I forgot to mention in my last post that my little Granddaughter has just started Big School and is perfectly happy with it. She is Daughter's youngest and a very easy child, she doesn't make demands, or not unreasonable ones. She is currently spending half the week with her Father, so he is taking her to school on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays. As I said before, it wouldn't be my cup of tea, but she seems happy enough with it. So that's my third grandchild off to school, with little Grandson now at school in Barcelona. The Barcelona crew were here for a week at the end of August, and we were lucky enough to have glorious weather while they were here. Somehow we all fitted in comfortably, with Grandson sleeping on a very comfy blow-up bed in with his Mum and Dad, but it emphasised to me that I have actually down-sized and I don't much like it! I really want another bedroom so that I can earn a bit of money and have more people to stay and something more to do with my time! Let me tell you (if you don't already know) retirement isn't all it's cracked up to be. Anyway, I'd better stop moaning and do something about it.
I went to the movies this week, to see Downton Abbey, and of course I loved it. I could quite happily watch episodes of it every day, I suppose because it transports me into a world that is quite out of my comprehension. And it is so far removed from my life that I can slide gently into period bliss for an hour or so :))
It's Autumn, officially, so we can expect "mists and mellow fruitfulness". I've started well by making some crab apple jelly (with rose hips and rose petals thrown in), which is a glorious colour and tastes divine, and I've optimistically taken pounds of pears from Daughter's garden and am planning to make pear and apple chutney too. I'm a bit short of jars to put it in, so will have to beg the neighbours for jars in return for some chutney.
Before I forget, Son was 40 on 16th of this month. They had a wonderful celebration, at their apartment, with a Hawaian Barbeque in the garden, forty-odd guests and three cakes!! Sad that I couldn't be there, but they had squeezed in as many friends as they could to stay for the occasion, and anyway I'm planning to go for a visit next month.
What a thought though, I have a Son who is 40! I had sent a little package for his Birthday, but although I sent it tracked and carefully wrapped, it was over a week late and had been opened. By whom I don't know, but half the contents were missing and presumably stolen by whoever opened it. Why? I didn't send anything valuable, just nice little stuff for his Birthday: a little book about the Spurs, some candles for his cake and a bar of chocolate. Two birthday cards, two bookmarks and two tiny little unbirthday presents...how mean that anyone would think it worth stealing..They could at least have put everything back and delivered it! Boo, shame on you.
Tuesday, September 24, 2019
Saturday, September 21, 2019
Any way the wind blows..doesn't really matter.. to me.
Oh dear! I'm totally bewildered..where am I going? , I can't believe I'm still in Shoreham, but I am and I think that most of my friends and family are both fed up and frustrated that I seem unable to make a move, or even a decision.
On the face of it, it shouldn't be difficult: I don't want to stay here, I want to live somewhere warm and I would like a house near the sea, with a garden, a pool and enough room to do bed and breakfast so that I can keep my head above water, financially. Surely that's not a huge ask, and I should have enough money to do that either in Spain, near Barcelona or in France, near the border.
It sounds very simple doesn't it, so why am I making such a meal of it?
When I said to Son that I needed a plan, he said "Well make a plan Mum" and of course that's where I fall down, because I would really like some help with making the plan, and they are all too busy with their own lives to sort me out! Naturally enough. Daughter would help if she had the time too, but she doesn't really want me to move to warmer climes, so that is not really helpful.
Yesterday I had what I thought was a brilliant idea, which was to put a message out into the Universe to see if anyone would care to "Share a Chateau"... sounds like a brilliant idea to me, if I could only think how to do it. I would love a small Chateau where I could live and do my B and B, but I would need a partner who could do the DIY or whatever was needed. We could share the costs and the living accommodation, and divide the labour according to our skills. I'm really good at the design bits and making it look lovely, And I'm not bad at the cooking and welcoming guests (I've done a bit of that in the past), My partner would have to be up for the practical stuff like cutting logs and grass and taking care of general repairs. I think it could work. What do you think?
Of course, there would have to be a 50/50 investment and all the legalities would have to be sewn up tight. Perhaps it's too much to hope for a like-minded soul, but just maybe there is someone out there. I need to give it some more thought, so I'm airing it here as a possibility. Who knows, it might work.
On a different note, Big Grandson went on a school trip this week to the Large Hadron Collider at Cern in Switzerland. It was a (very long) day trip. They left at 4 am for Gatwick, flew to Geneva and then went on to Cern in a coach. It was apparently the most wonderful experience, and Grandson was hugely impressed by both its vast size and the complex physics of the thing. It is apparently the biggest machine in the World!! They went underground to see where the particles are whizzed around in a 17 mile circular tunnel at great speeds until they collide and produce yet more particles or atoms. I don't pretend to comprehend it, but it is rather wonderful and is helping us (or rather them) to understand our Universe better. Anyway Grandson loved it and came home with a Large Hadron Collider orange hardhat (cost 8 Swiss Francs) and some postcards to remember it by. They arrived safely back at midnight, absolutely shattered.
On the face of it, it shouldn't be difficult: I don't want to stay here, I want to live somewhere warm and I would like a house near the sea, with a garden, a pool and enough room to do bed and breakfast so that I can keep my head above water, financially. Surely that's not a huge ask, and I should have enough money to do that either in Spain, near Barcelona or in France, near the border.
It sounds very simple doesn't it, so why am I making such a meal of it?
When I said to Son that I needed a plan, he said "Well make a plan Mum" and of course that's where I fall down, because I would really like some help with making the plan, and they are all too busy with their own lives to sort me out! Naturally enough. Daughter would help if she had the time too, but she doesn't really want me to move to warmer climes, so that is not really helpful.
Yesterday I had what I thought was a brilliant idea, which was to put a message out into the Universe to see if anyone would care to "Share a Chateau"... sounds like a brilliant idea to me, if I could only think how to do it. I would love a small Chateau where I could live and do my B and B, but I would need a partner who could do the DIY or whatever was needed. We could share the costs and the living accommodation, and divide the labour according to our skills. I'm really good at the design bits and making it look lovely, And I'm not bad at the cooking and welcoming guests (I've done a bit of that in the past), My partner would have to be up for the practical stuff like cutting logs and grass and taking care of general repairs. I think it could work. What do you think?
Of course, there would have to be a 50/50 investment and all the legalities would have to be sewn up tight. Perhaps it's too much to hope for a like-minded soul, but just maybe there is someone out there. I need to give it some more thought, so I'm airing it here as a possibility. Who knows, it might work.
On a different note, Big Grandson went on a school trip this week to the Large Hadron Collider at Cern in Switzerland. It was a (very long) day trip. They left at 4 am for Gatwick, flew to Geneva and then went on to Cern in a coach. It was apparently the most wonderful experience, and Grandson was hugely impressed by both its vast size and the complex physics of the thing. It is apparently the biggest machine in the World!! They went underground to see where the particles are whizzed around in a 17 mile circular tunnel at great speeds until they collide and produce yet more particles or atoms. I don't pretend to comprehend it, but it is rather wonderful and is helping us (or rather them) to understand our Universe better. Anyway Grandson loved it and came home with a Large Hadron Collider orange hardhat (cost 8 Swiss Francs) and some postcards to remember it by. They arrived safely back at midnight, absolutely shattered.
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