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….. let the festivities begin!!

The last of the birthday celebrations was held last night and so they are all over for this birthday girl. But guess what? It’s time to start gearing up for Christmas now, so off we go again!!

Fortunately, today was a day of rest. And forgetfulness. I was supposed to go to a Yin Yoga and Gong Bath this afternoon, but I forgot…… I had consciously left my phone upstairs out of the way. Missed the reminder. Missed Jaime’s message. Missed the class. Booo…… ah, well, next time maybe!

Anyway, back to yesterday. We pottered about in the morning, then I took myself off to the opticians for an eye test. My eyes have been bothering me for a while and a visit had been on my ‘to do’ list since July.

The optician thought that the astigmatism in my eyes had changed which was what was causing a slight blurring of vision. But she paused as she pored over the scans of the back my eyes. “Hmmm….. there’s an anomaly there in the macular in your right eye,” she said. “Let’s just do another, more detailed scan and I’ll take a closer look.”

She could see that there was a dip in the macular in the right eye. She could also see some darker pockets in the left. “I’ll refer you to the hospital,”she said. “They could be little cysts.” Oh. I wasn’t expecting that.

Never mind, it was time for partying and save the worrying for another day. We were on for an evening out with the Centre Stage Crew.

We got ready and sat waiting for the taxi to arrive to take us to The Tipperary Inn. An hour before it was due to arrive, the taxi company phoned John and cancelled. “We haven’t got a driver,” they said. Oh, Lord.

John wasn’t best pleased. However, he isn’t one to be beaten and got on to the computer and found another company that would do the trip, so we were saved.

We had a fabulous evening. Twelve of us and a great get-together. Copious amounts of food and drink; plenty of frivolity and the offer of some lovely gifts – thank you very much! And boy, we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves!! Here we all are grinning like Cheshire Cats! Lovely.

Take care everyone. God bless.

Memory is a funny old thing, isn’t it? As you look back into the past, a rosy glow appears, coating your memories with softness, removing all those hard edges that were surely there.

Such was my experience yesterday. I had decided to do a little bit of Christmas shopping. I had exactly in mind what I was going to buy and where I was going to get the gifts from.

I popped up to the local Garden Centre, Rosebourne, which is a very nice garden centre, with lots and lots of lovely Christmas things. But did they have what I was after? No…… they didn’t. They had lots of other things, but not specifically the items I was convinced they would stock. Now, last year, I was sure they had had said items on their shelves. Was my memory playing tricks? Who knows?

Never mind, I thought, I’ll adopt Plan B and nip into Kenilworth to see if I could buy what I was after there.

Before I could raid the stores in Kenilworth however, I was called to go over to run an errand for Mum. The dentist had been and had advised the staff at the care home that her dentures had a crack in them, which would need a repair. Very specific instructions were issued to the staff as to how to go about it, which was then relayed to me. “If you come and get your Mum’s dentures today, you can take them to the laboratory in Nuneaton and, within an hour, you’ll be able to collect them and she can have them back.”

Ha! I love a game of Chinese Whispers, don’t you? It transpired that that wasn’t the case at all. Yes, Mum’s dentures probably do have a crack in them but, a) they’ve got to be removed for repair first (good luck with that, the staff sniggered, your Mum’s a bit reluctant…..); b) the laboratory has to be at the address you’ve been given (it wasn’t); c) the laboratory has to be willing to do them the same day without notice (they weren’t).

In the end, I left without visiting Mum or looking at her dentures. I didn’t want to stay as I had my bit of shopping to do, so thought a visit for five minutes would only confuse her. The plan is to go on Monday and see what we can do then. Hopefully, the dentures will last until then. Fingers crossed anyway.

Back to my shopping. I remembered that Coleshill has a Morrisons. Happy memories of shopping in Morrisons with Paul when he was in his early teens. I ran through my shopping list in my mind. Yes, I am sure Morrisons will have what I am after.

