I am starting to write this post a little earlier than usual …and indeed it might be posted not on the usual last day of the month…as we are so busy just now. Someone once told me that retirement was supposed to be relaxing…in our case, they lied! We really must learn to say “no” more, but it is very difficult. We have had several manic weeks lately and by the weekends I am totally shattered. But hey ho, most of it has been fun so I shouldn’t complain I suppose.
We began the month in Scotland, where we had 2 great nights away, staying in a very lovely hotel in Gatehouse of Fleet. The hotel was one of the really old-fashioned type, with beautiful calm areas to sit and our room was beautiful…very large and with a view over the adjacent golf course to the woods and a lake. It also had a spa where we were able to swim which pleased me very much. Geoff loved going for his usual dog walk (sans dog of course) every morning in the woods and I got up leisurely before we drove down to Gatehouse for great breakfasts in the wonderful café we found there. We tend not to do hotel breakfasts, as they are overpriced and we don’t eat much of what is on offer. During the day, we explored the area around Galloway, went to see the Gavin Maxwell Memorial – a beautiful statue of an otter staring out over the bay, looked at (well Geoff did anyway) yet more prehistoric stones, walked around Wigtown (famous for its bookshops) and I enjoyed looking around a few craft shops (trade off for the standing stone visits!) We also found the great Demijohn workshop, near Castle Douglas, which was one of the reasons for coming up to this area. We left there clutching quite a few goodies destined for Christmas presents! On our way home we stopped for coffee and a good walk around Castle Douglas itself, which brought back lots of memories for me, of happy holidays spent there with my family when I was growing up. Apart from having acquired several more cafes and restaurants than I ever remembered, the little town has not changed much and I loved seeing it again. All in all, it was a very relaxing little break and we enjoyed it very much.
The next week was fairly quiet and we just did usual things like Op shop shifts for me and pickleball sessions for Geoff. We did go to one of the local Methodist chapels near here, to help with the shoebox (Operation Christmas Child) appeal. We used to be very involved with this before we moved to France, and although we have no desire to get so involved again, we did enjoy making up some shoeboxes ourselves, taking a few others, which we had been given, to the chapel who were acting as a collection point, and that afternoon helping to assemble more shoeboxes and fill them with gifts which had been donated. It was fun and it is still a great thing to do. We had combined that afternoon with one of our usual Wednesday “lunch out” days …lunch having been eaten at the nearby Crown and Thistle in Rockcliffe. In the evening of that day, we went to the AGM of the mill complex where we live. That proved to be very lively as usual! We often compare the way things are managed by the committee here in our flat complex and the equivalent management committee for our flat in France. Completely different styles of management…and frankly we do prefer the French one!
The next week was one of the forementioned manic weeks! We drove, on the Monday morning, across to Newcastle to attend the funeral of one of my nursing friends’ mother. Pauline (as she was known to everyone – including her grandchildren) died on her 97th birthday having managed to remain independent, up to the last few days of her life. We all knew her as one of the theatre sisters in the RVI when we trained as nurses. The ceremony was lovely and although a sad occasion, it was very good to meet up afterwards with lots of old friends and to see all of Liz’s family again…some of whom we have not seen since they were children. Afterwards, we took up the offer of hospitality from some other friends (Gill and Charles) and went to stay overnight with them in Whitley Bay. Again, it was lovely to see them, especially Charles who is recovering from a very gruelling, long operation. We had a very good catch up with good friends on both these occasions
We didn’t do much on either of the British traditional November days this year. Carlisle always has a great bonfire and fireworks spectacle every year, but both Geoff and I both decided to give it a miss this time. It attracts about 35,000 people and we both now feel that we really don’t feel good in crowds like that. It usually passes off peacefully and is enjoyed by everyone, but the thought of standing for a long time in that crowd was not appealing. We did mark Remembrance Day on the 11th November by joining the crowd in Carlisle city centre at 11 o’clock…and I wore my white peace poppy alongside the traditional red one, with pride. However, we gave the big open-air ceremony at the war memorial in Rickerby park on Remembrance Sunday a miss having marked the 2-minute silence in church that morning.
