Trailer

Aren't we the luckiest people around? Over the years our demand for luxury camping has vastly increased the amount of camping accessories we take with us when we go away. It has got to the point where Chris' car is fully loaded inside, on the boot rack and also high on top of the roof rack and still we struggle.

Last month he had a towbar fitted and the intention was to get a trailer to make it easier to pack the heaviest of stuff. However, this isn't the ideal time of the year to buy a trailer as obviously now is the time that everyone wants one.

I really didn't want to go to Blackpool for the week without a trailer now that we got the facility tow one. Luckily Dave from work said we could borrow his trailer for this time and then get one before easter next year. That way we have all winter to buy one at the right price.

Dave didn't manage to get his trailer out of the garage but he asked his brother on our behalf to lend us his trailer which we picked up last weekend. It's not quite as big as the one we were planning to buy but it's ideal for trying out the towbar and electrics and ofcourse towing itself which Chris has never done yet.

We have got as far as buying a number plate for our own trailer so Chris has fastened that on to the borrowed trailer and is currently in progress of loading it up ready for Blackpool tomorrow.

Gosh it seems a long time since we went camping in June so it will be so nice to go away for over a week and in Blackpool of all places. The illuminations start on Friday so we will get the chance to see them as well as doing the usual things that we like about Britain's most popular seaside resort.

Exam Results returned.

I forgot to mention that on Friday when I returned from work there was this nice, big, long avaited for envelope with the words "DO NOT BEND" written accross the top left on the coffee table. This time Chris didn't bother to tell me that the exam results had arrived just in case something went wrong again. But ye, I did pass it for sure and now it's just a case of waiting for the results from the assignments to see if I have passed the NVQ.

Fish update

This morning there was yet another dead koi in the tank. This time it was Ghost who managed to survive the finrot so we have already had it for a while. For no apparent reason they keep dying so I thought that maybe they should not be in a tank all-be-it a large one. Because of this I decided to take out Bluey the remaining koi out of the tank and put him in the pond. I know that he is likely to get eaten by the pond fish but bearing in mind the survival rate in the tank; he would have slightly better chance in there. There are lots of nooks and crannies that he could hide in away from big teeth but it was possibly the last time we saw him.

Poor Fish

It has now gone a week since we bought the little baby koi. Sadly, Tango and Custard dind't make it. I couldn't actually see anything wrong with them but they still died. Tango went first and it made feel sad because it seemed a bit bigger than the others so I assumed it was quite strong, then a couple of days later Custard died too and since then I barely dare to look in the tank in case there are more. I am dreading getting fin rot again and lose them all. However, this morning, Bluey seemed fine. Fingers crossed that he makes it.

Portable Appliance Testing

I have been let out of the office, again. It is time for the annual PAT, which means I am to go around with an electrician to every property whilst he tests all the appliances. Some people think it's boring, but I love it, especially on a day like this. It is a fantastic summer's day again. Not too hot but very pleasant. All the tenants feel well so they are in a good mood, which makes the job easier. Three weeks of this I have ahead of me; lets hope the weather holds.

Long weekend cancelled!

Well, I'we just had an extra long weekend as I had Friday off as well as today. The plan was to go camping in Cheshire. The site was booked and everything but on Thursday morning we had some (fairly torrential) rain and the forecast wasn't good for the rest of the weekend. Chris got chickened out and decided that he didn't want to go, so that meant I couldn't either. The big tent is impossible to put up single-handedly.

The worst of it is, ever since Thursday afternoon the weather has been glorious. It has been a bit breezy but lovely, warm and sunny. perfect camping weather. Mrs Jarman, from the campsite, rang up on Saturday to find out why we hadn't turned up and I had to apologise on Chris' behalf. He claimed he couldn't ring and cancel the booking because he couldn't find the "big book" but when I looked, it was in the wooden box where it is supposed to be. Needless to say that someone was in the doghouse!

Anyway, the weekend didn't turn out to be too bad. We managed to get quite a few jobs out of the way and yesterday we went to Stapley and got a 3 more baby kois for the fish tank. They were named Tango, Bluey and Custard. Can anybody guess the colours??!

Fantastic news; it passed!

Yes, I did get the full traffic lights of forms but in the end; it was the green one that conts. The red one was only for the leaking CV boot, which I knew about from the summer health check. I had already bought a replacement which they fitted for me.

The amber form was for an oli leak from the filter. The mechanic said that it might only be what Chris didn't wipe off when he changed the oil and filter last weekend. We checked the oil and it hasn't gone down any and there is no evidence of any leaks neither on the drive nor at my parking space at work.

I feel a lot better about my trusty ol'Jap after all.

more Car problems!

Yesterday morning, just after seven, I got a text from Chris asking me to put his car on charge, using the camping lead. That sounded ominous as my car was parked behind it on the drive. I rushed up to have a look from the window. No his car wasn't on the drive but half-way up the street.

It appeared that he couldn't get it to start so he pushed it in order to jump start it but still no avail. Must have just dumped it there and taken the bike instead.

Muggins got the job of first searching through all the camping stuff to find the lead only to find it wasn't long enough. I started to push the car back towards the house with immense difficulty but one of our neighbours drove past and stopped to help me.

Eventually we got it close enough for the lead to reach the battery charger. By now the car was partly across the road as the back wheel had touched the kerb and refused to line up any better.

As you can imagine, by now I was fuming with the blooming thing. I had to go work so I left the keys with another neighbour who said he would push it into the drive later. That was very good of him. I am definitely ready to get shut of that thing now. No wonder I have always hated old bangers and this one doesn't behave any better.

Can't wait to see how mine will behave on Saturday; fingers crossed!

Cars

On Saturday we took both the cars in for a "Free summer health check". A year has passed by since my disastrous MOT last year, so I thought it might be a good idea to take advantage of this offer. We had to buy the local newspaper to collect tokens to get it and booked them in.

Whilst the cars were at the garage we walked around the surrounding are and came across a lovely Chinese supermarket which we didn't know existed. They sold all sorts of oriental food and a lot of stuff we had never seen before but it all looked very interesting. We bought a few bits and pieces but will definitely going back to buy more soon.