No. Small Morrisons. Full of booze and fast food. Horrible place. And none of the items I was after. The bubble of lovely memories burst. Perhaps Morrisons hadn’t been that wonderful all those years ago, after all? Ah, well, onwards and upwards! Opt back in to Plan B.

Travelling down the A452, I suddenly bethought myself of Melbicks Garden Centre. Ooooh, such a lovely garden centre with lots of knickknacks, they will definitely have what I’m after! But could I get into the garden centre? No…. HS2 has put paid to that on the route back from Coleshill. Got to drive nearly all the way home before turning round to be heading in the right direction! Abort! Abort!

Kenilworth wasn’t a lot better. Boots was woefully empty of anything exciting, but I was able to choose one acceptable something in WH Smiths.

What, you might be wondering, did I actually want to buy? Simply a man’s washbag and a nice pen. That was all. There were nice women’s washbags all over the place. And pens galore – but not nice ones. In my mind’s eye, I remembered seeing the items in all these places, but no longer. Gotta order them off the internet these days…….Grr.

Anyway, if yesterday tainted my happy memories, today was about making new happy memories. Nev and Jane came up on the train from London and we all went out for lunch in Solihull. More birthday celebrations! Hehehe. We had a lovely time, ate some great food and have vowed to return the favour and go down to visit them for lunch in the New Year. Marvellous.

Now, in the meantime, I am counting down the days to Christmas with my Advent Candle. Having a bit of a panic that there’s only 23 sleeps until Christmas. Anyone else?

Take care everyone. God bless.

A Wednesday is often a very busy day for us – but not today. There were no hospital runs, no babysitting duties and no quiz. However, in their place was a lovely meal out with Richard and Jill at lunchtime. All rather civilised.

I hadn’t slept well and so was awake at the crack of dawn. Despite that, I didn’t get up über early. Neither did John. I mosied on down about 8.30 and John followed about an hour later.

I was busying myself in the kitchen, having a little tidy-up when John suddenly announced that he was going to do the ironing. Well, you could have knocked me down with a feather!!! “Just the easy stuff.” he said. “Have you got any easy stuff?” I nodded. We had. So he off he went.

The iron was shocked to have a different hand on it, too. After about half an hour, John puffed and sighed a bit. “What’s up?” I wondered. “The iron isn’t working…..” he replied. Ah…….. oh……

It turned out that the extension lead we had it plugged into had set up a fault. But wonder of wonders, the iron carried on working after we moved it to a different plug.

John was still ironing when Richard and Jill arrived. I think he was just doing it to impress.

We walked to the White Horse. “Shall we take the route I recommended?” asked Richard. He’d worked out that it was 0.6 through the estate to get there and 0.4 along the Kenilworth Road to come back – a round trip of the perfect mile.

I led the way, and actually created an extra bit for John to walk, so he did more than his mile today. But he managed it very well. Only a few stops along the way and then a welcome pint once he got to the pub.

The food at the pub was good. We had heard conflicting reports about it, but we couldn’t complain and came away with very full bellies. Particularly the men, who ate pie.

We had a lovely afternoon chatting away – well, at least, Jill and I did. The men had their eyes closed, and we were convinced that both of them were asleep at one point, although Richard denied it completely. “I was listening.” he insisted.

Then footie tonight. Not that we were that bothered about who was playing who and who might or might not win. Apparently, it was exciting and right down to the wire in Group C, with Poland going through to next round by having fewer yellow cards…… I always thought winning was to do with goals, but still.

Take care everyone. God bless.

As we no longer know what a ‘normal’ day is, I think every day is normal now – whatever happens. There is less and less of ‘we always do xx on a Monday’ because, even if we have regular activities, we sometimes don’t do them.

However, I did go to yoga this morning, leaving John to deal with the Solar Panel Man who brought batteries. Yep. Batteries. When I got home, John was in the lounge and, I thought, waiting for the delivery. But no. The Man had been and gone. “Everything OK, then?” I asked. “Well,” said John, “we haven’t had an alarm go off on the batteries yet….” Fingers crossed, folks, fingers crossed…..

