Author: seasidesparkles

As I write this I am again in another hospital waiting room, a different local hospital. In the last 6 months I have been to 7 different hospitals in the region supporting members of my family. I’m a little disappointed not to have found a Costa cafe in this one, my loyalty card is full of beans earnt in hospital Costas. We came here as we thought it was going to be quick and had prebooked an appointment for an X-ray yesterday evening after going to our local hospital with an injury. There was no reference for that appointment when we arrived here so are sat in a very busy A&E waiting room, having had to start all the process all over again. I’m trying to be calm but do feel a little annoyed with my husband. It would have been much quicker to pick my son up from his school and take him to a big hospital yesterday rather than the two smaller hospitals he’s been to over the past two days. One undoubted fact about my tour of hospitals is that our beloved nhs is so underfunded and I hope that the upcoming General Election will see a change in funding and policy to support our health service.

The General Election campaigning continues this week with some televised debates which were quite shouty and full of sound bites rather than proper discussion. The conservative campaign does seem to go from disaster to disaster, mostly self made. from the pouring rain announcement, to planted councillors in factories posing as workers, bizarre new policies (national service for 18 year olds, really!) to the biggest error in the PM leaving the Dday commemoration early, missing an event with world leaders, to record an interview. I do think it’s the disrespect shown at Dday which has disappointed many and will haunt the rest of the campaign and his legacy. Roll on July 4th.

I am trying to do a daily beach walk this summer and on Thursday D-day, I walked up to the war memorial to read the plaque to the American servicemen who had left our town for the battle. It was such a beautiful evening and by chance, as I arrived a lone piper was playing a lament. I did feel emotional looking out to the sea and imagining what happened 80 years ago. Later in the evening, I saw the beacon burning and again reflected on the sacrifices of my grandparents’ generation.

On Sunday’s walk I popped into an art gallery as part of an arts fortnight in our local area. I know one of the artists and was keen to see her new work. She is an amazingly talented textile artist and stitches maps of local areas. I would love to have an original but I think my budget is more of that of a print. I do want to buy one it’s just finding the best map for the spot I’ve chosen.

My final picture made me laugh on my walk, one of the ice cream stalls has new owners, Moody Cow ice creams and this is the sign on the hut. Definitely an image to have ready when I’m feeling tetchy.

It is unusual for us not to be on a family holiday at the May half term but being in the midst of GCSE exams, Mr S ongoing recovery and our big summer holiday, we decided not to book a May holiday this year. However thanks to our families living in the West Country we spent some days away from home giving us all a break.

Our break was very relaxed, we all felt a little poorly at some point but the only thing we did cancel due to all feeling a little rough was a shopping trip. My daughter wasn’t too upset, I think she’s already bookmarked most of the Shein website. It does make me shudder a little but my encouragement to have a look on Vinted has not succeeded so far.

On our first evening, we took a walk in Weston Super Mare to see the knife angel in the Italian Gardens. The angel is part of a charity project to educate against knife crime. It is an incredible sculpture, made from 100000 knives , many confiscated by police forces and some had been used in crimes. It is huge and really makes an impact, I felt very moved by it. The face is so expressive and sorrowful, showing the pain caused by knife crime. The sculpture spends a month in a different British town and is a hugely important project.

The big highlight of the week was watching the touring production of Hamilton at the Bristol Hippodrome with my mum and daughter. I don’t have the superlatives to express how unbelievably good this show is and all generations were equally wowed. The songs are great and of course I’ve been listening to the soundtrack on repeat ever since our visit. However the production is so much more than simply the songs, it is so clever in its choreography, movement, lighting, use of the stage, it was innovative and outstanding in every aspect and an absolute privilege to be part of the audience.

I do like to make special events like a show an occasion, so we dressed up and went out for cocktails before the show. I find that having a pre theatre meal can be a little fraught, always watching the clock so we had a delicious late lunch at home, giving us lots of time to sample the mocktails as none of us were drinking. The bar had a terrific range of mocktails, all beautifully presented. I had also done a personalised box of chocolates for the show, special events need treats! One unexpected pleasure was driving home on a warm, still night on the high of an amazing show and seeing the Bristol Suspension Bridge all lit up, sparkling in the dark sky, gorgeous.

