a while ago. But, let’s face it, if it’s outlived its usefulness or the pleasure it offers, get rid!!

We had a good day. I mostly looked after Thomas and Oliver while Danielle beavered away, rummaging through drawers and cupboards to have a jolly good old tidy up. Of course, it’s no hardship looking after the children. It’s always delightful and they were very well-behaved. Although it has to be said, that whatever Thomas is playing with, Oliver wants, often eliciting the indignant cry of, “Oliver!” as the game/toy/item is quickly whisked away from his grasp. Bless him, Oliver doesn’t seem to mind and just moves onto the next thing.

I left the Kenilworth Newbies at coming-home-from-school time, to nip into town before going over to the Kenilworth Originals. Today was an important day. Freddie is seven today. Here he is, bowled over by the presents he’d been given this morning!

I spent a lovely hour with them to wish the Birthday Boy a happy birthday. He was playing on his new Star Wars video game which looked incredibly complicated to me but which he was mastering with ease.

A cup of tea and two delicious mince pies that Harriet had made later, and I said my goodbyes to get back home to John whom I hadn’t seen since 9.30 this morning.

John had been to his Pulmonary Rehabilitation Class, doing all the exercises except the walking one because, after the stand-ups and the weight-lifting, his legs were like jelly. However, he did his walking this evening, insisting on going up to the road to collect a couple of pizzas for our tea.

Contrary to expectations, he spent his afternoon faffing about on the computer and generally doing a few jobs. Not falling asleep in the chair, where I’d expected him to be, after all…..marvellous.

In other news, Gail has now succumbed to Covid, presumably picking it up from Graham, no doubt. Whether they will now make their cruise on Saturday remains to be seen. It’ll be a miracle if Gail tests negative before then, I think, but fingers crossed. There’s a lot of it about, it seems.

Take care everyone. God bless.

Took a little time out today and toddled up to church this morning. Lovely service, taken by Chris P, one of our Lay Readers, thinking about expectation versus reality. Food for thought.

Thoroughly enjoyed the hymns, too, and generally took a few minutes during the service to gather myself and to think of all those among family and friends who need prayers right now. I went over to the church hall for coffee and spent a good amount of time nattering to people I hadn’t seen in a while, too. It was all lovely.

I called into the Co-op to spend the remaining money on my loyalty card in buying a couple of croissants which I took home for our elevenses. John was just getting up so we made tea and coffee and sat companionably on the sofa eating our croissants and slurping our drinks. Smashing.

We were just debating on how to spend the day – mostly planning to wrap Christmas presents or buy a few – when we got a text message from Paul inviting us for a roast dinner. Naturally, we said ‘Yes please!’ – I mean, we didn’t want to look a gift horse in the mouth, after all.

We pottered on for a little while at home with some bits and pieces and then went over to Kenilworth for about three o’clock.

We had a lovely time. The roast beef and Yorkshire Pudding were spot on and the company was fabulous. The wine was flowing, but I took it steady, mindful of needing two cars tomorrow morning and not wanting to come home in an Uber, as is our wont when we are at Paul’s. John partook of the delicious wine and really enjoyed it, but thought he might go straight to bed once we were home…….

It was good to pause on our normal activities and to have a meal cooked for us. Refreshed (I hope) for the week ahead.

Take care everyone. God bless.

When I expressed regret at the football result this evening, John shrugged and said, “Well, that’s life!” I know this, but it doesn’t make it any easier to take. I have always found disappointment a struggle to cope with and it doesn’t get any easier no matter how many times I encounter it!!

Ah, well, I suppose one has to dwell on the good things in life instead. And we have had a couple of those today. This morning we were up reasonably early and logging onto Skype to chat to Graham and Gail. We were excited and wanted to wish them ‘bon voyage’ for their planned cruise which starts next weekend. However, the first thing Graham said as he leaned back in his chair, was: “I’ve got Covid.” Oh, nooooo! Our excitement evaporated a tad.

They are hopeful that they will still be able to go if Graham tests negative this week and Gail doesn’t succumb. Fingers crossed. Despite Graham feeling poorly, we had a lovely long chat to them and we were pleased to have been able to do so.

After we’d finished our Skype session, I took Mac for a walk. It was another fabulous day. Freezing cold at minus something-or-other, but the sun was shining and it was crisp underfoot. I took a little bit longer on the walk just to enjoy the sights and sounds of such a glorious day.

There was a hoary frost that bejewelled the leaves, the hedgerows, the trees and the grasses…… so pretty!

Mac bounded along, his paws making a soft pat-pat-pat noise in the frozen grasses, turning to me every so often to check I was still following along. We paused just past the oak tree for a selfie…..

Home again and I found John a-snoozing in his chair. I laid a blanket across him to keep him warm and went to make us some lunch. He woke up for that.

This afternoon I finished all the Christmas card writing as we watched the Morocco v Portugal match. All preconceptions were overturned, with Morocco unexpectedly winning that match.

We were done then with football for the moment, so John went to see if he could dig any plates out in the kitchen ready for our evening meal. The boy done good and even managed so far as to finding the dishwasher…..

In between times, the Kenilworth Originals were home from their trip to find Father Christmas and they took Mac home. We had enjoyed his stay – it had been uneventful save for a moment this afternoon when something spooked him and sent him, shivering, to crouch behind John’s chair. We have no idea what it was, unless it the Christmas lights John had taken out of the box to examine. But bless him, he wasn’t half frightened.

When you look back on the day, you realise that all of life is there. The humdrum as well the exciting stuff. Elation and misery. Fear and hope. Heart full and heart empty.

Best go to bed on the positive stuff though, eh?

Take care everyone. God bless.