Malawi & More

 My Saturday morning involved watching the scaffolding coming down and making a lovely salad for BigA and me. Later he headed off to watch The Odesy and I went for a little garden party and sing song with the Folk 33 lot and then back to the E for the DJ set there with the Bs. Back for cuddles and a catch up with my lovely husband. I forwent the after party I was invited to. Remarkably I woke feeling refreshed and ready for a good garden tidy, now I could get the brush down the side again and BigA quickly fixed the hanging basket bracket and hosepipe hook up. I felt very proud of my little garden and how it's coping with no rain. At least it wasn't roasting hot. Later that day one of BigA's child hood pals and wife arrived. They have returned from another stint overseas and we're using us as a base to house hunt. They have moved home 9 times in the last 18 years. They both agree it's never fun.  This week saw me having a much desired catch up with a very long lastin...

S and I were both feeling delicate after the night before and so agreed on a slow day which was garden based to begin with and then a slow stroll to the beach, fizzy drink, pier, sand, sea, ice-cream, home for a nap. That day also gave the joyful news that A's suitcase had turned up, complete and undamaged. Phew. (She looks like she's had the most wonderful time) Then to complete a delightful day, off with a delicious evening Indian meal.  And then the day we'd come so far for. We awoke fresh and excited. The background is simply a chance image that S saw and sent to our little WhatsApp group of 'Wuthering Heights day'. And then I saw that this year there was one at G, My home town! (This might even be an annual event although none of us had heard of it) And you can't ignore the fates telling you to go, that would be rude. Dressed in my only red dress that kinda still fits and Sharon in a plum red and glorious flowery, Frida Kahloesque headdress, we set off to ...

It felt like a busy morning, A's birthday presents and a tidy to get the dust up from the solar installation and then I got ready for the game day. Sadly not me playing but still off to Tottenham leisure centre to set up etc. This did mean I avoided the arrival of A's mates and could ignore any sleeping arrangements being agreed and made for that night. I was very pleased that a bunch of mates and A's group all came and A had booked a table for her lot in the same pub I was in for the skating after party. We'd got them tickets to the game so they boosted numbers and, although they didn't have a clue what was going on at first, I think they enjoyed the sport. After the pub BigA and I were able to wander home together and went via Lidl - and impulse bought an air fryer!  A and her pals were all up and about relatively early the next day and it was great that they headed off to get last minute tickets for Wicked. I was lucky enough to have M and D over for a bit that m...

   Irritatingly I woke up early and just could not get back to sleep so gave up and got up and then set about doing a good old garden session, channeling my inner M by clearing away dead stuff, digging up a sad looking lavender that was spoiling the height lines and deciding that the bench was best left to the woodlice. Harvested the potatoes before the slugs destroyed it all and sorted the little vegetable patch as best I could. All this with a gentle breeze and cloud cover so I didn't get at all hot and I felt really rather pleased with my efforts.  A had a lie in, having been shattered by the physical week of work. I love spoiling her, breakfast in bed and making her food she enjoys. We had a lovely afternoon in the garden, chatting away and had our dinner there too before a bang on average film and me off to bed. Sunday I went to roller derby practice and was able to take part for the first hour but didn't try the much more hitting bit so headed home to get bits ready...

  My morning was delightful as my still teenage child was already up and in the garden with an iced coffee she'd made herself and I got her tiny paddling pool out and we sat with cool feet while we told each other about the night before. She had seen school friends, including her two favourite history teachers and me with old work school pals.  I'm of course that's age where I was really looking forward to seeing a pal but almost equally delighted when he said he wasn't feeling great so we did not do the bottomless brunch in boiling hot London. Instead I set about doing a cupboard sort out to fit the plastic plates Margaret had donated. I'd taken a good load into school and still have some left. I cleaned one freezer draw and did a general tidy in anticipation of 2 of A's uni pals who were coming for the week ahead. That evening we had a very nice time with a different pal who bought over stuff for a rather lovely evening of cocktails. Very chilled and relaxed e...

