...celebrate the little things.

Oh joy, after a morning spent visiting one of my favourite blogs that has brought much needed humour to a rather sorrowful time I have the added pleasure of realising I can once again access my blog. 'Mine's not to reason why but' to just think thank f*** for that and try to write/type again.

It's been an eventful year thus far and Covid has taken a back seat to redundancies, school rejections, deaths and funerals. Ain't life a ball!  Thankfully all virus free and grateful that eldest is isolating himself in our house in Wales. We offered to bring him back after the funeral. He graciously declined so we left him a cat for company, breathed a sigh of relief and jumped in the car before he changed his mind. His girlfriend has bravely opted to do what we hoped not to and frankly if their relationship survives this then it is a 'made in heaven' and she'll definitely be one worth keeping. Much as we love him dearly he was the first to agree that endless weeks of forced close contact 24/7 would have resulted in a homocide. So 6 become 5 and one less portion of pasta needed, thanks be, 3 bags go nowhere when your locking down with 4 full grown males! Tried to sneak my gluten free packet in as  an extra but foiled at the till.

Anyway, yesterday we finally had some good news in amongst all the gloom. No 3 son has been offered a place on a Foundation degree ballet course and all is well again for him and for me, who loves to watch him dance.  The funeral was for my mother who died in March on Friday 13th, no 1 son's favourite film, she always did have a soft spot for him. Grateful for the little things in current times, we got to be with her at the end and were allowed a small private funeral. My mother loved to dance, as did my dad, and, although I cry everytime I watch no 3 perform because they won't get to see him, I know their love of dance lives on in him.

The Nutcracker -2019

.. endeavour to understand democracy?

Okay another thought.  We are leaving Europe because we are a democracy and circa 52% of the U.K want to leave.  Fair point however 48% want to stay because they accept the status quo.

If we look at the 52% they do not all want the same thing.  Some want to remain in the single market but have control over all their laws, okay but that means free movement of people.  Ah! but I don't want that say others of the 52% . I want to stop immigration.

It is fairly bloody obvious that had there been a manifesto which properly speltout what the agenda was to be on leaving that the leave vote would have been split and the remains would have had an easy majority.

Ultimately if we do leave the EU it will be a minority who get what they want, the new leader of the conservative being one of them.  So that is what we call democracy in this country durhhh.

ask for people to be allowed to change their mind.

Okay here we go.  I know many people say the people have spoken and a decision has been made and we should abide by that decision.  However do we truly all believe that and live our lives that way.  When I give my children the freedom to make their own decisions and they realise they have made a mistake because they didn't quite understand the facts or believe what they were told or were infact lied to, then I allow them to change their mind.  As a good parent I do try to save them from certain decisions which I know they are not ready to make due to their youth and inexperience but that is not always possible.   

I know I sound condescending but needs to be said that whilst there are many vociferous Brexit supporters out there who are fully convinced we should be moving ahead with this decision to leave the EU, there also appears to be plenty of people having serious regrets now the reality of the situation has kicked in and the lies they were told uncovered.

I personally feel David Cameron let us down badly by giving us this opportunity, he was not a good parent as the ramifications of this decision were way to complicated for us to understand and I say that as someone who studied EU law as part of my diploma.

However the irresponsible politicians kept pushing for it and let's be honest Cameron really didn't think it would pan out this way and, it appears, some of the Brexit leaders didn't either, hence no plan.

So now knowing that immigration is to remain pretty much the same, the NHS money promised will not be happening, many local councils are now desperately trying to work out how to replace the EU funding they will be losing and our pound is in free fall and in Nigel Farage's own words another recession is on the cards.  Knowing the only change Boris wants is to tinker with the laws, beware if you are a woman and planning on maternity leave soon, or perhaps a part time worker who pays into a work pension, a disabled person like my mother who would like to be able to have access to a loo when out and about .......these are the sort of rights we got from EU law.  Hand on heart can you all say you wouldn't mind having a little bit more honest and open information given to you and maybe the opportunity to change your mind.

..... take my mother to a coffee morning.

It is a sad fact of life that as your children grow older and with growing independence forge their own way in life, your parents go into decline.  Many of my generation chose to start families later and in my case, whilst still having two relatively young children to care for I have the added sadness and burden of caring for my parents, in particular my mother.  To be fair most of it falls on my brother and his wife due to their close proximity but part of the reason for buying our holiday home in Wales was to enable me to share the load. The added joy of being a teacher again means I can renew my career and still spend many weeks here in the village where I grew up and where my parents still reside.