Went to collect the cars an hour later and got the verdicts. Mine has a CV boot leaking and needed an engine flush and oil + filter change.

Chris' car had all sorts of things wrong with it and at the bottom of the sheet of paper the mechanic had written "I think the driver of this vehicle should consider having it towed away". He had to sign a disclaimer form to be allowed to bring it home.

We proceeded to go to a different garage to book mine in for the MOT for next Saturday and ask them to fit the CV boot. Chris did the engine flush and changed the oil and filter himself despite of the horrible weather. I am now hoping that the car should be OK and I will get my green form.

Sunday afternoon we went to look at vans as one would be more useful and Chris' car is not worth spending any more money on. His nephew, who is a a mechanic, thinks that he ought to sell it whilst there is still some MOT left on it and use the money towards the deposit on a van.

There aren't that many places locally that sells vans but we came across some Vauxhall Combo diesels which we think would be just about perfect but Chris wasn't ready to commit himself yet.

Not too bad, overall

Well weekend has been and gone. Saturday stayed dry until about 7pm, but still managed to catch some of my washing, which was still out. Sunday was ok, but there were some showers throughout the day and in the end I had to tumble dry the last of my washing. Overall, it was much better than it has been but nowhere near the "fine weather" we were promised. When is summer coming?

Looking less hopeful

It is 16.30 on Friday afternoon and the sun is out this moment in time but it's still not looking very hopeful for us to get this fine weather, which was promised earlier in the week.

Throughout the day we have had showers and the sky is still looking bleak. :-(

Shocking News!

Tonight's weather forecast started with the sentence: "Prepare yourselves for some shocking news". That turned out to be the fact that there is 70% chance of fine weather for the weekend. Wow, can we even remember what that means anymore? With half of England suffering from flooding in various areas due to all the rain we have been having the last 4 weeks; it was truly "shocking news".

We are quite lucky ourselves as we live on top of a bank so flooding has not really been a problem here but some parts of the country has had devastating floods. It is hard to imagine what it must be like to lose absolutely everything you have and have your house soaked in mud, raw sewage and slime. Eyuk!

One woman in Sheffield lived in a bungalow, like us and she told the media how she saved all precious belongings and memories of her husband who died two years ago, only to be totally ruined by the floods that submerged her bungalow. When the national news broadcasted that; I cried and I daresay, so did many others too.

Anyway, at least I can look forward to the weekend, which does remain to see whether it indeed is fine. I'll let you know.

Hoar Cross Hall

Last weekend I spent at the luxuorious spa hotel, Hoar Cross Hall for Sioned and Anna's hen party. If you are interested here's the link to find out more http://www.hoarcross.co.uk/.

Here are some of my photos from the unforgettable event.

These photos are from my room called "Princess Florentina" with a king-size bed for myself.

This is us having a dinner in the Ball Room.

And here is the happy couple themselves.

Anna and Sioned

How lucky were we?

Anybody who watched any footage from Glastonbury 2007 will know that the conditions were horrendous. 42 people were injured due to slipping in the mud and one person died. The rain was relentless throughout the event. Even Shirley Bassey had to do an emergency landing.

I have just returned from a smashing camping holiday in Cheshire. The weather for us was also a total wash-out but, who cares? It didn't make any difference to the conditions on our site.

The holiday started with us going to Northwich to visit the Anderton Boat lift. We took a trip on a glass roofed river boat through the lift and along the river and back again. It was a faboulus trip despite the rain.

The next day we went to Joddrel Bank Communications Centre. It is somewhere we always wanted to go, but never got around to it. We booked in and Adam from the American Clubhouse shouted "Fancy seeing you here". It was amusing but somehow I managed to miss the the Brighter Futures minibus on the car park. They had taken some of the members for an outing.


The following day was spent at an Engine Rally. That was a great day browsing around 1000s of stalls and all kinds of steam engines.

At the rally we saw the biggest motorhome that could possibly run on British Roads. Obviously American, but still quite spectacular. Just check out the size in comparison to the car an caravan in front of it,

After that, we went to the famous market and car boot sale at Chelford. It was enormous. All kinds of stuff for sale, yet we didn't have the room in the car to buy much :-( .


Our last day, which we spent in Macclesfield, was very, very wet. Some of the day was spent in a fantastic, authentic Mexican restaurant that we came accross. It was quite pricey but we had a lunch-time special which was somewhat affordable. oooh, it was scrumptious though!!! Here is a sample of the menu, you'll see what I mean when I said pricey.



In between the showers, we also visited Knutsford and found this facinating cushion in the window of a shop. Can you believe it that it is all made of sheer thights, felt and wool and it cost £190.00. I'll get two of them, shall I?




On the day of leaving, we couldn't believe our luck. Glorious sunshine, warm, gentle wind and a totally dry tent and gazebo. What more could one ask for? Ou Carbon footprints for this holiday must have been quite close to zero as the car runs on cooking oil and everything else was recycled (ie bought second-hand). It is nice to know that apart from a pleasant holiday, we have done our little bit to save the world as well.

Re-take of Exam

Yesterday, was the time to re-take the exam that I failed last spring. It soon came around, didn't it? Almost half of the class failed one or the other of the two exams and sadly, some failed both. Majority of those couldn't face to re-take the exam, so there were only a handful of us who braved the task.

I suffered really badly with the nerves this time; didn't sleep all night. My colleague Carol was one of those unfortunate souls who failed both, so in order to support her, I went with her to the college and waited in the cafe whilst she did the first one.

When she returned, she and the others with her, unamously thought that the questions this time were much worse than the ones in March, which certainly didn't help me feel any better. They only had a half an hour break and then it was time to do the second one which I failed.

Something amuzing happened; I had taken my little black, nodding cat, Betty, with me to gives us luck, so I sat her on my desk, so that she could sit there nodding at me. One of the teachers got up an came along to my desk and picked up Betty and studied her as if she thought I had stuffed bits of cheating paper on her or sumat. Does a middle-aged woman really come across as a cheating sort of person?

I'm hoping that Betty brought us some luck as, in my opinion, the questions didn't seem as bad as they were before. I think I could understand what they were asking for, so that is a great help. Doesn't mean that I passed though. I now have to wait for the results, which I'm predicting to come around middle of August.