I did buy my first bunch of peonies this week, sadly not for me but my mum as a thank you. It was a lovely bunch of flowers with lilac stocks too and I was super impressed how quickly they blossomed. For me at home it’s always tulips in the spring and peonies in the summer, bringing the sunshine inside.

Next week we begin the final half term of the year and my daughter’s final few GCSE exams before school is out forever. It’s an emotional time and one definitely showing the passing of time.

This has been a busy pre half term week with lots of school related activities. Our son was on a school residential to Center parks. I’m pretty impressed by the setting for a school trip, much more sophisticated than I ever had, when I was in his year we had two nights camping in Cheddar! He did have an amazing time and I’m so happy he has such great memories. I did hide a few treats in his bag for a midnight feast, an essential of any school trip.

Whilst our son was at Center parks, I was helping out at our school’s Duke of Edinburgh award expedition. As a special school we have the award slightly adapted to our needs, but I am really impressed how the organisation make this a fully inclusive scheme. I had such a lovely evening, helping to make dinner with the students and then a campfire with songs and toasted marshmallows. It’s the little things which bring such joy. I’ve added another school item to this collection of 5, our new little gnome guarding our vegetable patch. We go shopping each week and my class took a real liking to the gnomes on display. This week they were half price so I added one to our trolley and he now proudly sits in our vegetable patch.

Every evening Mr S and I make a real effort to sit down together for an hour to watch a programme. His injury means that he still is very fatigued and is in bed at 7.30 each night. Our current watch is The Tattooist of Auschwitz. It’s a harrowing watch but also an important watch. I have had quiet evenings after watching it, music and a little time to reflect on the horrors of the holocaust and the parallels with today.

Finally, to everyone’s surprise a general election was called on Wednesday. It was due this year but with the assumption that it would be an autumn poll. As a politics graduate this is my time, my political geekiness is at its highest! The announcement itself was pure satire. It was made outside in the pouring rain which just got worse and worse, and Sunak was soaked and then from loudspeakers at the gates of Downing Street, a protester played D-reams Things can only get better, Labour’s anthem from 1997 drowning out his speech. The campaign has only deteriorated since much to a lot of people’s amusement. I think I’m going to enjoy this campaign.

And so to another week. Its been a week of meetings and waiting desperately for the actions, three meetings in and we’re still awaiting for just one action to be made which would help our family. As a consequence all my 5 things of the week have happened mainly in the past 24 hours.

Saturdays are always my favourite day of the week, I love my weekly parkrun and then we try to do something together. I did think our plans this week were quite ambitious as we tried to make everyone’s plans work into my taxi schedule but we did it and all had a great day doing our things, some of which just organically developed. I even managed my first night out since Mr S accident. It was also a day which I felt was more like 36 hours than 24, our achievements were that impressive! One of the highlights of the day was a trip to the driving range. We had lunch out and I realised that we were a few minutes away from a crazy golf course, that being our mum/son thing to do. When we arrived at the big golfing complex, I asked him if he wanted crazy golf or the driving range, as I had played here before and knew there were fun games. ( An unexpected perk of my job) He chose the range and absolutely loved it. He reckoned it could be his summer sport as the football season ends soon, freeing up Saturdays until August. We had so much fun and I also would like to do a bit more golf this summer. The driving range is my limit though, I don’t think I have the time and patience for a game of golf.

It was so nice last night to go out and meet up with some old friends at a party. It also took fine organisation. Mr S needs his rest and as part of his recovery is in bed nightly at 7.30pm. I needed to have everyone in bed and settled before I could leave. I worried that if I got dressed the children would notice I was going out and then visit each others’ rooms and awaken Mr S. So we did our night time routines and then I quickly changed and went to the party, I felt like a teenager sneaking out of the house. The host is a friend through different groups, a former colleague and also a school mum, so there were lots of old friends at the party. I spent the night catching up with everyone’s news and just chilling on a beautiful spring night in the garden enjoying a wonderful live band (and a very loud DJ)

I’ve needed lots of distraction this week and finished the book Sincerely Me and am zooming through Love Nina, an autobiographical tale of being a nanny in London n the early 80s. Love Nina, is highly entertaining and makes you love Alan Bennett even more. Sincerely Me made me reflect on our ability to love and care and the wise words and reflections we can all make.

