29/02/2020 A full on February
As the title might suggest we have been very active this month what with visitors, joining things and generally getting out and about. Considering this has been our first full month spent in the UK for many years I think we are making serious progress with the readjustment process.
I`ll start at the beginning, then shall I? As part of our integration process I have started going to a new art group aptly named Painting for Pleasure. It is quite a big group, but the people there have made me feel very welcome and it is nice to be painting again. Everyone does their own thing and during the coffee break everyone circulates to look at each other’s daubings. This suits me fine and the range of subject matter and media used by the group members is varied…as is the talent! Having said that, there are some very accomplished artists in this group…a lot of them are much better than me I must say 
So far, I am really enjoying it. To be part of this group I have also had to join the U3A (the University of the third Age) which I admit I had to look up! The Carlisle branch seem to be a very active lot and both Geoff and I (yes, I made him join too!) can see other groups and talks in their list of activities that interest us, so I think this will be a good step forward in making friends and finding things to do here.
We have been to a couple of events in Carlisle, thanks to invitations from Hazel and Phil. I thoroughly enjoyed taking part in the Amnesty International Quiz night which Hazel organised. I love quizzes and we often did pub quizzes when we lived in Marple. This one was tough, but very good and our team came a respectable second, so we were happy with that H and P took us to Carlisle Cathedral one evening too to see part of the citys Festival of lights. There was a pretty spectacular light and sound show in the cathedral itself, which was really good and we enjoyed that very much. We then went to a great Italian restaurant afterwards…it is good to have the twosome around as they know all the super places to eat! This last week saw us going to Phils Rotary Club meeting to celebrate Rotarys progress in the eradication of Polio. When we lived in the UK Geoff was an active member of Rotary and he was part of his clubs involvement in this scheme, so he was very interested to hear of the progress which had been made. I don`t think he will be tempted back into Rotary…but there were certainly a few offers for him to join the clubs round here, made last night!
The highlight of my gadding about this month has to be going with Hazel to see Fascinating Aida in Carlisle. This was my Christmas present from H and P and boy, did I enjoy it. The three ladies who make up FA were brilliant, so funny, so talented musically, so naughty at times but it was fantastic satire at its very best. It’s a long time since I have laughed so much…and judging from the continuous shaking of the seat next to me, Hazel enjoyed the show as much as me. Afterwards, the audience was able to meet the threesome in the foyer where they were signing autographs and chatting to people. I was able to meet Dillie at last and got the opportunity to tell her how much I like reading her blog. I often comment on her posts, as I find her ideas about our overuse of plastics and other “green” issues very thought provoking (and humorous, of course) and I was thrilled that she actually knew my name! She does read my blog when she can…what a compliment! All in all, it was a great night and one that I thoroughly enjoyed.
