A relly road trip

Although many of my Dad's side of the family live about 45 minutes away, I must confess that I rarely see them. This week my Dad's youngest sister, my Aunty Joan, is over from Canada with her son, my cousin Grant, whom I had never met before. So I took the opportunity to take Mum, Tom and Anni over to my Aunty Edie's house to see them. These three ladies on the sofa are my Dad's eldest sister Edie (looking good at 85!), his youngest sister Joan and his sister Janet. It was my Aunty Janet who worked at the mill with Mum and introduced her to Dad. Mum was delighted to see them all again.

It was lovely to meet my cousin Grant. He and Tom shared some very similar mannerisms, which was fascinating. Here we are along with my cousin Carol. Carol was so cool when I was growing up, she worked for air traffic control and invited me over to work with her for a day when I was about 16. She even organised for a pilot to take me on a short flight in a little plane. From there we headed further north to Haslingden to visit my Dad's younger brother, my Uncle Brian. Uncle Brian has really been through the mill lately. He had a heart bypass and half a lung removed within a month and starts chemotherapy tomorrow.

Uncle Brian is such a sweetheart and the kids love him. When my Dad died, he really took care of us, ringing every day to make sure we were ok. Even now he rings to let us know that he's ok. It was lovely to see him and to see how well he was doing under the circumstances. Our final pitstop (one short shopping trip and parking ticket later) was for dinner with my sil Dee and my enchanting niece Erin, who charmed the socks off my Mum.

Loving half term :)

Eye eye!

Hooray and hoorah for half term! Peter had the day off and we decided to go to Manchester. Anni had gone there on the train with some friends and Tom was originally heading into Crewe but decided to come with us instead. He hadn't registered that we were planning to visit Urbis; he was too busy asking 20 questions about the time, nature and priority of lunch. Lunch in Chiquitos was nice, Urbis turned out to be incredibly disappointing. The most interesting feature was a height chart in the shop which informed us that Peter was the same height as George Dubbleya, I was the same height as Vladimir Putin and Tom measured up to Samuel L Jackson, narrowly missing Fidel Castro. We then had an impromptu ride on the Manchester Eye.

It was a pleasant surprise to actually go round on it 4 times. It looked very impressive too, adorned with giant poppies. I photographed our own little blossom in front of it. (We met up with her when her friends left for home.)

On the spur of the moment we decided to go and see Up, which just so happened to be starting in 10 minutes. It was excellent, and all the more so for being in 3D even if that did involve me wearing 2 pairs of glasses. I have conjunctivitis (which explains why everyone was telling me I looked so tired yesterday) so can't wear my lenses. Had to get a pic of the nerd glasses.

Love family days ♥

Fabbulous!

My big bro Rob has been doing a stand up tour, which brought him to the frozen north last night, to Runcorn to be precise. Peter and I went along in support with Peter's sister, Judith. What a great start to half term it was! First of all, Rob was great and we had a much needed laugh. In fact my cheeks hurt afterwards, always a sign of a good chuckle. But as if that wasn't enough fun to be had for one evening, we went back to the hotel where Rob, Kath and Lily were staying only to find an Abba tribute band in full swing, to a dance floor largely occupied by women of a certain age, many of whom were wearing pink cowboy hats.

After having something to eat, we decided to join the party. By this time, aforementioned (and may I add dreadful?) Abba triute band had departed and in their place was a DJ of a certain age, who seemed to be playing his way through my ipod. We couldn't resist hitting that dance floor. In fact we danced our little shoes off until the party ended. It was toooooo much fun. Where else would I get to listen to Abba, the Bee Gees and other such delights unchecked for an evening? Peter and Rob looked on with cameras and a mixture of amusement and despair most of the time. But I had the time of my life (and yes, they played that and just about every other song from Dirty Dancing too). Must visit Runcorn again!

And I've enjoyed making Annabel cringe with the video footage :)

20th anniversary

20 years ago today I donned a meringue, dripping with sequins and pearls and married my best friend. I'd post a picture of him on that day if only my pc hadn't died and I had access to my scanner. I have to say that I woke up with mixed emotions today; delighted for the day but really really sad because he has to be away tonight and it feels all wrong because we should be doing something special to celebrate. But he did buy me this beautiful necklace and matching earrings, which I love.
Looking forward to celebrating when he gets home...

A table tout le monde!

We seem to have had a million teenagers pass through the doors this weekend. We came back from Dovedale on Saturday to find that Anni had 4 friends round and Tom was about to receive another 10 or so. That's not a complaint; that's just how we like it. Then it was our turn to have the YP round last night. I don't know what the attraction was but they all seemed to end up in the kitchen. They're great fun to be with. I especially enjoyed watching just how many hot dogs the two Toms managed to consume in one sitting. It only seems like yesterday that the YP was made up of the likes of Jon Mackenzie, who has finished a few university courses and Hannah, who is now all grown up and married. Hard to believe that tomorrow their "little" sister will be 18! I remember her dressing up and playing LOTR with Tom and Anni. I supose she'll be thankful that our home pc is kaputt and so I don't have access to my scanner for some old photos!

Didn't we have a luvverly time the day we went to Dovedale!

Jon and Dan found that skipping was an excellent way to get around Dovedale. Hannah and Ella seemed a little bit embarassed.

A Day in Dovedale

It is a truth universally acknowledged that Peter hates walking. However, by some miracle I managed to persuade him to join his sisters Judith and Ann and their respective other halves on a walk through Dovedale today. Admittedly, it was rather like having Victor Meldrew in tow but he did it. I love the great outdoors. In my job I am totally ruled by time and there are some days when I hardly get to see the light of day and so it means a lot to me to get outside and not have a clue what time it is.

Dovedale was breathtakingly beautiful. We stopped for a picnic on this rock. Jon rather rudely named this photo "3 mountain goats". I'll have my revenge in a minute if I can work out how to post a video.

I nearly didn't get to see it all though. I am not gifted when it comes to directions and rather foolishly I had been the one to get directions from Ann. Not surprisingly we couldn't find it and Victor ooops I mean Peter, was about to give up and go home just before we managed to find the elusive meeting place. So glad we made it.

Rich tasks, poor tasks

I love my job.
I love the kids.
I love those moments when the penny drops.
When they leave a lesson, smiling and say "thank you".
But in a week by the end of which every class has to be assessed and a shed load of data entered, I cannot tell you how much I do not appreciate staying for a 2 hour "twilight" session involving "rich tasks". Aka stupid, pointless tasks such as writing a song, which will never be heard again, extolling the virtues of writing a letter rather than sending a text, or building a bridge out of straws, or designing a school uniform for the future. You couldn't even call it team building because it was with a random selection of people who work in completely different departments.
I think I'm going to throw in the towel and go for a new job as the minister for education.
Failing that, I'm definitely going to audition for Grumpy Old Women...