Knock, Knock Ginger

I haven’t really got anything against children playing ‘Knock, Knock Ginger’ – it’s reasonably harmless and I remember playing it myself a few times as a child. What is annoying is when it happens repeatedly. My doorbell rings, I run downstairs to answer it to find the little girl who lives in the flat opposite standing on her doorstep, looking at me coolly, before announcing “I didn’t do it.” The first time she said it, I believed her – now it’s just met with a resigned sigh as I shut the door again. It’s one thing I won’t miss when I move!

Team Floppy Throttle

My niece’s husband Chris and his friend Gareth are competing in the 2011 Scumrun rally in April next year in order to raise money for Dreams Come True, a charity which helps bring joy to terminally ill and seriously ill children by helping make their dreams come true. The Scumrun rally is a 3000 mile cross-Europe rally taking place over just 4 days and they will be racing in a 1994 Ford Escort convertible. They’ve now set up their Just Giving page so any sponsorship will be very welcome, and you can also pay for advertising space on the car.

House + piano = happy me

One of the nice things about finally having our house is being able to have my piano, which has been at my mum’s for the last couple of years. I’m not so sure whether or not the neighbours will be equally happy about being subjected to my practising on a daily basis though! Michael has an electric piano which I’ve used for the last few years, but it just isn’t quite the same as a proper upright piano. Since it arrived at the weekend, I’ve been getting less decorating done – just as well there’s not so much to do now!

Les Misérables review - part 3

The other notable performances came from Ashley Artus and Lynne Wilmot playing the larger-than-life characters of M and Mme Thénardier with their perfect comic timing, particularly during Master of the House. Overall, an excellent evening – I laughed, I cried, but mostly I sat and watched, completely lost to everything but the story unfolding on the stage below – except for the occasional moments where the magic was broken thanks to a fellow theatre-goer just a few seats away who seemed to be under the illusion he was at Sing-a-long-a-Les-Mis. Minor irritations aside, I enjoyed it very much – 9.5 out of 10.

Les Misérables review - part 2

On the whole, the cast were outstanding. Gareth Gates was surprisingly good as Marius, managing to make me completely forget the boy-band image from Pop Idol days for the whole time he was on stage. John Owen-Jones as Valjean and Earl Carpenter as Javert both gave powerful performances. The only disappointing performance came from Rosalind James in the role of Éponine – her toe-curlingly exaggerated dying groans during A Little Fall Of Rain led me to wonder if she had trained at the School of Coarse Acting. Instead of being moving, her character’s demise filled me with a sense of relief.

Les Misérables review - part 1

We went to see one of the 25th anniversary performances of Les Misérables at the Barbican on Saturday night. As expected, it was really good – a bit more raw than the original production – the songs seemed more emotional and although they were all sung well, the focus was definitely on acting the song through rather than singing it and there were some small changes to the score. Victor Hugo’s paintings were used very effectively as backdrops and projections – particularly the Parisian street scenes used during One Day More and the scenes in the sewers after the fall of the barricade.

Getting there...

My two weeks of holiday are drawing to a close – just a couple of days left before I’m back at work. I’ve spent nearly all of the last fortnight at the house, painting and sanding. It’s now got to the stage where there aren’t quite enough things that I can do to last a full day which is just as well as I’ll be back to just having evenings available to work on the house. It feels like things are getting there – we’re still some way away from being able to move in properly but the end is in sight!

Favourite French food

My trip into town this afternoon to do some shopping was very well-timed – I hadn’t realised that the French market was going to be there. I love French food – fortunately most of the things I love can be bought in the supermarket but there are a few things that I struggle to get in the UK. One of them is Maxiccino – which is a frothy coffee with pieces of Daim, Toblerone or Milka and the other is rillettes, which fortunately were being sold at the market. Baguette and rillettes, mmm – not good for the waistline, but too delicious to resist!

Tack attack

Given that I’m petite and Michael is tall, it seems logical that sanding and painting the skirting boards would end up being my job. It wasn’t so bad in the hallway where we have a nice wooden floor and it is a fairly easy job, but upstairs involves taking the carpet up and then shredding my fingers on carpet tacks (they look like they’ve been attacked by several small vampires) whilst trying to sand the skirting board down. Thank goodness for my father-in-law turning up with a small electric sander – much easier and results in less damage to my fingers.

Tap your troubles away

Back to tap this evening after the summer break – classes started two weeks ago but hadn’t managed to get to a class yet. It was tempting to skip it again tonight and continue with the decorating but I was worried about getting too far behind and besides, decorating is killing my social life at the moment. It took a while to remember the steps again and my fitness levels have clearly slumped over the summer as my legs were really aching by the end of the class. It was good to get out and do something other than decorating though!

