R.I.P. Pie

Today I wake up on a world that is a bit emptier and a bit sadder than it was yesterday. Today I wake up on a world that no longer holds my beloved fur baby Pumpkin. : (



I have been attempting to get this blog back on the road for ages but even though I have had plenty of happy and exciting stuff to write about, its actually taken a desire to write a little tribute to  the little mate to get it back up and running, 

We took our fluffy friend to see the vet last week as he had developed a cough and wasnt eating. Since everyone else in the house was suffering either from full blown flu or chesty cough's we thought he just had a chest infection, so it was a bit of a shock when the vet said he needed to stay in and go on a drip. After a long weekend of tests, antibiotics, drips and such, Monday he was scanned (no xray, too  much handling made him panicky and end up in an oxygen tent). Inconclusive results did force an xray yesterday though, which showed his little lungs were full of the wicked C growths. There was no other solution than but to say goodbye to our little mate.

Pumpkin never was my cat to start off with. He was bought as a birthday present for Laura.   Which one is a bit of a debate because she is insistent it was 2002 - her 17th yet I have photos of him as a kitten taken on an early school digi camera labelled 2000. Anyhow whichever year it was I can remember we went to collect him from the pet shop with my parents and after we stood in sainsbury car park debating which name to choose for a ginger cat. Obviously Ginger was thrown in the pot along with all the other fav names for an orange striped cat but Pumpkin was a bit unusual and seemed to fit.

He was a tiny scrap, the runt of the litter (but all the rest were black or white and Laura so wanted a ginger puss) and he had so many fleas you could see them running across his face. The pet shop had treated them but the injections killed off the ability for the fleas to breed so you had to wait for the initial ones to finish their lifespans. Yet we all loved him, even Martin who insisited he was scared of cats and who had made us wait so many years to get a cat,

Pie Alley became an indoor cat, for the simple reason he couldnt be trusted outside on his own. On his first attempt at the outdoor life he had managed, somehow without our seeing, got into next doors garden. We searched for 2 hours, panic setting in, before Martin finally heard a mewing and discovered him trapped by the neighbour's cat between the side of their conservatory and our garden wall.  On his second outing he decided that Yes it was possible to walk across water. No! Its not, and a very wet drippy cat had to be rescued from his improptue dip in the pond.  So after that he was only allowed out under strict supervision.

 

Pumpkin has been a wonderful cuddly friend and we will miss him desperately. He left us way to early and way too quickly, but he has left us with many happy memories. Only a few weeks ago, he had us in peals of laughter attempting to get his christmas treats out of the new fangled Whiskers treats dispenser, not by swipping it with his paws as intended but by trying to get his tongue into the holes and lick them out

 Go in peace little mate, with all our love xxxxx.

Revive?

I am thinking it might be time - since its coming up to Christmas and all that - to revive my little space in cyberland. Lots has been going on in real life that I should really have been recording but I dont seem to have had the inclination to sit down and blog it. My bad, and I know I am just going to regret it in the future. So I am going to try hard to get back into good habits and give this blog the kiss of life. 

Watch here for a little montage of photos covering the last 6 months soon.

For Sale

Life has been a bit strange lately as we have finally put our house on the market. It feels odd to be doing this after living here for nearly 28 years, it is even weirder showing round people who may end up living here instead of us.


This time round we took a bit longer choosing our estate agent, and making sure we got the best commission deal, and the agent most likely to work for us. We eventually plumbed for Reeds Rain, who not only had a deal on fees, but also seemed the most likely to guide us through the various stages since this will be the first time we have ever sold a house (our only other move being an insurance jobbie as our home was subsiding).

So far we are happy with our choice, after only 3 1/2 weeks we have had one couple who liked it, wanted to come for another look but somehow got lost in the ether as they never did come back, a couple who decided it was too small, a couple who thought they would up their budget after a day looking at lots of houses including ours, and a couple who love the place, have made three visits, have bought along both sets of parents, yet have still to make an offer, and last night, a couple in need of a place to move into before May and who made two visits in the same day. Oh and apparently the estate agent herself is also keen but has not managed to sell her home yet so is not in a position to make an offer.

There is not a great deal in the way of bungalows in our price range about, we have been to see a few, and even put in an offer on one we love but its catch 22 as the agent on that one wouldn't take a firm offer until we manage to sell ours!

We await the next installment, next week.

 Martin had a week off the week before half term. The weather wasnt brilliant, cold rainy and mainly overcast plus I ended up doing two days supply and we looked after little Finley for two days but we did finally get to go to Harry Potter Studio Tour!

