A life on the Ocean wave .....

HMS Illustrious one of two aircraft carriers owned by the Royal Navy

Hello everyone on ,yes its me again ,Thank you for all your good wishes ,my back is so much better ,although I am still taking things easy! The curtains are still clean so as Paula says I’m just relaxing and admiring them, and I’m only lifting one book at a time now! 

I seem to be drowning in a sea of alerts, as fast as I deal with them, more arrive! So for now I will leave them and do an entry of my own,

I was fetching in some washing yesterday afternoon, the prop, slipped off the line and hit me on the head, so now not only do I have a bump on the head ,I seem to have developed amnesia, because I have totally forgotten the ironing I should be doing ,(how’s that for an excuse ? )

I had a lovely surprise last Sunday morning, Maurice was working, and it was raining, I was just about to make a strawberry trifle to cheer us up! The phone rang; it was Iain, my oldest Grandson, I have told you about him before he is the one who shares his Birthday with the Queen ,and was born on the day the £ coin came out ,so that is twenty five years now , ringing me from Gibraltar, GIBRALTER?  You might ask! Well Iain is on board HMS Illustrious, but will arrive back in Portsmouth on Friday, My Daughter Sharon, and his Mum, is going down to meet him .He told her she can carry his bags ,haahaa!no doubt bearing gifts  ie lots of dirty washing !

Up until the beginning of this year Iain was working in the N.A.A.F.I.in the shop, somewhere near London,(I forget quite where ,I told you about the amnesia !)However after taking some courses, and passing, He joined HMS Illustrious as a canteen assistant, helping to stock, sell etc the on board off license and sort of tuck shop. For the comfort of the Ships personnel. We have been keeping in touch via good old e mail, and by phone whenever he can get a signal,

I don’t know whether any of you in the UK, have been watching the series currently being shown on channel five on a Monday night at nine o clock ,entitled ‘Warship’ the third part will be on Monday next ,and guess which proud Granny is recording the series? The series shows Life on board ship, providing an insight into the often dangerous and stressful professional lives of the crew on one of only two aircraft carriers, in the Royal navy fleet, We saw  the ship taking on supplies, for the four month deployment, they are however plagued by problems for instance they had to be returned to shore when the freezers broke down ,poor Iain ,after getting all psyched  up for sea , well after the repairs and getting over his initial  sea sickness they were under way for, Spain ,then on to Malta where a ceremony was held on board ship to acknowledge damage  suffered in the war to surrounding towns on the Island as a result of the first Illustrious, being the  target ,they then went through the Suez canal ,to Shri Lanka, Iran ,Turkey, Istanbul and Gibraltar where  they had some shore time Iain said they were going for a drink, I told him to take it steady ,Gran I’m a matelot now  was his reply !! , and so they left Gibraltar last Sunday for home.

In July he is off to Norfolk in America, on the Ark Royal for two months, he is going as a trainee ships manager, which doesn’t mean he will be in charge of the whole ship hee hee, but will be assistant manager for one of their shops. Rather along entry thank you for your patience, but you know what us Grannies are like when talking about our Grandchildren, Now about that ironing? ......

 

As ever lots of love xxxx

 

 

Hobbling along...

I know I often go longer than a week ,between entry’s, but this time I have been unable to sit at the commuter for any length, because I hurt my back ,You remember I told you I washed the lounge curtains ,a week last Thursday, I stood on a sturdy low table,to put them back up again ,getting down ,the dog was just where I needed to land ,so I jumped out of her way ,ouch !Didn’t appear to be any ill effects so I made myself a cuppa and sat and admired my clean windows and curtains , Friday was fine ,I told you Kate and Chrissie came over we went up to town in the car an browsed the shops up there ,

Then Saturday,  When I did my last entry telling you I was going to take my trolley and, get some veggies and look for any books in the second hand book shop, whilst in there I picked up a box of books to see what goodies were hiding underneath BIG MISTAKE, during the 18 12 overture someone and.with a machete, no I’m exaggerating, my back went into spasm, how I managed to get home I don’t know, but I did,

Sunday morning still in pain I am walking round the furniture rang Chrissie to see if I could borrow her late Mums Walking stick ,she and Mark brought it over for me Sunday afternoon,Monday Maurice took me to the Editorial group meeting ,and I managed quite well in spite of having my leg pulled ,I wasn’t so good on Tuesday night in fact I went into a major spasm ,so I had to make the decision not to go on the mystery trip ,now you know how  much I wanted to go ,but Maurice took me to the Doctors instead , I was given pain killers and muscle relaxant ,The Doc told me to exercise  heehee ?,but the tablets are making me sleep a lot ,I shall be gong back to the Docs again on Wednesday ,as I am really no better ,Sorry for all the doom and gloom folks but I wanted you to know why I haven’t been able to sit to answer all your comments ,This entry has taken ages, because  I have been taking lots of breaks and now I feel just like one of these dear little ''Rag Dolls'',,with love

 

Theres an old Mill by the Stream ..NELLIE !