February of course means Geoffs birthday. We have for a long time now not bought fancy presents for each other, preferring instead to have a night or two away instead. This year we headed into Scotland to explore the Dumfries and Galloway region. My family used to holiday there every year, when I was young, staying in a farmhouse just outside Castle Douglas and I was thrilled to actually find the said farmhouse, as we travelled up to Newton Stewart where we stayed for the weekend. The actual house hasnt changed much but looked very smart. The cow byre and hayloft of my memories have been completely changed though, and are now very smart looking holiday cottages. It was nice to see everything there again though. The rest of the weekend was lovely…apart from the weather. We were in the midst of storm Denis and got thoroughly soaked several times on the Saturday. Our plan to visit Logan Gardens on the Sunday (Geoff`s actual birthday) had to be shelved as they closed the gardens as a precaution due to high winds, so we spent the day driving around the Wigtown peninsula, looking at several stone circles (his passion, not mine!), driving along by the shores there, eating wonderful crab bisque for lunch by the Solway and finally ending up in Portpatrick where we were entertained for ages watching the extremely rough sea and waves crashing into the rocky coast there. We drove back on the Monday calling in to various little places (Kippford, Rockcliffe, Sweetheart Abbey etc) which I remembered from my childhood holidays. We both really enjoyed the whole weekend…apart from the loss of my favourite pair of shoes, which I can only think I put on top of the car as we were packing it, and then managed to leave there as we drove off, never to be seen again 
February also means it is time for Geoff to meet up with his old school pals for their annual reunion in The Fleece at Penwortham prior to their pilgrimage visit to Deepdale, to watch a Preston North End match. The gathering at The Fleece has grown in numbers over the years as some of us wives now go as well as other family members such as our son Matthew and grandson Ethan, and so it is a really nice reunion now. I love catching up with all the “hangers on” especially Tony`s mum, Betty. At 95 years of age she puts us all to shame with her zest for life and very sprightly mind. I love seeing her every year. The boys were all on good form too and the icing on the cake was that Preston won, so everyone was happy
We have now disposed of our French car. Geoff drove it to a business in Leeds where they bought the car (for a very low price mind you) and best of all dealt with all the paperwork which we were finding a maze to trawl through. We were then able to cancel the French insurance without any bother. Our “new” little car is proving very good and we seem to have adjusted to driving on the left again without too much trouble. We did have a little blip with the car, when Geoff managed to leave the lights on one night resulting in a flat battery…and a very red face as he had to ask the garage to come out and start it! I was only glad it was him, not me that had done that!
Geoff also has managed to give blood again. It was always a big disappointment to him not to be able to do this in France ( no British blood can be donated there because of mad cow disease…and yes, you did read that correctly!) so he was very keen to get back into donating before he gets too old to do so. It was a bit of a struggle for him to get re-registered but having succeeded in the end and having been given an appointment time, off he toddled to donate. And then he ran into classic NHS issues…having to answer the same registration questions as hed already done on line (they cant access the on line stuff at the donation sites!) overbooking appointments and shortage of staff which meant he had to wait for over an hour whilst they cleared the backlog. He was spitting feathers when he got home over 2 hours later than planned and there were lots of mutterings about inefficiency, bad management and no apologies in evidence. The silly blood donation service then made the big mistake of sending him an online feedback survey….!!
We have had more friends here to visit this month. Our good friends Gill and Charles drove over from Whitley Bay for lunch one Saturday and we had a lovely afternoon catching up with all the news. Charles and Geoff went off for a walk to look at the very full river at the back of the flat complex. I dont think it will flood here, but it must come close at times judging by the amount of water which has been thundering down after these storms. It was pretty impressive I can tell you. I do feel so sorry for all the people who have been flooded during these recent storms. I cant imagine what it must be like and hope I never have to experience it. We are going to do a return visit to G and C next month where we will also meet up with some other friends from the street where we all lived when we were first married and brought our children home as babies. We haven`t seen them for many years, so we are really looking forward to that.
And so, our first full month here in the UK comes to an end. We seem to be slipping back into UK life very easily. We are enjoying re-discovering food we haven’t eaten for years (bread buns, pease pudding, lemon curd, pancakes, Chinese and Indian takeaways etc) and shopping in old familiar department like stores such as Dunelm and Matalan, to name but a few! Garden centres are proving to be a nightmare, money wise, as we try to jolly up our little garden here. We are amazed to find that although we can get pasties and “bakes” galore, along with coffee in Greggs, we struggle to buy bread there! I am loving exploring the charity shops here (there are a lot of those in Carlisle) and picking up the odd thing which we foolishly discarded in our move and now find we need…such as a corkscrew can you believe! We have now registered with a GP and Geoff has visited a dentist…I still need to pluck up the courage to do this. The doctor visit was bad enough…and as I always say, whenever you go to see doctors, they always discover something. This something for me is a high blood sugar (what a surprise eh?) …so, more visits are now to come, unfortunately. More of that next month, along with more meet ups with friends, family and hopefully, (coronavirus restrictions permitting) a return to France for a couple of months.
A bientot mes amis