  The website reckons on it being a three hour walk round and they are not wrong (we have been to other places that boast just as much cost the earth and turn out to be little more than a 5 min walk round a poorly themed room). We took over the three hours and could have happily looked round for longer except neither of us were fit enough to stay on our feet any more than that.

 Its a fab place to go, so much to see, and so much in the way of interesting information, in fact its difficult to take it all in at just the one visit and I can well see us going again in the distant future to refresh our memories and learn more.

 Some things were simply magical like the set for the Weasley's house, some were surprising like the dormitory where Harry slept for the duration of his time at Hogwarts (such a small space but made to look so spacious)

 

 some things were wonderful secrets but nothing on how the magic was made actually took anything away from the films and tended to make us think just how clever everything really had been such as how Hagrids hut was designed to make him look big or the children small,

 some stuff simply took a very long time to think through, design and make which really gave a sense of awe towards all who worked on the films and just how much attention to detail there had been

 and somethings just knocked you off your feet, like the scaled model of Hogwarts castle that filled a whole room and was simply amazing to behold.

 

We even got to sample a pint of butter-beer and although we didn't go much on it, it being much to sweet for our tastes it was still a brilliant experience. All the staff were amazing, and looked after us every step of the way without seeming pushy and all in all I would recommend anyone with any interest in film making or watching (and not just HP films) to take the opportunity to go have a look.

Roller coaster

week that is.

Monday an early morning phonecall got me a days work in a school were the staff were dropping like nine pins to a strange illness, followed by finally collecting Kelly from the station and signing up for Slimmers World, 

Tuesday I took little Finley to shop for all the fruit and veg I would need and visited my dad who also seemed to be developing the strange illness going round (strange as in no-one could really describe the symptoms other than to say they felt ill or wibbly!)
 

Wednesday it was back to work again but luckily those who had succumbed to the virus had all recovered. 

Thursday we heard that my Uncle Derek had died after a long fight with the dreaded Big C.  RIP

We also spent the day interviewing estate agents as the time had finally arrived to put our house on the market. We had seen a bungalow with lots of potential and were hoping it would hang around long enough for us to at least be able to say ours was up for sale even it it hadnt been sold, when we made our offer.

 Having estate agents round is an odd experience, and it was interesting to compare the different sales pitches. The first turned out to belong to the same golf club as Martin and in fact had even played a round with him at one time. His approach was to spend ages chatting to Martin about golf and almost ignoring me, then when I was forced upstairs to change a dirty nappy from our little man, proceed to tell finally Martin all the stuff we needed to know about how their company were going to market our home.

The second one tended to start talking about herself the minute we finished the first half of any answer to a question e.g How long have you been in this house? Twenty eight years ever since ....ooooh thats nearly as long as I have been an estate agent.  Then she spent the next 15 minutes trying to sell us stuff already on their books and to get us registered before she finally gave us the info we needed. Having valued the house she then told us it was best to put it on at the exact asking price because that would be what we got (and we all really know that no one offers the asking price when buying), Oh and our 3 bed semi detatched house would be in direct competition with the 2 bedroom bungalows on the other side of the main road?????

It turned out the last agent we saw (recommended by Kelly) had once owned a nursery and we knew each other from when she used to attend monthly consortium meetings at my previous school. She came in and immediately asked about what we were wanting to do, and then using a presentation 'big' book made a proper professional presentation on how and what her company could do for us. No hard sell, no trying to be our friend and no genderism. Not only that her commision was cheaper than the others. 

So guess which one we chose?

On Friday I got a text from the agency at 6 15 am asking me to work (a different school this time) so I had to leave Martin who was supporting a head ache, to clean up and dress the house for the agent to come back and measure and take photos. Mmmmm......

Finally the week ended with our annual family outing at the local playhouse pantomime although sadly dad was still feeling rough so couldnt join us. I dont really think he missed much or maybe after such a heavy week or from lack of sleep I was just too tired, but I really didnt think it was up to previous years performances. Still it was nice to go out together as a family and we did laugh at our favourite two stooges who never seem to let down the play or the audiance.

Sadly by saturday the bungalow we had set our hearts on had been sold, leaving not a lot on the market at the moment. This at least takes the pressure off the rush to get all the paperwork done for getting ours on the market but is worrying in that there doesnt seem anything for us to buy.

White stuff!

