Mother...

Well, there we were, up a Tuscan hillside enjoying a lush meal with fab views when my phone rang...'unknown caller', so, as you do, I ignored it.  Txt - voice mail...rang it - Centra here, your mother has activated her lifeline after a fall...

She had fallen backwards putting out the washing on the balcony, broke her hip and was promptly, well not quite promptly, but more in a sec, whisked off to hospital and headed for a partial hip replacement op!!

The not quite promptly bit is because, broken hip and all, she managed to drag herself to the loo and then sat on the chair nearby for a couple of hours chatting to the lovely lady on her alarm box!!

New hip on the Monday, we arrived home on the following Sunday, and my life has lost its rhythm since then!!  Hospital visits daily for 4 weeks (she caught c-diff)...then when she came back to her flat, she fell over at 5 in the morning, so the idea of leaving her alone sort of disappeared...Sis came does for 10 days or so, which has given me some respite, but then mother was offered a one bed sheltered housing move...

After getting over the shock of the downsizing...she's moved.

Isn't hindsight a wonderful thing!  Instead of doing the obvious, paying for a mover and house clearance company to do it, I ( and it was me...) decided We can do this...well I have, everything that has been moved ( and thrown out out) has been done by me...and Ryan, a very nice lad from man with a van co that helped move the few big items we could keep!!

Old flat being handed back on Friday - so three days to dispose and clean everything left there...oh well, back to the coal face!!

Old and New

Pride cometh before a fall etc..etc...

I WANTED three items when i retired...new car, new MacBook, new apple watch...AND I did get them and proud ( and a bit smug as well) was I.

Serves me right then...

1) Had

this beauty FIVE days then...

 M & S car park bollard...

Went out and thought I was being really clever- bough a refurbished MacBook Air 11inch 250gb from Apple..then in confusion of mother injuring herself managed to pour something over it :((

Expensive repair by lovely place in St Albans Solutions.http://www.solutions-inc.co.uk/st-albans-store/...

Watch...preordered it, a lovely new one...left it in hotel in Milan...:((((  Luckily for me, Carlo was able to retrieve it  - sigh...


So, now all three are back and in one piece!  Combined cost of car and MacBook reaching towards £1000 and a meal for Carlo :)

AND I dooooo like them ...

Good Morning...

Well, its now November!!  November 8th to be precise...

Our holiday was brilliant :)

Hightlights...

Wobbly in Frankfurt...

 More bier - and food Munich...

 Driving over The Alps...

 First dawn at Nippozzano...

 Sunset at Nipozzano...

 Pontesieve...

 Florence...

 We were when we heard Mother had fallen over and broken her hip...:(((

 Caen...

Portsmouth and home...via Stoke Mandeville Hospital...

The Fazey-Wood European Tour 2016 👫

Good Morning - it is 6.29 Italian ( Central European Time) here in Tuscany...I can't describe what it looks like as we arrive in the dark and right now its still dark!!  Well, just getting light.

Here in Tuscany!  I LOVE the sound of that...

This day 3 of our little adventure, good old fashioned touring - so where have we been?

Day 1 (counting this as day 1, even though it was the evening!!)Friday 30th September 
(77 Miles)

Suzie rushed home from work - changed and we were off...to Harwich for the 23.00 ferry to Hooke Van Holland. (I had spent the afternoon restlessly pacing a circle in the living rom carpet!! )

Easy ( this will become an oft said phrase) ride in our lovely new car and arrived in plenty of time - our 'usual' meal stop was rammed so we had a wander, found a lovely Chinese that started our 'holiday off lovely🍴
On ferry with loads of time to spare as well...

Didn't feel the need this time to be on deck when we left, BUT I couldn't physically get to sleep before we had started to leave port!!  Oh hum...

Saturday 1st October  Day 2 Hook to Frankfurt 

Centro Hotel National Deluxe City

Arrived 4 ish, room airy and clean..went for a wander.  

That was our plan, arrive, walk around to have gander and find somewhere to go in the evening.  We wandered, noticed bar NEXT to hotel sold wobbly (Warstiener)..eventually returned there for a bier:) Had a lovely donner sandwich...

(There will be LOTS of food photo's on here, and so far everything we've eaten, be it in a cafe, road side service station or restaurant has been excellent 🍴)

So, to our exciting evening in Frankfurt...!! Not rushing back.  We walked to the old quarter, hum, few chairs around, few people sat on them, nothing inviting.  So we wandered on, found a square that looked 'bustling' - a duo singing some dirges, sorry, ballads with a few people dancing to them.  Felt very sordid to me, probably the grump in me coming out!!  

Right...this was as  far I went trying to write this as we went along...actually a tad disappointed with myself...

BUT good old Facebook has pics...Fazey-Wood Euro Tour 2016

Coffee time again and more catch up...☕️

We visited wells Next To Sea...

 Sooooo, after my last day at school, we ( Suzie and I that is) buggered off to deepest Norfolk.  Lots of reasons; to make a clean break from leaving, hadn't been there before and not to far away!

And a very pleasant break it was too. Weather couldn't have been kinder, the B & B was perfectly adaquate, brekkies quite peasant, and the local town charming.  As Suzie put it, been there, done it...dont feel the need to rush back!! Pics...

 We found Bill and Ollie :))

Catching up...I retired from teaching... Found out I had Very High Blood Pressure!!

I retired from teaching...

Been building up to this for a while.  Lots of reasons, but at 60 that's enough.  Patience running thin, hearing paying for the years of headphones and, the only way  I can describe it, picking up on the high screeching tones!!

Knowing I'm not in the same calibre as the younger generation there...time to move on.  