Creatures in the night

As you already know, Chris has gone to the Isle of Man TT races, so I have been on my own with the cats. Everything has been going fine without any problems....until last night.

I was up late as usual, had a couple of cans, half-watched a film on ITV4 and chatted on the net. At half past midnight, I thought it was time to go to bed, so I goes in the bathroom and started to clean my teeth. Suddenlly I turned around towards the sink, when I saw it....

A horrific, fat, hairy and very black, 8 legged creature sitting there right on top of the sink. I screamed so loud it made teazer run out of the room, with me in tow. I run outside with nothing on my feet and didn't stop until I was faced with gate. In the rush I hadn't even picked up the car keys so I had no idea what I was going to do, but I knew no way was I going back into the house.

Eventually, I noticed that Dorothy's light was on so I braved doing her special ring and got her to open the door. Luckily she only had one look at me standing there crying, so she knew what it was immediately. She grabbed a cloth and told me to stay in her house whilst she went in and got it. Apparently, the thing was so fat that it bled. Doesn't bear to think about, does it? Dorothy is a true gem throughout. X

No luck, again

Last week I had an email from Seetickets.com to say that there was a few more Glastonbury tickets for sale. I did get the impression that it were a very few as it said that they were card cancellations.

When Sunday morning came, I was really excited because, I finally got through to the website within 40 minutes. The site said that all the entrance tickets had gone but it was showing some (maybe only one) coach tickets available.

I decided that, although, we didn't really want to go by coach, I'd get them anyway because at least we will get in to the festival. I put in all our details and got to the stage where I was going to pay for them when the message "All festival tickets are now sold out" came through.

You can't believe how gutted I was, to get so close and still not end up with tickets. Chris is still at the Isle of Man, so I rang and told him and we were both almost in tears. He seemed to take it slightly better as he is convinced that we are going to win tickets instead, with a slogan competition in conjunction with Millets, that his brother John has done for us.

I ended up going to the annual canal festival with mum. She had never been before, so it was something different for her. The weather was absolutely gorgeous (as it has been all week now) so we had a fabulous time and afterwards we had tea at mum's; a lovely smoked salmon and herring salad. Scrumptious!

Girlie weekend

Last bank holiday weekend I went camping with a girl from work and her partner. It was supposed to be 5 of us, but due to the weather, two of them cried off. Anyway, the 3 of us had a faboulus time.

The rain wasn't too bad at all; it only drizzled but the wind was quite strong. I had put up the gazebo to give us more room but on Sunday morning I did have to take it down otherwise it would have blown down and got damaged.

Because of the lack of space in the main part of the tent we decided to spend the afternoon in the local pub. We played pool (which I haven't played for 12 years) so I got thrashed. :-(

In the evening we decided to go for a curry since we couldn't cook outside because of the rain and we didn't have enough room to cook in the tent. The place we chose was nice and the food was excellent.

Prior to that we had planned to go back to the pub to take part in a quiz. It was £1 per head and this included oatcakes with cheese and chips. we had forgotten all about the food and stuffed ourselves in the restaurant.

We didn't win the quiz but we did very well with it. It was a great evening and overall a good weekend. I would love to do it again, in summer. We'll have to see.

Exam Results!

On Friday I had my exam results returned. I was over the moon ecause Chris told me over the phone that there was a certificate with it, so I assumed that I had passed. Consequently, I went around telling eveyone that I had passed only to get home and find out that I hadn't.

What happened was that I passed one part of the exam, which is why they sent me the certificate, but the other part I failed and have to re-sit. I was gutted, and it was so embarrasing having to tell everyone that I got it wrong. At least I wasn't on my own as quite a few people failed both parts so I'm lucky that I only failed one.

Next date for the exam is on 13th June.

Rain, rain and more rain

The British weather has been really living up to it's reputation. It has been raining non-stop for 8 days. Luckily it's still fairly warm (around 15 to 19 degrees) but it is soooooo miserable and this morning the weather forecaster said it was going to get worse before it gets better.

Chris is going camping at the Isle of Man next Wednesday for nearly three weeks, so we are of course hoping that it will be better by then.

I'm going camping in Leek with a girl from work and her friends. There is going to be five of us all-together so it should be good whatever the weather. Really looking forward to it.

How boyish or girlish are you?

You Are 60% Boyish and 40% Girlish

You are pretty evenly split down the middle - a total eunuch. Okay, kidding about the eunuch part. But you do get along with both sexes. You reject traditional gender roles. However, you don't actively fight them. You're just you. You don't try to be what people expect you to be.

How Boyish or Girlish Are You?

What gender is your brain?

Your Brain is 27% Female, 73% Male

You have a total boy brain Logical and detailed, you tend to look at the facts And while your emotions do sway you sometimes... You never like to get feelings too involved

What Gender Is Your Brain?

Hospital for tests

I went back for my appointment to the doctor and she put me through as an emergency to the hospital for checks; not because she thought there was anything to worry about, but quite the contrary. She wanted to prove to me that there was no need to worry but as soon as possible. The hospital appointment has been booked for Friday the 11th which apparently is going to take a good while, but at the end of it all I will know for sure what it is.

It's still there!

No change to the lump yet after 3 and a half days on the antibiotics.

Lump Scare

Last night I found a small lump in my right breast. Consequently, I couldn't sleep all night and felt dreadful this morning. I am lucky that my doctors operate an open surgery, where you can just call in and wait for your turn and eventually you will get seen to.

It took 3 hours of waiting, but it was worth it. The female doctor seemed fairly confident that it is just a blocked milk gland. She gave me some antibiotics and told me to make an appointment for next Monday. She is expecting it to disappear before that but told me to come back if it hasn't.

Fingers crossed that it does disappear.

Another morning wasted on the Glastonbury tickets to no avail. We had 6 phones going all at the same time (4 mobiles, the land line and the internet phone) but we still couldn't get through. We even bought a phone number from ebay that should have given us a shortcut to the key, but it didn't work. I think we are now accepting that we are NOT going to Glastonbury 2007 :-(

Wow, it was the weather for camping

We went camping in Leek as, planned from Thursday to Monday and it was absoulety fantastic; well worth waiting for. You could tell that summer is around the corner; the weather was glorious. Chris brought the bike with us as he needed to go back to work for a few hours in the afternoon.

