I've moved this blog to Raecheybaby.com. There will not be further posts here, but all are welcome to continue reading at the new adress, where posts are expected to be more frequent!
Blogger was great to get started, but I wanted a bit more control over the look and feel of the blog and the option to be able to do more with the site.
See you soon!
Tuesday, 16 June 2009
Tuesday, 9 June 2009
It beggars belief
Sometimes I just think the world has gone utterly crazy, sometimes I know it has!
What has me shaking my head today is this news link I found on the BBC website this morning. Just what is the RMT union thinking? A two day strike at this kind of notice in the middle of the week?
Do they really not care how many people will not be able to get home from work or not get to work or - even worse - not make their flight for their holiday? I use the London Underground fairly infrequently, but when I do it's because I have to get somewhere for a certain time. To be faced with a service that's not operational because of strike action would make me incandescent with rage. I wish I was joking about that.
A group of my friends are meeting in London today for the first time, at least one of them has come from Europe for it, and now their meeting will now be completely marred by having to make sure they get the tube before the strike starts or trying to negotiate a crowded bus service during the evening.
*and breathe*
OK. All that said, I have Classic FM playing on the radio, and they are playing pretty tunes aimed at soothing the savage beast and I think it might just be working! I am not swearing at Oliver who has decided to pester me just as I sat down to eat, or the fact that my lunch didn't quite turn out the way I wanted it to.
I do still need to think fast on what to eat later today, but thats not unusual for me. I'll sort it, because I hate going hungry at work!
What has me shaking my head today is this news link I found on the BBC website this morning. Just what is the RMT union thinking? A two day strike at this kind of notice in the middle of the week?
Do they really not care how many people will not be able to get home from work or not get to work or - even worse - not make their flight for their holiday? I use the London Underground fairly infrequently, but when I do it's because I have to get somewhere for a certain time. To be faced with a service that's not operational because of strike action would make me incandescent with rage. I wish I was joking about that.
A group of my friends are meeting in London today for the first time, at least one of them has come from Europe for it, and now their meeting will now be completely marred by having to make sure they get the tube before the strike starts or trying to negotiate a crowded bus service during the evening.
*and breathe*
OK. All that said, I have Classic FM playing on the radio, and they are playing pretty tunes aimed at soothing the savage beast and I think it might just be working! I am not swearing at Oliver who has decided to pester me just as I sat down to eat, or the fact that my lunch didn't quite turn out the way I wanted it to.
I do still need to think fast on what to eat later today, but thats not unusual for me. I'll sort it, because I hate going hungry at work!
Saturday, 6 June 2009
I hit a wall
Overtired alert.
I think I've done too much recently. Things that are issues but are managable ones are becoming major crises that give me stomach cramps and make me cry.
I think this is just a short note that I'm going to be resting for a bit and spending a bit less time here this week.
My lifestyle has changed since I met Dan and while it's no bad thing, I haven't compensated for the fact that the days I used to keep for rest are now no longer as restful as they were. I travel a lot more and I'm getting up earlier on a daily basis, but not getting to bed earlier to compensate for that.
I think this weekend is about recalibration of my bodyclock. Housework can wait until I actually have the energy (now that I want to get it done!)
Take care everyone and don't forget the sunlotion when you go out!
I think I've done too much recently. Things that are issues but are managable ones are becoming major crises that give me stomach cramps and make me cry.
I think this is just a short note that I'm going to be resting for a bit and spending a bit less time here this week.
My lifestyle has changed since I met Dan and while it's no bad thing, I haven't compensated for the fact that the days I used to keep for rest are now no longer as restful as they were. I travel a lot more and I'm getting up earlier on a daily basis, but not getting to bed earlier to compensate for that.
I think this weekend is about recalibration of my bodyclock. Housework can wait until I actually have the energy (now that I want to get it done!)
Take care everyone and don't forget the sunlotion when you go out!
Friday, 5 June 2009
A monday like a spring forecast!
Monday was a nightmare. I know it's now friday, but it's taken this long for me to calm down and order things in my head to be able to talk about it; but again, so much happened and there was so much turmoil in my head that I need to write it down to make sense of it and also so I have a benchmark on how rough mondays can get!