I had planned to go over to the Kenilworth Newbies this afternoon, but Michael phoned to tell me to stand down as he had taken the day off and was now at home holding the fort. “Right-o!” I said and started to think about all the things I’d got on my To Do List.

“What are your plans for this afternoon then?” John wondered. Other than calling in to the Kenilworth Originals to deliver Advent Calendars, I didn’t actually know yet. John said he was keen to go across to Birmingham to collect his recently re-chromed bumper for the car. “Do you want me to come with you? Shall I drive?” I said. John thought that that would be a good idea. “It’ll be easier,” he said. Ah…. OK.

So that’s what we did across lunchtime. A quick sortie into Smethwick, where the foundries still reign, to pick up said bumper. The chap who’d done the work declared that it wouldn’t fit into the boot. So John cuddled it all the way home on his lap.

A quick bite to eat once we were home before I hot-footed it over to the Kenilworth Originals. I had a cuppa and a lovely chat with Paul before joining in a bit with Harriet’s Aunty Cathy and her friend Barbara who were there for lunch. “Do you want to come with me to collect Freddie?” Paul asked me. Well, what do you think?

We went to school to await Freddie’s exit from school and, while were at it, we met Michael, who swept into the playground, swooshing the pram with Oliver in it before him, on his way to collect both William and Thomas.

Freddie was concerned that I should go back to his house. “I’ve got a game to show you Grandma!” he exclaimed. Of course I was going back to Freddie’s house. Of course I would be interested in looking at his game.

William was also concerned that I should go back to his house, too. Of course I’d go back to William’s house. Of course I’d be interested in sharing the delights that William was preparing for me.

So that’s how I managed to see all the little grandchildren all in one day. Lovely. What a treat.

John had been asleep for most of the afternoon apparently. But he had also taken himself for a walk too, as per the physio’s instructions. He’s timing himself and trying to compare his walks each time to see if he’s getting any fitter. He was 30 seconds faster today…… well, that’s an improvement, anyway.

We watched football tonight – along with much of the nation, I expect. I was pleasantly surprised that we won and thought Wales put up a valiant fight to try and defend their honour.

An ordinary day? I am not so sure. I think it has been an extraordinary day. So much packed into it and so much that was unexpected. Now, where’s that To Do List? And an ‘Ordinary’ day? Maybe tomorrow?

Take care everyone. God bless.

On Sunday, I actually went to church. Physically arrived at the building itself and took part in the service. Wow. It’s a looong time since I did that. People were surprised to see me and even went so far as to say it was was good to see me back. Nice.

In the afternoon, I closeted myself away, leaving John to watch the footie, while I did an online writing course. It was lovely – just me and my pen. Well, and the others on the course too, but they don’t count!!

All in all, a very passable Sunday.

Today, however, has been a funny old day. I gave myself the jitters this morning trying to sort out the fees for Mum’s Care Home. Had very hefty bill from the Council, who are picking up the payments off-set against her house. They need to recoup Mum’s contribution against what they’ve shelled out as a lump sum for their initial payment. Ha! We hadn’t had a refund from the home yet, so that stumped me. Anyway, after a few phone calls it’s all sorted, but I did have the collywobbles for a minute or two.

I then gave myself more collywobbles this afternoon trying to source a reasonably-priced minibus to ferry my Centre Stage friends out for a meal on Saturday. I thought I’d done it, but one of the group was shocked at the cost, so we’ve abandoned that idea. I’ll think about it again tomorrow. More tummy turns incoming……. it’s mad, isn’t it? I used to be such a confident woman!! Ah, well, it’s all good character-building, so they say.

A bit later than intended, I shot over to Kenilworth, on a mission to deliver Advent Calendars for the children. My text message had asked whether the ‘adult children’ would also like Advent Calendars? The reply was clear: “Do bears sxxt in the woods?” I’ve taken that as a ‘Yes’. Hehe.