I have been asked twice in the last 10 days or so 'am I missing it?'...no, not a jot.  What I will miss over the longer term is watching a group of children grow up - that's been a pleasure.

Highlights? Dell Farm...making friends, maybe not close friends, but more than I had before it started!  

Found out I had Very High Blood Pressure!!

There I was, thinking that I was getting fit...been working on #gettingfitordie and #countdowntoColl for a while, and took part in this years St Albans Walking Half Marathon , along with others from school...did alright as it happens!  

Anyway, persuaded to take part in a 'Well Person @ Work' check...nice young lady said me whats your doctors phone number..and promptly phoned and made me an appointment!!

Well, now on statins and blood pressure tablets...oh well!

44 years...continued...

Been out for little run this morning...a very pleasant place this:)

 Oh...and found this of me, back garden at Beechcroft Road, 44 years ago:))

44 years....

Here at Patshull Park for my second go at meeting guys I met 44 years ago!!  Tried 2 years ago, was very ill, so did not have a great time.  Hoping for better this time around:0

As said, 44 years ago (on 5th September 1972) 73 of us embarked on an adventure - i.e. going to RAF Hereford as the last cadre of Admin Apprentices to enlist...as our motto became,

"The last, But Unsurpassed'.

Big question is for me, can I remember any of it!!  I have flash backs, and chatting with guys last night over a beer/wine or two, bits jumped out of the ether to remind me of places/events...

Langorse lake in winter, or was it spring?, for a camp.  Rolling over in canoes, sailing for the first, and as far as i can recall the last, time in a dingy...running up the hill carrying logs! - i

Walking over the Beautiful Breacon Beacons to Crickhowell on a stunningly hot day and running out of water.  That first drop when we arrived in the town was nectar.

Cleaning the floor, cleaning the dog, our first shoot on the range, our flight experience down the road from here at RAF Cosford...

I have an appalling memory for people and faces - in fact I have an appalling memory, perhaps thats why I now take as many pics as I possibly can!

It was a long time and several eras in my life ago...it did lead to where I am now though ( with some real bumpy bits on the way!)

8 Years...8!!

August 16th - We celebrated eight years as a married couple 😀  (We also celebrate in March - when we actually met-if I'm correct thats 14 coming up!)  We had a lovely meal in the Salisbury Arms - where we had our wedding Breakfast :)

We've had fun, been to some interesting places over the years...had some great weekends at Joyces and Dr Dix's.  Most of all, been good for each other without any real tension rearing its ugly head :)

Here's to the next ranch of our life together🍾

I turned 60 this July..

Remember 40 being a total wipeout, wrong people, wrong life...50 was good, right people around, Loch Ness, Edinburgh Tattoo and a lovely Indian with friends :)


So, what was going to make my 60th different for me.  I had set a few rules, A) No party...B) no SURPRISE party...😀

Luckily Suzie took the hint and sent me off to London for a couple of days furlough:)

Had a great time, spent me birthday evening walking along the Thames Path (South Side), past Brunel's Tunnel, Pepys Deptford et al ( I do love a good diary 😀 ) and on to Greenwich, via a couple of ale houses...

Next day it was The Globe and Taming of The Shrew and a bit of Baroque By Candleight at St Martin in the Fields..pics here on Facebook

After saying the blogs on my page all seem to have passed away, Brit Girl In USA has reappeared!  And I'm going to steal her idea ( magpie in my former trade) of recalling 'wots occurred'...

So here's a quick recap of the major events and changes in the past 6 months or so, to catch you up......but just headlines and I will follow-up with the back story to many of them over the next few weeks.

• I turned 60 this July..
• We celebrated our 8th wedding Anniversary this August..
• I retired from teaching...
• We visited wells Next To Sea...
• Found out I had Very High Blood Pressure!!
• I have re-read David Edison...am reading at least 3 genres at present!!
• I am completed a walking half marathon and a 10km run on The Isle Of Coll...
• I am learning to cook and eat in a much healthier way...
• I am addicted to Twitter...
• I have taken 2 pairs of grandchildren camping...not sure if that will happen again!!
• I have visited two wonderful, and very different, Scottish Islands...
• I have seen a FABULOUS production at The Globe...

I will expand on most of these in the coming weeks....

I Am Done...

Well, here we are again...another 6 months without a post!!

This should change, new Mac, new life...no more teaching :)

One BIG reason why myself, and countless others - on checking out the blog list on here, quite a few have quietly passed away -is the ease of sharing our lives with each other on the now ubiquitous Facebook...

So, now I have the leisure to (hopefully) gently while away some time in a cafe drinking coffee, I am going to endeavour to record more of both has happened and is happening to our little group on here again.  Facebook is great for the instant sharing of memes, pics, short thoughts, but not anything a tad more in depth.

Will try to compartmentalise this jabbering on - usual family, friends, activities (hopefully lots of walking !) sport (okay, football) sort of groups.  Enjoy, if you wish, ignore if you wish...don't expect a literary masterpiece though...

#countdowntocoll...

Another WOW - 3 months since my last post!!

Must keep up to date!!

Right, hows my #getfitordie part 3 campaign going?  Not too bad, weight loss could be better, around 5 lb, (and would be if I kept off the ale 🍻😀)

Haven't done a lot of walking, but I am running, well run, walk, breathe, repeat!!

Saturday around Chesham, yesterday around Bengeo/Stapleford/Waterfod Marshes...aim is for around 6.50/7 min per km...getting there, but I can't yet say I actually enjoy running!!

Anyway, yesterday we had another grand afternoon feast with D & J....diet, what diet!!