I have to say I've breathed a sigh of relief at being "off the road" for a few days. Was getting tired of travelling and being in the car. It all starts again on Tuesday though!
On Good Friday we headed over to Mum's (with Lillie and Albert) to
a) try to fix Mum's internet connection and get her online, and
b) take everybody for lunch at the Pheasant Inn.
Did not succeed in fixing the connection. I've no idea what the problem is - thought I knew, but have failed to fix things. This means Mum is still offline which is getting to be a problem for her.
Lunch was ok - we had a 40 minute wait for a table. This was made worse by Albert's constant pacing around looking for a table and trying to cajole the waitresses into seating us! Once we did sit down, the service was pretty fast - and the food was ok. Not as good as last time.... isn't that always the way?
Then we called in at Cheshire Oaks outlet mall - Mum fancied a look around. Albert and Lillie were headed back to the car within minutes of getting out of it! In fact, we'd only been into one shop. So we rushed around a few others and then back to the car and home. I felt a bit bad for Mum as I think she'd have liked a walk round, but when you know that people are waiting it makes you feel uncomfortable. Maybe it was a bad call to take my in laws over there on Friday.
Saturday and Sunday we did very little. I did some shopping on Saturday after my facial (my new treat!) and then cooked a nice dinner of Lamb Kleftico. Followed by fruit. We made up the lost calories in wine and liquers, though.
Sunday we had a long walk round Temple Newsam (it had snowed but pretty much melted by the time we got out) and then came home to watch tv and generally slob around. Oh, and update my Blog for the Scotland trip.
Now it is Monday and I'm tidying the office (again) and getting ready for the week ahead - lots of travelling - to Reigate and then Canterbury so we're away all week. Need to get the big suitcase out!
Monday 24 March 2008
Thursday 13 March 2008
A message to you.....
It is a year ago today that Dad came home from hospital, after his 6 week stay there. Last night, my sister (Lorraine) and my mum went to see a Spirit Medium, David Traynor, at a hotel in Widnes.
http://www.davidtraynor.com/
Lorraine wrote up what happened and so I'm posting it here (as despite being an authorised contributor to this Blog she's had very little to say for herself thus far). Only kidding, Lol! LOL!
A message from Dad
An evening with Spirit Medium – David Traynor
Hillcrest Hotel – Wed 12th March 2008.
Since we lost Dad I have become increasingly curious and intrigued by the whole concept of people who have the ability to make connections with loved ones that have passed over. I persuaded mum to come along with me to see David Traynor. I had not heard anything about him – I just saw an advert in the local paper and as I often tune into Colin Fry’s TV show Sixth Sense I thought I would go along and see if this area was as fascinating as it appeared to be. David's website had a guest book where the majority of people had posted positive messages about their experience so I decided to go along and decide for myself.
The introduction was very light hearted and David was quite amusing and quite camp! The thing that impressed me was that he went direct to people – he did not say things like does the name Bill mean anything to anyone etc. He also asked people to just answer yes or no to what he was telling them – he refused to take any additional detail.
During the first half of the evening he made about 4 connections and 2 of them were very accurate to the people involved.
At first I was not going along expecting to hear from dad but as the evening went on you can’t help but envy the people getting messages and hope that you get one albeit you are not quite sure how you will react if you do.
During the second half of the evening David was trying to get through a lot more people. He was struggling with the first lady but then the next 3 were really interesting and accurate.
He then went to a lady sat behind me and was describing a man she did not know (nor did we by the way) then he started to talk about someone having a camera down the throat to find stomach cancer and he kept repeating this to the lady behind us but she said no it did not mean anything to her. He also asked if there was a connection to someone in re-education/learning etc. He then said he needed to come to me (I was so nervous my heart was racing but I told myself to focus!) Mum was biting her nails furiously!!!
I should point out here that David said the reason he was jumping between me and the lady behind us was because the spirits realised he was running out of time and were all trying to get their say in (hee hee sounds like Dad!!)
He asked me if the comments re the camera and the stomach cancer meant anything to me and I simply said yes. He then relayed the following and I can’t be accurate about the order of what was said but the content is correct.
This gentleman was misdiagnosed 18 months prior to being correctly diagnosed (Mum said this was correct – I assume this was referring to dad being diagnosed with diabetes).
This gentleman had cancer in his stomach area and it just ate away at him and he became a sorry sight (this was something that used to upset us all but mum used that phrase on occasions and found it particularly hard to see).
He said that we kept what was wrong with him a secret at first because we knew he would worry and he thanks us for this – he said it was kind of us.
David then referred back to the comments re education. At first he was asking if someone was going back to study or learning computers etc. I said no. Then he asked Dad to repeat himself and he said it was someone doing a degree – I said yes and he said they will do well and get a 2:1 masters and he is really really proud of them. (Well done Joe!)