Thursday and Friday we spent around Leek and the campsite but on Saturday we went to visit Rudyard lake and then went to a water mill, where we got a guided tour. Saturday night Stan and Anna came to visit and we had a bbq and some beers that they kindly brought. It was a great night, watching photos, listening to music and just chatting. It was decided that we would come back next month for a "girly" weekend, when Chris is on the Isle of Man.

On sunday, we went first took the bike to Matlock Bath where we spent some time looking at all the other bikes lined up the streets and had a gorgeous dinner in a nice pub where they had a huge no smoking area. We then moved on to Buxton where we just had a look at the shops and Chris bought some tools from a market inside the Crown hotel.

Sunday night we relaxed at the tent, watching telly and finishing off the beers. The fresh air makes us tired so when we go camping we tend to go bed early so therefore it's a good way to catch up with plenty of sleep.

On monday morning, after breakfast, we packed up and just as I started to drive off in the car; it started drizzling a bit. That was good timing wasn't it? Whilst we were at the site, I took the opportunity to book for the next two bank holidays in May. They were almost booked up but managed to just fit us in. The first one will be on the 4th of May; can't wait now.

No tickets for us!!!

After 3 and a half hours, using two phones and 2 computers; we had the message: Sold out! With 400,000 people registered for tickets when there are only 150,000 tickets available; I knew it wasn't going to be easy, but we were still fairly confident that we'd get them. in the end, it felt devastating; as we couldn't have done any more, to secure the tickets. It now feels even worse since I have spent all that time wasted on such a beautiful Sunday morning. Oh well, it certainly wasn't due to lack of effort. Looks like it will be the Eden Project for us after all.

In consolation I bought tickets for mum (Chris' mum) and me to go and see "Joseph and his Amazing Technicolour Dream Coat", in May. It is a show that I have always wanted to see, so I feel a bit better for that.

Chris is working but when he finishes we are going out for dinner and we are so glad that we are going camping on Thursday, at least we do have that to look forward to.

Now I'm going out to enjoy the weather.

2007 Holidays

I had my new holiday form today, which got filled in almost straight away. We had already decided that we aren't going abroad this year, so 36 days holidays; that is a lot of camping! I have a booked a week off for Glastonbury because, even if we don't get tickets; we would go to the Eden Project instead http://www.eden-project.co.uk/.

We have planned a good, long camping week-end every month as well as another week in Blackpool, when the illuminations are on, end of August http://www.blackpooltourism.com/?OBH=742.

Despite of booking off an extra day for easter next March and 16 days for Christmas, I still have another 5 days left to use if Tessa is coming to stay, so that will be nice.

Chris has booked to go to the TT on the Isle of Man, in May, so he has used a lot of his holidays for that, but luckily he doesn't need to use his holidays to book weekends. When he is on nights; he gets Fridays off anyway and the same with all bank holidays.

Winter is here!!!!

What did I say? You never know what the weather will do. We had frost last night and little sleet yesterday. How ironic; we have had hardly no frost or snow all winter but now that it's time for spring; what happens.

All the daffodils are in full bloom so they will probably be suffering from this freak weather and I am thinking that it's only two weeks until we go camping. Could be fun....brrrr. Oh, never mind, just as well that we take the bbq and a fan heater.

Camping at Easter

We have finally set a date for our next camping trip, which is going to be on Thursday before Good Friday. We are going for 4 nights, so the weather had better stay good for us, or else...!Spring has been well on the way now, so It shouldn't be a problem, but you never know though; it is only beginning of April.

We are really looking forward to using the new gazebo we bought at Christmas, and we have also bought two proper beds instead of the tall king-size air bed that we had. That was a good bed but towards the end of last year, it sprung a leak and we couldn't find where it was so that it could be repaired.

Here is a photo taken from one of the 21 falls in we visited in yorkshire

EXAMS over, at last

Yesterday was the day of the exams and it was every bit as horrible as expected. I can only hope that I got through with the "half-point rule" because in the first one I run out of time and had to rush the answers for the last 3 questions (which was almost a thrird of the exam total).

In the second exam there was a question which I couldn't answer at all and the sub-questions for that one were probably wrong as well so that I can assume that I lost at least 4 marks on that question.

After speaking to the others; it sounded as they hadn't done much better either, so at least we are all in the same boat (so to say). I really, really hope that I got through because I'm not sure I can do this again and I would have to wait until December anyway. By then I will have forgotten what little I already know.

It will be at least 6 weeks before the results will come through, so I suppose I will let you know what happens. :-( At least now, I can put all my paperwork firmly out of the way, maybe the loft!!

EXAM DATES CONFIRMED

I think most of you already know that I have spent the last 12 months doing a college course on Community Care in Mental Health (CCMH for short).

For me it has been hard-going to say the least since it is an NVQ level 3 and I haven't done levels 1 or 2. If you remember, in January we were split into groups and had to do a 20 - 30 minute presentation, which we all dreaded. However, that went very well but now the worst part of the course is looming: the exams. They have been scheduled for the 14th of March and will in two separate sittings but both in the same day. 1 hour in the morning with an hour break and then another 1.5 hours later.

We are getting increasingly nervous even though we are meeting up regularly to revise. I shall be so glad to see the back of them. It will then take another 10 weeks before we have the results. The pressure is immense as we could potentially put our jobs on the line, should we fail. Not a nice thought!

Attention to all road users

If you drive a car, Read this. then ....send a copy to everyone...

Sarah Kennedy was on about this proposed car tax scheme on the radioapparently there is only one month left to register your objection to the'Pay as you go' road tax.The petition is on the 10 Downing St website but they didn't tell anybodyabout it. Therefore at the time of Sarah's comments only 250,000 people hadsigned it so far and 750,000 signatures are required to stop them introducing it.

This is legit... from the 10 Downing Street's website.Once you've given your details (you don't have to give your full address,just house number and postcode will do), they will send you an email with alink in it. Once you click on that link, you'll have signed the petition.Democracy in action?The government's proposal to introduce road pricing will mean you having topurchase a tracking device for your car and paying a monthly bill to use it.