Since my garden is looking like this right now, I have decided to stay in and do a bit of sewing.  Last night I finally finished my peplum top (photo to follow) and had luckily bought some suit material in the C&A sale when I popped in last saturday, so I have drafted up a block for the veravenus 1930's skirt which I am going to make to go with the top.

Sow is my least favourite kind of weather alongside fog and heavy winds. Have I mentioned before that I hate snow??? Luckily our little corner of the world hasnt had that much but even a small sprinkling is enough for me, I really dont understand why people get so excited about it. I have felt this way about the stuff eversince I was small, and maybe coming through the severe winter of 1963 might have something to do with it, but even as a child I would have rather stayed inside than be out in the cold silence making snowmen with the other children.

As I said though, the heavy snows have stayed clear of here, so we were able to go into Canterbury on Friday with Kelly and Ollie for a lovely carvery meal in the Victoria Hotel. Martin has been off all week and although in the main we have stayed home and veggitated Martin did go and sit in their house waiting delivery of a new bath for them most of friday so it was by way of a thankyou that they took us our. 

The week has been filled with looking after/playing with Finley poppet, who is so funny and so much fun right now that we were more than happy to have him, me working and a few trips out to look at the outside of bungalows that may be candidates for our move. We still have a few last minute jobs to do on this house before putting it on the market but a couple of likely prospects had come onto the market that might have made us decide to move forward the time of putting this one on the market,  Although a couple of those we looked at did excite us, unfortunately they were all under offer by yesterday so instead we just cleaned up the house and decided to wait until Martins week off in February. After all, who is going house hunting in this weather?


One other thing I did do this week was to have more of a play with my Annie Sloane chalk paint. I have two beautifully carved wooden apple book ends, one of which I use as a door stop. They are highly polished medium coloured wood finish but have become a little tatty so I decided to give them a bit of a makeover. I only had white chalk paint but I poured a little into a bowl and mixed in some denim coloured blue acylic (plaid) paint to give a very pale blue colour, painted, and waxed all the parts then instead of the country look they had with red gingham fabric and string I would go for a more shabby chic look. I am really pleased with the result on the first one.

Assorted week

On Monday all the schools went back but first week out I was not expecting to be flooded with supply work, in fact I wasnt expecting any work at all as it has been so quiet so it was a surprise when Wednesday morning I got a late call saying the school I had been working with for the last two terms wanted me back for a further 2 terms. Its only one day a week but they are a great class and a friendly staff so I was more than happy to be rushing out the door to get there before assembly finished!

The rest of the week has been a bit of a mixed bag though. Monday I went with Laura to return her broken tagine, it came with no instructions but a recipe that seemed to imply it was ok to put it on the hob and fry off the onions before placing it in the oven, however it was only after it had cracked to a point beyond safety that I looked on the website where in the small print it did say not suitable to use on direct heat!  Anyway BHS were happy to refund the money and after going to Dunelm to replace with another one, we ventured into Hobbycraft as I needed a zip to finish my peplem top. 

No sooner had I picked up the zip then my phone rang and a very sorry for herself sounding Kelly told me she was very poorly and needed her mummy, so it was back home and over to her place to snuggle her up with a cup of tea (she had been too ill and weak to make herself one) a duvet on the sofa and the new Snowman and the Snow dog on the telly. Kelly loves the original and has been watching it every year (despite the fact it makes her cry) since she was 1 and it first hit our tv screens. Although we both agreed that the new follow up is not a patch on the 'real' one, we were soon both in tears and enjoying it.

Tuesday it was mum's birthday. She only wanted money but I still took Finley over to see her and dad. She had just discovered the dentist wanted to take out two of her teeth as they were starting to decay and was to do it the very next day. Not much of a birthday gift Mr Dentist :(

Thursday I woke up with a very sore back, so although it was Martins day off, we stayed in all day and played with our little lad, so it was not until Friday that I finally got back to Hobbycraft to see what they might have in the sale. Not much it would seem, but I did treat myself to a natural daylight lamp with magnifyer which was half price and seemed a good deal. The light in the craft room is very very poor so it was a godsend to actually be able to actually see the stitching I needed to undo on my top. Last night I finally got as far as putting in the zipper only to discover the new foot I got for christmas doesnt fit properly, the needle keeps hitting it and I broke two needles before I finally admitted I need to go back to putting it in without the special foot.

Week round up

I can't believe it is the 5th Jan already! 

