Our weekend away

Well, England was COLD! OK, only to be expected in mid November I suppose but a bit of a shock all the same. Unbelievably there was a two hour delay on the flight which meant we arrived at the hotel at 1.00 am Saturday morning. Exeter is a small regional airport, there were no taxis waiting and the 'official' airport taxi desk was unmanned. Managed to get a taxi via the hotel. Derek was fed up, in pain and tired, and we hadn't eaten properly since lunch time Friday (snacks only) so he was also feeling the effects of lack of food. That pretty much set the pattern for the weekend. The hotel provided breakfast but didn't have restaurant facilities or room service; however there was an excellent pub restaurant next door where we had a very nice lunch on Saturday. Apart from venturing out for lunch we stayed in our room recovering from the travelling!

The party, or rather Musical Evening, was brilliant. Cliff had travelled from Australia with his wife and joined Mick for a few songs to open the evening. Then we were brilliantly entertained by a variety of local artists - folk singers from the local clubs, country and western, violinists (absolutely brilliant!) and an 'Elvis' impersonator, who was fantastic! Unfortunately the evening over-ran considerably and Derek wanted to leave about 11 pm, so we didn't see Mick do his closing songs which included some skiffle apparently. We got some video of the first part of the evening and I hope to grab a few shots from it to do a layout.

Sunday we were meeting Derek's cousin J. and her husband D. for lunch at the same pub we went to on Saturday. However, Derek was feeling pretty grim Sunday morning, appetite disappearing, so I fetched breakfast to our room and there we stayed until it was time to meet J and D. We had a great time with them - D. is quadraplegic following a swimming accident some 20 odd years ago. He and J are very well organised and cope marvellously, although oddly enough she told me she thought our situation was worse than theirs! Derek and D spent time comparing notes about being disabled, J and I chattered about our respective families - all in all a lovely afternoon and it was great to see them again - hope they'll come and stay sometime.

Back in the hotel for the remainder of the day, Derek very tired, and we had an early start to return home on Monday. Security at Exeter was tight as with all UK airports at the moment, but eventually we got through it all and on the plane which left on time. Very relieved to see our fave taxi driver Antonio waiting for us at El Altet!

Since arriving home Derek has been really off colour - we've decided a short trip like that is just not an option, he can't cope with it. I can't begin to describe what a horrible week it's been.

On Tuesday we met Sylvia, a retired specialist diabetic nurse living about 20 km away. She herself is diabetic and worked with diabetic children in the UK as well as adults. I don't think there's anything she doesn't know about the condition. She made a lot of things much clearer for us and most importantly Derek felt more confident after our visit with her. We now have menu sheets and a carbohydrate chart. She reckons it will be a couple of months before Derek is really feeling the benefit of this pattern of eating (which is what we've had most trouble with) but once he does, he will feel much better.

On Wednesday Kerry arrived to start installing the aircon! YAY! Things are under way at last! He got the units fitted in two of the bedrooms and got the third in yesterday. He didn't come today but will be back on Monday to finish.

The builder also turned up on Wednesday to work out where he was going to put the materials for the steps and the conversion. He came again yesterday late afternoon with his man who's doing the work. They deposited a load of aggregate on the road which is narrow enough at the best of times - now there's just room for a vehicle to get through. They also left a load of blocks and bags of cement. This morning two of them turned up and brought a wheelbarrow, a cement mixer and a load of tools, and as I write the steps seem to be half-built! What a joy it will be to be able to get onto the drive without having to go out of one gate and walk up the street to the drive gate! (just been told they will be here tomorrow to finish off! - WOW!)

Finally the painter is coming on Monday morning to paint the part of the basement I intend to make my 'scrapping lair'. So instead of scrapping this weekend as I intended it looks as if I'll be clearing out the rest of the cr*p from my little corner. Just need the electrician to get himself here and get me some decent lighting installed.

Have a good weekend everyone!

Off to England tomorrow!

Leaving here at 5.30 pm for our flight at 8.50, hopefully arriving in Exeter about 10.15. Still have to pack (warm winter clothes - ugh!). I found a really nice sweater in the village this morning, just my colours and will fit in with the things I'm planning to take this weekend. Not sure what we'll do on Saturday before the party in the evening, but we're meeting Derek's cousin and her husband on Sunday for lunch. Flight out of Exeter on Monday morning is 7 a.m.! But at least we should be home by lunch time and back to some better weather.

The aircon is being installed next week and hopefully the person who's going to do some painting for us will also show up next week. We're seeing a specialist diabetic nurse on Tuesday, we hope we'll have a better understanding of what we should be doing. Derek hasn't been that good over the last week or two and we're sure it's the diabetes that's the cause.

This week I've been doing the 'explosion box' for the winter contest on Scrapitude. I didn't expect to finish it before we left for our weekend away, but today it came together quite well and it's all done. As it's going to be sent as a gift to someone who may read this blog I'm not going to show it for the moment!

Our German neighbours seem to have gone home! They've been here most of the year I think, then suddenly last Saturday morning they were gone! Their table and chairs had disappeared from the naya and all the blinds were down. They may have gone in the early hours of the morning (we heard a vehicle in the street about 5.30 a.m.) or they could have gone while we were out shopping. They don't speak English, we don't speak German, although the lady is fluent in Spanish (which we are not - yet!) so communication has been sparse and difficult but we did our best! Now there are few of us on the urbanisation. Of the 19 properties only 3 are permanently occupied, of the rest maybe half a dozen are available for let, the rest used only by owners. So we are a shifting population really.

