Well, I’m back.

Actually I’ve been back for a while, but it’s summer holidays here and trying to find the time to blog is not easy when you’re also trying to entertain an (almost) 8 year old boy and a crazy dog.

But here I am, and here is the story of mine and Emma’s mini adventure to Edinburgh.

I woke up on the Wednesday and it was raining. I wasn’t impressed at all, but took B to school, giving him loads of hugs, I rushed home, took Gemma out for the fastest walk in the world ~ well, it was raining ~ double checked that I had packed everything, chucked it all in the car, went to Tesco to fill up the car and drove to collect Emma. The drive up to Scotland wasn’t bad at all and I really enjoyed it.

The weather stayed good and didn’t feel that it took very long at all, even though I ended up with a numb bum a few times.  We had a mention on both Radio 1 (Emma’s choice of radio station) and Absolute Radio, during our drive up. Emma had sent a text into Radio 1 as it was Harry Potter day, and they phoned her back!  They checked to see that we were over 18 ~ “ummm, yeah, just a bit” was her reply, and they asked if we had a question that we wanted to ask the 3 main characters.  We couldn’t think of anything and they said that they might phone back later.  They didn’t.

And Absolute played “Save a prayer” so I got Emma to send a text into them saying that we were driving up to Edinburgh to see DD play the following night, from Gloucestershire.  They didn’t phone back, but they did read the text out which gave us a bit of a boost during the drive.

We got to Edinburgh just after 4pm (I think), couldn’t find the hotel car park but found an NCP almost next door to the hotel and went and booked into the hotel.  The car park wasn’t very big at all, and wasn’t much cheaper than the NCP so we decided to leave the car where it was. We got a 20% discount from the hotel so that was that.

We dumped our stuff in our room (which I forgot to take a photo of ) and went off to have a wander.

We found this chap on the Royal Mile. He was making a hell of a racket ~ but I think that’s how Bagpipes are supposed to sound.

We ended up going to TGI Friday’s for something to eat and then going back to the hotel for an earlyish night, but not before I discovered this alley. It’s the best alley in the world! Ever.

It’s actually next to the bar where we ended up having breakfast for the next two days. The first day was sunny and we managed to sit outside and enjoy the atmosphere, but I noticed that loads of people kept stopping and taking photos of this alley. And when I see loads, I mean at least 20!  In the end, Emma walked over to have a look and see what was going on in the alley. But there was nothing happening and it turned out that it was the alley that I had fallen in love with the evening before.

The next day, we explored more of the city and did a sightseeing bus tour.  And, we went and saw Greyfriars Bobby which was very important to me. I didn’t get to see him the last time I was in Edinburgh, and I was determined to see him this time ~ which we did.

The castle was still open to the public even though they were getting it ready for the concert that evening, so we managed to have a bit of a walk about and listen to the soundcheck.  We got to walk around the back of the stage and everything where I took this photo of a DD storage thingy.

I bought a postcard to send home to B, and we went back to the hotel for a little rest before the concert.

Then we discovered this wonderful bar, tucked away down one of the millions of alleys in Edinburgh.  We kept looking for a lovely little bar, which had a nice vibe about it, that wasn’t too packed full and was friendly. We found it ~ and it’s called The Jolly Judge.

We got to the castle, found our seats and were happily listening to Florence and the machine and watching the nasty dark clouds move closer and closer to the castle. Then at one point I was looking up at the flag that was flying above the castle at the exact moment that lightening cracked across the sky. Not good.

This photo was taken just before the heavens opened.

Within about 7 minutes the heavens had opened and it pissed down.

Everyone legged it. Especially Emma and I, because although we’d been checking the weather forecast all week, and had remembered to bring our waterproof jackets, we had made the executive decision to leave them in the hotel.  So, everyone ran to shelter under the seats. This wasn’t too bad, except we chose to stand next to a load of those portable urinals. After a few minutes the smell was unbearable.  But this wasn’t too bad because the people up there were so friendly. Not like us southerners.

