Malawi & More

On Saturday BigA drove me to school for the rehearsal of the school show. What a strange experience. It was very disorganized and so much of the time I felt we were focusing on things that really should have been done weeks ago. But the school is very lucky to have good technical equipment and a great dance department that may the show so much more professional than you'd expect from the rehearsal and meeting process. I think too that this week has been the most I've missed A. Show week holds many a happy and fun memory of our time together. When she was little and I worked at Southgate, she'd come to the weekend rehearsal. We would stop off at a small Tesco and get a picnic of sorts and I'd let her pick out a magazine, which was a real treat. In Malawi the main character in her yr 6 production and then at SAIntS she was in them each year, always a man or boy until the last year we were there when she was the lead in Hadestown. Always an excellent performer and knew exa...

  I had a delightfully pleasant Saturday, a call with mum, then R, bit of a dash around tidy then met J at the Hub, numerous teas drunk and chats and I bumped into a relatively new friend, who I went on a walk with around a couple of parks, back home to do a bit of light admin - like getting M's birthday presents ready and then relaxed while BigA cooked for the dinner party that evening. Oh and I potentially saved a life by pointing out to a man in the road that he was stood next to a very large no smoking sign with a lit cigarette in his hand. I let him know the reason for the sign was the gas leak being fixed. He thanked me. Laughed and as I recommended - he moved around the corner. The frisbee couple were delightful. We had so much in common, not least the shared Catholic background of us women and the atheist Judaism of the men. She made and brought a carrot cake, delicious and of course made me think of my dad. My weekend concluded with a meet up with my Southgate lot - the on...

  Although I enjoy spending time discovering new places it is nice waking up in your own bed and putting on a warm dressing gown on a Saturday morning. I did a few chores and then set about getting a few admin things done while Asher hastily put together a costume for his Frisbee party later that day. I got ready for a Roller Derby event, oddly nervous about it. I was greeted by friendly faces, some who knew why I hadn't been for a while and I was put to work setting things up. Got a few other jobs, and watched the games and spoke to a few people. As much as I love it, I haven't yet felt I'm really part of it all. Maybe because I'm just not that great at it. I can return and try again in a couple of months. I headed home to find Asher making his second costume of the day. He's very good, it must be more his determination that A has been inspired by. As he headed off I watched a bit of TV - more exhausted from the day than I had anticipated.  I used Sunday to read, g...

  Mum and I popped off to Tesco to get things for the planned roast dinner the next day. Then home to leftovers lunch and watched the sky turn grey and the clouds gather for the miserable rain of autumn.  After utilizing the free hour or so of electricity we braved the weather to head out to do more shopping. Happily the sun decided to shine and after a fairly successful shop we met with Joanna - on her second trip out post her most recent surgery - for drinks. She looked so good, but we both know that you might look fine on the outside but your body is so very far from healed. She's amazing and I was overjoyed to be there, laughing and sharing life. BigA joined us a bit later and we had a lovely bit of food in the pub we got married in. Bus back and a good film, but hard hitting so we watched an old Taskmaster to cheer us up before bed and the clocks changing.  Awake at my usual time I did a few quizzes before getting up to make the Yorkshire pudding batter and had a cup...

 The day started with BigA not following birthday protocol as he got up and made me a tea and himself a coffee. He was slightly fascinated by his presents from me, mainly because he didn't really approve of how the books has been produced and I felt a little conned and so much for my plan to do him a cafetiere of the coffee I'd bought him with breakfast. Oh well. Who needs to feel special when they turn 47! Instead I made him and M an alright coffee and we went to the greasy spoon for breakfast. Not Margaret's usual - she was astounded by the size of her omelette, salad and chips. We still haven't had the cheese by the way, I plan on sorting that out soon.  The day ahead was all about the garden for Margaret and me. After her doing most of the work, moving a few things and quite a bit of bulb planting BigA made me another cup of tea. (He doesn't get being spoiled) We relaxed before heading off for a meal at a restaurant that has been shut for a while which is a conv...

My weekend was relatively mundane, house work, and a bit of gardening, one of our house plants has been sprouting loads of off shoots, another 8 or so potted up but no where for them to go. I might leave them on the door step for passersby. I did see a man get very gently knocked over by a car. Both moving so slowly that at first I thought she'd missed him. He seemed fine, cross but fine and I wasn't any use, but an odd experience to see. I carried on to Lidl. Asher went off to help Dan and Debbie in some prep for their move and I did a little bit of Governor reading. Millie worked and then spent Sunday with her dad.  I did a bit of singing with E which was nice. I hope I manage it on Sunday, as it is a song with lots of meaning. Turn, Turn, Turn. More singing at choir this week, one really beautiful piece that is quite complex. And another that got really stuck in my head and lovely compliment from a woman who wasn't as confident/loud as me.  Work wise I have had so many o...

R and I made the most of the hotel breakfast buffet before we took a walk around the grounds. Then we headed to the gym. I took it easy but was very pleased to be doing something like real exercise. After that we had our treatments, a back massage and a facial. Both excellent and I felt very relaxed before heading to their house for the rest of the weekend.  The weather shifted from the brighter morning and so it was lovely to snuggle on their sofa after a hearty soup and play Codenames together. The tranquility of the countryside was really needed. It's this time of year when you just aren't sure you can cope with the greyness and shorter hours with any sun. Stretching our legs, me watching R and A swimming in bloody cold water. I did join in the hot drink and enjoyed a bacon sandwich. An afternoon of love and laughs and then sadly we had to leave.  BogA drove home and once in and in my pjs, I fell asleep easily enough although I've been getting that sinking Sunday feeling...