My mother was a big church woman, attended services religiously (excuse the pun), however due to her lack of mobility she now only attends when I am here to take her.  Most of her days are spent sat in her red chair watching the many quiz shows that make up day time viewing.  My father, although still fairly mobile and leading an active life in the community with his volunteering, struggles to take mother out as his emphysema worsens.

Therefore she was terribly excited to be told in church last Sunday that they would be holding a coffee morning today and so once this is posted I will drive up to their place, shower her, dress her and push her wheel chair down to the village Yacht club to enjoy a cup of coffee there. Just as 17 years ago I washed, dressed and pushed my eldest children to that very same venue for toddlers sessions.

How life does change.

   

                    Mother and father enjoying a cup of tea and a pimms on our balcony.

... hit the beach with the not so little guys.

Technology sorted and life getting that way too.  Lots has happened since last post but now is not the time to go into all that.  Let's just say another renovation awaits, not the one I'd hoped to be doing but am now happily resigned to the situation and life, as they say, moves on.  It has been a glorious half-term week and amazingly, this is Wales after all, the sun doth shine. So picnic packed, still sandy shorts and beach shoes  retrieved from rapid wash cycle and " hei ho, hei ho it's off to Cwmtiddy we go."  Been a while actually, a thirty odd years while, when I was barely much older than no 3 son is now.

Pictures to follow :) but knew if I didn't bite the bullet and get writing again this minute, I never would.

As promised and just to prove that yes the sun does sometimes shine in wet old Wales.

                                     ... and this final picture was taken by no. 4 son.

.. connection issues with blogger

Hi, sorry for the delay.  Technical post this so short.  I have now and in the past had constant problems connecting to my blogger account.  My original blog had to be deserted in the end and due to the privacy setting I used I am not even able to read it let alone copy and save any of the posts I wrote.

It is happening again.  I know my gmail user address and I know my password or did, today I changed it three times and yet when I sign in it refuses to acknowledge me unless as now I use the same browser and have come on here directly via the email they sent, which limits me to safari not my usual chrome.

So unless some genius out there has the answer, or can direct me to a more straightforward hosting site then I am afraid I will have to discontinue this one aswell. It is just too time consuming plus now my laptop is thankfully up and running again I need to be able to access it from there.

Aurevoir for now or goodbye for ever if I can't get back again,

Rachelxx

.. tell about our 3rd renovation and introduce our 4th.

Our third house had been part of my life always.  It started life as the village police house, no cells but office attached and accessed via glazed corridor, which we turned into a large and rather beautiful wooden conservatory.  The office became a spacious sitting room.  One of my first friends, Meirwen and her brother Robert lived there, their dad the village bobby.  In time it became a private house and I spent many a Saturday night babysitting for the two young children in residence, both now scarily with children of their own some not much younger than my littlies.

Family life and as ever a lack of funds mean't we spent five years renovating whilst adding two more boys to our chaotic household - who else has hubbie and father fitting windows on Christmas eve whilst they are out doing their Christmas shopping I ask.   Sam, no 3, arrived the same week as our kitchen.  I remember well answering the door to our range cooker delivery guy to be met with a look of horror when he clocked my extended belly and realised he was on his own getting this one into place.  He finally left me with it wedged in the hallway blocking off access to half of my house till dearest hubbie returned from work and shifted it.  I was not impressed. I was impressed however by the efficient arrival of dishwasher next day which was promptly plumbed in by my dad in time for my return from hospital after the new arrival.  Unfortunately his fitting of the bath previously had been less prompt and a mess up by B&Q led to 3 months of being bathless at the beginning of that pregnancy.  Another lesson learn't, do not remove sole bath in house unless in full possession of replacement!   It was a lovely house but with the addition of no 4, Elliot, the upstairs proved too small, the third bedroom 7x7, a tad snug to fit two growing boys.  I still miss the spacious lower floor, with its vast kitchen,once sitting room, and its spacious reception rooms and entrance hall, the perfect place for our much travelled and battered but well loved family heirloom piano. We even managed to squeeze in a snug guest room with ensuite shower in part of the old kitchen.

This house took a year to sell.  Fortuitous because Mike changed jobs and the planned move within the village turned into a necessary move to Gloucestershire.  Timing is all and within two weeks of him getting the job we got and offer on the house.  Allowing us to buy .....

The house I loved,

Ivy Cottage,

Blakeney.