I do like to write my blog at the end of each week. Last Sunday I was all set to do it after a lovely weekend and then we had some devastating news which paused all our immediate plans. This is the first evening in which I felt able to write about last week, so here are five happy moments of my week.
I have read a beautiful book of poetry this week Donna Ashworth’s Wild Hope. After such a difficult year it was the perfect book and I will definitely be recommending it to friends. It was beautiful to read of hope.
The weather took a starring role in my week. We were really surprised to see snowfall on Thursday morning and as you can imagine working in a school this caused a lot of excitement and a lot of distraction on my PPA morning. We had a light sprinkling of snow at my school but my son’s school, which is only a few miles away from us had heavy snowfall and they closed the school. I’m not sure whether it’s fortunately or unfortunately but he wasn’t at school on that day as he was visiting a sixth form for a tour and interview. Both my husband and son really like the college so we are hoping he gets offered a place, however special needs college places are very in demand and we now need to wait for a few months to hear the decision. The boys made the most of their visit to ‘big’ town with lunch out and ended up watching Gladiator 2 at the cinema. The snow didn’t really seem to affect their day and by the time I drove home the snow was rapidly disappearing and it was an easy and quick journey.
The weather returned to the headlines on Saturday morning with Storm Bert. I always check out the weather forecast for Saturday mornings in advance because of parkrun. I had noticed that the weather looked horrendous for 9 o’clock on Saturday however as I had volunteered for car park duties, I wrapped up warm, ready for any conditions and went along to my local park run. Despite more than 400 parkruns being cancelled across the country, the conditions allowed us to run on Saturday morning. The rain never materialised and it was a mild morning. However the wind was incredible. A lot of our course is sheltered but along the coastal path, the view of the waves was stunning and well worth the exhilarating run. After parkrun I drove the boys through to the station for them to go to football and then quickly returned home as the weather had taken a very nasty turn. I had such a lovely afternoon at home on my own lots of pottering, organising and relaxing. It is so rare to have time on my own in the house and I loved every minute.
On Sunday, the weather was again awful with very heavy rain. It was a perfect afternoon to go and watch the new Paddington film, Paddington in Peru. I loved the film and its themes stayed true to the previous Paddington films. I did feel a little emotional as the children grow older in the film and the family dynamics change. I totally got the painting of the sofa, which will make sense if you have seen the film. I really enjoy going to the cinema my job as a cinema usherette from my uni days still remains one of my favourite jobs and it always feel special to see a film on the big screen. I did like how staff had decorated the Odeon sign to illustrate the films this winter, I appreciate these little touches. After the film we went out for lunch, it was such a lovely warm cosy lunch looking out onto an ice rink and little Christmas market. I had such a feeling of contentment.
I don’t really know how to write the next few lines because when we returned home from the cinema I popped over to see my neighbour and learned the devastating news that she had very unexpectedly and suddenly died earlier in the day. The news still doesn’t seem believable, as she was a very fit and healthy lady. I can’t put into a sentence or two how important she was in our family’s lives and how sad we all are at the news. We live in a tight knit community and our lovely neighbour was always at the heart of it. To me she was more than a neighbour, she was my friend, my confidante, and even my hairdresser of over 20 years. We are all so, so sad.
Seaside Sparkles 