Then he said that the gentleman said he was ok.
He then asked to be passed to mum and told her he felt he had a fatherly figure with her – we thought at this point it may be my granddad (mums dad) but he went on to say this gentleman says he was a good man and lived a good decent life, he repeated he was a good man – we knew this was dad as although Grandad was also a good man it was a term frequently used by people to describe dad.
He asked mum if she had connections with various names: Dorothy, William/Bill, Margaret, Fred – he described Fred and said he was with this man and was "our Fred" – we are not sure if this was mums cousin – a bit sketchy but… He also described that our Fred had died after a long illness connected with his lungs and then heart. This is true.
He then went on to say he was leaving the spirits love with us, he was ok and he says to mum "keep well" and was sending healing messages through for her problems. He said that he "didn't believe in this kind of stuff" when he was alive. This is also true.
Can’t explain how this felt, it was comforting to say the least and strengthens my belief in life after death in the form of the spirit world – to summarise I think Dad was validating who he was when describing the stomach cancer etc and had come through just to say he was ok and was watching over mum.
PS – David returned to the woman behind us and said some things that could have also been dad but as she was confirming what was said I decided I was being greedy thinking this but just for the record the points were:
This person was confused near the end and was given drugs to help him sleep and stop the confusion
This person drifted in and out of consciousness for a couple of days prior to passing
There was a December anniversary – 15th/16th (Mum met dad on 5th)
There were 3 people with him when he passed (I was convinced by this until she said and 2 people arrived late which meant something to the lady behind me)
Another message that was getting passed from us to the other family was a connection to under the stairs! Someone hiding there when scared???
http://www.davidtraynor.com/
Lorraine wrote up what happened and so I'm posting it here (as despite being an authorised contributor to this Blog she's had very little to say for herself thus far). Only kidding, Lol! LOL!
A message from Dad
An evening with Spirit Medium – David Traynor
Hillcrest Hotel – Wed 12th March 2008.
Since we lost Dad I have become increasingly curious and intrigued by the whole concept of people who have the ability to make connections with loved ones that have passed over. I persuaded mum to come along with me to see David Traynor. I had not heard anything about him – I just saw an advert in the local paper and as I often tune into Colin Fry’s TV show Sixth Sense I thought I would go along and see if this area was as fascinating as it appeared to be. David's website had a guest book where the majority of people had posted positive messages about their experience so I decided to go along and decide for myself.
The introduction was very light hearted and David was quite amusing and quite camp! The thing that impressed me was that he went direct to people – he did not say things like does the name Bill mean anything to anyone etc. He also asked people to just answer yes or no to what he was telling them – he refused to take any additional detail.
During the first half of the evening he made about 4 connections and 2 of them were very accurate to the people involved.
At first I was not going along expecting to hear from dad but as the evening went on you can’t help but envy the people getting messages and hope that you get one albeit you are not quite sure how you will react if you do.
During the second half of the evening David was trying to get through a lot more people. He was struggling with the first lady but then the next 3 were really interesting and accurate.
He then went to a lady sat behind me and was describing a man she did not know (nor did we by the way) then he started to talk about someone having a camera down the throat to find stomach cancer and he kept repeating this to the lady behind us but she said no it did not mean anything to her. He also asked if there was a connection to someone in re-education/learning etc. He then said he needed to come to me (I was so nervous my heart was racing but I told myself to focus!) Mum was biting her nails furiously!!!
I should point out here that David said the reason he was jumping between me and the lady behind us was because the spirits realised he was running out of time and were all trying to get their say in (hee hee sounds like Dad!!)
He asked me if the comments re the camera and the stomach cancer meant anything to me and I simply said yes. He then relayed the following and I can’t be accurate about the order of what was said but the content is correct.
This gentleman was misdiagnosed 18 months prior to being correctly diagnosed (Mum said this was correct – I assume this was referring to dad being diagnosed with diabetes).
This gentleman had cancer in his stomach area and it just ate away at him and he became a sorry sight (this was something that used to upset us all but mum used that phrase on occasions and found it particularly hard to see).
He said that we kept what was wrong with him a secret at first because we knew he would worry and he thanks us for this – he said it was kind of us.
David then referred back to the comments re education. At first he was asking if someone was going back to study or learning computers etc. I said no. Then he asked Dad to repeat himself and he said it was someone doing a degree – I said yes and he said they will do well and get a 2:1 masters and he is really really proud of them. (Well done Joe!)
Then he said that the gentleman said he was ok.
He then asked to be passed to mum and told her he felt he had a fatherly figure with her – we thought at this point it may be my granddad (mums dad) but he went on to say this gentleman says he was a good man and lived a good decent life, he repeated he was a good man – we knew this was dad as although Grandad was also a good man it was a term frequently used by people to describe dad.