We only waited for about 30 minutes for the rain to stop ~ but it felt much longer. My teeth were bloody chattering ‘cos I was so cold and wet.  There was an announcement made and we all made our way back to our seats.

The rain stayed away and Duran Duran had everyone up off their bums and dancing themselves dry for a couple of hours.  It wasn’t the best DD gig that I’d ever seen, but they were full of energy and clearly having loads of fun up there and I’m glad that I made the trip up to see see them in such a wonderful setting.

They only had one other gig planned in the UK for this year (so far) which was at a festival in London on the following Saturday, and much as I love Duran Duran, I’m not willing to spend a fortune just to hear them play a handful of songs.

The drive home was boring and uneventful. The weather was shocking, going from drizzle to finer drizzle until we got to Birmingham where it got sunny and then proper torrential rain when we got through to the other side.   The drive took ages.  Due to the weather and the fact that it was the last day of term for the majority of schools in England.  I think it took about 7 and a half hours to get home.

Remember this post?

M just had a phone call from the Police. Burgular Bill has been in custody since this happened and he went to court on Friday.
He asked for 26 other incidents to be taken into consideration and has been put away for 3 and a half years.

One more scumbag off the streets.

Went to the Tewkesbury Medieval Festival yesterday to celebrate the Battle of Tewkesbury.  Even though it’s not far from where I live, I hardly ever go to Tewkesbury and had never been to the festival before, but was looking on the interweb a few weeks ago, for things to do with Deigo and up this popped.

We dragged my buddy, Emma along with us and had a lovely day. Emma was picked from the audience at one point to play in the band for the Fire~eater. This basically comprised of Emma and a couple of others playing on recorders and tin whistles.  The noise was shocking but the comedy value was priceless. The Fire Eater was great too, very funny and I managed to get this wonderful shot, which I have pimped all over the place.

There were so many wonderful and interesting stalls selling everything and anything. As well as a circus tricks guy there who let everyone have a go on the apparatus. B was fantastic on the Diablo, which I had fun with too, but I preferred something which was basically, 3 sticks. I had to balance the one stick between the other two, then flip it about.  I’m not really good with the describing~ness, so shall leave it there.

The day ended with a recreation of the Battle, but I didn’t get to see any of it as by this point my pelvis had decided to give up, so I went and sat at the back of the field while Emma and B elbowed their way through to the front of the crowd and managed to watch the soldiers.

It was a brilliant day, the weather held out and even got rather warm at some points, and the rain began as we were walking back to the car.

I really love living in England and being surrounded by so much history.

I’ve never done this before, but in for a penny, in for a pound.

This is a photo of me and my siblings, taken last month at one of my brothers’ surprise 40th birthday party. I think it’s rather obvious which brothers’ birthday it was. He’s the one that is obviously a few worse for wear.

I love this photo and I was so determined to get a photo of the six of us together. It wasn’t easy though. Everytime I thought that I had all of us, one of them had wandered off somewhere else.

So, the countdown is on.

In just 10 days time I will be completing my final stint as an After School Club organiser at B’s school. Seriously, I can’t wait to hand in my bleeper when I finish.

In 12 days, my buddy, Emma and I are driving 341 miles up to Edinburgh to see Duran Duran play at Edinburgh Castle. I’m so excited about this that I may well pop.

And when I come back, B will have finished school for the summer and we’ll be faced with hoping that the weather stays good so that we can find stuff to fill those 7 weeks with.

Then, come September, B will be starting year 4 of primary school, he’ll have had his 8th birthday and I will have freaked out at how he got so old, so quickly.

I have, at last, told the school that I will no longer be doing the After~school club after next month. As much as I would like to just walk away without so much as a backward glance, I wouldn’t just leave them in the lurch.

