Life!

I was scheduled to ring handbells every morning for the remainder of the week once the bank holidays were out of the way.  I had thought of dropping out but in the end decided to go for it.  New Year's resolution - ensure Tim knows I only want to ring once or twice a week! Wed 28th -beautifully clear, crisp and very cold morning.  Scraping ice off the car.  Mike dropped me off at Tim's and then took Suki for a walk - the obelisk one again.  I got a lift with Tim and Sue over to David's.  Andrew joined us and we had a couple of attempts at a peal of Cambridge Royal.  I was much better than before and began to see more of it.  The first attempt ground to a halt after about 40 mins and then the second one went for longer and had really settled down when it was realised that 3-4 had been round the wrong way for a long time! So we stopped.  We then rang a QP of it and had a cup of tea.  I caught the bus back, which was a nice adventure.  Tom was in the garden when I got back a

Meanwhile the rest of the family got together in London for the big day (except of course for John and Gill who went off on a cruise to Madeira).  Amanda and Sam stayed in our house for the week which gave them extra space and eased the pressure on Carolyn's one-bedroomed flat. Amanda sent out this e-card on Christmas Eve Everyone had a big pile of presents to open - after two hours they were still at it and only the children had opened any! It was all a bit too much for Harrison! Unfortunately the day ended with Amanda and Lorraine taking Bethany to A&E where she was diagnosed with a perforated ear drum.  She was in a lot of pain poor little thing.  What a shame to end such a nice day like that. Dosed up with antibiotics and paracetemol she was running around again the next day, although her ear was still bleeding.  She had a new toy dog which she called Suki. Leanne accepted a proposal of marriage from Ifty and messaged us the good news like th

Amanda and Sam left early in the morning to go up to Melton to meet the removals people.  We got off to Devon in very good time and had a good journey down - so arrived at 12 rather than 1.  Wayne had popped out, but there was another builder there so we were able to get in.  The kitchen was just stunning.  Lots of light getting in and plenty of space to move about in.  It looked like something out of a magazine It wasn't quite finished - the replacement dishwasher will arrive in the new year as will the final end panels for the fridge and freezer (so the unit doors were not attached to the appliance doors) - but it was near enough to be jaw-droppingly fantastic. It even has lights beneath the cupboards I discovered to my delight one evening! The utility room was equally stunning, and beautifully warm with its new insulation, two new radiators, new back door and window and new glass panelled connecting door. The window in the small loo had been replaced

The weekend before Christmas was the usual manic one - at least for Mike.  I had a quiet Saturday and was picked up by Monica in the evening to go to the Cantanti Christmas Concert.  She had come straight from the St Nicks Christmas Lunch - it had only started at 3 pm so I was glad I hadn't gone to it.  The concert was like a reunion. People kept coming up to me to say hello - Steve, Jane Haslam, Chris Gould, Janice and Philip. It was lovely.  And I got a Christmas kiss from Chris May afterwards, and also one from Richard M!!    There was very nice QP of Superlative before the concert which Mike called.  Monica took me straight home afterwards and Mike went off to the post-concert party and came in late!  Sunday was manic for us both.  We went to the 8 am service - and then found that Hammersmith Bridge was closed.  Mike and I went to Fat Boys and had a full english breakfast - which was just as well as we didn't eat again until mince pies in the evening.  Monica didn't se

I spent the whole of this week in a state of near panic - concentrating on getting all my Christmas cards written and sent out (over 100 of them).  I tried getting the newsletter printed by an online printer - and was really pleased with the result.  They looked good and were so much less hassle than trying to print them myself and in addition cost less than the price of one black printer cartridge for 100.  So at least that helped.  I did succeed in getting them all posted by the end of the week but it is a huge operation and needs to be managed with spreadsheets etc! Extra time pressure was exerted because Saturday was something of a write-off.  We went to Brian's 80th birthday lunch - which was in the Surbiton Club.  This turned out to be a kind of working men's club - somewhat of a contrast to The Leander Club earlier in the year!  We arrived just after 12, which was the start time - and the food came out at 1.30 pm!  It was nice for Mike to see some people from the King

Panic is definitely setting in now December has arrived - Christmas is only just over 3 weeks away! Thurs 1st .  Went to Zumba Gold and had long phone call with Malc and Skype with Jayne.  Just enough time in the day to walk Suki twice, have a shower and out for handbells in the evening.  Rang a peal of Yorkshire on 5-6 with James, Pru and Caroline.  Hard going at times but it was also pretty good in places and it was such a relief to finally score something after a string of failures.  It was also a date which James needed so a nice result.  Had a nightmare journey home.  Got off the Jubilee Line at Westminster and when I got to the District Line platform they announced the District Line was suspended.  So had to go all the way back down and get on the Jubilee Line again.  Then missed Bond Street because I was reading my Kobo book, so got off at Baker Street and worked my way back again.  Then when I arrived at Shepherds Bush it was clear there was some sort of traffic problem as