And Then There Were 4.

Half of our visitors left today. Sam and Kate were driving Alex back down to PLymouth before heading home to Teweksbury and had gamely volunteered to take Linas down to Plymouth as well. I think that was before they realised just how much luggage Linas had with him. He had managed to carry an awful lot of luggage up on the train, after all you can't separate a man and his PC. It was an exercise in spatial logistics to get all the luggage in but with some bags sitting on the youngsters' laps and Milo the dog scheduled to be perched on Sam's lap it was all sorted.

L-R, Linas, Vytas, Romas, me and Peter.

After a chilly photo session, (a family tradition), we waved goodbye to the travellers and wished them a safe journey home.

As usual our boys like to pose some action shots to show their true characters.
The rest of the dismally gloomy afternoon is being spent with Vytas and Romas finishing off a wargame in the conservatory while I motivate myself for yet more school paperwork. We haven't decided yet if we will head into town for the New Year's Eve celebrations. I would as much like to stay home and relax as to go in, enjoy the ambiance and the fireworks and then come home. We'll see how we feel later on.

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First Flowers.

A quick stroll around the garden revealed the first flowers on the winter flowering jasmine that grows by the kitchen window. Soon the bare green stems will be covered with small yellow flowers that will brighten up the grey wall.

The countryside was back to being damp and green as I headed off to the dentist in the morning. He's put a temporary filling over the broken one but the whole filling will have to be taken out and replaced, I fear for the little tooth that is left. No signs of the mysterious bump in my mouth now but I moaned on about the various aches that I still have after he 'dealt' with them 6 months ago so he took some x-rays. Being only the poor people's NHS dentist you don't get the results of the x-rays straight away. Instead they phone you if you need treatment or as in my case let you know at your next appointment. Naturally they don't do week-end appointments so the first appointment they could find to fit in with my work is in 2 weeks' time and that is only because I can leave school early on one of my planning afternoons. Otherwise it wouldn't have been until the end of January.

I then dropped into the High Street to check out a few more sales and in Millets I bought a light fleece hoody for work reduced from £20 to £6, a fluffy fleece for Peter (£35 to £16) and a compass for Vytas (£13 to £4).

After a robust evening meal of sausage & mash we spent the evening playing Balderdash, a word bluffing game which at times had us in tears of laughter.

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Rainy Devon.

A sleepy wet day today. Outside it has rained and/or dripped the whole day long. No signs of normal water service returning. If it is simply due to ice in the pipes then it should soon be back to normal but if it is the pump that needs replacing then that will be another hefty bill.

It seems strange to see the countryside in shades of green and brown after the pristine white of the last few weeks. However at least we have free access to the outside world which for me means a trip to the dentist tomorrow. A chipped filing needs repairing and a small bump in my mouth makes me think I've got another root infection. I'm taking immediate action because the last time this happened I ended up losing the tooth, and my patience with lying National health dentists.

Finally today I've knuckled down to sorting out my school planning. I've printed off pages of plans sent to me by my colleagues and then sat there looking glumly at the overall week's plan wondering how I can fit in daily literacy, reading, phonics, numeracy and PE lessons as well as Science, art, IT, RE, music and PSHE. It just doesn't all fit. History and geography already get merged into other subjects and there has to be some very creative timetabling so that everything is covered.

The rest of the household have been occupied with reading, drawing, painting & playing a wargame (lots of little figures and books of rules) as well as marching Milo the Jack Russell out for a long walk up the hill in the rain. A typical Christmas holiday.

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More Eye Surgery.