Well, no. That’s not quite true. I would do that, if they had pissed me about, but they haven’t so that would just be a shitty thing to do. Mainly to the kids, as they’d be lumbered with one of the teachers, or God forbid, the Headmistress in my place ~ and that just woudn’t be any fun for anyone ~ except perhaps me, who would be laughing from the sidelines.

I’ve been working there for over a year now, and have never really enjoyed it. Mainly because on the nights that I work there, the children that I despise the most are always there. And because I’m so fucking unlucky, they’re always booked in for the full 2 hours.  It’s got to the point where I hate these kids so much, that when they misbehave ~ which they always do ~ I can’t tell them off. I have to get one of the other staff members to do it, because I would just go too far and end up banning them from the club.

As you can see. When I dislike someone, I go the whole hog but thankfully, I am aware of this and manage to work around it.

Another reason is that one of the other people that run the club with me is another mum from the school and I’ve never particularly trusted her but now I just can’t bear to speak to her.  This woman has a real bee in her bonnet about the Headmistress at B’s school and is doing her best to go round all the other mums and spread the hate.  In fact there’s actually a little group of mum’s who are doing this, all without any actual reason and of course, without proof and to be honest, the sooner I get away from them, the better, because after every conversation that I have with them, I just end up walking away feeling drained. No matter what we start the conversation talking about, within a minute (and I have tested this out) we she turns the subject around to the Head.

Seriously, if she has such an issue, why the fuck doesn’t she just get her son and move him to another school?   Especially since in September he’ll be in his final year at our school and he will be taught exclusively by the Head.  It’s not rocket science, is it?

Look at what I bought today.

Check out the packaging! It’s the good old fashioned packet that we had back in the day.

I wish I’d bought more than one packet now though.

So, last Saturday I travelled up to Manchester for a forum meet. The lovely Karen had very kindly invited those of us who wanted to attend to her home for a BBQ.  Something that you would never catch me doing.

Unfortunutley the weather sucked so the Barbie was moved indoors, but since Karen has a huge house, and Karaoke in her conservatory, this wasn’t too much of a problem.

I’m not sure how many people turned up, but I’m guessing about 12 ~ 15, many of us had already met before, one way or another.

Lots of fun was had. Lovely food was eaten and a shocking ammount of alcohol was drank. I did want to get a lovely big group photo of us all before we got too drunk or before anyone began to slink off, but I forgot. I got carried away chatting, eating, singing and drinking.

But this photo is one of my favourites. It was snapped while the girls in question were singing “My heart will go on” and about 5 seconds before the blonde at the top of the photo fell off the basket into a giggling heap in the corner.  I should have taken a photo of her on the floor, but I was thankfully filming it on my cameraphone ~ so it all worked out.

I was very sensible though and hardly drank at all. Well, that’s not strictly true. I did have two pints of Tia Maria and Coke, but I spent so long chatting to everyone that everytime I started to get tiddly I would soon sober up.

I also got to have my first taste of a Krispy Kreme doughnut. I had mentioned to Tatty a week or so earlier that I’d never had one, and she very kindly bought a load before the left London.  I’m not really big on sweet things, but they were really lovely.

All in all, a lovely time was had and on Saturday I’m out on the razz again. But this time for a very different reason.

Shan’t Can’t say anything about it right now, as I can’t afford for the surprise to be let out of the bag, but I can’t wait.

M was working today. Somewhere miles away. He did tell me where, but, you know, I either forgot or didn’t listen. You can decide which.

I recalled seeing something, somewhere advertising the fact that the Tall Ships Festival was back on at the Gloucester Docks, so B and I hopped in the car and drove off. Made even better by the fact that it was a gorgeously hot day, which always helps when you’re going to be hanging around docks.

Today though was amazing. B and I both had a wonderful time. We did loads. When we first arrived at the Docks, we looked over the railings and saw three little boats in the water. In two of the boats were “convicts” rowing for their lives, and in the final boat were “guards” who were rowing like nutters trying to catch up with the convicts. It was so funny to watch.