Due to the heat all day sunday I didn't get much sleep on sunday night. As a result I was tired before I even reached the train station. Ted dropped me off in Loncoln as usual, and I went in only to find that the train I would be getting on was stoppping at Newark Castle and I'd have to get the rail replacement coach to Nottingham and I'd probably not manage to get to Loughborough in time to get the train home, thus I would be late for work.
In addition, I got a call from work because there was a case of misplaced paperwork and it was possible I knew where it was. I didn't, I had given it to someone else on friday and they'd misfiled it!
There was nothing for it but to get on with it, but I was already tense. I was fretting about how to get to work and whether I'd be on time, and in addition worrying about the paperwork that was lost, even though I was sure it wasn't me that had moved it. There wasn't a chance to call Dan either, since monday is one of the days when he works at the same company as his mother.
There was a great deal of incompetence going on at the station where we had to get off and go on to the coach, and I could feel the minutes slipping by. I knew which coach we had to get on and the organiser kept umming and ahhing and generally being a bit of an idiot, but we got on the coach eventually and got under way. On arrival in Nottingham things actually started to look up. The train to Loughborough and/or Bedford was one and the same and at the platform. I even managed to get my prebooked seat, not bad at all. So I did get back to Bedford without incident and got a taxi home as I had originally decided.
I got in, sorted food and drink and got ready to leave for work. Then the next disaster struck. I locked the house, went to unlock the bike and found that some impoverished person had made off with the saddle for my bike. Call me naive and trusting, but I always understood that locking your bike to a wall right outside your home meant it would be safe. Not so, it would seem; you have to cement everything down, even in a low crime area! I called the bike shop to try and get a replacement saddle but there was no answer, so I had to cycle in sitting on the luggage rack!
I am not normally a person to swear my head off, but you can imagine the way my feelings were going being tired and dealing with what felt like a war against me having a good day.
Fortunately the rest of the day wasn't too bad. Mostly it was difficult simply because I was already tired and tense from the previous mishaps but work itself wasn't actually bad in itself. Micheal, the star of the day, borrowed a saddle and seatpost off an abandoned bike at work and set it on my bike so I'd be able to get around until I could get one that fitted properly.
Overall, It was a real mixed bag of a day, it did get better, but it was thoroughly marred by the early mishaps and the tiredness from trying to sleep in the heat. Here's hoping I can avoid another day like it for a while!
Due to the heat all day sunday I didn't get much sleep on sunday night. As a result I was tired before I even reached the train station. Ted dropped me off in Loncoln as usual, and I went in only to find that the train I would be getting on was stoppping at Newark Castle and I'd have to get the rail replacement coach to Nottingham and I'd probably not manage to get to Loughborough in time to get the train home, thus I would be late for work.
In addition, I got a call from work because there was a case of misplaced paperwork and it was possible I knew where it was. I didn't, I had given it to someone else on friday and they'd misfiled it!
There was nothing for it but to get on with it, but I was already tense. I was fretting about how to get to work and whether I'd be on time, and in addition worrying about the paperwork that was lost, even though I was sure it wasn't me that had moved it. There wasn't a chance to call Dan either, since monday is one of the days when he works at the same company as his mother.
There was a great deal of incompetence going on at the station where we had to get off and go on to the coach, and I could feel the minutes slipping by. I knew which coach we had to get on and the organiser kept umming and ahhing and generally being a bit of an idiot, but we got on the coach eventually and got under way. On arrival in Nottingham things actually started to look up. The train to Loughborough and/or Bedford was one and the same and at the platform. I even managed to get my prebooked seat, not bad at all. So I did get back to Bedford without incident and got a taxi home as I had originally decided.
I got in, sorted food and drink and got ready to leave for work. Then the next disaster struck. I locked the house, went to unlock the bike and found that some impoverished person had made off with the saddle for my bike. Call me naive and trusting, but I always understood that locking your bike to a wall right outside your home meant it would be safe. Not so, it would seem; you have to cement everything down, even in a low crime area! I called the bike shop to try and get a replacement saddle but there was no answer, so I had to cycle in sitting on the luggage rack!
I am not normally a person to swear my head off, but you can imagine the way my feelings were going being tired and dealing with what felt like a war against me having a good day.
Fortunately the rest of the day wasn't too bad. Mostly it was difficult simply because I was already tired and tense from the previous mishaps but work itself wasn't actually bad in itself. Micheal, the star of the day, borrowed a saddle and seatpost off an abandoned bike at work and set it on my bike so I'd be able to get around until I could get one that fitted properly.