John stayed at home, recuperating after his exercise class this morning. He’d worked hard and was busy telling me that they’d changed his leg curl regime. I nodded, knowingly, as he started to tell me that he had been doing 3 reps of 12, lifting 7 kilos on each leg. ‘Ah-ha!’ I thought, ‘it was too much,’ and feeling sorry for the old boy. But no. They’ve now got him lifting 14 kilos on each leg……… crikey!!

In the end, I didn’t make it to the Kenilworth Originals. I stayed a while at the Kenilworth Newbies, helping with grandchildren duties while Michael worked up until 7 o’clock. It’s a long day on your own with 2, then 3 children, once William is home from school, isn’t it? Glad to be able to help. It’s always fun with the grandchildren.

And I have now arranged to go to the Kenilworth Originals tomorrow in the afternoon instead. I have a delivery to make with a deadline looming!!!

Take care everyone. God bless.

We’ve had a lovely couple of days. John’s University friends came over for the evening last night, staying overnight at local hotels, before breakfasting with us this morning at Oakes’s and travelling back whence they came.

They had come to see us, naturally, having suggested a surprise visit to John a few weeks ago to cheer him up, but then combining the visit with bringing birthday wishes to us both. They were, however, also hoping to catch up with whichever of our ‘boys’ might be around, too. In the end, only Michael was available and he came to say ‘hello’ to everyone at tea-time yesterday, which was great, and they were delighted to see him and two of his boys.

After the ‘surprise’ had been sprung a couple of weeks ago, John had set about making all the arrangements. He did brilliantly well, organising the food and drink and checking on who could, or couldn’t come.

Having done lots of catering in the last week or two, we decided to have an Indian Take-Away, much to everyone’s delight. It was delicious – and there was masses of it, too. Far too much food for us all to eat in one sitting, so there is now some spare sitting in the freezer for another day – and there were some very full bellies last night.

The evening went with a great swing. The boys had indicated that the football might be on the agenda. Was that OK? Well, yes, as it turned out. Several of the girls also fancied watching the footie, too! Champagne and beer were the order of the evening to help us all cope with the vision of England creeping to a 0-0 draw and enabling a very knowledgeable flow of football conversation. Hehe.

Our guests left just after eleven o’clock and had a bracing walk back to their respective hotels, all hoping that they’d be up and about at the appointed breakfast hour of 9.30 the following day.

And yes, we were all there at Oakes’s right on time for a hearty breakfast. And, although the memory of the night before still lingered……. we all did well and enjoyed the fare on offer.

We hugged our farewells at the café to Kelv and Ren, George and Val and Fran, sending our best wishes with Fran to invalid Pete, who was/is languishing in bed with bad knees/ankles/shins.

And the Take-Away from the weekend? That would be…..not the food, or the drink, but the friendship. 50 years on…..

John texted the group to say ‘thank you for coming: ‘It was great to see you all, a great morale booster. Thank you all.’ And George texted back: ‘The pleasure is all ours. You have been close friends for a long time and will continue for a long time to come.’ Boom! I’ll second that. Smashing, eh?

Take care everyone. God bless.

Here we are 50 years ago…… mostly all still present, but not necessarily in the same order!

I had a lie-in, but John was up and out of the door early on this morning, hot-footing it over to Solihull Hospital for his Pulmonary Rehabilitation Class. Bless him, he brought me a cup of tea before he went.

I finally winkled myself out of bed and took myself over to the yoga class, which was very full this morning. Lots of people like me swapping in because of commitments at the time of their regular class. I wore my mask, just in case…..

It was a good class and I enjoyed it. But I am beginning to feel my age. Not only have I got a dodgy shoulder but I’ve got a couple of dodgy hips, too. And funnily enough, it’s the sitting down that gives me jip for one of them! Ah, well, what can you expect? I persevered for most of it, even managing the plank, which doesn’t really need your hips to work!

