The surprise letter

Last Tuesday morning the postman came, as his car slows down the dog pricks up her ears, she knows that sound and she runs up stairs and looks out of the window, yes, it's the postie, she runs down and rushes to the front door. The postman hesitates as he puts the letters through the box, will the dog grab the letters? or will she just let them fall to the floor? This time she watches them drop to the floor, sometimes she grabs them, I think it depends which postie it is, one she likes the other she doesn't!

I pick up th letters, bill, bill, circular, circular, then one with an Australian Stamp. Whi is that from? My first thought is that it is from one of Stan's relatives as he has several in Australia, his dad was born there. It is a type written envelope. I open it and stare at it..........
What? Who?

It's a letter from one of my cousins. The black sheep of the family in some ways. There was a falling out with her parents, can't remember the cause, but she stopped speaking to them, she then stopped speaking to anyone in the family for fear that they may divulve her whereabouts to her parents. I was deeply saddened by her disappearance. This happened around 10 years ago....................Now suddenly I get a letter from her. I'm surprised but delighted!

At long last she has made contact with her parents. Her father is very ill and it's time to make up. Such joy at last, after all the distress they ahve had.

I immediately emailed her and on Friday I received a reply, she is pleased that we are back in touch, she is happy in her new life and did what she had to do for the best at the time.

Kill the fattened sheep,the prodigal returns.

Now where was I?

I have just a few minutes to spare so I thought I will try to write a quick blog.

I thought we were going out somewhere this afternoon, but Stan is out in the workshop spraying a car, I went out to see what time he'd be ready to go out and I couldn't catch my breath for the paint fumes, alright for him, he wears a mask! It may be sometime before he is ready........

So what to do whilst I wait? Just a moment I've been called to iron a Hama bead creation, back soon!

Right I'm back again.
I could read more of The Sunday Times, but I like to have some left to read this evening when there is absolutely nothing on the TV to watch and Stan usually hogs the remote and watches Car Programmes anyway!
I could read more of Sue Townsend's "Queen Camilla", which I started yesterday having at last finished the mammoth read of Jilly Cooper's Wicked, which was truly Wicked and a fantastic read, she has huge numbers of characters and to begin with I thought I'd never get to work out who was who but she writes so well that the characters all became real people to me, even down to "Elaine" Hengist's faithful dog! Fancy she even thought to name the dog after me! The book has been a big part of my life for weeks, now I've finished I have withdrawal symptoms!
But I'm getting into "Queen Camilla" now and that is so funny, but will not take long to read.

So what has been happening since I last wrote ?

• We had Tom staying again this week, doing the next part of his HIPs course and on top of that Evie 's friend was staying too. She has got a job with Evie at the Little Chef and so she will be staying for 2 nights each week as her own home is a bit far away to get infor the 6.30am early shifts. So extra laundry and extra cooking, but I don't mind, I like having people around. always Open House here, should start charging!!
• Sophie and M seem to have calmed down, she is not being sent home ! She was very happy Friday when I phoned and M was being exceptionally nice to her. Long may it last. Her friends are leaving tonight.
• Evie and her friends have been at Glastonbury all weekend since Wednesday. She just phoned to say she will be leaving there after THe Who play and thinks she'll be home at 3am. She took my gazebo and is threatening to leave it there as so muddy. She says it's been fantastic despite the storms! Rather her than me, I couldn't cope with being wet all the time and so yukky and muddy, yes I know I'm supposed to like mud! But Glastonbury is rather a step too far!
• Job: I have applied for the Team Leader post. I'm being interviewed on wednesday Morning so send those Positive Vibes along to me please. Not sure who else in team has applied, one was considering the other was not going to and the other I do not know.
• When I was last home in Norfolk I was admiring my Mum's garden, she has Green Fingers unlike me! She has some beautiful Hostas and unlike mine they were not in shreds! She has a Massive one which is called Francis Williams, I found one in our local garden centre, so I bought it and another interesting one called August Moon, I have now planted these out and hope for great things! Put Beer down for the slugs and snails they love it!
• A while back I mentioned redecorating Soph's bedroom as Lucy has now ensconced herself in there, I wanted to put up new curtains but the old rails had all collapsed and had to be replaced, I ordered some new silver poles with twisted spiral ends from Argos catalogue, but they were out of stock, and date for delivering was middle of June, so I waited and waited, middle of June came and went another letter from Atgos to say sorry about delay , the poles will arrive by 22 June and as luck would have it they arrived on 20 June, so I spent a busy couple of afternoons drilling holes and screwing up poles and hold backs, and then .............drum roll please......I was able to hang the curtains! I must say they look pretty good!
• Some of you may be interested to hear the next installment to the sage of the Field next door. Remember there had been men in the field and lots of activity erecting huge panel fences round the edge of the paddock. Well, I waited but nothing else appeared , but suddenly in the local paper on Friday in the Houses for sale adverts, there it is: Equestrian facilities For Sale, stables and outbuildings with 3.5 acreas of paddock.........price ,£179,000 what a lot of money for a small filed and stables!! So wonder who will buy it?