We watched and listened to the Queen's speech yesterday. What a miserable time is in store for the UK - no wonder people are leaving the country in droves. We certainly didn't feel safe or even welcome and are heartily pleased to have left. We worry about our family though - and I dread to think what horrors will be in store if a) Gordon Brown becomes PM and b) the country has to suffer yet another Labour government after the next election.

That's it for now, then, back after the weekend - have a good one!

Little jottings....

It’s been over a week since I blogged. It’s been pretty quiet and uneventful, that’s why. We’ve also had quite a lot of rain which has kept us indoors a good deal – I’m not ready to accept that winter is on its way!

Spent time in the basement last week, going through Derek’s boxes of tools etc. – an endless task probably, but we’re going to try and spend an hour a day on it. I need to clear my ‘scrapping corner’ and get it ready for painting, especially if work on the new bedroom will be starting in a couple of weeks or so.

Talking of scrapping, I’d been trying to do some for several days without success (something always crops up), I have several ideas and a number of challenges I want to take part in and sketches I want to use but it wasn’t coming together –my mojo went into hiding! Glad to say that yesterday I managed to finish the beer mat book I made in the cyber crop, added an extra ‘mat’ and embellished it, now it has three ‘pages’. I then started one about my birthday last week....

Bought Christmas cards last week! There are still people who don’t yet know we’ve moved – getting a sense of urgency about it now! Just need to cobble a short note to include with them.

Scott went back to Derby hospital last week, hoping to have his stitches removed. Though it’s healing well, they didn’t remove the stitches and wanted him to return this week. Sara asked if he could be referred to either Lincoln hospital or their GP as it’s such a trail to Derby. Thankfully, their GP has a nurse-practitioner and the NP at Derby was familiar with the practice so was happy to refer him there for future dressings and stitch removal. He does have to go back to Derby in a month’s time though for a check up - and he has to have another two weeks off work, which he is upset about. Being self-employed, no work means no money, and he doesn’t like being idle either. Hopefully today he’ll get the stitches out – and he did manage to drive yesterday for the first time.

We’ve been looking at gas fires, or rather stoves as they’re referred to here. We need something in the sitting room, at the moment we have a yawning gap, only filled by yet another silk flower arrangement courtesy of the previous lady of this house. We have a curved fireplace/chimney and have decided to have the whole thing removed to open up the space a bit. The room isn’t big and we think this will be a big improvement. The bad news is we can’t get it done before January and also it’s going to cost us more than we anticipated.

Still no news on who, if anyone, will be visiting us at Christmas – somehow I don’t think anyone will, there’s too much going on in their lives back home for them to spare either the time or the money. We’re OK with that, it’s what we expected.

Derek has been a bit off colour the last few days. We think it’s the diabetes, we really need to handle it better but I think we need some help and advice. His blood sugar is too high. I can find information on how to raise it if it’s too low but not the other way round and apart from making sure he keeps sugar out of his diet (which he does) we don’t know what else to do.

Today I’m hoping we’ll get into the village for an amble round – it will be the first time we’ve been for a month apart from a very quick trip to the English supermarket – for Germolene of all things! Rain is forecast but I’m hoping it will hold off for long enough. After that, I hope to get more scrapping done. A new contest has been set on Scrapitude – an exploding box with the theme of Winter. Never done one before……

Sunday Blog Prompt from ScrappyFairy:

prompt 1: Do you celebrate bonfire night = and if you do, what did you do this year? (or plan to do tonight?) Upload your firework shots (if you have any) and describe your celebrations!

or prompt 2: When did you start scrapbooking - and why - and what is it that "hooked" you into continuing to scrap. How do you feel your life has changed since becoming a scrapbooker? (the reason there is 2 is incase you didnt go out to see any fireworks last night)

Will have to take the second option here, no Guy Fawkes celebrations in these parts (or if there are I don’t know where!)……

When did I start scrapbooking - Autumn 2005 - and why? - I can’t remember how I came to learn about scrapbooking to begin with – it may have been a magazine I picked up or something I read somewhere. I thought it looked like something I might be able to do and enjoy, and I know I bought several magazines before I ever put a picture on a layout. I found the UK Scrappers website fairly early on too, because my first LO was based on a class in the Star Wars Cyber Crop which took place around that time. Lack of craft shops in Lincoln led me to buying most of my stash online and that’s how I found the Scrapitude website which is where I’ve been ever since – my second home! I joined Scrapitude on 4th November 2005, in time for the first cyber crop, so have just celebrated my first anniversary there!

What has kept me hooked is, first, that it’s a fun hobby and second, I have so many photos to scrap – not as many as I would like of my children’s early years though. There were no digital cameras in those days, so it wasn’t so easy to just snap and print – thank goodness we’re able to get so many good photos so easily now!

As to how I feel my life has changed since I started scrapbooking – well, I see more opportunities for recording memorable moments, I don’t always act on them, but I’m aware of them! I also realise how valuable it is to future generations to record the ordinary stuff from days gone by and it’s important to get the memories of older family members passed on before it’s too late. I have several photos of the families of my grandparents but with no clue as to which side of the family and who’s in them. Now I encourage our children to record their family moments, in the hope that some of them will find their way onto scrapbook pages in the future. Not sure who among the family will take up the scrapbooking torch, I just hope someone will – I have a lot of stash to pass on when the time comes!

Right, better get this uploaded and then get on with breakfast. Later!