Back home now after 2 days of driving. The trees lining the roads are looking very autumnal glowing gold and bronze especially when they were lit up by the sun. With the slight spectrum shift and polarization caused by my beloved wraparound sunglasses the trees and the clouds looked spectacular. Even so I'm rather tired as I'm not used to driving such long distances especially when I couldn't take my little micra over 70mph (the official speed limit) without some suspicious vibrating. I had the tracking done recently but I'll book it in for a check as soon as I get the chance. Driving into the heart of a city reminded me just how lucky we are to live out in the countryside. It wasn't the traffic, after all I learnt to drive in central London, but the sheer tedium of those city streets and the lack of space. I didn't mind the busy city roads and I'm quite happy to pull across several lanes of traffic so long as I've indicated and had a quick look. One taxi driver stopped to let me out of a side street and I promptly cut up a white van to get into the next lane. I then probably really annoyed the driver by being unsure which lane to be in next, first signalling one way and then the other before making up my mind. That just makes me laugh. We arrived in Bristol with plenty of time to spare so we went to the Bristol Museum which is only 5 mins walk away from Ultralase. I don't know if it is the many afternoons spent as a small child in the big London museums (the V&A, Natural History, Science and Geology museums) but I find myself so at home in these grand Victorian marble palaces.

The Bristol museum has a little bit of everything and is currently holding an exhibition on Flight based on the Bristol Aircraft Company. There were a lot of interactive exhibits for the many younger visitors. One that really made me laugh was a simulation of a luggage conveyor belt with x-ray machine. A dad was pushing the suitcases on the belt so his child could look at the screen to see their contents but the toddler was far more interested in climbing on the rollers and following the suitcase through the machine. I don't suppose it was a real x-ray machine.

The museum is built in the grand style with marble staircases everywhere branching off to mezzanine levels housing things of interest both old and new.

We had a look around the Egyptian exhibition, amazing to think that some of the objects were thousands of years old as were these Assyrian stone wall panels , about 6ft square. We admire their classical beauty and purity of line and it takes a conscious effort to visualise them as they would have been, gaudily painted in bright colours (as were all those white marble statues we find in Grecian temples.)

I loved the Blue Bristol glass though these modern examples in the museum shop were rather expensive.

Unlike our initial eye surgery which took about 5mins per eye and half an hour from start to finish, Peter's re-do took much longer. Well over an hour as they did various tests before completing the surgery. If I'd have known how long it was going to be I would have spent the time happily browsing in Habitat which is on the next corner. We did pop in for a quick look at beds but it wouldn't have been fair to drag Peter round while I looked at all the beautifully designed but expensive furniture and household items. Peter's eyes are more sore this time but today he was able to read 4 lines better than the 20/20 vision line. We spent the night up in Tewkesbury with our friends for a lovely supper and pleasant evening. We returned to Bristol for a check up today (managed to fit in a browse around Paperchase which again is expensive but so stylish), before driving the 200 miles back to Devon.

Now I've done my school work, checked my emails and am ready to crash out before starting yet another week at school.

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Wedding Bells.

It's been a lovely day today. As I drove into town the sun was shining which was especially good as my work colleague's daughter was getting married at mid-day. At work we've been able to share many a laugh with Sue over the dramas of organising a traditional wedding, from the wild hen week-end at a spa in Cornwall to the tension of delays over the dress and would Lisa be walking down the aisle with her leg in plaster or not ( not- for the day anyway). I met up with friends outside Pilton Church to see everyone arrive, and then we ended up going into the church anyway. Weddings are nice to share. A family moment before the pre-ceremony photographs.


Entering the church for the Bridal walk down the aisle.


(Out of sequence) The imposing gateway that leads into the churchyard makes an excellent background for the wedding photos.