I thought a round up of each week would be a good idea, and would let me add in any catchups I may have missed/

One of the important things I have not mentioned so far is the really sad thing that has happened. My cousin's wife finally lost her battle to the big C and passed away on 31st Dec 2012. I just want to send out a huge hug and to say I am thinking of you all to Ian, all his family and also to all of Janet's family. xx

On a less somber note, I have been keeping to my targets (I refuse to call them resolutions) and so far am half way through sewing a peplum top. Now I made a full muslim which fitted perfectly. The pattern was this one (just the top with a self drafted peplum)

and all it needed was a small FBA and a bit of a widening of the sleeve. I used exactly the same pattern as I made to cut out the muslin. I then read on some blog or other that by cutting out the interlining a bit larger than the main pieces they could be sewn together at the edges, turned the right way in, and ironed flat that the edges would be finished and the interlining lay flat.  So I have had a go at that, made up the top, let the seams out again, made it up again and it just about fits where it touches. How did that happen when the muslim had just the right amount of ease?

Still I will plod on as Kelly has persuaded me to go to Slimming World with her on Monday so hopefully by the time I finish the top, I will have lost a few pounds to make it wearable!

So, thus far I have blogged more often, have done some sewing and have decided on which way and when I am going to start the weight loss. Today Martin is off to watch a spurs match so I am going to see about a bit of walking and then try and take a few photos.

Good intentions

Honest my new keep up my blog intentions have not fallen by the wayside, its just that yesterday my lappy decided it didnt fancy connecting to the internet no matter what I wanted or tried, so it was off to my wonderful SIL for the day to get fixed.

Meanwhile I nipped off down to Sandwich to buy and try some of the Annie Sloan Chalk Paint I have been reading great reviews on all around the net. I was rather taken by the fact that it seemed this wonderpaint needed no priming (yes that is right) no sanding down, or pre-painting before being used to transfer old furniture. Furthermore,its also reputed to stick to anything, deemed to dry in 20 mins and was perfect for shabby chic!

Now I am beginning to be quite taken with the romantic look and have a vision in my head of how I would like my new home to look (when we finally put this one on the market and move into a bungalow. It involves giving a new lease of life to my 1980's dark solid wood dinning room suite. 6 chairs all in what could be dark teak or dark oak but with turns on all the spindles and back slats! One of the reasons I had never done anything with it before was the thought of having to sand down all those twists on 6 legs, a cross bar, and two uprights on the back plus a number of rather awkward shaped slats on the backs. So I was really really hoping the paint would live up to its name.

So far I have painted half the chair, giving it two coats. Its not easy stuff to work with as it drys out really quickly and thickens up in the can just as fast. Not only that its a bit deceptive in that it looks like it has loads of brushstrokes and the dark wood shows through. Its not until it dries completely thoat it looks flat and white. It is touch dry in 10 mins (working indoors in centrally heated room) but doesnt look flat until a good couple of hours later.

I am really pleased with the look so far though. It still needs to be waxed to cure the paint but the shop did not have any in until their next delivery some time next week. So hopefully brilliant chair photos to follow!

Starting!

Happy 2013!!

So targets for this year:-

• blog more often
• loose weight
• get fitter
• sew at least 6 fitting outfits
• take more photos of whole family
• scrap some photos 
• put house on the market

Long summer hoidays part 2

Laura and I had made a whole long list of things to do and places to visit with the little lad, but before we could start in on it, Martin insisted on a bit of sun and sea abroad to enjoy some R&R.  He had a week off, we had money in the bank, but we just couldnt decide where to go.

What we ended up doing was booking a place that looked wonderful in the photos, all swimming pools and activities, but we did it at 1 oclock in the morning after a meal out with Kelly and Ollie, half asleep and without the benifit of researching TripAdvisor, BIG MISTAKE!

Too late to back out having paid the full price, I discovered it had some mighty flaws and when we arrived found out that all the moans were no exaggeration. We had a clear flight and landed in Majorca at 2 in the morning, finally arriving at the 'site' at 3. The reception looked fine and then we were shown to what became known as 'The Shed'.  Honest, if I hadn't been so tired I would have cried, and it didn't look any better in the morning. It was like sleeping in my dad's out house with room for little more than the two single beds, a table and a chair. The tiles were cracked, the paint was peeling, the built in cupboard was so musty smelling we left our clothes in the suitcase or hung them from the curtain rail, the bathroom door wouldn't open if shut, and the shower turned the whole bathroom into a wet room.

The food was plenty and passable - like going back to the 60's when the Spanish had been told the Brits liked chips, boiled to death veg, and angel delight - yes we had angel delight of various flavours on offer ever mealtime!