The tracking device will cost about £200 and in a recent study by the BBC,the lowest monthly bill was £28 for a rural florist and £194 for a deliverydriver. A non working mother who used the car to take the kids to schoolpaid £86 in one month.On top of this massive increase in tax, you will be tracked.

Somebody will know where you are at all times. They will also know how fast you have beengoing, so even if you accidentally creep over a speed limit in time you canprobably expect a Notice of Intended Prosecution with your monthly bill.If you care about our freedom and stopping the constant bashing of the cardriver, please sign the petition on No 10's new website (linkbelow) and pass this on to as many people as possible.

http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/traveltax/

My pet, (I was bored at work!)

Anyone got an idea for a name?

Glastonbury Festival

We have just pre-booked the tickets for this year's Glastonbury festival. I have never been before but Chris has been loads of times, when he was young. Tickets are outrageously expensive; we could go to spain for a fourtnight, rather than spending 4 nights in a tent, in rainy England, but I believe it's supposed to be worth it. That remains to be seen!

http://www.glastonburyfestivals.co.uk/

Presentation completed and exams to come!

Last Thursday, the day of the dreaded presentation finally arrived. My group was presenting next to last, which was late in the afternoon. This meant that we were watching everyone elses presentations and started to feel increasingly nervous.

We felt that we had done everything we could to answer the questions as accurately as we could and to cover all aspects, but after listening to everyone else, it appeared as they were mainly concentrating on the changes from "moving from an institutional home to independent living".

However, we did get an amazing response from "the audience", our tutor and the assessors. They all loved our case study and the way it was presented. It was Carol who created Summer and she presented her to the audience as herself. She was very good.

Afterwards there was a little presentation for our tutor, which caused her to be in tears. The head of Social Services was there and he was also in tears and one of the assesrs from the college got up and said that she goes to various presentations from all over the country, but these, last Thursday, were amongst the best she had ever seen, which ofcourse set Di off into tears again (and some of us).

All in all, it turned out to be a wonderful day, and it beats a day in the office anyway. Now I need to concentrate on the remaining two assignments and then it will soon be time for exams. Two exams of 1.5 hours each and they are both on the same day: 14th of March, only 6 weeks to go.

New grandson, Vidar

Here's a picture of my new grandson, born on Monday 22nd January 2007 at 7.40 PM. He weighed in at at nearly 10lbs and was 20" long. His name is Vidar [veedar] and in the piccie he is only 12 hours old.

Presentation, etc

Can you believe that it is past half-way through January already? I thought we were going to have some lighter evenings soon, but there are no signs of them yet. The weather, however, has been atrocious, which doesn't help. Gales and tropical rain every day and dead grey and miserable even when it hasn't rained. What happened to winter?

At work it has been very busy, as usual. Lisa applied for a support workers position and got it, so she will be leaving us soon. That is such a shame for us; we will miss her, but it is the job she always wanted, so we have to be pleased for her. We will enjoy the leaving party though, next Saturday.

My Mental Health course is nearing the end now and on Thursday we are having a group presentation. This has been booked in at a hotel, where we are going to have a carvery lunch and the head of social services is going to come and watch and also an assessor from the college. My group consist of Carol from maintenance, Laura from Partnership, Sue from the Club houses and me. We have done a case study on a 19-year old, white girl, who is suffering from depression.

It is first time for a very, very long time that Carol, Sue and myself have done a presentation as we are all over 40. However, Laura is only 22 so she is finding it a little easier and is helping us "oldies" a lot. We don't know what we would do if we didn't have her. We are absolutely dreading it and it doesn't help that someone in our class told us that last year 4 pupils failed the presentation. That will probably be us this year! The draw for the order which the groups are presenting has been done and my group will be hanging around waiting most of the day as we are presenting next to the last. I'll let you know how we went on.

Birthday, Christmas & New Year

Wow, haven't the last two weeks flown?

Since my last post we have had Works do, Chris' birthday, Christmas, stay at John and Ann's and a New Year. It wasn't as quiet as we thought it was going to be and, as usual, we didn't get done half of what we wanted to do. Never mind, we did enjoy the break though.

A few weeks ago, I bought a fish tank from the car boot sale. Chris had the lid and lights for his birthday and also a book about "Setting up an aquarium". After Christmas we went to a pet shop and bought the gravel, which took the two of us all evening to clean up and rinse through.

Last Friday we got the plants and 12 little baby goldfish and set it all up. We sat down and enjoyed the display as Rumpleteazer entertained us greatly with her curiosity. She was absolutely determined to get to the fish, one way or another. It took several days before she gave up, but it didn't half amuse us.

The works do at China Gardens was a great success; I had a fab time. Christmas Day was quiet but enjoyable. We had loads of present, some funny ones, some more serious ones, but they were all excellent, thanks to all our family and friends.

Boxing Day we went to John and Ann's and we had a wonderful time. Andy and Amy came as well as Mum and Margaret so we all played games until midnight. Chris and I had been invited to stop over, so there was no drinking and driving to worry about. Great Thanks!

Last Saturday we went to Lee and Pod's with Barb and Bill. Pod's mum, auntie Bet and John and Jimmy also came and another smashing time was had by all.

New Year's Eve we had planned to go on top of the hill again, as usual, but this year there were weather warnings and gales, so we gave it a miss and watched the celebrations in Sydney on TV. Sadly, most of the famous celebrations, such like Edinburgh and Glasgow, were cancelled due to the weather, but there were still some grand fireworks in London.

First Frost

I woke up this morning and found frost on the windscreen. It wasn't much and it wasn't at all noticable anywhere else, but we are getting there. This mornings wheather forecast was predicting that we might have a couple of degrees frost for Christmas as well, so that would be nice. So far there has been no sign of any snow and it's not likely to come this year :-(

It has been a long, slow week and it's still only Wednesday! Another two full days at work before Christmas. I am so ready for a break!!!