And finally, after the ceremony , posing in a shower of confetti. I'm so glad the sun shone for Lisa. It's still sunny now so I'm sure they had a wonderful reception at Berrynarbour and are probably still partying now.
Not only did I have an enjoyable time watching Lisa's wedding with other work colleagues and meeting up with some old friends but I also had a relaxed shopping day. I don't like having to rush when I'm shopping either to get back to the car park before my ticket runs out or because other people want to go home and it was never fun shopping with children in tow. But today I wandered round, went into all the shops and eventually found 2 pairs of trousers for work in a charity shop. We can't wear jeans to school and there is a limit to the number of times I can wear my (smart) nike track suit trousers. In theory we should wear PE kit every day as we have to do PE daily and the guidelines say we should be appropriately dressed for PE. Besides 2 pairs of trousers (one pair size 12 ,US 10) I bought another fake fur body warmer, charity shop again and the star buy was a extra soft fluffy fleece hoody from a trendy/sports shop. I'd been hankering after one of these for at least 5 years after I saw some of these very fluffy tops in a surf shop at Woolacombe. But at over £60 I wouldn't even consider them, just had them in the back of my mind. One shop stocking Weird Fish had several styles in that fabric last year but they were too tight and pretty expensive. Now that I'm a bit smaller the shop has stopped selling Weird Fish so I was pretty happy to find a black zip up (much cheaper) version in another shop today. It's just so cuddly and I'm a sucker for fluffy things (and sparkly or shiny). I did resist a pair of wellies in Evans (a bigger ladies' shop). They do extra wide fittings so the boots fitted but I couldn't think of when I would actually wear them, I've got builder's steel toe cap wellies for in the garden and out walking I wear proper footwear, so I was sensible and put them back. And why did I like them so much ? - they were pale grey with enormous white polka dots all over which appealed to my sense of fun.

Peter's out today doing all sorts of boy things, shooting at the club in the morning followed by a session at the gym and the gig club's installing the Odessa into the new premises in Barnstaple. http://www.barnstaplepilotgigclub.co.uk/ for more information.

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A Last Sunny Day.

A lovely sunny day today. But the forecast for the rest of the week is dire, this usually happens when friends and family come to stay in the summer. We made the most of the good weather with a barbecue, Romas and Vicky who had been incommunicado since being at the Bloodstock music festival, arrived just as we were serving up.

Alex was most impressed with the numbers of butterflies and dragonflies in the garden. We ended the day with a 7 handed game of scrabble which was not the most lively event due to the length of time take by most of the players.

I'm not sure how the diet will go this week but I shall have to try my best. I'm especially pleased that my weight is now less than where I was when I was 16 and I certainly wasn't overweight then. It's just distributed slightly differently now.

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Purple Grass.

I was outside gardening as always when I took a closer look at the seed heads on this ornamental grass planted along the side of the drive. They were shining purple in the sunlight. Less than half an hour later as I carried on with clearing everything from an ornamental grass bed I came across the label which had obviously come with the original plants, pennesitum purpureum. I planted that bed about 15 years ago so I had forgotten some of the names of the grasses in it.Last night Peter and I went to a 40th birthday party. I wasn't sure about going as it was one of Peter's friends and it was a 'punk' themed party.

Peter was very keen so I made the effort even though my end result was more goth than punk. The sad thing was that apart from the dramatic make up and a belt around my neck, nearly everything I was wearing (black jeans and t-shirt teamed with silver & black jewellery including ear cuffs and a pair of bajoran earrings) was part of my normal wardrobe. (Peter definitely does not go around with earrings or any other jewellery.) Fancy dress seems to be quite common nowadays and people often dress up for major events. New Year's Eve sees young and old in town dressed as everything from ballerinas to zombies. My sons tell me there are a lot of fancy dress events at university as well.

Most people had made an effort. Kilts seemed to figure prominently. I don't recall them from the original days of punk but I was only an observer in those days having gone from 'hippy child' to 'rock'. We didn't have a tv back then but I can remember being shocked by seeing people with safety pins sticking into them. That's what punk was all about, going against the system and shocking people.

Last night was all in fun.The second band was a punk band and the lively music certainly made you want to get up and dance/jump. Some people had a lot of the moves but I didn't see anyone pogo-ing. We met one of my work colleagues and her boyfriend (do you say boyfriend for people over 30?) and we all got on really well which made it an enjoyable evening. It got rather hysterical when we decided to breathe in the helium from the balloons on our table and sing silly songs. My choice was the Lonely song (Lonely. I'm so lonely, I have no body to call my ow....n.) which makes me laugh even when I sing it with my normal voice. This was all on diet cokes because I don't drink.