On Monday we tried to upgrade to a superior room but were told they were fully booked, on Wednesday I told Martin I was so depressed by  the room he took me more seriously and tried to upgrade again, again he was told no chance before Friday. At this point I told him it would at least help if we could open the window shutters (I was sure he had said they were stuck and we had lived under a single light bulb for 4 days). Once he had realized the problem he opened up the shutters so letting light flood in, and also cool air (we had hired a fan because the box had been sooooo hot inside it.

Anyway the 'camp' itself had plenty of facilities, 3 pools although 1 was very crowded, 1 had no shade and only a little snack shed, so we spent the week, literally sitting by the smallest pool but nearest the best of the bars, drinking sangria and reading our kindles. Not the most exciting of holidays but at least Martin got his sun and relaxation.


This photo of Sun Club Eldorado is courtesy of TripAdvisor

During Martin's second week off it was back to playing with our little lad, and a trip to the zoo is always in order during our times off. This time it was Howletts. Now I much prefer the sister zoo at Port Lymphe as I feel it has more interesting animals, but it is a much longer and hillier walk, and us old crock grandparents with our dodgy knees were not up to the hilly landscape. I always feel that the animals are too difficult to see at Howletts, and to be honest, they did not dissapoint us in that respect. I think we saw about seven animals all told, even the zoo's famed gorillas were all asleep and well out of sight. Not that this little one minded, he got to enjoy a good picnic and a fun crawl around the picnic area.

There are a great number of seaside towns very close to where we live as we are close to the Thanet coast, and through the summer each town has its own summer festival. Although we are closer to Whitstable with its two week long Oyster festival, Ccarnival and Rregatta, I much prefer the show that Herne Bay puts on, which I think is less arty and more for the common man. In the past we have enjoyed some really great events and listened to some fantastic live bands. This year the whole shebang was started off by the lighting of a huge effigy of a pirate ship on the beach, which was packed full of fireworks and pyrotechnical stuff. It seemed like it would be fun, but a bit of a booboo by the organisers meant the ropes were far too close and those of us at the front had to retreat early or be in danger of being roasted.

Long summer holidays part 1

I usually advocate that teachers dont really get those famed long summer holidays that everyone seems to think they do, that actually all they are doing is working from home, cleaning up their classrooms and grabbing a small bit of much needed destressing time before going back to the fray in September. As a supply teacher though, I dont have to clean up a classroom, make a zillion new labels for drawers, pegs, or books, or  write a terms worth of plans, neither (since most of a teacher's stress comes from the admin and paperwork side of stuff) do I need much in the way of destressing.  So this year I have been able to concentrate on just packing a lot of stuff into those few weeks.

Usually one of the first things I have to do when the holidays start though, is to catch up on all the housework I haven't done during term time. It usually means a deep clean and can take all the first week. This year was really no exception, it still needed doing but we were having builders in to put a new door/window in the front porch, and plaster it. No good cleaning if there was going to be brick dust all over the place.

Instead I spent a lot of time with Finley and Laura (although Laura, as a teacher, was doing all those things I meantioned in the first paragraph) and we did lots of fun stuff.

Here's what we packed in:

Laura and I took Finley to Westgate for his first ever experience of a sandy beach

.

Whats this strange stuff on my legs?

 

Why is Nanny burying me?

 

Ahh! Water, that I understand!

And my verdict?

Of course during August, as a country, we played host to the Olympics. Despite my total disgust at the ticket fiasco, and being adamant that I was not going to support it, I was hooked at the opening ceremony and wished I had got tickets. Kelly and Ollie had managed to get some for the Archery and the football, but despite bidding for just about everything that moved, Laura and Wayne had not won a single ticket. I was pleased to have Finley for them when they managed to get tickets to the Athletics when the gov. forced all the corp. seats to be re-issued and in tears when it turned out to be a 3 British Golds evening for them. 

 They got to explore the Olympic park

and generally have fun

before taking their seats

which offered them a pretty decent veiw of Jessica Ennis celebrating gold in the heptathlon

Gregg Rutherford making the longest jump to gain a gold medal

and best of all Mo Farah making his amazing gold winning  run in the 10,000m

So far

Since I have not been blogging too much this year I thought now we are about to go into August I would do a quick round up of this year's highlights just to get bloggy back on the right track.

So highlights

January

*     Spent lots of time with Laura and Finley. He is a delight.

*     I joined the WI and started going to the craft evenings being run by the lovely Jane Dean. So far this year I have tried my hand at cake decorating, card making, scrap-booking, sewing with scraps, as well as meeting some lovely ladies.