Yet another sunny day here in my little corner of the Fens, Can you read this? Is that better? In fact its been a glorious week ,On Thursday ,I cleaned all the windows outside and the inside of the patio ones also washed the patio window curtains ,they are big so do one at a time ,still have to clean the rest of the inside  windows ,but ,Ahh well another day …..Now where should I start ?where I left off I suppose !!!

Last Monday the plan was to go to Burghley House in Stamford Lincs, there was a craft show and a fishing exhibition, some thing for us both we thought situated in lovely grounds, near the house, we received a phone call from a friend of Maurice’s saying if you are coming you had better get a move on, the gates will close at 1 pm! We were just about to leave when we got another phone call from Ian again saying he wasn’t in to the show yet (had been queuing for two hours!), because of the traffic on the A1 the police were diverting traffic through Stamford, Well having no desire to spend the day queuing in traffic, we had a quick change of plan, we went to Houghton Mill, a lovely picturesque village near St Ives (Cambs)and not too far from home ,we didn’t actually go into the mill didn’t want to waste the sunshine ,but we will most certainly go back another time ,we spent ages watching the boats going through the lock ,then walked around the area ,before exploring the lovely village some quant buildings some beautiful old cottages and a lovely old  church ,and Maurice enjoyed looking at the garage that repaired and sold MGs

On Wednesday, I went to my over sixties club, where we were entertained by an opera singer, but that is worthy of an entry so will leave that for another time, Though I did print off the entry about the Pearly King and Queen for Ina, our President, and was delighted to learn she is with AOL, so she looked me up and left me a comment, what a lovely surprise!Ina told us at the meeting that their charity had welcomed our donation and invited us to their next open day .

Thursday I told you about, when I was on a roll and did all those chores ,Yesterday my Daughter in law Chrissie and Daughter Kate came over ,so we went up to the town ,and took more Lavender Blue pictures (yet another entry to come ) Monday I am going to the Residents  News Letter meeting ,to start preparations again for the next edition ,and then Wednesday we go on our mystery trip so ….watch this space

Now since it is Saturday ,the trolleys wheels are eager to whir ,so I will finish and go and see what bargains are to be had in Somerfield and get some veggies of the market ,and I might even go and browse the books in the charity shops Have a lovely day everyone ,with love

                              Jan xx

 

 

Its May ,its Sunny ,and Warm !

I know, I know it’s been ages since I did an entry! So here I am on a lovely Sunny Tuesday morning, and I can’t believe it’s a week since Aunty Kitty’s funeral, which was sad, but it was a lovely service, and of course meet up with family, why does it seem it’s only on these occasions, families get together? All busy with life of course.

 

On Friday I went to the resident’s forum committee meeting; now as you know I had resigned as secretary of the group, and was so surprised and delighted to be given the most beautiful bouquet from the chairman on behalf of the committee, I was so surprised it didn’t occur to me! I had been distracted I suppose because on the few days prior to the meeting I had been shopping around for a gift for our Tenant involvement manager Karen, who is leaving us to go over to take charge of Supported housing for a while,our loss is their gain and though a new Tenant participation manager is to be appointed Karen will be a hard act to follow ,I organised a bouquet  for her(from dear old Lavender Blue! ) and a very pretty necklace ,lots of green stones on a silver chain ,(Karen likes her bling! )Because the meeting finished earlier than anticipated, I was killing time waiting for my Taxi; I was pleasantly surprised by a lady who was to attend a function after ours, Janet? Is it? She says,….and there was dear Sue, a lady I have known on and off for over thirty years ,we swapped email addresses ,and what a joy she’s with AOL  I asked someone to take a picture of us, I am so pleased I did, I can share this lovely reunion with you all ,and Sue can forward this entry to her Daughter Helen in New  Zealand ,’’Hi Helen ‘’

 

Maurice’sdays off fell, Saturday, Sunday and Bank holiday Monday, so we have had a lovely weekend, On Saturday Mark my son and his wife Chrissie, came over to visit bringing with them, my daughter Kate ,after they'd gone, we tidied up the garden a bit though you could hardly see where we’d been ! I finished off some ironing ,I know boring!

On Sundays, I like to go to the market in a nearby town, there is an excellent second hand book stall (I can only go when Maurice is off work,) I bought a couple of books, then lots of lovely fresh fruit and vegetables, Yesterday we went to Houghton mill, near St Ives in Cambs, but I will save that for another entry, and tomorrow I am off to my club again, and we have another mystery coach trip coming up, so lots to share with you ,Have a lovely day everyone ,enjoy the sunshine ,as usual lots of love and