I noted that Peter didn't get up too early this morning. I spent the afternoon gardening & listening to the roaring of the wind in the trees. It was blowing up from the south-west so was quite warm. Earlier as I had been taking some scraps to the chickens I noticed Belle agitatedly trotting up by the fence. Looked again and saw that Ben had climbed through the fence and was on the road between the 2 fields. Sarah was already on her way up to shepherd Ben back to the gateway and re-unite him with Belle. Naughty foal.
The diet is still on the go, a whole stone lost! I seem to have settled into a sensible eating plan resulting in a gradual but steady loss. Sad face for yesterday because although I stuck to the crudites at the party I did have a piece of profiterole cake and nibbled on Indian snacks.

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Exploring Cat.

I was busying in the kitchen this morning when one of the set of chopping boards that stands next to the microwave seemed to move. 'Strange' I thought so I moved the boards away to discover Elwen perched on top of the microwave. I have no idea what she thought she was going to find there.

And out she comes.

Another full day in school. Somehow I'm managing to fit in lots of creative activities, well, you have to make Easter cards so in the absence of any other instructions that's what we did (after the usual numeracy and phonics sessions). The classroom is now adorned with some weird and wonderful chicks with googly eyes and folded paper legs. Some of them look quite scary.

(Later- like after midnight), just got home from a meal at a smart Chinese restaurant with 11 friends from work as Marion is retiring after 24 years as a teaching assistant.

This was the well behaved look before the evening got started.

Once everyone had tucked into lots of delicious food and a certain amount of wine, things got a little noisier as we all began to unwind from the stresses of work. In fact there was plenty of laughter & ribald humour, the group that had had arrived on the bus missed the last bus home, no problem as several of us didn't drink and had cars, and we were almost the last group to leave the restaurant. Even Peter benefited as I overcame my British inhibitions and asked for a doggie bag to take home. Doggie bags are almost unheard of in the UK, firstly because restaurant meal portions are usually of a manageable size and also because most Brits would find it highly embarrassing to ask for the 'left-overs'. I'm a bit of a rebel and less inhibited than most, also Peter had said in a plaintive voice when I dropped into his study to say that I was off out, 'They do doggie bags at the Han Court'. So now he has something tasty for tomorrow when I will have to be very strict with my diet to make up for tonight's extravagance.

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Laser Surgery For Peter.

Peter's laser eye surgery went well yesterday. His eyes are a bit more bloodshot than mine were but he says they feel fine and at his check up today his vision was nearly perfect and he is really pleased with the results already. We were also pleasantly surprised when the surgeon recommended a much less expensive version of the treatment as he said it would be better for Petr's eyes so he ended up having the same treatment as I did. It must be good working in that clinic because the procedure is not painful, has only the smallest amount of discomfort (usually), and the results are almost immediate. I had my 6 month check yesterday and my left eye which does have a tendency to feel dry or slightly gritty, is very slightly down in vision, (1/4 only). It will be checked again in 6 months and should there be any more deterioration they will correct it with more surgery (free lifetime after care). I drove us out of Bristol and had a reminder of city driving, lots of clutch control as you creep along in slow traffic keeping an eye open for pedestrians darting out between parked cars, watching out for road signs on an unfamiliar route and plenty of indicating from me to say 'sorry, I'm in the wrong lane and I need to be over .... there.' Then it was onto the motorway in the dark- not good, and lots of rain - also not good, and in fairly heavy traffic - so so. At least Peter has learnt to stop bugging me about not driving fast enough. I felt that sticking to the speed limit of 70 mph was quite fast enough in those condition and I prefer to slow down a bit rather than attempt to overtake when I don't have a really clear view. It only took an hour and a half to drive to Tewkesbury to Sam & Kate's. We had a very sociable evening, a nice meal followed by the film 'Outlander' accompanied by lots of silly comments. Great fun. This morning we stopped on Tewkesbury High Street so that I could take some pictures of the lovely Tudor half timbered houses that make this such a pretty town.