Opportunities to grow

We’re currently between ministers at church will be without a minister until at least September 2011 which means that we have a lot of visiting ministers and preachers taking services and a monthly rota of ministers who are available to call on if needed. Whilst it means that things feel a little fragmented, it does also provide the opportunity for us to pull together as a church family, work together and grow. One of the areas I’m having to get more involved in is leading worship – as are all of us who attended the “Leading Worship” course two years ago.

Drawbacks of duplication

I’m not disputing that CRB checks and attending safeguarding courses are very important and whilst having specific guidance for each organisation is useful, it can be frustrating having to duplicate all of these things, particularly when people work with children in lots of different situations (schools, Brigades , church etc.) It also means that people who have already attended such courses become more reluctant to volunteer when it means they have to attend another, effectively duplicating much of what they have already done. Surely, there must be a better way of doing things, whilst still ensuring children are kept safe?

Safeguarding course

Have recently been attending a Safeguarding Children course which has become a requirement for everyone who helps out with Junior Church. We started off looking at different types of abuse, and possible indicators of abuse and explored reasons why children may not report abuse, why adults may not listen or act, why professionals may not act and why the church may not act before focusing on what to do if a possibly abusive situation is brought to your attention. I’ve had similar training within midwifery, but it was useful to have guidance on what to do within a church context.

Memories of Dad

I’ve been thinking a lot about my dad over the last few days – revisiting some of the places where he grew up and seeing family members from his side of the family brought back a lot of memories and whilst most of them were lovely memories, they left me missing him just that little bit more. It’s been over 9 months since he passed away and there isn’t a day that goes by when I don’t think of him and miss him and wish I could just pick up the phone and say hello and have a chat with him.

A farewell to Auntie Joyce

Kerrie and I took a trip to Kent today to pay our final respects to Auntie Joyce at her funeral and also take a trip down memory lane, visiting the places where our grandparents lived and other places that we visited as small children. It was very sad to be saying goodbye to Auntie Joyce – I couldn’t look at Uncle Rusty at all during the funeral; he was clearly so devastated (they’d been married 62 years) and our cousins Jackie’s and Bill’s tributes to their mum were beautiful – saying what a wonderful, upbeat person she’d always been. RIP Auntie Joyce.

An evening with my mum

It’s been a while since my last trip back home – over two months which is probably the longest I’ve ever gone between trips back home – and even though my reason for being home is a sad one (going to my great-aunt’s funeral tomorrow), it’s still good to be back with my family again. I’ve spent this evening at bingo with my mum – unfortunately the caller seemed to be calling out all the wrong numbers so we didn’t win anything but we had a good evening anyway, and I also got to see my Auntie Pauline and cousin Jane there too.

In limbo

I feel like my life is in an “in limbo” phase at the moment. Dividing my time between two homes- the one I’m technically still living in and the one that I’m about to be living in. The decorating has reached the in-between phase – each day brings further progress but nothing is really complete as yet. I’m in a state of waiting – waiting for the decorating to progress to the point of being able to move some more stuff in, waiting for the moment when the new house finally becomes “home”. It’s not a very comfortable state to be in.

Holiday at the Costa Nueva Casa

Two weeks of annual leave are ahead of me and rest and relaxation are not very high on the agenda for my “staycation”. Two weeks free to focus on the decorating and keep it progressing so that we can hopefully move in properly soon. It’s getting there slowly – we have started “de-Kermiting” the hall and the bright green skirting boards and door frames are now gradually changing to white; painting the lounge is almost finished and we have now started painting the main bedroom. The bathroom is still a disaster zone but hopefully is becoming less so by the day.

Meeting Sebastian

One of the weddings we attended last September was that of our friends Joel and Vik whom we last saw in November when they were living in Brussels. They moved to Devon earlier this year and as we were fairly close to the Devon border, we thought we’d take a trip out to see them and to meet baby Sebastian, their honeymoon baby. Sebastian is now nearly four months old and smiling and laughing so we were kept very well entertained pulling faces at him and trying to get him to smile for us as well as for the camera!

Alex & Sarah's wedding - part 2

The theme for their wedding was “tea and cake” so the flowers were all arranged in tea-pots or on cake stands with roses in cup-cake cases and instead of favours, there were mini tea caddies filled with tea specially created for their wedding. There were lots of cupcakes, some of which were made to look like cups of tea, instead of a big wedding cake (although they did have a small cake to cut), the tables were all named after different types of tea and each menu had a teaspoon themed with various places of significance to Alex & Sarah.