I had a blissfully uneventful Saturday in which I mainly read a book. Sunday a little busier, skating and a little house party to celebrate our friends twins turning 18. That's was lots of fun and we met lots of family which meant being there felt like we were kinda family too.  BogA had a bit of difficulty finding a vehicle that could fit in ayla's art that is now home. And has been trying to find people to not quote us insane money to fix our drain pipe. At this rate I suspect he'll do half the job himself, the demolition part so they can't say it cost nearly £6000.  The heat has been interesting, the loud and long thunder storm on Monday night woke the house, which included the cats. My school refusing to shut and still, for some unknown reason, insisting on ties on. I did 2 mornings for the training I deliver, so useful for me and does make me pine for a little more autonomy at work. But the longer I'm there the more I remember that the simpler life is often the...

  It was so lovely having you stay M&D. We very much enjoyed finishing off the lemon cake.  I woke to BigA sending a WhatsApp to A as in the middle of the night she sent a message to tell us she was in A&E. Her very sensible boyfriend had called 111 and on advice she went in. I'm so often filled with pride for my child and the mature way she told us and kept us in the loop was one of those moments. I was also pleased I'd slept through the first and second messages so woke to a mini emotional rollercoaster ride which happily ended with, she's fine! The Drs confirmed she had done the right thing coming in but actually all is well, just an oddity of life.  Then to getting up, which I reluctantly did, not because I wasn't looking forward to the day more that it still felt so early and I wished I could sleep longer, despite nearly 10 hours of sleep. I'm told this is normal for women of my age. Pondering this I also thought about the fact I'm still very clearl...

Good morning beautiful pals  I have successfully not had a drink since the epic weekend I'm about to describe... I really think my liver is in need of recovery and I'm due out with uni pals today. I'm very much hoping that like many of my now middle aged perimenopausal mates they are off big drinking and we'll talk about symptoms including lack of sleep, and then laugh lots about how much we used to drink when it was fashionable to wear clothes you could see your underwear through. The good old, long gone days.  Here's the email J and I had a healthy breakfast, drank lots of tea and then I made brunch and we all feasted on that. While we got ready BigA and K investigated the cause of our drain pipe flood by removing the skirting board and cutting another hole in the wall. Once we were all dressed, smart casual, we grabbed umbrellas but happily missed most of the rain as we set off to London town for a day of games and silliness.  First stop at The Counting House, ba...

 With just the weekend left of our break we packed it in, a much needed garden tidying and trip to the tip, the usual house clean and tidy and then over to D and D's while BigA watched the football and joined us later. I went to big skater training on Sunday and although still not allowed to do the really fun part I'm still glad I went.  The heat and sun are bearable when you are not at work and I found the radiators on in my studio, my new school will not win any eco-friendly awards any time soon. It was nice to be back, I felt prepared and ready to meet more new classes (the yr 7 and 8 rotate each half term) although I was quickly tired this week and quite grumpy on Thursday, the contrast with my wonderful week the week before made being a work a bit of a grump making feeling when I wasn't being listened to. Although I have had some of the usual lovely interactions and some of those horrid ones you get being a teacher. A highlight including one of my form letting me help ...

  More solid life contentment from me. I did find out that the bone in my neck hasn't healed yet and so I'm still not allowed contact sport, re-scan in 6 months. But after a little cry about that I got on with feeling happy.  After the strangeness of the night before I woke up to normal sounds and sat on a bench in the sun reading a play I bought in anticipation of teaching it. A little too much swearing for my new school, which is ironic as we know. Once up, BigA set up the induction hob outside for our first glamping breakfast of our break and, courtesy of the owners I drank some good strong Yorkshire tea. I forget how good that tea is. A dear friend stocked our kitchen when we turned from Malawi and that tea made coming home feel a little better and yesterday I bought myself a box as a treat.  We got the bus into York town center and without any particular plan we wandered around happening upon places, ancient and new. Great street food and a few purchases to treat our...

