It's been a while ...

Out of touch with so many people after a nightmare of a house move and it hasn't finished yet.

Three weeks to go until our moving date, we discovered that we had to find a place to rent at the busiest time of the year..  With our possessions scattered in various storage units around the area, we have squeezed into the only available house which would take cats and is close to a station and are still in a state of limbo, not knowing when we may be able to move into the house we want to buy.

The story will unfold over the next few days....

The Frozen Flannel Treatment

The scorching hot days of summer continue, the grass is brown, the air is thick and we have to remind ourselves to take everyday tasks at a slower pace and make allowances for the unusually hot temperatures.
It is not often that we experience over 30 degrees centigrade in Britain over such a long period of time, but ever the adaptable nation we get on with our lives and try and make some adjustments to cope.  However trying to sleep at night with a body resembling a furness, in a room where the heat has built up during the day, becomes an unbearable thought then as the disturbed nights build up, tempers are on a short fuse and concentration fades.
Not a problem any more in this household, we have adopted the frozen flannel treatment!
Simply soak a flannel in water, gently wring it out but not too much as you want to keep plenty of moisture, put one in a plastic bag for each member of the family and pop in the freezer.  At bedtime you can remove from the bag and settle down with the icy block, rest it on your pulse points, put on your forehead, wedge behind your neck or anywhere that takes your fancy!  It makes for a wet pillow in the morning, but who cares if it ensures a good night's sleep.

The Joy of Moving House!

A light whiff of spring in the air motivates me to decide it’s time to try and launch our house for sale again and hope we encounter a more buoyant property market.

The smiling, bubbly agents are always so enthusiastic and listen carefully as I issue strict instructions about not to open any cupboards for fear of causing an avalanche.  My new collective noun for a group of Estate Agents is ‘ An Exaggeration’,  that sums it up!

I think a Psychology study should be made into mood swings and personality changes during the house buying process.  A few weeks in to the process and we have calmly dealt with some of the strangest people I have ever encountered, add to this the fact that they are tramping through my home, which has been spruced up for their benefit and there are still some who escape the filter of the Agent and turn out to be utter time wasters or totally socially inept.

We’ve had the couple who wanted to view immediately on a Saturday morning, I managed to bargain an hour to do a quick whizz around, only to discover their house wasn’t even on the market and then they had the cheek to search us on LinkedIn! Then there was a mother who turned up with her two children and a friend along with her child, fair enough that wasn’t a major problem, but when her child was violently sick all over mother, the Estate Agent and our Chinese carpet, that tested my patience!  After a massive clean up operation, the highly embarrassed group aborted the viewing and I thought that was the last we would see of them.  Surprisingly they did return without children, but with a very kind offering of a bunch of flowers!  However they weren’t sufficiently embarrassed to feel they had to buy the house!

My rusty mothering skills have been put to use on numerous occasions and I’m always amazed that these adorable babies are quite happy to sit in a strange persons arms, listening to me babble on about colours and sounds and anything that comes to mind! I began to wonder whether the last couple were going to leave their daughter,  when the parents opened the front door and stepped outside, if I hadn’t suggested they had forgotten something, would I have been left holding the baby!

The cobwebs have been cleared and I constantly strive to achieve the recommended clear spaces to give a feeling of space, however this means that we are all constantly in a state of ‘search’ for items which have been tidied away.   The other week I decided to make sure all the work surfaces in the kitchen were clear and put the fruit bowl, a couple of candles and the newspaper in the oven, only to hear someone open the oven!  They must have thought I was a complete nutter,  just as well they didn't look in the dishwasher as I had just hung up washing when they asked to come around, so I folded it and put it in the empty dishwasher - couldn't put it in the washing machine because several pairs of shoes had been shoved in there!!!

To be continued ........

Dusk at 9 AM!

As the sky resembled dusk at 9am, the sight of my beautiful daffodils quivering in the bitter wind managed to bring some vibrant colour to the grey world which greeted me as I stepped out this morning.