In the background is the Cathedral which dates back to the 11thC. Apart from the High Street most of the buildings in the old town are not quite as old brick built houses and of course there are vast areas of modern housing around the town. Even in just the last few years the field across the road from Sam & Kate's has changed from a riverside meadow - prone to flooding, to a new housing estate - flooding not mentioned by the developers. Peter was pronounced fit to drive at the clinic today and an hour and a half after leaving Bristol we were doing a bit of shopping in Barnstaple. Saw almost no signs of snow in all our driving, just a little on the hills and a few small drifts at home. I saw my first new lambs, in a field off the Link road.

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A Full House.

We managed to get the place respectable in time for all our visitors this afternoon. Linas and I had gone into town in the morning, got rid of more stuff at the dump , did a little shopping (more glass drops for the tree and some new lights) in the sales and bought a carpet offcut for Romas' room. Linas wouldn't let me buy the bright pink carpet that caught my eye and we settled for a light brown carpet that cost me £64. The room is now totally transformed and very acceptable. When everyone arrived we had a second grand present opening with much hilarity.

Vytas was dismayed to realise that he had left his favourite extra large tea mug in Salisbury but luckily we had a suitable replacement.


Milo joined in enthusiastically as he delighted in destroying every piece of wrapping paper almost before it was off the presents.

I think Kate E liked her clinking present.

And Alex was definitely overjoyed with this pink molepig (anime character) from Vytas and Kate B.

Romas had washed his hair earlier and managed to get both Alex and Kate B helping out with the replaiting. Even I had started on the task earlier. Apparently not only his girlfriend but the other girls in his corridoor at uni enjoy doing this for him.

After a roast dinner we all decided to measure ourselves , some had grown and some of us have shrunk. Oh the weight of advancing years.

Vytas is still the tallest at 6'3 1/2" and Milo is the shortest at 2'6".

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A Walk In The Mendips.

It was a beautiful day as we set off for an hour and a half's drive to meet up with our friends at Priddy, near the Cheddar Gorge. It's a kind of half way point where we meet up for a walk in the spectacular limestone landscape around the gorge. As you approach Cheddar the spine of the Mendip hills breaks out from the flat rather nondescript Somerset landscape. The underlying limestone has created a a wide ranging cave system as well as the Gorge and many smaller outcrops.

We always drive through the Gorge to enjoy the sight of those towering rock faces.

Plenty of visitors to the Gorge as always, tourists, walkers and many climbers scrambling up the cliffs. I suppose the closest alternative places to climb would be the mountains in Wales or the Welsh coast.

Our meeting place was Priddy, a lovely village with mostly stone houses, probably costing an absolute fortune, and several good pubs. Just checked out some house prices there and they range from £500,000 upwards !

The Queen Victoria is full of atmosphere, slate floors, stone walls and wood fires.

Milo was certainly enjoying the warmth of the fire. We decided to treat ourselves to a pub lunch instead of our usual picnic. The food was very well done, Peter had a beef pie with new potatoes & veg and I had faggots (liver based meatballs) with mash and onion gravy. All good winter grub.

Now I wonder why these 2 chaps have such silly grins on their faces?

Aha ! that's why, and the few pints they had to sample in the pub before hand.

We walked off our lunches at Ubley Warren, a popular walking spot with many rocky outcrops and 'mini gorges'. The whole of the Mendips seems to be an outdoor playground. We saw walkers, cyclists, cavers, horse riders, trail bikers and even parascenders and a microlight.

No walk would be compete with a final brew up and cake.

Rest assured, the men were driven home by their completely sober wives.

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