Overall, It was a real mixed bag of a day, it did get better, but it was thoroughly marred by the early mishaps and the tiredness from trying to sleep in the heat. Here's hoping I can avoid another day like it for a while!
Wednesday, 3 June 2009
Sunday with Dan and the riverside
After the excitement of Saturday, Sunday was a welcome relief.
It was a really sunny day, very hot; and Dan and I spent a good part of the day sitting at the top of the bank outside the house just watching the river do what it wanted to do and talking.
It was wonderful. It felt as though everything that was bothering me was hundreds of miles away and I had an oasis of peace for as long as I wanted it. Nothing was more important that spending time just being still, allowing the stillness of nature to percolate through my head.
Ted, it has to be said, is a great cook. Every meal he produced was a no fuss tasty affair, whether it was a cooked sunday breakfast or a barbecue style meal on the patio. Thank you Ted!
Ted and Dee spent the majority of the day working on the garden, planting a tree and some bedding-style plants around a new koi pond. Trees are big heavy things to plant, so while Dan enjoyed the sun I gave a hand getting the thing into the hole that Ted and Dee had dug! Dan and I took drinks at intervals to them at intervals, to help with the heat factor.
It felt like paradise all day. I can't remember the last time I was just able to "be" around a man. It was sheer bliss, just resting, enjoying his company and being able to recharge for a day. I imagine the great weather helped with the mood, but I blame 90% of it on having found one of those rare men who can understand what I'm thinking and how my brain works.
It was a really sunny day, very hot; and Dan and I spent a good part of the day sitting at the top of the bank outside the house just watching the river do what it wanted to do and talking.
It was wonderful. It felt as though everything that was bothering me was hundreds of miles away and I had an oasis of peace for as long as I wanted it. Nothing was more important that spending time just being still, allowing the stillness of nature to percolate through my head.
Ted, it has to be said, is a great cook. Every meal he produced was a no fuss tasty affair, whether it was a cooked sunday breakfast or a barbecue style meal on the patio. Thank you Ted!
Ted and Dee spent the majority of the day working on the garden, planting a tree and some bedding-style plants around a new koi pond. Trees are big heavy things to plant, so while Dan enjoyed the sun I gave a hand getting the thing into the hole that Ted and Dee had dug! Dan and I took drinks at intervals to them at intervals, to help with the heat factor.
It felt like paradise all day. I can't remember the last time I was just able to "be" around a man. It was sheer bliss, just resting, enjoying his company and being able to recharge for a day. I imagine the great weather helped with the mood, but I blame 90% of it on having found one of those rare men who can understand what I'm thinking and how my brain works.
Tuesday, 2 June 2009
Better than a Soap Opera!
Last weekend was so busy, so full of highs and lows, I need to blog it just to try and make sense of it!
I'm not kidding about the title, there was more going on in it than an episode of a soap opera. I might just be able to blog it in one post, we'll see.
Saturday started in grand style. It was the funeral of Noel Stanton. I didn't miss any busses getting there, which is really something for me, but a poor old gentleman on the way got overbalanced trying to ring for the bus to stop and actually getting off it, so between the bus driver and some of the passengers, we took about 10 or 15 minutes to get him back on his feet and walked home.
I then went into Sainsbury's for some food and bits for later - and left my overnight case there once I'd paid for and bagged up all my stuff, but didn't notice until I came to pay for something in The Body Shop and mum rang me in the middle. Needless to say I was a bit tired and rather flustered before I even got to the funeral.
The funeral was very much a history-making event. It was held at the Northampton Jesus Centre and was packed out. I managed to get into the main auditorium, but I'm certain there were people who had to sit out in on of the overflow room and watch a video link. I didn't get a seat, I had to sit/kneel/stand in a walkway area. Gerald Coates (edit: actually it was Roger Forster!), a long-time friend of Noel and a friend of the Jesus Army too, gave a message and a reading from the Bible.
There was a video containing photos and videos of Noel running from early life, his time in the Navy, ordination, early days at Bugbrooke Chapel and going on right up to the last addresses he made to the Jesus Army just before and at Easter. Kelly, Shaun and Danny gave tributes of their own. They spoke of how Noel had believed in them, pushed them on, been there for them, seen God in the most unlikely people and actions.