John came home and collapsed through the front door, having worked very hard at his class, too. Apparently, after he’d done two of the leg exercises, he couldn’t quite fully manage the third. His legs, as they were last week, were like jelly. “Don’t they supervise you and ask you how you’re getting on?” I wondered. Well, of course they supervise them! John has his own personal therapist. But she clearly doesn’t stop him before the point of no return…..

Anyway, John had a good long sit down this afternoon, while I had a little go round at a tidy-up. We’re still digging out from the weekend…… so the vacuum cleaner came out, the toys went back up stairs, the chairs went back in the dining room, and the coffee table was liberated from behind the sofa. We’re nearly there.

As the afternoon wore on, I committed myself to an open water swim this evening. I had been thinking about it since I was given one of those warm robes, that you see tri-athletes wearing, for my birthday. I booked in and I got my kit ready.

And we were just about to set off when the owner of Dosthill Quarry phoned. “Are you planning on swimming this evening?” he asked. “Yes,” I replied, “we are just about to leave the house.” It transpired that in the last day or two there had been some cancellations and he didn’t want to keep the quarry open if hardly anyone was going to turn up.

Well, there were five of us. I have to admit I was nervous. I wasn’t sure how I was going to cope with the cold water. But John came with me for moral support and made lots of appropriate noises and comments to encourage me in. The ladies who were there were also very supportive and so I made the plunge into the 10.5° water.

I didn’t do the whole circuit though. Too nervous for that, so just swam round and round in ever decreasing circles near the steps. That is, until John shouted more encouragement and suggested I go round the buoy nearby. I did a few more ‘laps’ and then got out. Last in, first out, but I was pleased with myself nonetheless.

Here we are – ‘The Bluetits’ – post-swim:

John and I stopped off for a fish and chip supper on the way home – and our day was complete. Go us!! Exercising all day long……

Take care everyone. God bless.

We decided to take it easy this morning, rather than get up early and break our backs trying to get things done before we went out. So it was a bit of a potter about with extracting pots from the dishwasher, and then stacking it again, before we set off to Lutterworth to meet up with Dave and Chris and George and Sue for lunch.

As it happened, we were the first to arrive, much to everyone else’s astonishment. I don’t think we have ever been early in all the times we’ve met up with them over the years. But the journey was good, with the sun shining brightly, and the roads were fairly clear. Gone was the rain and there was very little water on the road.

We went to ‘The Elms’, which is just a standard pub offering a carvery lunch, but which we always enjoy. Naturally, we all piled our plates high and then sat back after we’d eaten, complaining of being very full. “Dessert, anyone?” George wondered as he perused the menu. Erm…… that’ll be a ‘no, thank you’. We had all eaten far too much food to squeeze in a dessert.

The lack of dessert didn’t stop us sitting at the table for hours on end, however, chatting away until gone four o’clock. Copious amounts of tea and coffee were consumed as we whiled away the afternoon, enjoying each others’ company. Loverly.

I came away the better, laden with a bottle of Prosecco and a plant as birthday gifts. Lucky me! Just what I like.

Regrettably, being a Pooh Bear of very little Brain, I forgot to take photos of us all, so it’s a blank page in that regard. Ah, well, next time, maybe?

Once we were home, we were still full after our lunch date, so we didn’t bother with anything to eat at tea-time. Rather, I sat and put the football on to see how the Canada vs Belgium match would turn out, but mostly fell asleep through it….. I think John stayed awake though!

And then, of course, being a Wednesday, it was Quiz Night. As always, great fun and great to be puzzling over the answers. We thought we were on fire this evening as we answered a lot of the questions correctly. However, it transpired that the quiz was easy so the 84% success rate didn’t mean as much as we thought it did!

Take care everyone – when I look at the world there’s some horrible goings-on, so I hope our corner of an ‘every day story of village folk’ soothes the soul. God bless.

I would like to know what constitutes an ordinary day? I am not sure that we have any really. Every day seems to be extra-ordinary!