On Monday we had our Christmas meal at work and the "secret santa" came and gave me a beautiful knitted set of hat, gloves and a scarf. My secret santa was Dave and the person who I needed to buy for was Gary. I bought him a T-shirt with a caricature figure of a Port Vale fan peeing on a Stoke fan. He was over the moon with that; said he has a mate who is a Stoke fan, so he shall enjoy winding the mate up with it.

All week we have been listening to Christmas CDs at work. The athmosphere has been lovely and everyone are excited. The house is looking very festive, as usual, but there hasn't been much effort done at work. I have a bit of tinsel around my monitor but nobody else has done anything.

Joint Christmas Present

This year Chris and I decided to buy a joint Christmas present for each other. Last time we went camping, our gazebo got damaged by the wind. This was mainly due to the fact that it only was a cheap and flimsy thing in the first place; made of thin aluminium poles.

We have always wanted a proper steel gazebo, preferably a pop-up type but they are usually around £300. However, we did notice a while ago that they are being sold quite reasonably on eBay, so we thought that we could try to get one for less than Fifty (plus postage).

At last, this weekend we were lucky and managed to get one for £47.00 + £20 for postage. It arrived today, and it looks every bit as good as it seemed in the advert. It has 4 zipped sides, two plain green and two with windows. Judging by the weight it ought to be strong enough to withstand any normal windy night. Even the material seems stronger than our old one.

Here is a picture of Chris fine-tuning the old gazebo last summer. We always attach it to the tent to utilise the most of the space.

This is the picture of our new one as it was in the advert on eBay. We haven't put it up yet so we have no photos of our own yet.

Christmas Lights switch on

It's that time of the year again! Yesterday was the big switch on of the lights in Hanley. Santa's parade arrived, complete with Rudolph and the other reindeers. Signal Radio was there recording the event live and a quire was singing Christmas songs.

The best of it all, though, was the snow machine. It squirted out real snow in big flakes. It looked fabulous; glowing in the street-lamp lights against the dark sky, just as if it was snowing for real.

Tontine Square and all the surrounding area was absolutely packed with people. The atmosphere was wonderful, almost like a good football match.

At half past seven the Lord Mayer got on stage and switched all the town centre Christmas lights on and immediately we were all excited.

This was the start of the late night shopping and Debenhams had a sale on and were going to be open until midnight. We were all promised free parking after 6.30 every night until New Years Eve.

New Card - fingers crossed

Yes, I have finally managed to get all the relevant paperwork together to set up my new card. According to the logo on the Ryanair site, this card will be acceptable to them (hopefully!!!).

Just need to wait to get paid so that I can put some money in it and then I can get the tickets. It is really exciting, but I am still a bit concerned about it until I have actually tried it. Roll on payday.

Autumn Blues

It seems sad that I only seem to get around to write here when I’m off sick. Yes, I’m off again, with flu this time. Actually, I think I’m on the mend as I have had it since Sunday. However, this morning I did go to work but only after a few hours I was sent home again. Apparently, I wasn’t well enough but I’m hoping another few hours will make the difference tomorrow.

Last weekend we went off-road driving, which was great. Sadly, It was our last camping trip of the year but the site that we stayed at was fabulous. It had a narrow gauge steam railway station on one side of the site and a beautiful brook on the other. We definitely want to go back there some time in the future. At least we seem to have a bit more space now that the camping stuff has gone back up the loft.

This time of the year can be so depressing. The nights are starting to draw in and we are having to have the heating on in the mornings. I had to move the olive trees in to the corner and wrap some plastic around them, because the temperatures can drop below 10 degrees at night. I’m hoping to be able to leave them there for a couple of months yet as I still have tomatoes growing in the conservatory.

Only a couple of weeks until the clocks change and then it will be dark when driving back at night, not a nice thought. Still it could be an opportunity to catch up with some of those jobs that don’t get done in summer, such as the decorating. I noticed the other day that some of it is looking a bit tatty.

There has been no further development with the card problem. Ryanair have apologised for the inconvenience, but as yet they have done nothing to solve the problem. I suppose that they don't really know what the problem is themselves and unless a lot of people complain, they don't want to go to the trouble of finding out either.

Anyway, Chris is hoping to get another card, so maybe that will work with Ryanair. The trouble is that they are short-staffed at his works so he is working 12hour shifts. The extra money is useful but it doesn't leave him any time for anything else.

A few days ago we went to a car boot sale and I spotted a Mamas and Papas pushchair for sale at a very low price, so I got it. It needs cleaning but I’m sure it would be great for when Sanna comes because of the styling it can be used both for a baby or for a toddler, so if she comes in the next couple of years, it will be one thing less to bring. I’m sure with 3 kids the car will be full enough.

Here are some photos of both settings. I am hoping that Sanna knows how to fasten the shopping bag, because I don’t.

Pay Day

Never have i been waiting as long for pay day as i did this last month, but I think I might finally have recovered from the MOT fiasco, thank goodness. Now I can look forward to life returning back to normal again.

Even though the weather has been amazing, it is beginning to be noticable that we are coming up to that depressing time of the year again. It is already slightly darker in the house when I get home at night and it wont be long before the sun will have gone down by 5 and then before we know it, it's dark.

Never mind, on a brighter note we still have one more long camping weekend to look forward to at the end of the month. We have been invited by Landrover to take part in a half-day of off-road driving, so we decided to make a long weekend of it and go camping on Thursday to Sunday. It will more than likely to be the last time this year, so best to make the most of it.

Otherwise, life here has been quiet with nothing much to report. Chris is working overtime so he is working from 6 in the evening to 6 in the morning for 4 days in a row. My college work is getting there, slowly. I have done two assignments and working on the third. The cats are fine but still don't get on too well. The other night Teazer got her nose scratched but she didn't seem too bothered about it.

Can't think of anything else to write about. Good Night!

Debit Card problems

Ever since I promised Tessa to buy the tickets to come and visit in October, I have been trying to think of a way that I can buy them. Ryanair will only accept payment over the internet but they won't accept Paypal. As I don't have a debit card nor a credit card, I thought I'll open a new account where I could get one. For this I chose HSBC bank and filled in all the necessary forms, etc.