We sang 9 songs of Noel's own choosing, and at his request there was very little evidence of black. He wanted a celebration, and I believe we managed to do him proud. There was a lot of laughter throughout. That may sound odd given that we were at a funeral, but it was good and right. I suppose it might be more fitting to say it was a service of thanksgiving for the life of a man who had served God until God called him home. As you might expect, there were tears at the end when the coffin was carried out by the young men who Noel had regarded as his sons.
I chose not to go to the committal. It was enough for me to say goodbye to him at the Jesus Centre.
The "fun" restarted as I left the Jesus Centre. I walked to the train station in baking heat pulling all my luggage, bought my ticket and made it to the platform just in time to catch the train. Great. Except the train was quite a long one and I got on about halfway along. I was a little surprised that the train didn't pull out immediately, and was stunned to learn when the train was 10 minutes late that only the front section was going where I needed to go and it had already left. I had to go to Birmingham and then change and get to Nottingham via Derby, and I was an hour late getting to Nottingham. Dan and his dad waited patiently for me to arrive and then find a toilet. By the time I arrived in Nottingham I'd drunk 4 litres of various drinks due to the heat, but the toilet on the train was broken, so I was in great discomfort by the time I arrived!
After all that, Ted and Dee (and Dan, before he panics!) were lovely to me, listening to all that had happened and feeding me wine and tasty food. Watching TV was abandoned in favour of going pretty much straight to bed.
I'm not kidding about the title, there was more going on in it than an episode of a soap opera. I might just be able to blog it in one post, we'll see.
Saturday started in grand style. It was the funeral of Noel Stanton. I didn't miss any busses getting there, which is really something for me, but a poor old gentleman on the way got overbalanced trying to ring for the bus to stop and actually getting off it, so between the bus driver and some of the passengers, we took about 10 or 15 minutes to get him back on his feet and walked home.
I then went into Sainsbury's for some food and bits for later - and left my overnight case there once I'd paid for and bagged up all my stuff, but didn't notice until I came to pay for something in The Body Shop and mum rang me in the middle. Needless to say I was a bit tired and rather flustered before I even got to the funeral.
The funeral was very much a history-making event. It was held at the Northampton Jesus Centre and was packed out. I managed to get into the main auditorium, but I'm certain there were people who had to sit out in on of the overflow room and watch a video link. I didn't get a seat, I had to sit/kneel/stand in a walkway area. Gerald Coates (edit: actually it was Roger Forster!), a long-time friend of Noel and a friend of the Jesus Army too, gave a message and a reading from the Bible.
There was a video containing photos and videos of Noel running from early life, his time in the Navy, ordination, early days at Bugbrooke Chapel and going on right up to the last addresses he made to the Jesus Army just before and at Easter. Kelly, Shaun and Danny gave tributes of their own. They spoke of how Noel had believed in them, pushed them on, been there for them, seen God in the most unlikely people and actions.
We sang 9 songs of Noel's own choosing, and at his request there was very little evidence of black. He wanted a celebration, and I believe we managed to do him proud. There was a lot of laughter throughout. That may sound odd given that we were at a funeral, but it was good and right. I suppose it might be more fitting to say it was a service of thanksgiving for the life of a man who had served God until God called him home. As you might expect, there were tears at the end when the coffin was carried out by the young men who Noel had regarded as his sons.
I chose not to go to the committal. It was enough for me to say goodbye to him at the Jesus Centre.
The "fun" restarted as I left the Jesus Centre. I walked to the train station in baking heat pulling all my luggage, bought my ticket and made it to the platform just in time to catch the train. Great. Except the train was quite a long one and I got on about halfway along. I was a little surprised that the train didn't pull out immediately, and was stunned to learn when the train was 10 minutes late that only the front section was going where I needed to go and it had already left. I had to go to Birmingham and then change and get to Nottingham via Derby, and I was an hour late getting to Nottingham. Dan and his dad waited patiently for me to arrive and then find a toilet. By the time I arrived in Nottingham I'd drunk 4 litres of various drinks due to the heat, but the toilet on the train was broken, so I was in great discomfort by the time I arrived!
After all that, Ted and Dee (and Dan, before he panics!) were lovely to me, listening to all that had happened and feeding me wine and tasty food. Watching TV was abandoned in favour of going pretty much straight to bed.
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