• Right Stan has come in now and is ready to go out, so I didn't manage to do any of the things I thought of except a short blog.

Warm wishes to all

Elaine X

Trouble in Paradise

I'm feeling exhausted and achey this morning following being kept awake half the night having been awoken by the telephone at midnight and finding my daughter, Sophie in Spain, at the end of the line in a dreadful state.

It's so hard to support her when she is so far away.

Through the tears I managed to glean that the boyfriend M was not being very nice. Two of her friends from England arrived that day, and M doesn't like J very much and so the old green eyed monster presented itself. Soph, J & E all went out for the evening and it sounds like j drank to much but soph had not been drinking. M kept ringing her asking when they were coming back and then got cross because she said they'd be back by 2am, he got so angry and said if they were going to stay out that late they shouldn't come back and he would double lock the door. He then threatened to pack her bags and make her come back to England with her friends.

It was at this point she rang me. She has some other contacts out tehre, M's brother and girlfriend are there nearby too, so after much talking I suggested she contact them. If worst came to worst she could stay at A's.

After half an hour I went back to bed. But I couldn't sleep. My poor baby was upset and i should have been able to be there but she's too far away.

About an hour later the phone went again, this time it was M. He wanted to give his side of the story, he said they had got back to the complex but wouldn't come in, they were all in the swimming pool, which is against the rules. He didn't know what to do with them. We talked things through I tried to get him to understand how important it was for Soph to be able to have some fun with her friends , she had missed them so much and it was the first night. After a while he he seemed to calm down. I suggested he go and calmly get them out of the pool and then get to bed.

Back to bed I went still couldn't sleep, but glad to have spoken to M as well as Soph.

I just lay there thinking things over and not knowing what to do, mind you there is nothing I can do.

I had just dropped off when there is a huge cafuffle in the hall, I hear a yeowl and the odg charges down the stairs. I suddenly remember I left the cat indoors, i thought he was shut in the study but I went down and found the door open and a very disgruntled cat sitting high up on the table to avoid the dog, so i let the cat outside and again went back to bed.

Still couldn't sleep, eventually dropped off just before the Teasmade went off and another day is beginning!

Not heard any more from M & Soph, hope things have calmed down. These types of upsets used to happen all the time when they lived here in Sussex but I worry now because they are so far away and I can't do anything except talk.

Photo is the swimming pool they were in last night in the dark!

My Bedroom Secret!

I have a confession to make! I'm a secret Teasmade user!

There has been much discussion in the media this week about Teasmade's making a come back. I gather John Lewis had stopped selling them but they get so many requests each day that they have decided to start stocking them again.

I gather that Norma Major was rather the death knoll of the Teasmade in the 1980's when she professed to having one and all of middle England went into shock and denial about their Teasmade's.

But I love my Teasmade, I was given it as a Wedding present by my sister. It was a much wanted present! Ever since I was a Toddler I have been woken up with a cup of tea in the morning.

In the early years my dad would be the first one up and he would go downstairs and made a Pot of tea and bring the cups up for my mum and I.

Then my mum bought a Teasmade, A Goblin. This transformed our waking up, dad no longer had to get out of bed. Mum would prepare the teasmade the night before, bringing up cups , milk and tea bags. She would fill the Teasmade kettle and at 6am every morning the Teasmade would hiss and bubble and pour boiling water into the pot and Mum would bring me a lovely cup of tea.

I knew I had to carry on this tradition, I cannot function without my first cup of tea, and if I didn't have it whilst still in bed and vaguely asleep I don't know when I would get around to having one. after all once you're up and about the daily chores of sorting out lunches, getting children dressed and ready for school, dogs walked and push a few mouthfuls of cereal down there is not time to sit and enjoy a cuppa.

When I first met stan , he was a coffee man and only ever drank tea if he was unwell or suffering a hangover! But slowly and surely I taught him the joys of a good cup of tea and he soon realised that a teasmade was an excellent idea. So I made sure Teasmade was at the top of my Wedding present list!

So my sister bought us one, A Swan Teasmade.

That was 21 years ago and it is still going strong even though it is used every single day of the year.

The only minor con is that in the heat of a hot summer the milk goes off, but I've worked out a way of keeping milk cold with a Ice Block from the freezer , which I put under the milk and keeps it cool on the hottest of nights.

I wouldn't be without my Teasmade! what about you? Will anyone else dare to confess they have one and use it!!

Do not be distracted!

