Ummm....

I'm sorry. Work has been so dominant in my life that I haven't felt like I had time to blog. There have been things to write about - not all pleasant - but my creative juices have been spent on school stuff. I do plan to blog soon though. Honest!

Half Term

Half term at last. A week is not long enough, however, to finish the kitchen, see the dentist, see the optician, take the cats for their jabs, get new school uniform and shoes for Jen (she's grown again), write the reports, mark the coursework, teach the half term revision classes and have a rest. Something will not get done.

No prizes for guessing the one thing which won't happen.

Having a rest.

But just about everything else will have to get done.

When is Easter?

Long time, no see...

Has it really been six months?

How did that happen?

Not since I wrote my blog.

Since I saw my lovely man.

And since I wrote my blog, as it happens.

Coincidence?

Probably not.

Six ridiculously long months. An impossible relationship. Never try to have a relationship when:
a) you're a single mum who doesn't get much free time
b) the man works abroad a lot, at short notice
c) your free time and his free time never coincide
d) when the free time does coincide, daughter is ill, parents are ill, you are ill, or he gets swine flu

Not a recipe for a good relationship.

But, seeing him on Saturday pushed all this to the back of my mind and suddenly I feel like blogging again. A strange reaction perhaps, but it was so hard to blog, when every time I logged on I saw my last post.

However, here I am. The last six months have been mad actually. The summer was much better than I'd expected and I actually felt quite rested at the end of it. I'm typing on the wrong laptop, so I only have a few pictures, but here are some of the things I've been doing.

Paris with Mum was great, if exhausting. She had a fabulous time, although I forgot how old and frail she is and I walked her off her feet. We had a good giggle though and plenty of alcohol; indeed most of my pictures look just like this - only in different locations. We had a wonderful dinner in the Eiffel Tower, another on a boat on the Seine and some great lunches too. I bought us bus tour tickets, so we could hop on and hop off so we saw all the sights. It was a relationship building time and I know we will both treasure the memories. Mum's cancer seems to be back with a vengeance now, so I'm really glad we had this trip.

Another capital city, another great trip. Little E and I had a luxurious few days in London. We walked miles, had a boat trip along the Thames, went to a performance of We Will Rock You (which was fab), shopped in Harrods and giggled a lot. While in Harrods, my wannabee fashion designer daughter discovered the designer sections and she was in heaven. In fact, I gave up following her and went to the Champagne bar. Two glasses later I was very relaxed and she had spent thousands of imaginary pounds.

We ended the Summer in Devon. We spent most of the time with Mum and Dad, but we still managed some therapy time with Little E's godparents. They have an amazing house in Wembury - the beach in the photo is at the end of their lane - and I only have to walk in to their house and I relax. They are wonderful friends. Little E loves being there; their three children are my godchildren and they get on brilliantly with Jen.

As I write, I wonder why I have always used Little E's nickname, instead of her real name. At first it was to protect her. She's known as Little E because her surname begins with E. She's actually called Jennifer, or Jen. There, I've outed her!

This academic year has seen a major change in our daily routine. Jen started high school in September - my high school - so there is only one school journey to make. She has settled in brilliantly and I'm so proud of her. It's lovely to be at the same school. We were worried about it at first, but it's worked out really well. It's actually really nice to see her when I'm on playground duty and she doesn't seem embarrassed by me... yet.

Within two days of the start of term I forgot that I'd had a Summer holiday and was thrown into the worst term I've ever had. However, I managed to rise above the issues and school is now considerably better (but still ridiculously busy).

So what else have I been up to? Well, very little socialising, that's for sure. I did embark on a project - I had the kitchen completely re-done. Living with my kitchen in the dining room for a month was no fun - particularly as it snowed constantly. It now looks wonderful - pics are on my other laptop which is a school - but it was hard work while it was done!

I finally finished painting the walls at 5 a.m., the day my parents arrived for Christmas. At the same time as doing the kitchen, I also chose to re-do Jen's bedroom. New furniture, new colours, new curtains. I ordered a skip for all the old furniture and decided that, since I had a skip, I should get rid of all the junk which has been cluttering my home and my head for the past seven years. It was incredibly therapeutic, but would have been easier if the skip hadn't kept filling up with snow.