For the past couple of weeks there has also been a kind of “Gloucester Eye” type thing there. Last time we were there it was a horrid windly overcast kind of day and I promised B that we’d go on it when the weather was a little better. Today, the weather was perfect, so off we went for a spin around the Gloucester Eye.

It was actually better than I had expected and we went around three times, the first time was really slow and gave you a really good chance of looking all around and taking in the view. Including the Cathedral which looked lovely with the gorgeous blue sky behind.

We then went into the city centre where the festival spirit continued. There were peasants wandering all over the place, as well as people dressed up as Tudors (we saw Henry VIII and one of his wives) and soldiers in their Red Coats marching all over the place as well as other soldiers.

Ever since I  was a little girl, there has been a huge glass viewing platform “thing” outside Boots. You look down through the glass to some Roman Ruins that were excavated in the 1970’s.   Just to the right hand side of Boots, there is a little door which leads down into the actual ruins. But I’ve never seen it open to the public. But today, B spotted a Roman Centurian standing guard outside the door. The door, which was open!

B and I couldn’t get across to it fast enough.  We went down the stairs, which was fantastic as it was lovely to be out of the scorching heat, and took a seat and listened to a lady, who was dressed up in olden days clothes, tell us olde worlde stories and tales. This in itself was wonderful, but once the lady had finished telling her stories (we heard three) a man who had been sat at the back, stood up and announced that he was about to give a guided tour of Roman Gloucester.

There were 5 of us who took up this man’s very kind offer and he took us around the 2 “gate” streets of Gloucester, telling us stories, facts and pointing out all kinds of things that I must have walked past hundreds of times and never given a second thought to. The tour lasted about 45 minutes and was fascinating. Even B, who hasn’t the greatest attention span in the world, was rivetted and hung on the guide’s every word. After the tour, I decided to treat B to a Happy Meal which we took to the Cathedral grounds to eat, picnic stylee.

This was an event in itself as loads of soldiers and civilians had set up camp in the grounds. There were campfires burning, a blacksmith giving a demonstration on how to make swords and daggers and B and I sat in the middle of both camps, keeping it real by munching on a McDonalds. Honestly, this was a fantastic day and I can’t wait for the Tall Ships Festival next year.

Today B and I went swimming, to the local leisure centre.

Four hours!

Four. Fucking. Hours.

That’s how long we were in there.

I’m knackered. My eyes are burning, but I’m not yet sure if it’s from the chlorine, the fact that almost every dad in there seemed to have the entire top half of their bodies covered in tattoo’s or the sheer amount of creole earrings that the chavtastic teenage girls were wearing.

Seriously girls. They were tacky the first time around ~ what makes you think they look any better now?

So, anyway, as we arrived I was informed that Wet n Wild would be starting at 2pm. This means nothing to me, as the only time we go to this pool is during the school holidays but I didn’t bother to ask as I thought that I’d figure it out soon enough.

It turns out that it’s something along the lines of this, but ours had a Dragon’s head on it.

First though, the floor of the pool needed to be made shallower, so we all swam over to the side of the pool to sit and wait while the floor was raised.  I’d never seen this done before so sat there for all of two minutes peering down into the water. Obviously I couldn’t see anything, but I was thrilled.

B managed to have two goes.  Both times, however, he fell off, and then the bloody thing was deflated again and put away. Hardly worth the time and effort it took to blow the damn thing up.

Then I overheard one of the Lifeguards saying that they were going to get the balls out. This again meant nothing to me, but I noticed how excited the kids were and that they were all scrabbling to line up at the side of the pool, so off I sent B.  Ignoring his questions of ” But what am I lining up for mum?” and my reply of “I don’t know, but it looks like it’s going to be cool”

Then when B saw the balls (above) being unwrapped he was chuffed to bits.  The queue however, was huge. He waited for a good 40 minutes for his turn, which of course took just 2 minutes. But I have to say that those 2 minutes of watching B run around in a giant hamster ball was well worth the wait.