They soon sent me a letter saying they needed more information such as a "certified" copy of my current bank statement. After debating about what "certified" meant, I decided that it was an original paper statement sent to me from the bank which I then had their signature put on. Obviously, this was not going to happen (neither certified nor otherwise) as i have opted not to receive paper statements for many years ago. They are just a waste of paper and put an uneccessary strain on trees. I explained this to HSBC bank but to no prevail. They are not interested in having me as their customer. Ce la vie, in the long run it's their loss, not mine.

However, I still haven't solved the problem of buying the airline tickets and hope that the plane doesn't fill up enough for the prices to go up, by the time I have come up with a solution.

Stupid Japanese thrash!

My car is nearly 3 years old and therefore due its first MOT. I have known for a while that I need new tyres but since they were faulty I was hoping to convince Mitsubishi to give me something towards them but they wouldn't cooperate.

So, I decided to squeeze my purse and managed to scrape together enough money for two tyres and the MOT. I thought that I can always get the other two tyres in the next couple of months or so. It had completely got out of my mind that of course, the tax was also due at this time. So, not only did I need to fork out £150 for tyres and MOT but I had to also find another £80 for the tax. Then I had the shock of a lifetime. Never in a million years did I expect a car that had done 12,000 miles to fail the MOT, but it did. Brake pads, hand brake, CV joint, etc meant that now I had to immediately find yet another £150 to get it through the MOT.

The nature of my job, of course, means that if I don't have a car; I don't work. So the only thing I could do is to try to borrow the money of someone, quickly and luckily Chris' mum leant it to me. Consequently, ever since then and up to next payday, we have been living on beans and rice. It is extremely fortunate that I give a lift to a neighbour's lad who also works in Hanley. He gives me £5 per week for petrol, so i have been able to go to work.

So much for buying a new car so that I don't have these unexpected, huge garage bills!!!!

Heat Wave

Oh Dear, I had no idea that it had been so long since I'd written a blog. Ever since we got back from Mexico Britain has been hit by a seriously, major heatvawe. we have beaten the all time record of 36.6 degrees to a new record of 37 degrees Celsius.

Of course, we are all suffering with it as we are not at all used to that kind of temperatures, and here in Britain it is so humid. I heard on the news, the other day, that in Paris the temperatures reached 40 and it made me feel ashamed of complaining about our temperatures.

Anyway, i have been trying to remind folks that it is just as hot in Lebanon . . . . . . . what have we really got to complain about.

Anyway, what have I been up to since my birthday? Apart from work, work and more work we have been camping in Essex and we also went camping in Leek, last weekend. In the evenings we have been behaving rather sad as we have been going bed early with the airconditioning on. Neither Chris and I are as good with the heat as we thought we were (which proves that maybe we are not quite ready to move to Spain yet).

In the last couple of weeks we have been promised a good thunderstorm, however, so far this hasn't happened. Tonight it went so , so black that I was convinced it was coming. I brought both of the cats in since I didn't want them to wander off and get caught in it, but yet again , to my disappointment, nothing happened!

Looking back at the year, I get very worried and think: where has the time gone? It doesn't feel more than a few weeks since Sanna and Co were here, yet it's nearly Tova's birthday and it has gone over six months since that dreadful day when they were at the airport waitning to go home. I could never wish that on anybody, let alone a family with small kids.

Lee and Pod have gone to Thailand to meet Lee's sister, Hannah, (who lives in Aussieland) for her 21st birthday. From what I gather, from their sms is that they are having a whale of a time with booze, drink, booze, etc. Apparently, they have been waving the Swedish flag whilst out on a night of drinking.

Talking of the Swedish flag. . . was i not so sorry that we didn't manage to beat Sweden in the World Cup? I felt a bit better when I was told that we havn't beaten Sweden for over 38 years...! By the way...I wanted the frogs to win, maynly because i like Thierry Henry. He is a great player, even though I'm not an Arsenal supporter. at least we did a teeny weeny bit better than Mexico and Sweden in the end (for what it's worth).

What else has happened since my birthday? I have invited Tessa to visit in October. In Sweden October can be a funny month; bit of an early winter or maybe an late autumn??? Here in England October, of course means rain, but is it an Indian summer or is it early autumn? I must admit...I at this moment (as I sit here at 29 degrees C at 11.20 pm) I can't think of anything nicer than a bit of hearty British rain, together with the damp and cold that comes with it, ooooooh!

Anyway, I shall get off and make some tea.

CATS

Today, I have been on holiday beause Chris took me to see the world-famous, Broadway Musical, Cats, which we are immensly lucky to have right here in Stoke for 3 weeks only. The tickets were an early birthday present, as he knew that I have always wanted to see Cats and I would never be able to watch it on Broadway.

I still have the original LP up in the loft but of course haven't been able to play it for years, but it all soon came back to me. It started off with a yard full of rubbish and scrap metal and then the lights went out and everything went black. Slowly dozens and dozens of pairs of cats eyes shone brightly in the rubbish and then loads of colourful strips of lights came on, flashing and chasing, just like Christmas lights. Then the music started and the cast came in.

It started with "the naming of cats", "the invitation to the Jellicle ball" and "the Gumbie cat" followed by "The Rum Tum Tugger", "Grizabella, the glamour cat" and "Bustopher Jones". Then it was time for "Mungojerrie and Rumpleteazer" which of course we loved very much. Before the break we had "Old Deuteronomy", "The Jellicle ball" and "Memory".

The break was roughly about 20 minutes and was swiftly followed by "The moments of happiness" and "Gus: the theatre cat". The next session was quite unfamiliar to me so I think I might have the Broadway version on my LP. That was "Growltiger's last stand" and "Skimbleshanks". "Macavity" still had the same words from TS Eliots poem but the music was slightly different (I prefer the original version). The show finished with "Mr Mistoffelees", "Journey to the heaviside layer", "the ad-dressing of cats" and a most beautiful version of "Memory".

I bought myself a brochure for keepsake. It was one of the best birthday presents for a long time, thanks Chris,X

New addition to the family!

Yes, first we had none and then we have one and now we have two. Meet our little girl, Rumpleteazer. She is 5 years old and we have had her since Sunday.