I very much wish I could have slept longer this morning. I don't know how to turn on the kettle without waking BigA up!  Life feels good right now and I'm letting myself indulge in the joy of that. But I do really want a cup of tea. (We're away - I'm not being mad) BigA and I both woke up annoyingly early on Saturday last week but only he had to actually get up as he had an appointment at Moorfields. (All going well with his eye now being monitored) He brought me a cup of tea and so I could at least stay put for a bit. After I'd had breakfast I decided to tick off some bits on my things to do list, one was doing some on foot research into local launderettes for my roller derby team. Once he got back we headed off to meet up with J, M and J to watch a charity comedy football match in Chesham. It was lots of fun and very silly. Seeing people who are proper famous for being funny being not very good at football was well worth the drive. I think my favourite rule was th...

After a little house tidy I went off to meet a pal who I have now known for over 15 years, funny how some people stick and others don't. We usually see each other in rapid succession for a few months and then there is a massive gap in-between. And, as is the way with friendships like that, it felt as if no time had passed at all as we sat in his garden and chatted about teaching these days and our daughters who have almost finished their first year at uni. We wandered into Muswell Hill where I was greeted with a "Miss" and after a great felt cuddle this old student and I enjoyed a good old catch up. Then I went home because despite thinking I was feeling better I was starting to feel rough again and needed to rest in the comfort of my own home. Bloody colds. Sunday I did the rookies session, wobbly though. But I'm glad I went because, despite me having to blow my nose a lot I did a good job considering I really am not ready for full contact yet.  My working week was a...

  Today is special - it's my dad's anniversary for a start but also the day my sister does another wonderful thing.  She does wonderful things often by the way. Some big, some small and today, one of the big ones.. so if you want donate here if you haven't already.  Her rather lovely husband is also doing this one!  And so to my week, less impressive.  We took a drive out to Coton Manor garden with a short stop off at a garden centre and the local reservoir that was on the way. The garden was part of a private home, very beautiful. And showed me how plants I have in my garden might one day be. The weather was warm and welcoming, they had various farm animals near and about and a delightful bluebell wood, that although on its way out was still a lush carpet of the blue lilac of that spring flower.  We then spent a gentle afternoon together and a quiet evening by the fire. The next morning, after a very tasty breakfast we set off back to London for, mainly As...

  Saturday was a joyous day. My lovely husband wandered down the high street with me to encourage me to try on almost every dress in the one good womens clothes shop on Gorleston high street and in the end I bought a great outfit for my niece's birthday party.  We did then go into a retro shop and got a few more things, followed by a rather lovely lunch and then a lay down in the sun in mum's garden before getting ready for the party. Oh and it was so lovely. We all looked fabulous, I think we made for a very attractive family. Perhaps not quite as attractive as our first taxi driver looked, sounded and smelled. He was like the lead love interest in a Jilly Cooper novel. The party was full of laughing, drinking, loud music of mostly us older ones era and then of course, dancing. My sister was on top social form, hosting brilliantly and getting everyone on the dance floor at some point and because I was surrounded with people I love and love me I went for it but oooff my feet d...

Despite not getting enough sleep, I woke up on Saturday feeling productive which I put down to the sun rising into blue skies and so I spent my morning in the garden. It brings me so much joy and with each week more grows up again. Once BigA returned from frisbee I had an unsuccessful trying on of dresses and felt rather disheartened by dresses that, to be fair are older than the children I teach, not quite fitting and had a little cry. But I was cheered quickly by my lovely husband telling me he'd booked us a get away for our anniversary. That afternoon we wandered over to D's passing the football fans off to watch Tottenham fight for their place, and then we all walked through the Tottenham marshes to meet up with other pals for what turned into a long and very fun night in the brewery zone in Waltham Forest. It seemed extraordinary that there are so many places serving drinks in Warehouses - strange and lovely all at the same time. We met a very kind Israeli barman who was s...