Alex & Sarah's wedding - part 1

It’s another full-on year of weddings – the fourth one of the year so far was our friend Alex’s wedding. Despite him and Sarah having been together for 11 years, we only managed to meet her for the first time at our own wedding last year (there had been a running joke about Alex’s imaginary girlfriend for some time before this!). The wedding was held at a stately home in Wiltshire; one of Sarah’s favourite places to visit and Alex arranged to have one of the bridges covered with roses when he proposed to her there just over a year ago.

Legoland

Despite having lived reasonably close to Legoland for some time and driven past it on many occasions, I still had never managed to go there until a friend suggested a day out there. The rides are mostly quite tame (I’m a big wuss when it comes to rides and still managed to go on everything!) – it’s definitely aimed much more at children than adults – but the best thing about it was seeing all these amazing Lego models – elephants, giraffes, polar bears – fabulous. Mini-land was my favourite bit – lots of models of landmark buildings. The attention to detail was quite something.

In need of a break

My life is beginning to feel like a never-ending cycle of work followed by decorating following by too little sleep followed by work. Which is probably why I’ve got a cold – I’m not exactly doing a great job of looking after myself at the moment – just so desperate to get the house finished as quickly as possible. However, with another friend’s wedding to go to this weekend plus a trip to Legoland, it looks like the decorating will have to wait for a few days. It’ll be good to have a bit of a break from it and just relax.

A scary moment

I had a scary moment earlier. It was a moment I knew I’d have to face eventually – one that all my siblings faced at a younger age than I am currently – but I hoped it would happen later rather than sooner. That moment of looking in the mirror and suddenly spotting that first grey or white hair. There it was, clearly visible right at the front. I pulled at it – and the white stuff came off on my hand, revealing the “white” hair to be nothing more than just a coating of gloss paint. Phew. Moment postponed for another day.

Complaining about colds

It started off with a scratchy throat. I knew it was coming, but kept hoping it was just dehydration or some reaction to paint fumes from all the decorating. This morning, I felt fine and breathed a sigh of relief. Until the cold suddenly hit mid-afternoon – sneezing, coughing, nose running – the works. It’s not that I feel that bad (just suddenly very lethargic) – it’s just that it’s so annoying. Productivity has gone down – having to stop and reach for a tissue every few minutes just doesn’t help me when I’m trying to get the painting done as quickly as possible.

...and exit, stage left

The cast list for Kiss Me Kate is out. I’ve been debating during the summer whether or not I would do this show or if it was finally time for me to have a break from musical theatre for a while. However, it seems that the decision has been made for me – my name is not on the cast list at all – not even for the chorus. Maybe it was because I’ve been asked to be the pianist for the show (not by the director though) – which I have declined. Looks like it’s time for me to exit stage left.

Phil & Kath's wedding

Had a lovely time at Phil & Kath’s wedding yesterday (two friends of ours from university days). Most of the day was spent outdoors (fortunately the rain mostly held off) in beautiful gardens near an old mill building – afternoon tea and speeches were held outdoors and then we had a hog roast in the evening. Kath was definitely one of the smiliest and happiest brides I have ever seen. She and Phil did some mo’jive for their first dance, accompanied by a jive band. There were quite a few mo’jivers at the wedding so the dance floor was kept full.

Impatience

Patience is not really one of my virtues. Some people who have known Michael and I from before we became a couple might disagree with that statement – after all, we were together nearly eight years before he proposed and it was clear that marriage was high on my wish list for most of that time. Perhaps it would be more accurate to say that being quietly patient is definitely not something I’m good at. When I’m waiting for something, I do tend to eventually resign myself to having to wait for it, but I’ll grumble about it whilst I’m waiting!

Slow progress

Decorating has now reached the stage where the house looks like a disaster zone and despite the fact that I seem to constantly have a paintbrush in my hand, it doesn’t look like very much is changing very quickly. There still seems to be an awful lot left to do and all I want to do is get it finished so we can move in properly. I have to keep reminding myself that this will all be worth it; that the end result will look better than what was there before. The trouble is, I’m just a little impatient sometimes.

RIP Auntie Joyce

A sad start to September – had an email this morning from my dad’s cousin Dave telling me that my Auntie Joyce has passed away. She was the last of my great-aunts and great-uncles on my dad’s side of the family and almost the last remaining link I have with my dad’s family (the only link I have now is Dave whom I’ve never met – we got in contact through family tree research). I last saw her a few years ago when I took my dad on his last trip to Kent to revisit old memories and catch up with family.