 
Two roses and a lot of grass icing

*     Upgraded Martins car on his 3 year payment plan. 

*     Thanks to my new Collette sewing handbook have got heavily back into sewing my own clothes. Learning lots about fitting stuff properly and altering patterns to my shape/size.

Me made skirt from Colette sewing handbook

*   Went for a not so lovely meal (service and food naff company great) to celebrate Ollie's 30th birthday.  

February

*     Fed up with signing on as my agency was not giving me any work and hadn't since last September I finally plucked up the courage to sign for another agency. 

*     We had a fair bit of snow this month so Laura and I couldn't spend so much time together

  

Finley does his first ever snow angel in his snowy garden

My new hat for the snow

*     We went to see Treasure Island, the panto at our local playhouse. V good as always.

*     Desperate to be out and about doing stuff with the little lad, Laura and I took him to Bybrook barn garden centre to see the fish tanks. He was totally besotted.

 

*     I took up crocheting again and made Finley a blanket

 

Enjoying his Nan made blankie

*     I spent a morning in Dunelm picking out all new bedding right down to the pillars.

*    Laura and I took Finley to the mother and baby showing at the Odean in Canterbury to see The Tin Tin Movie. He was really good and watched most of it before falling asleep.

March

*      Got lots of work from my new agency, so much so I was almost working full time, missed Laura and Finn though

April

*     We had a wonderful mid week break at Centre Parc with Laura Finley and Wayne plus Wayne's parents. We even took the dog. Very relaxing, we did have to make quite a few cups of tea between the lot of us whilst there though. 

*     We discovered that just up the road from us the Hornby company have a museum so we took FInley and Grandad Martin and had a wonderful morning.

May

*     I got taken to the final Spurs game, being played at home. The last time I went to a league match was way back in the '70's. Things have changed somewhat as now its seats only when before it was all standing. I could actually see the pitch now.

 

View from my seat at White Hart Lane. At half time I got to see

the great Martin Chivers and Ray Clemence walk onto the pitch

*     Kelly and I got to spend another terrific weekend with the ladies from the Pad at a scrapping weekend at Debden House.

 

Lots of crafty stuff was happening!

June

*  Laura and I took young Mr Finley to Wingham Wildlife Park. He had been the week before with his other Nan but I had never been so Laura said she didnt mind a second trip to take me along. Typical, Nan no.1 had brilliant sunshine, we had torrential rain, so bad even the butterfly house had rivers of water flowing through it. But we still had a great day and Finley was so taken with the animals.

That little goat had had a good chew on my skirt as well as escaping into the airlock gates just before this photo was taken.

*     So discussed with the total lack of anything organised for the public happening locally (not even any ticketed events) I decided to hold our own jubilee event at home. 

  

Look at the VIP's that turned up at our jubilee tea party!

*     On a whim I got my hair cut short (well actually it was seeing just how bad it looked in our Jubilee tea party photos.

*     Laura started back at work, so I thought I would get two days a week looking after Finley. Unfortunately Wayne pulled lots of tendons in his ankle and was off work for 3 weeks while it healed. I still got to childmind Finley for some days and we got to take him to the play park.

 

*     Finley was christened. A bit of a family do at Herne Church. It was a lovely day and the service was really special, made more so by Wayne also being christened alongside his son. In our usual tradition though, it turned out like another Eastenders Christmas special because no sooner where the final words out of the vicars mouth, than my dad hit the floor in a dead faint!! An ambulance was called while Martin administered first aid, and then dad was hauled off to the hospital for tests to find out why his heart beat and blood pressure were dangerously low.  The spread Laura had put  on back at the house was wonderful and only slightly tainted for us few waiting on news from the hospital but seems dad was ok, it was all caused by his tablets and as soon as he came off them he was fine again. 

 

July

A bit of a major month in the life of little Finley.

*     Finley finally mastered the crawling lark - a tad late in life but once he grasped it he was well away and it was baby gates all round!

*   Finley reached his 1 year milestone.  Another lovely Muppet themed party at Laura and Wayne's and lots of pressies for the birthday boy. 

 

*      We took Finley to watch the Olympic Torch being run through Canterbury. Run being the operative word here, can you see those guys on full sprint? After nearly a 4 hour wait in the road being steped over and pushed and shoved by really rude people, we didnt actually see the torch at all. It was only the split second timing on our cameras that actually caught any action because the torch was past us in literally the blink of an eye as the bearer sped past. I am pretty sure we should have been using him as one of our Olympic middle distance runners!!