He asked mum if she had connections with various names: Dorothy, William/Bill, Margaret, Fred – he described Fred and said he was with this man and was "our Fred" – we are not sure if this was mums cousin – a bit sketchy but… He also described that our Fred had died after a long illness connected with his lungs and then heart. This is true.
He then went on to say he was leaving the spirits love with us, he was ok and he says to mum "keep well" and was sending healing messages through for her problems. He said that he "didn't believe in this kind of stuff" when he was alive. This is also true.
Can’t explain how this felt, it was comforting to say the least and strengthens my belief in life after death in the form of the spirit world – to summarise I think Dad was validating who he was when describing the stomach cancer etc and had come through just to say he was ok and was watching over mum.
PS – David returned to the woman behind us and said some things that could have also been dad but as she was confirming what was said I decided I was being greedy thinking this but just for the record the points were:
This person was confused near the end and was given drugs to help him sleep and stop the confusion
This person drifted in and out of consciousness for a couple of days prior to passing
There was a December anniversary – 15th/16th (Mum met dad on 5th)
There were 3 people with him when he passed (I was convinced by this until she said and 2 people arrived late which meant something to the lady behind me)
Another message that was getting passed from us to the other family was a connection to under the stairs! Someone hiding there when scared???
Sunday 9 March 2008
Heading back to England
Another early start - we had finished breakfast, packed and got out by 9am. Well - it's early for a Sunday! We headed first up to see the Twelve Apostles - a prehistoric stone circle just outside of Dumfries. As with most stone circles (Stonehenge excepted) it was fairly dull. According to online research it is the seventh largest in Britain. Now I'm wondering what and where the others are as I've only seen Stonehenge and Avebury.Maybe they aren't so dull after all if I am seriously considering googling "Stone Circles". Or maybe I'm just sad.
Anyway, after the Stone Circle we headed over to Lochmaben, a small town just north of England. Roy was there last May on a lad's golfing trip and said it was a nice place. There are about 5 lochs around the town so we walked around the largest - Castle Loch. The weather was cold and sunny at times. I was so glad to have my 99p woolly hat to keep my ears warm! Once we got past Lochmaben Castle, the ground turned a bit boggy. We were walking over tussocks and every now and then my foot would sink right into a deep puddle. Not great when you're wearing mesh trainers! Not sure how we managed to forget the walking boots!As we crossed the tussocks, a flock of geese flew overhead. Loudly. We heard them miles off and stood and watched as they honked over us - and back again. Not sure where they were headed but they were making a long way round out of it, that's for sure!
Back in Lochmaben, we had a drink at the pub Roy stayed in, as he wanted to see John, the owner. After a chat with John, we decided to head home. We drove through Lockerbie, which looked like a nice town, and then on to the motorway. I wanted to see Gretna Green (I've never been there) so we stopped off on the way home. Hmmm, not sure I'd ever do that again - what a money making touristy horrible place it is! It looks more like a theme park. I think it must be an awful place to get married. And you have to pay to go in and look at the Blacksmith's place and anvil. We didn't bother. They do, however, have a wonderful food hall there, selling all kinds of gorgeous and unusual food stuffs. We bought scones and jam to have when we got home.
Finally arrived home at 4-ish. I really enjoyed exploring the South West corner of Scotland - it's given me a taste to explore the rest of it - one day.
My only issue with Scotland is that they have such awful and ugly social housing - I know there are some bad places in England but the Scots win the prize for creating some of the most mind blowingly shocking houses and maisonettes. I think they would even beat some of the Eastern bloc countries.
Saturday 8 March 2008
Dumfries and surrounding areas - in the rain
Woke up early and enjoyed a great breakfast in the B&B (porridge and scrambled eggs). We headed out at 9 for a walk around Dumfries town... Robbie Burns spent the last years of his life in Dumfries and so there is a lot of "Burns" stuff around - his house, his mausoleum, a museum and statues of both him and his wife. It started to rain quite soon and so we headed into a shopping mall to stay dry. It was there I got the best buy of my weekend - a woolly hat costing 99p. Over the next 2 days I was so glad of this purchase!
Unless you're fanatical about Burns (I'm not) there isn't a lot to do in Dumfries itself, and so we headed out in the car. We stopped at a town called Castle Douglas - which was rather nice. One big High Street with not a chain shop in sight. We wandered around the various shops and galleries until settling on a nice cafe for lunch. Needless to say, as soon as we sat indoors the sun came out and was cracking the flags until we left there to go back to the car. Then it rained again. We decided to drive along the Solway Firth (huge water inlet coming off the Irish Sea) and it was pretty scenic. We found some gorgeous windy roads to tootle along and occasionally the sun would come out and it would be lovely. Proof of the changeable weather is on the pictures.