 Post holiday blues are real, I tried hard to fend it off by doing stuff, but after mum left on Saturday I just slouched about for a while with very little motivation to get on with the day. It didn't help that it was cloudy and cold. But after a bit of sorting A and I went out for lunch and we watched a silly film and once she left I played some tunes recommended by my pals.  On Sunday I decided I would head to the rookies skating having woken up really early. New job nerves kicking in big time. I spent a bit of the day going over my plans for the first week. Mindful of the importance of setting the right tone. I didn't do much skating and skills, but enough to feel useful and to have moved my body a bit. The plan after the session was to go to the pub to chat to the new skaters and give them a chance to ask questions and hopefully persuade them to sign up for the full 10 weeks. I treated myself to a very nice pizza, not expecting to eat it all - but managed. There I had a ve...

  Our hotel room had, instead of a western bathroom set up, a Osen - a shower/bath set up that is very typical for this part of the world. I enjoyed using it in a relatively traditional way and also the privacy of it being in our room.  After an enjoyable breakfast we set off to the memorial museum to find a very long queue. So we decided that the wait was not quite on. Instead, despite the rain, we wandered through the memorial garden and saw the flame of peace, that will burn until all nuclear weapons have been destroyed or decommissioned. It is when great sadness that we all thought the same, it will never be extinguished. Then for our next mode of transport - a boat to an island - Miyajima. Sadly no view to speak of but the TV screen on board pointed out what we would have been able to look at on a sunnier day.  The island itself was beautiful even in the rain, with plenty to do for the day, a museum and shops to entertain us all well, we saw the famous floating templ...

If you read these, or have been reading mum's shorter and funnier ones you may want to get a nice drink and strap in for a long read. Or skim read the highlights!  Our first day was travel, because of the time difference that was all it was and we got to Tokyo on Sunday. We'll of course gain hours on the return. I managed to get some sleep, A, BigA and mum only about 15 minutes each, perhaps a little more. We easily got our taxi transfer to the first hotel of the trip and dumped our bags.i like mums style is travel!  Once slightly refreshed (it's true what the say about the toilets) we headed out on a mild evening as the sun was setting for a wander and some food. Although we are so very privileged to have quite a lot translated for us, it is hard to realise you know so very little and have the crippling embarrassment of not being able to ask in the most polite way possible. This translated to us having a less than satisfying first meal out where mum unwittingly ate tuna an...

  What a week... The end of a year.  Our blissful weekend at the W's feels like a lovely but distant memory. Those beautiful puppies, country walks, pub lunches and fire pit joy. Our extraordinarily British insistence that the sun shone so let's have a BBQ - which was lush but very cold and in the dark with torches lighting our way. And here I am on my way to Japan. Life is full and full on.  Two mornings this week have been getting up early to deliver the training sessions online to international adult students learning how to be a leader. I enjoyed them both and it reminded me of the elements of leadership I enjoy.  At school there have been lots of goodbyes and many last lessons with classes. I wasn't sorry to have my last lesson with one particularly hard year 9 class, but the drama club were sad and many students wished me the best of luck. I got some sweet cards and a few nice emails as well, quite a lot of chocolate, flowers and probably my...

Here's a humble brag - I have lots of friends and it's sometimes hard to stay in touch. (Over now) And I was thinking about just how lucky I am because I have you guys who I send my ramblings to and you don't mind! And if you do you just tolerate it.  Any way - thank you for being my select group of really lovely friends.  Here's the email The sun was shining in G when I got up last week, still cold though. My big sis had booked us a table at a place for a slightly early mother's day meal together (with mum of course) the food was delicious and plentiful. We got a doggy bag for K and then met up with him and enjoyed the wine at Wetherspoons. My sister saw people from her childhood days, some she knew the full name of despite not having seen them for nearly 50 years (impressive). It was lovely to relax together and laugh too.  Upon our arrival home T was just pulling up, she chatted away and I tried to keep up but was so sleepy after midday drinks. We were still do f...