It's a complicated story... A friend of Lee and Pod's was asked to look after Rumpleteazer when the friends friend went on holiday for two weeks, she reluctantly agreed (as one does), but when her friend returned from holiday, she no longer wanted the cat back. Lee and Pod's friend was now lumbered with a cat that she didn't want in the first place and Lee and Pod could not have her because of Charlie (the parrot).

This is why we have her and I am so pleased. She is absolutely gorgeous, very friendly and affectionate and immensly well-behaved. She seems to have settled in so well but sadly we have to uproot her again on Friday, as we are going camping and need to take her with us. I'm sur she will soon settle again, and she may as well get used to the camping, right from the start.

Mexico - Climate & Creatures

The only problem we had was the heat. The temperature was between 30 and 33 nearly all the time, even at night. We found that very difficult to cope with as we would prefer temperatures between 24 and 28. Even though we were so careful, using factor 25, etc, I still managed to get sunburned on a cloudy day. I didn't think the sun could be so strong that it would burn through the clouds, so I didn't use sun cream that day.

The last couple of days in Cancun was hard as we really had enough of the heat and tired of walking around, but at the same time we didn't want to waste any time, so we felt obligated to go out. Neither of us like to sun bathe or spend much time on the beach, so it meant either riding around on the bus or walking. Even though we had a shower 3 times every day, we still always felt wet and hot and itchy. There must have been a particularly vicious type of mosquito there as even Chris got bitten by them and normally they wont touch him.

On the last day, everyone else in the hostel were laughing at us because we wanted to get to the airport early, just so we can enjoy the air conditioning. To our disappointment, we found that it wasn't working when we got there. However, it was just as well that we had plenty of time as there was a lot of problems with check-in and potentially we could have missed the deadline for our flight.

Anyway, after an uneventful 10 hours we landed at Manchester the following day. Then we spent 17 hours sleeping of the jetlag. Was it all worth it in the end? No - good old Spain is what we are sticking with in the future, cheaper, cooler and less hassle but it was a good experience and we loved the food.

Mexico - Socialising

At night time we often spent a bit of time socialising with the other guests. These were from all over the world but we got particularly close to some Austrians, one who lived in Bali and another who lived in Florida; a French girl who lived there, training to work at the consulate; a couple of Canadian girls; a Mexican lad; a French lad and a girl from Costa Rica. It was really interesting to speak to these people as when we go away normally, we only get to see English people or "Spanglish" as they call themselves (meaning people who are English but live in Spain).

Anniversary

On our 10th anniversary we sailed across to a close-by island called Isla Muheres (the island of women), where we managed to get on a boat tour around the island. This also included snorkelling, which Chris participated in, but I didn't want to get my clothes wet, so I just watched and enjoyed the sun, sea and the quietness. It was a fantastic day, which was finished of with a Mexican meal at a lovely restaurant.

Mexico - continued

The next few days was spent looking around the local area, just jumping on a bus to travel to the hotel zone, etc. We were amazed how cheap everything was. Of course we had to check out the beach and swim in the famous Caribbean sea, and yes, the water really is turquoise and the sand really is snow white.

Halfway through the holiday we took a trip to a place called Chichen Itza. Here they had ruins of pyramids dating back to AD900. The bus took 3 hours to get there and the same to get back, yet on the map it seemed like we've been nowhere.

Mexico - Day One

We finally arrived in Cancun after a long (seemed to take forever) flight. It seemed funny that, although it should be around 7pm, the time was only 1pm in Cancun. We took a bus from the airport to the bus station and then walked the last bit to the hostel. We were quite pleased to find that, although the hostel was very basic, it was quite ok for what we paid.

We set about to explore the immediate area and bought some supplies. We soon noticed that the locals spoke very little English and the little Spanish that we spoke was not much use in Mexico as their Spanish was quite different. With the help of sign language and mobile phone pictures we did manage to get by though.

First Aid for the First Aider

Yes, that's me, the qualified First Aider for our department only got myself in need of first aid. All 3 of us girls were emptying a house and crammed all the stuff in to the van. In order to get as much in as possible, I decided to literally kick a small unit into pieces.

This is something we all often do but today, I didn't notice a screw sticking out at the side of the unit, so consequently as I kicked the side of the unit, the opposite side bounced back on my leg and cut an approximately 10cm slash accross my shin. A great sight for wearing shorts on holiday!

One more day at work, can't wait. Tomorrow, Lisa and I have 9 property inspections to do tomorrow and then we are going to a barbecue for lunch. Sounds like a fairly easy "last" day at work.

Twentysix degrees C

Yes, that's right, summer is here and it starts with a mini heat wave. I'm glad we are having a little taster of summer before we go away, a week on Tuesday. I had a look on the net for the weather in Cancun and found that it was 30 degC today and the weather is going to vary between 27 and 32 in the next few days.

We have now got more or less everything we need or might need. I bought a couple of money belts from Canada as we were adviced to use them in Mexico. I have also upgraded the suncream to factor 25 for the first few days and then we can (or at least me) go back to the factor 15 that we use in Spain.

I bought myself some more shorts and knee-highs, they were £3 each from Tesco, so I couldn't resist them. I also bought a khaki t-shirt, which I can use for work and that was only £1.75. What a bargain!

Last week we got the flight tickets, National Express tickets and the Pesos but I still haven't been able to get the travel insurance. I want ryanair, but there is something wrong with their site so that it isn't accepting payment. I have emailed them and hoping to get a reply soon.

Oooooh, it is getting really exciting now. I just wish I could find some decent photos. This is the best I could find.

I'm back at College

Well nearly. . .! All PHA staff has to complete a 1year, City & Guild, level 3 course in Mental Health Awareness. Carol and I are in group B, so we will be attending every other week to Lisa and Jess who are doing the same course but are in group A.

It was our first proper all day lesson today, and wow, we are really worried about what we have got ourselves in for. It looks very complicated and comprehensive. There are 9 assignments to be completed by the end of the year and then there is a test which we must pass or else we need to take it again next year.

There is also an awful lot of homework to be done, so that will be interesting to see how it will fit in with my camping weekends. Luckily I have only planned one per month during summer or four in total, which includes the bank holiday weekend in August when we are going for nearly a week.

I shall keep you up-to-date.