I know we have no right to moan, tucked in our little suburban bubble whilst vast areas of the country are struggling with enormous snow drifts and surviving yet another day without power, but this weather is really getting everyone down.

Last year around this time were we enjoying a lunch on the beach to celebrate The Chief's birthday and finally had to find a bit of shade to shelter from the 28 degree sunshine.  The garden was powder dry, we'd already had endless bbqs and the hose ban was about to come into force. Now, day after day, the greyness just becomes greyer, the bitter wind is bone chilling and there is a general feeling of inertia due to lack of sunlight in our monochrome world.  

The brilliant pink camellia bush should have been in full bloom for at least a month by now.  Not one bud has managed to brave the wind.  I can only be grateful for the bravery of our sturdy daffodils which add the only brightness to the day. However, if the spring buds do finally manage to flower, they won't be in bloom for long as the sun will be too sharp for their tender petals and they will be withered in a flash

The British have a reputation of being a resilient, adaptable nation partly due to our unpredictable climate, but I think these prolonged conditions have pushed us to the limit this year . We deserve a jolly good summer to erase the chill of this winter.

The 7.03 is cancelled!

The 7.03 has been cancelled!  This announcement from across the landing sends our early morning household into a frenzy. 

I take up command and control position with ipad linked up to the live train information, whilst quickly giving my soaking hair a fierce blast with hairdryer before jumping into last night’s clothes.  Mornings like these normally result in the need for Mum’s taxi to fill the gap and run an emergency mission to a nearby station to pick up a more direct train.

As expected, last night’s Baltic weather conditions which resulted in people stranded on a main road outside Brighton for up to 10 hours overnight,  have now caused train delays and disruption.

My overwhelming good nature and kind heart  led me to drop the Chief and Major Darling at a station further up the line, then on my way back a frantic call from Mini Darling left me no alternative than to agree to drive her all the way to her meeting after she had waited on the platform for 25 minutes for a train which suddenly disappeared off the departures board.

A quick view of Google maps gave me a vague idea of where I was going and fortunately the signposts were fairly consistent, so we reached out destination without too much of a flap!

Mid morning, I arrived home to a cold cup of coffee and soggy Weetabix sitting on the kitchen table, two frantic cats thinking I had left for the day without providing breakfast.  Worse still, I had made the journey without having cleaned my teeth!

Now I am fed, with teeth brushed and clean clothes I can face the day and ponder on this crazy climate we have.  Bitterly cold gale force winds have been howling for the last two days bringing in bullets of snow.  It was only a week ago when we sat outside for a quick coffee, the chubby little bees were busy around the brilliant crocus flowers and found I had a V of sunburn on my chest!

'I want my Mummy...'

I want my Mummy are not words that a fiftysomething woman should be thinking.  But a trip to the shops has left me feeling with an empty ache for the anchor lady in my life who died nearly 20 years ago. 

With shelves and aisles brimming with Mother's day ideas, flowers  and chocolates being hurriedly packed onto the shelves by staff  who are oblivious to other customers waiting for service, the loneliness of being without a mother is re-enforced. 

Of course I would not have expected her to be with us still, but there are times when I have an overwhelming surge of need to smell her aroma, hear her voice and feel her delicate arms clasp my body.  A  knot tightens in my throat and tears are ready to cascade, before I pull myself together and remember this emotion has to be directed into the love for our two Darlings.  Making sure they feel they are at the centre of our world, gives them that inner confidence only a parent can bring.

How do you say farewell ...

How do you say farewell, good luck and you can do it, to a very dear friend who is taking an extremely brave step towards recovery from her addiction by entering a detox programme?

Such a relief when she announced her decision, but guilt from us, her close friends, for not persuading her to do this months ago.

We just want our friend to start enjoying life and her family again, to see her laughing and to be able to moan about her boundless energy like we used to do!

Words seemed trivial at the weekend as emotions ran high, so the best way I could think of sending her away with a smile, was this little posy of early Spring flowers from the garden.