Friday 7 March 2008
You take the high road and I'll take the wrong road...
I was working in Motherwell on Friday 7th March so we decided to make the most of it and stay up in Scotland for the weekend. We arrived early and had chance for a look around Motherwell. It's a smallish town and fairly typical of many British towns today - full of cheap shops (i.e. selling cheap stuff) and charity shops. Nothing is "individual" any more, most shops are chains and there is almost always a McDonalds. Which is where we ate breakfast - there wasn't really anywhere else that had a free table and looked remotely decent.
After the meeting finished (about 12.45ish) I got back to the car and Roy had planned a route for us. His plan was to take us across to Ayr and then down into Dumfries - we'd decided to base ourselves in Dumfries for the weekend, as it's got a good choice of things to do around and about and is not too far from "England" which meant the drive home wouldn't be too long.
The day was foul - rainy and windy and grey. We drove across to Ayr anyway, and by the time we arrived the rain had stopped but the wind was fearsome! Ayr town centre looked quite nice but we didn't stop until we reached the promenade... we got out of the car to look at the sea. It was a struggle to stand up - even the seagull seemed to be suspended motionless in the air, unable to fly through the wind. So I took a couple of pictures and jumped back in the car. The one here is attempting to capture the static seagulls!We drove down the coast through Turnberry where Roy was excited to see the Golf Course. Turnberry was like a full sized model village - no real soul to the place, everything was white and purpose built to provide a luxury golfing environment I guess. We stopped just after it for a coffee and sandwich at a roadside cafe over looking Ailsa Crag - which apparently is famous, if you watch the British Open.
We started to head inland - we'd found the road we wanted on a map, but unfortunately we missed it. Still not sure how. Anyway, we ended up driving right through the beautiful Galloway Forest, so apart from a few anxious moments about whether it actually would come out anywhere (as we got further and further away from any sign of human life!) it was a great drive. I have never been through a "working" forest and so it was fascinating to see the tree growth, planting and of course huge areas of felled trees. This area is known as the "highlands of the lowlands". Looking across the forest to the hills, I could see why. Regrettably I couldn't capture this very well on camera.After a long afternoon driving (through the most pretty villages and scenery) we finally arrived in Dumfries at 5.30pm. We headed straight to the Torbay Lodge Bed and Breakfast. We hadn't booked it, but it had good reviews on the internet. Roy popped in and we were lucky enough to bag the last room for the weekend! It was very good - clean, well appointed and best of all, a good powerful shower. We got showered and changed and headed off into Dumfries. The B&B owner had suggested a pub called the Cavens Arms to eat. We had about a 30 minute wait for a table - it was packed - but that was fine. It was good pub grub - I think we both had some version of beef stew and it was tasty and inexpensive. After that we had a nightcap in the Robert the Bruce pub up the road (a Wetherspoons!) and headed for an early night. The room was lovely and warm and the beds really comfy.
Tuesday 4 March 2008
Mother's Day and an excess of cream!
We had mum over for Mother's Day. In fact, unusually, she agreed to stay for a long weekend - Thursday to Monday, instead of her usual Friday - Sunday.
So I planned my menus with care!
On Thursday I made penne pasta with white wine, cream, lemon, dill and smoked salmon.
Friday was roast chicken, salad and jacket potatoes - not TOO bad.
Saturday I recreated my Valentine Steak meal for mum, and made Creme Brulee for dessert. I am pleased to report that I finally got the Creme to cook just perfectly!
On Sunday we had Roy's parents over for lunch and I made a Lancashire Hot Pot, followed by Sticky Toffee Pudding and cream. I am going to boast now, and say that my Sticky Toffee Pudding is the best I've ever eaten... of course, the recipe is out of a book (Prue Leith's Cookery Bible) but there must be some skill in the making? ;-)
I dread to imagine the calories in those 4 day's eating.... but it is now Tuesday and we're back on track.
But still suffering gymphobia.
So I planned my menus with care!
On Thursday I made penne pasta with white wine, cream, lemon, dill and smoked salmon.
Friday was roast chicken, salad and jacket potatoes - not TOO bad.
Saturday I recreated my Valentine Steak meal for mum, and made Creme Brulee for dessert. I am pleased to report that I finally got the Creme to cook just perfectly!
On Sunday we had Roy's parents over for lunch and I made a Lancashire Hot Pot, followed by Sticky Toffee Pudding and cream. I am going to boast now, and say that my Sticky Toffee Pudding is the best I've ever eaten... of course, the recipe is out of a book (Prue Leith's Cookery Bible) but there must be some skill in the making? ;-)
I dread to imagine the calories in those 4 day's eating.... but it is now Tuesday and we're back on track.
But still suffering gymphobia.
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