Life!

Christmas Newsletter 2017 On Friday I finally felt a bit Christmassy.  Mike went off to ring a peal with Bob in the morning and I put up a few Christmas decorations and picked up the meat I had ordered for Christmas lunch. We had a quiet Christmas together.  Peter went off to stay with his parents for a few days and we spent our time going for walks with Suki - mainly Stover or Parke - and relaxing at home. The weather was quite nice - positively spring like and warm on some days. Mike finished the 1500 piece jigsaw of Westminster Abbey (the inside) - with occasional help from Peter - and then did a 1000 piece one of Westminster Abbey from the air.  This appeared to be a brand new jigsaw but annoyingly had two pieces missing (we hunted high and low but were pretty sure eventually that they hadn't just been dropped somewhere). There were insufficient ringers to ring on Christmas Eve and if felt very odd being back home by 9 am on a Sunday morning.  We went to M

We set off for Devon and became concerned by the gantries stating that there was a 3-hour delay at J 16 of the M4.  We kept going and the signs didn't change - so we used Google maps on my phone to find an alternative route.  It was really good - it didn't follow the official diversion (which was queuing from the motorway) but took us along roads which ran parallel to the motorway - bringing us back on at J18.  We only took about 40 mins longer and got to Bovey at 1.30 - giving us 15 mins for a cup of tea before our meeting with the vicar at 2.  The meeting didn't last long - everything for the funeral seemed to be in hand, even the refreshments which were being organised by the Mothers Union. Then we both took Suki for a walk in Stover before popping up to Tracey House for Mary's handbag and a few bits. The next day was a busy one.  We had a 9.30 appointment with the Registrar in Newton Abbot to register the death, then we went to the funeral directors and agreed

Mike found out from Tracey House that they would deal with all the arrangements once Mary has passed away, so we felt a bit more comfortable about going back to London on the Monday - we both had a full week of commitments which would have been difficult to cancel.  In particular I had to collect my printing and £500 of Amazon gift cards from the pick up locations on The Vale by Wednesday and only I could do it as I needed to produce photo ID.  Mike went to see Mary first on Monday morning while I took Suki for a walk.  I finally got the dog cage set up in the courtesy car.  Suki and I dropped in to see Mary later but I didn't stay long.  She seemed to mouth "hello" but she was very weak and dried up.  It was very sad to see her like that.  I kissed her on her forehead and told her I would miss her.  It was the last time I saw her alive. I got back to London in the afternoon - just after Mike who had driven faster!  I wasn't needed for handbells in the evening, and

I decided to go back to Devon on Wednesday - I wanted to see Mary as much as possible while she was still with us.  I had to go to Ford first to pick up the diamond brite pack which had been missing on Sunday. So I got in to the car for the first time and set off.  To begin with it smelt of exhaust fumes and slightly hot burning smell and there seemed to be a lot of exhaust coming out the back. I just hoped this was because it hadn't been run for a while.  The car seemed to sense my antipathy and did things to wind me up.  The little arrow for changing gear didn't show for ages - and then suddenly there it was.  The engine didn't stop automatically when I was stationary - but then again later suddenly it did.  I filled it up with petrol - and it showed 237 miles to 0.  I was feeling upset that I wasn't going to get the same number of miles on a full tank - but by the time I got home the figure had actually gone up (and in fact by the time I got to Devon it was still sho

I spent some time over the next two days restoring the data to my phone from the automatic backups and I must admit I was quite impressed.  I hardly lost anything.  I had to log in to all the banking and shopping apps again which took some time but there were no problems.  The only thing I lost was the current levels and stats of the games I play.  It didn't matter for any of them except Word Brain - I had played about 400 games and I will need to start again at the beginning and go through every level again.  I am not sure I can face it! On Friday I went off to Ford at Alperton by public transport to have a look at a car they had got for me.  I wanted one exactly like my old one but with the addition of parking sensors. I was shown to the car and left to sit in it - and I promptly burst into tears because it looked just like mine from the inside!  I couldn't do much more than check all the buttons I was expecting were present and that the radio was the right one!  I also che

While I was in Majorca I received a telephone call from Tracey House to say that Mary had been in bed for a week and was not eating.  So the morning after I got back I headed off to Devon to go and see her.  I went straight to Tracey House when I got there.  Mary did look very weak but she chatted a bit with me and just seemed to want to stay in bed to be warm and comfortable.  I was concerned enough to suggest that Mike should come down - so he drove down on Sunday afternoon, after playing the organ at the convent. I then went to fill up with petrol and got some milk, and it was dark by the time I actually got to the house.  It was a lovely surprise to see that the handrail had been fitted to the front door steps, and the side of the steps had been painted.  The next day I saw a piece of gutter on the floor in the garden and looked up to find that the guttering had been repaired too.  At last! In the evening I had a mini second birthday - I had taken all my cards and presents down

All Photos I had booked a week in Majorca at the beginning of November, and I booked a bag for the flight out so that I could take all the stuff from Butlins etc which Amanda had been unable to take with her in August, together with the supplies of Bisto Best, Azeera coffee, Corsodyl and Cadburys Chocolate which Amanda craved.  I bought a brilliant bag from Amazon which zipped up into itself for the flight back.  It was big and heavy but I was going to be driving to the airport and would use a trolley in the airports as much as possible. Lee and Emma, Neville and Beau, who were going to be staying for a week, turned up the evening before I was flying out.  They immediately took the dogs out for a nice long walk, and then we had a supper of Linda's black pudding scotch eggs with olives etc.  Mike was out for a works meal but arrived home in time to have a drink with them. I set off  to drive to Stansted quite early the next day and found the car park after a slight detour!