While we are on the subject of church, we have been very involved in activities there this month. As well as doing our usual stint serving coffee after the Sunday morning service, we organised another “café church” session last week too. These services are working and we are getting a lot more families coming to the parade services which is brilliant. However, they are really hard work! We, along with a little band of helpers, served bacon or sausage butties, orange juice, tea or coffee to over 70 people last week. I was shattered by the time we got home! We had also helped with the Christmas Fayre at church the day before, which was very successful…but again very tiring! Geoff was OK there, as he was ensconced in his little grotto (along with his very sweet elf…AKA Hazel) garbed in red and white and ho-ho-ho-ing all morning! I had made some sparkly knitted critters which all sold well, along with three dozen mince pies, which also disappeared very quickly. I had also taken along over 30 of my painted rocks…all painted with Christmas motifs of course. I explained the concept to all and sundry, of taking a rock and placing it somewhere in the neighbourhood or when out for a walk somewhere and letting others find it. I asked for donations for the stones and made a total of £34 pounds so I was very pleased. I only hope some of them get picked up by some children soon Overall the Fayre was very successful and raised over £1,300.
My visits to the dentist and eye clinic continue. I get very stressed indeed about them…especially the dentist. It was planned to do a big filling on one of my back teeth (problem picked up on x rays earlier) but after a long discussion with the very patient dentist lady, we all agreed that, as the options for this tooth were not great and it would probably end up being extracted and the options for what would happen afterwards were not appealing at all, and because it is not causing me any problems as it is at the moment, to leave it alone for the time being. Huge sigh of relief from me at that decision I can tell you! We went out for lunch after that to celebrate! As for the damage to my front teeth, caused by the fall in August, it is still a wait and see scenario. Hey ho…next review in January then! Lunch that day, was eaten in The Last Zebra restaurant in Carlisle city centre…somewhere we have walked past several times but have not been inclined to go into. Carlisle that day was so busy, as it was graduation day and the centre was full of happy graduates in their caps and gowns accompanied by proud parents and families. It was lovely to see However, it also meant that finding somewhere with a table free was very difficult! Having said that we really enjoyed our lunch and will certainly add that establishment to our “go again” list!
Last weekend saw us driving down to Manchester to stay with Matthew for the night. It was nice to catch up with him and to spend some time with Ethan and Hadley…. although, frankly, Ethan’s well-meaning attempts to show me some of the computer games he loves, proved way beyond my comprehension! On the Sunday we took the kids to an indoor climbing place, near the Trafford Centre and really enjoyed watching them tackle all the different walls and obstacles there. Then after an interesting lunch watching all the skiing on the slopes of the Chill Factor (memories of Super Besse but with a bit more warmth and better views!), we met up with Susie (who had been away for the night) and went to watch Matthew take to the “skies” as he redeemed the I Fly voucher we had bought him for his 40th birthday. This is an indoor sky diving experience and although the wait for his session was a bit long, the actual flight was great and he really enjoyed it. I have a great video on my phone of his two “flights”. After that we hit the road back up to Carlisle.
And now to end off the month in style, we are off to Cambridge for a couple of nights. There is a painting by a lady called Zaria Forman, which has been loaned to Geoff’s old college, Selwyn, which he really wants to see. He has arranged via his alumni contacts for us to be taken to see it …and then treated to lunch in college too, so off we are going! I do like going to Cambridge but it is a flipping long way to drive! We are staying nearby in Fen Drayton and apart from the drive, we are both looking forward to seeing out November there and doing a bit of Christmas shopping in Cambridge itself.
Glancing at our calendar for next month, it looks like all this busyness is set to continue into December. We have lots of entries including commitments to carol singing, reading in church (or in my case Carlisle Cathedral for a special Advent service), lots of babysitting for Hazel and Phil as they go out with the Rotary Santa sleigh, a trip down to Manchester just before Christmas to take Ethan and Hadley to a pantomime….and not to forget Geoff has been asked to make another appearance in the red and white suit too! Retirement?? Relaxing?? Don’t make me laugh!! As this is the last blog before Christmas all that remains now is to wish you all a very Happy and Peaceful Christmas.