Take today, for example. I thought we might just poddle about at home, clearing the decks after the weekend, take in a bit of the World Cup and generally relax. But no, of course not! It transpired that Andrew’s lift back to Cambridge was no longer on offer at quite the right time, so we suggested we’d take him back. An excellent journey there and back, but it wasn’t quite what I’d been thinking we’d be doing today!!

It’s funny though, isn’t it, how emotion overcomes you sometimes? As we said our farewells to Andrew through the car window, I suddenly felt that I didn’t want to let him go. It’s been so fabulous to see him and spend time with him in recent weeks. Firstly for a whole week on our family holiday; then he came across for John’s birthday lunch last weekend; and then this weekend for my birthday. Obviously, we’ve been spoilt by having his company, and I wanted more. But hey, he’s got a life to lead, so I did let him go, but I held his hand very tight before we drove away.

We were lucky with the weather today. I had feared that it would rain on the journey and make the drive unpleasant. However, there was no rain at all. I am thanking one of my Twitter acquaintances, who said she was doing a ‘hope-it-stays-dry-for-you’ dance!

Not only was there no rain, but the sky and sunset on the way back were absolutely stunning. There were fabulous rays of sunshine fanning out from behind a cloud, inking the sky oranges and pinks and purples. Utterly magical, filling my heart with hope as we drove along. Even John thought it was good!

We made a detour home to collect a toy from a ‘Marketplace’ seller in Henley-in-Arden. That meant we were a bit later home than we’d planned, but I was pleased with my purchase and I hope that the children I plan to give it to will be, as well!

We were peckish when we got back and desperate for a cuppa, so we set on the minute we got in to feed and water ourselves. Ah…. we felt better for having done so.

This evening I left John watching the World Cup – Australia vs France – while I went to my prayer group. I was hopeful that Australia might make a good showing, having scored the opening goal, but when I got home I heard that the hope had been unfounded and it was 4-1 to France.

We had a really interesting discussion at the prayer group. It’s always fascinating to hear the group’s views on things and it always gives me food for thought……… Today we talked about the equality of Man – or not, depending on the circumstances and the human interventions that insist some (wo)men are more equal than others. Now there’s a philosophical debate! Gosh, we could have been there all night!! So much to think about!! But we weren’t, and we wended our way home just after nine o’clock.

Take care. God (in whose eyes we are all equal) bless.

I might not have said, but it was my birthday on Sunday. The family came and we partied. Lucky, lucky me!!

I was delighted because not only did the boys and their families come, but David and Darrel, Gloria, Christiana and young Alexander made it, too! I felt very privileged and very grateful that everyone could come and that no-one cried off at the last minute due to sickness.

We had a wonderful time, of course. I mean, what do you do when you have the family all together? We ate, drank champagne (and were very merry), chatted, danced and, of course…… we played sardines!! There we all were, a giggling bundle of bodies huddled together as, one by one, we found the person who was hiding.

Ellie was best. She found a fabulous hiding place that Andrew had very carefully prepped ready for his turn. She spied it before he got to use it, and she hunkered down behind the sofa bed in the SnuGym. It took us all ages to find her!!!

Even Grandpa did good on hiding, too. He slipped off, telling us he was off to hide, and so we all gathered in the lounge and counted down – very loudly. “Ten, nine, eight……..five, four, three, TWO, ONE! Coming! Ready or not!” We scampered all around the house, listening out for Darth Vader. Nope. We couldn’t hear him. Nor could we see him in the dark, of course. However, slowly and at regular intervals, people kept disappearing. So we knew he had been found. But where? In the end, we all found him, lying down by the side of the bed in the main guest room, and we all piled on top. Hehehe. Great fun.

Obviously, being my birthday, there were presents. Gosh, I was overwhelmed. I couldn’t read the cards without crying; then I cried when I opened the gifts; and then John had prepared a photo album following my life from a youngster up to now, and I couldn’t look at that without crying either!!

And naturally, there was cake and candles and birthday singing. More blubbing. But I did manage blow the candles out OK.

Eeeeeh…… 70, eh? Who’d a thought it?

Take care everyone. God bless.