Current Mood:
relaxing
A new year, a new decade and a time to reflect, for me anyway. Looking back on 2009 fills me with sadness. I find it hard to believe that this world has been without my mum for almost 10 months! I still can’t believe that she’s not going to walk through the door or be at the end of the phone when it rings. Very sadly, I now contemplate that if mum was still here I would still be in my home town. It’s all thanks to her that we are here now, in a place that we adore. Oh but what I would give to have her back 
I now have much more time for reflection. If I was still working, I’d have gone back to work yesterday. It was then that it really struck home what I’ve actually done! Having worked for more than 20 years it’s quite strange being unemployed. I feel guilty at getting up late. I still think that I only have a limited amount of time to get jobs done. Years and years of having a time limit dictated by the school term! I’m getting my need for children’s company satisfied by all the babysitting we’re doing. Robyn is of the age that I love most….just coming up to 3. Such fun, such curiosity and like a little sponge lapping up everything going on around her. I love how she’s trying to assert her independence all the time, challenging me to come up with different strategies which make her think she’s still in control. I love how keen she is to learn new things and how easily she does!
Lastly a couple of photos to give you an idea of how it looks around here, more later. Bear in mind that for the last 40+ years, I’ve lived in the Fens, renowned for it’s flatness….even a mole hill looked out of place! Now, I can look out of my window and see this…….bliss!
down our lane
More…
Current Mood:
blogging
Hmmm, not sure if there’s anyone left out there after deserting the place for months! My excuse is quite good though….we have finally moved, from the east of England to the south west….Dorset to be exact. A major move, particularly on my part, having lived all my life (I won’t disclose how many years!) in the totally flat Fens, we now look out to rolling hills and a valley just down the road! We arrived the Saturday before Christmas and have spent a large part of the time unpacking and babysitting as it’s right here that our grandchildren live 
. So wonderful to be able to help out as often as possible as our daughter and son-in-law are very busy people managing a highly popular pub in the town.
We both gave up our jobs to come here and will be looking for something new in a couple of months time. It was a heart wrenching time saying goodbye to people who I’d worked with for up to 20 years….and also my beloved class who had done so well in their first term at school.
Enough for now, but I will be back, with photos of our new home when I have more time…..still much to do!
Current Mood:
doing the washing
Yes, Dave was blown away by Les Mis just like I was all those years ago. Isn’t it one of life’s supreme pleasures when you see a loved one enjoy something you’ve banged on about for years?? I bought the Les Mis CD and he’s been playing it in the car ever since 
Something I’ve always wanted to do (even though I know London really well, having spent 3 years close by when I was training to be a teacher) is to take a ride on one of the open top buses. So that’s what we did! We were lucky with the weather, no rain, thank goodness. The bus ride took about five hours, much longer than we were expecting and it scuppered our plans to go to London Zoo but we didn’t mind. I was fascinated to see and hear about lesser known parts of London such as birth places of famous people, wealthiest parts of London etc. Best of all though was seeing all those iconic landmarks. I can’t think of another city in the world that has quite as many as London does (well, maybe Paris?!). here’s a few of them:
We had a wonderful weekend all in all and came home to find our two dogs thrilled to see us (a friend had dog sat for us). Unfortunately just before we went to bed we discovered a leak coming from the cold water tank which is housed in the loft. What followed turned into a total nightmare! I won’t go into details as it’s a long story, suffice to say that we were left with no water for three days by an ill chosen bunch of cowboys. Eventually we were rescued by a thoroughly decent, expert plumber on the 4th day and now everything is back to normal!
We had a day in Cambridge to cheer ourselves up the next day and it did the trick. Lunch in the fab Giraffe restaurant and a good browse around the wonderful shops were just what the doctor ordered! I fell in love with a beautiful Monsoon dress but didn’t buy it. When I got home I kept thinking about it (how often have I done that?!) and ended up ordering it online….it arrived today and is BEAUTIFUL!
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