Joyeux Noel et a bientôt mes amis
NOVEMBER 29, 2023 ~ HIRONDELLESCHABANOL ~ EDIT
I am starting to write this post a little earlier than usual …and indeed it might be posted not on the usual last day of the month…as we are so busy just now. Someone once told me that retirement was supposed to be relaxing…in our case, they lied! We really must learn to say “no” more, but it is very difficult. We have had several manic weeks lately and by the weekends I am totally shattered. But hey ho, most of it has been fun so I shouldn’t complain I suppose.
We began the month in Scotland, where we had 2 great nights away, staying in a very lovely hotel in Gatehouse of Fleet. The hotel was one of the really old-fashioned type, with beautiful calm areas to sit and our room was beautiful…very large and with a view over the adjacent golf course to the woods and a lake. It also had a spa where we were able to swim which pleased me very much. Geoff loved going for his usual dog walk (sans dog of course) every morning in the woods and I got up leisurely before we drove down to Gatehouse for great breakfasts in the wonderful café we found there. We tend not to do hotel breakfasts, as they are overpriced and we don’t eat much of what is on offer. During the day, we explored the area around Galloway, went to see the Gavin Maxwell Memorial – a beautiful statue of an otter staring out over the bay, looked at (well Geoff did anyway) yet more prehistoric stones, walked around Wigtown (famous for its bookshops) and I enjoyed looking around a few craft shops (trade off for the standing stone visits!) We also found the great Demijohn workshop, near Castle Douglas, which was one of the reasons for coming up to this area. We left there clutching quite a few goodies destined for Christmas presents! On our way home we stopped for coffee and a good walk around Castle Douglas itself, which brought back lots of memories for me, of happy holidays spent there with my family when I was growing up. Apart from having acquired several more cafes and restaurants than I ever remembered, the little town has not changed much and I loved seeing it again. All in all, it was a very relaxing little break and we enjoyed it very much.
The next week was fairly quiet and we just did usual things like Op shop shifts for me and pickleball sessions for Geoff. We did go to one of the local Methodist chapels near here, to help with the shoebox (Operation Christmas Child) appeal. We used to be very involved with this before we moved to France, and although we have no desire to get so involved again, we did enjoy making up some shoeboxes ourselves, taking a few others, which we had been given, to the chapel who were acting as a collection point, and that afternoon helping to assemble more shoeboxes and fill them with gifts which had been donated. It was fun and it is still a great thing to do. We had combined that afternoon with one of our usual Wednesday “lunch out” days …lunch having been eaten at the nearby Crown and Thistle in Rockcliffe. In the evening of that day, we went to the AGM of the mill complex where we live. That proved to be very lively as usual! We often compare the way things are managed by the committee here in our flat complex and the equivalent management committee for our flat in France. Completely different styles of management…and frankly we do prefer the French one!
The next week was one of the forementioned manic weeks! We drove, on the Monday morning, across to Newcastle to attend the funeral of one of my nursing friends’ mother. Pauline (as she was known to everyone – including her grandchildren) died on her 97th birthday having managed to remain independent, up to the last few days of her life. We all knew her as one of the theatre sisters in the RVI when we trained as nurses. The ceremony was lovely and although a sad occasion, it was very good to meet up afterwards with lots of old friends and to see all of Liz’s family again…some of whom we have not seen since they were children. Afterwards, we took up the offer of hospitality from some other friends (Gill and Charles) and went to stay overnight with them in Whitley Bay. Again, it was lovely to see them, especially Charles who is recovering from a very gruelling, long operation. We had a very good catch up with good friends on both these occasions
We didn’t do much on either of the British traditional November days this year. Carlisle always has a great bonfire and fireworks spectacle every year, but both Geoff and I both decided to give it a miss this time. It attracts about 35,000 people and we both now feel that we really don’t feel good in crowds like that. It usually passes off peacefully and is enjoyed by everyone, but the thought of standing for a long time in that crowd was not appealing. We did mark Remembrance Day on the 11th November by joining the crowd in Carlisle city centre at 11 o’clock…and I wore my white peace poppy alongside the traditional red one, with pride. However, we gave the big open-air ceremony at the war memorial in Rickerby park on Remembrance Sunday a miss having marked the 2-minute silence in church that morning.