Christmas was the best Christmas for years. Jen says that should have an exclamation mark after it, as we were both surprised by how well it all went. Mum and Dad had a lovely time - I know Mum appreciated the break from having to deal with Dad on her own. Dad is in the early stages of dementia, but he was on good form while he was here.

So, that brings me to the present. I have just had a lovely weekend with the lovely man. Finally. Hopefully it won't be six months before we see each other again.

Today, I am writing this from my bed. I'm on antibiotics at the moment and they seem to have violently disagreed with me. Jen is also off school, with a very bad back, so we're having a duvet day. This, perhaps, is why I can finally write my blog. A day off which I wasn't expecting, with no obvious work to do and nobody demanding a report or an action plan or anything, except some TLC. Oh, to have one of these every week!

Summer Holidays

I drove home from school on the last day of term in tears. Instead of looking forward to a well-earned rest after a difficult year at school, I was dreading the prospect of a five week break, with no 'me' time. Little E's father is only having her for 6 days this summer - he's not taking her on holiday with him when he, his wife and Little E's brother go to Wales for two weeks and he's not even planning to spend the odd weekend with her after this week. In fact, I discovered this morning that, although Little E is with him this week, he's working and she's been farmed out to one of his friends who has children the same age...

Anyway, I have been extremely stressed about the summer as I was very aware that I have been quite close to breaking point for a couple of weeks. It's not that I don't want to spend time with LE, it's just that I know I'm a better mum when I've had a break. Added to all this. my father instructed me to take my mum to Paris, while LE was with her dad; this meant that the few days I would have to recharge my batteries were whipped away from me and I have spent the past few weeks organising the trip, including the wheelchair assistance at the airports and everything else necessary for taking an 85 year old, deaf, partially sighted, infirm lady away on holiday.

So... the only evening I had for myself, for the entire summer, when I could spend time with my lovely man, was last night. We went down to Upottery, where the pub in which my little bro lives and works is, had a wondeful walk (down the lane in the picture above), stood on a river bridge watching the world (kingfishers and tractors) go by, had a lovely meal in the pub and then had a great time taking part in the quiz (which we won). The weather was glorious and for those few, brief hours I relaxed and felt like I was on holiday.

It was a long way to go for an evening, but it was worth it. I have just got back home and have been sorting out the final details for the trip to Paris, but I'm not feeling so negative about the summer. Sometimes you just have to seize the moment. When you do, life feels so good.

Family

I rarely post pictures of my family; somehow it seems as though I'm giving too much away in such a public arena. However, I am so proud of my parents that I felt I should post a picture of them, taken on their 65th Wedding Anniversary, on 30th June.
Mum is 85 and Dad is 88. They met during the Second World War and married as soon as the war ended. Mum only found out a few years ago that the parachute silk Dad gave her to make a wedding dress was not a damaged one that couldn't be used, as he'd claimed, but rather a perfectly good one on which he smeared a tiny bit of oil so that it couldn't be used... He has carried on behaving in this manner all his life!


My brother and I took them to the Artillery Tower restaurant in Plymouth. It is a wonderful restaurant in a quirky place - a 500 year old artillery tower overlooking the sea. The food is amazing and we had a fabulous time. I had arranged for the telegram from the Queen and the flowercard to arrive in the morning and for champagne to be popped as we arrived. Everything went so smoothly and, in spite of both parents being in poor health, we had a fabulous time.




We have had a stormy relationship over the years, but I am still very proud of my parents, for what they've achieved and for the way they still get out and enjoy some of the finer things in life. Although they are becoming increasingly frail, they still want to visit places and travel. Which is why I've just spent several hours booking a city break in Paris for Mum and me for the week after I break up from school...

Satisfaction

Sim card arrived and I haven't stopped loving my iphone. There is an App for everything. The other day, I was on my way to a training course on the other side of Birmingham. I took a wrong turn and got hopelessly lost in a very dodgy part of the city, but I stopped, pulled out my iphone, pressed the map app and it told me where I was and how to escape! Brilliant.

My other source of satisfaction is having a lovely man who makes me feel fantastic when we see each other. The best feeling ever. Better than an iphone. Much better.

Frustration...

Got one of these on Tuesday.


Still waiting for one of these.



Grrrrrrrr...