Also Los! Let's go! I have come straight here today, I have not dallied in CCW or been distracted by any other blogs, I am determined that today I will catch up on my blog. This is well over a week late now, so how much I can remember of the past 8 days I'm not sure, it's all a bit of a blur!

I am feeling a tad uneasy today, something strange happened this morning. I turned on my work mobile and found I had a message from the Director's Secretary. She said that the Director wanted to see me in the Boardroom at 2.30pm tomorrow, she left no explanation. This is unpresidented. The Director never asks to see anyone at such short notice , we always plan meeting well in advance and have a agenda. I was feeling quite concerned as I phoned the secretary back. I asked if she knew the nature of the meeting, she said she couldn't tell me anything. Ohmigod! Is this going to be like The Apprentice, " Elaine , You're Fired!"?

Then the secretary said " You've done nothing wrong, please don't worry" But I am worrying and I will continue to worry until I see him tomorrow. I will let you know what happens.


Back to last week "The trip to Norfolk"

The journey did not get off to a good start. I had decided to drive Stan's Merc as it is automatic. First thing that morning Stan went out to get his newspaper and decided to give the Merc a warm up. It wouldn't start, the battery was flat, he hadn't driven it for over a week. So he jump started it and went off. All was well. Though I was a bit dubious, Stan said it would be fine. So I loaded up the car, Lucy, Beth & I set off. I needed to stop for petrol, which I did at our local Tesco's, that was ok, car started again, I moved across to the main car park and ran in to get some flowers to take to Mum, (Yes, I know I'm a cheapskate, but they do do some lovely bouquets and until M&S they were there ready to deliver!)
Back to the car, I turned the key, nothing, I tried again , nothing..................Battery was flat again! I rang Stan as it was only 5 miles from home. I told him to bring my car and the jump leads. Stan arrived. The car battery was dead, so he swapped it for another and then jumped it. It started ok, but I was too nervous now to take it all the way to Norfolk, so we swapped cars, got all our luggage and the dog and put them in my Peogeout and off we went. Stan took the Merc home, it was still playing up over next few days, now he thinks it might be the starter motor. I hadn't really wanted to drive 180 miles in my manual car as it hurts my arm a bit, but It was for the best.

Those of you who believe in Guardian Angels, I think mine was watching over me. I don't normally stop at Tesco's for flowers I usually get them near Ipswich, but something told me to stop again and go into Tesco's shop and get the flowers and that prevented me from breaking down miles away from home and having to get the AA and be worrying all week.

On another occasion my Guardian Angel got me to Norfolk for my Uncle 's funeral in a car with a broken gear box, All the way there it grated unless in 5th gear, couldn't get first or second but I got all the way home too, with it grating and grinding but it kept going, till I got into the drive. When Stan came home and started it he said the gear box was totally smashed and the car wouldn't move again, it had to be transported for repair! What do you think of that!

It was lovely to see my parents, they were so relieved to see me looking so good. They had not seen me since february before my operation. They'd had all that worry about me but were unable to do anything to help, except prayer but that did a lot of good.

Lucy had a great time playing with her cousins. Christy is exactley the same age, so they get on brilliantly, then there is Rory who is 12 and Ryan who is 15.

Last year my sister moved house in land from the sea. She now has a place in Smallburgh, next to Dilham where my parents live. It's about 5 miles from Wroxham. If anyone has been on holidays on the Broads you will have probably heard of Wroxham. There is one massive department store covering the whole village on differing site. It's called Roys of Wroxham! Anyone know it!?

My sister still has her bungalow by the sea at Walcott, she now lets it out for holidays and has been inundated all year. Perfect location, only 100 m from the sea front.

At her new house she has had a conservatory built, which is huge and looks lovely. My sister is a great gardener , she loves her plants and has cery green fingers, so she is making her new garden look splendid, though the recent rains had rather spoilt some areas, her Arum Lilies have collasped to the ground sadly and areas of grass were flooded.

When they moved in they inherited a pair of hens. The owners wants to get a new flock so Ali happily took over the 2 old birds. They 've been doing well, 1-2 eggs most days and just recently one hen became broody and Ali found a friend of hers had somne fertile eggs, so the hen sat on the 3 eggs and whilst we were there ythe first chick hatched, over the next couple of days the other 2 hatched as well. Lucy & christy were so excited!

I feel I must stop now as I know long blogs get difficult to read, so till next time Au revoir!

After over a week of absence from blogging I was all ready to come in sit down and get on with my blog, but then I went across to Cait's and read the tragic news of her son's friends sister dying so young and now I'm feeling dumbfounded, I don't know what to write or even if I want to.

I've missed all you purple cooers this week and then I discover you've all been having a fun time having a Coffee Morning round at Angel's and I missed it by 6 hours! Maybe another day!

I have lit a candle for Cait and as a reminder that The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness shall not overcome it.

Tomorrow I will have much more time to blog and will feel less sad and more motivated then.