While we are on the subject of church, we have been very involved in activities there this month. As well as doing our usual stint serving coffee after the Sunday morning service, we organised another “café church” session last week too. These services are working and we are getting a lot more families coming to the parade services which is brilliant. However, they are really hard work! We, along with a little band of helpers, served bacon or sausage butties, orange juice, tea or coffee to over 70 people last week. I was shattered by the time we got home! We had also helped with the Christmas Fayre at church the day before, which was very successful…but again very tiring! Geoff was OK there, as he was ensconced in his little grotto (along with his very sweet elf…AKA Hazel) garbed in red and white and ho-ho-ho-ing all morning! I had made some sparkly knitted critters which all sold well, along with three dozen mince pies, which also disappeared very quickly. I had also taken along over 30 of my painted rocks…all painted with Christmas motifs of course. I explained the concept to all and sundry, of taking a rock and placing it somewhere in the neighbourhood or when out for a walk somewhere and letting others find it. I asked for donations for the stones and made a total of £34 pounds so I was very pleased. I only hope some of them get picked up by some children soon Overall the Fayre was very successful and raised over £1,300.
My visits to the dentist and eye clinic continue. I get very stressed indeed about them…especially the dentist. It was planned to do a big filling on one of my back teeth (problem picked up on x rays earlier) but after a long discussion with the very patient dentist lady, we all agreed that, as the options for this tooth were not great and it would probably end up being extracted and the options for what would happen afterwards were not appealing at all, and because it is not causing me any problems as it is at the moment, to leave it alone for the time being. Huge sigh of relief from me at that decision I can tell you! We went out for lunch after that to celebrate! As for the damage to my front teeth, caused by the fall in August, it is still a wait and see scenario. Hey ho…next review in January then! Lunch that day, was eaten in The Last Zebra restaurant in Carlisle city centre…somewhere we have walked past several times but have not been inclined to go into. Carlisle that day was so busy, as it was graduation day and the centre was full of happy graduates in their caps and gowns accompanied by proud parents and families. It was lovely to see However, it also meant that finding somewhere with a table free was very difficult! Having said that we really enjoyed our lunch and will certainly add that establishment to our “go again” list!
Last weekend saw us driving down to Manchester to stay with Matthew for the night. It was nice to catch up with him and to spend some time with Ethan and Hadley…. although, frankly, Ethan’s well-meaning attempts to show me some of the computer games he loves, proved way beyond my comprehension! On the Sunday we took the kids to an indoor climbing place, near the Trafford Centre and really enjoyed watching them tackle all the different walls and obstacles there. Then after an interesting lunch watching all the skiing on the slopes of the Chill Factor (memories of Super Besse but with a bit more warmth and better views!), we met up with Susie (who had been away for the night) and went to watch Matthew take to the “skies” as he redeemed the I Fly voucher we had bought him for his 40th birthday. This is an indoor sky diving experience and although the wait for his session was a bit long, the actual flight was great and he really enjoyed it. I have a great video on my phone of his two “flights”. After that we hit the road back up to Carlisle.
And now to end off the month in style, we are off to Cambridge for a couple of nights. There is a painting by a lady called Zaria Forman, which has been loaned to Geoff’s old college, Selwyn, which he really wants to see. He has arranged via his alumni contacts for us to be taken to see it …and then treated to lunch in college too, so off we are going! I do like going to Cambridge but it is a flipping long way to drive! We are staying nearby in Fen Drayton and apart from the drive, we are both looking forward to seeing out November there and doing a bit of Christmas shopping in Cambridge itself.
Glancing at our calendar for next month, it looks like all this busyness is set to continue into December. We have lots of entries including commitments to carol singing, reading in church (or in my case Carlisle Cathedral for a special Advent service), lots of babysitting for Hazel and Phil as they go out with the Rotary Santa sleigh, a trip down to Manchester just before Christmas to take Ethan and Hadley to a pantomime….and not to forget Geoff has been asked to make another appearance in the red and white suit too! Retirement?? Relaxing?? Don’t make me laugh!! As this is the last blog before Christmas all that remains now is to wish you all a very Happy and Peaceful Christmas.
Joyeux Noel et a bientôt mes amis