My final thing of the week was Christmas pudding for tea. Mr S and our son (not so much our daughter) love Christmas pudding and seeing as Christmas 2023 was a very low key affair after Mr S’ accident I picked up a few post Christmas treats to enjoy over the months. Today we had our last pudding, possibly my best food bargain ever at 20p. Like my daughter I don’t get madly excited about Christmas pudding but it did seem quirky to be having it on the May bank holiday. The boys reckoned the puddings will be back in the shops in October, so just another 5 months until they can have their next.

I definitely got v excited this week as it was announced the last ever Gavin and Stacey will air on Christmas Day. I love this series and cannot wait for the finale. Corden and Jones are excellent writers and they never disappoint. Christmas 2024 already seems magical!

I know I have started the past two weeks’ entries in saying that the week has been challenging, but this last week has really been the worst of times. I read somewhere that when times are so bad that you can’t see the future to simply take one minute at a time and this is advice I have tried to follow this week. There have been moments of quiet counting and breathing.

Despite all that has happened, there always needs to be sparkles and somehow I’ve managed to find five from this past week. They may be small but have been so valuable and needed in my week.

Firstly it is now less than 100 days to our cruise, never will a holiday have been so needed and wanted. Holiday shopping on Vinted continues to go well, although its always difficult to buy for a sunny season when its been so cold and wet for months now.

To add some colour to the grey days I bought my regular bunch of £2.49 tulips from Aldi, a little bonus when doing the long journey to pick up my daughter from her boyfriend’s house, which has a lovely Aldi en route. I really rate Aldi’s flowers and am looking forward to the upcoming peony season. Fresh flowers always bring me joy.

Another way of adding colour to my day was the pink parkrun cap I picked up on Vinted. It is only available in Australia so when I saw a new one in original packaging, worked out the Australian price conversion and realised it was a great price, I bought it. I got lots of admiration for it on Saturday’s parkrun, I know I will get a lot of wear out of it.

Blossom is a new word game I have discovered online. This week I have spent a lot of time in the A&E department of a hospital over two different days. As both were sudden visits, I didn’t have anything to keep me amused on the long waits so discovered this game online. I love a word quiz and this is my style of games, just needing to compete against myself. I have now packed my Kindle into my handbag so if I am in a similar situation again, I have something to read. I also made sure I had drinks with us before we went the second time as its so hot in the department.

My fifth thing of the week was a suggestion from this week’s Happier podcast, on writing your autobiography in 24 sensations. I had listened to the podcast and then the hours at the hospital gave me time to think of some strong memories and the senses they invoked. I then spent about half an hour jotting it down in my notebook, a lovely little exercise to remember family and friends over the years.

Its been another hard week, when so much that has happened will go unsaid on this entry. My motto is simply ‘that this too will pass’ and life will become happier and healthier for us all. I have felt blessed by friends checking in this week, kind words help you feel less alone and overwhelmed.

As a consequence of a funny old week, there are some quite random things in my 5 thing list, starting with chewing gum. I’m not a big gum eater, simply because I don’t really like mint flavouring nor the mess gum can cause. However, I have discovered biodegradable watermelon gum and its a game changer, I have driven many miles this week, around 400, so a little burst of watermelon has been nice.

On my many journeys I have been listening to the radio and podcasts, Marian Keyes is promoting her new book and has appeared a few times in my listening. I love Marian Keyes her voice has been a tonic and she is so engaging, witty and wise. I particularly enjoyed her appearance on Dish, which is such an entertaining podcast.

On Saturday, I completed a parkrun challenge with a friend, to do all the parkruns in Dorset. That’s 9 different parkruns, over quite a large area. Again I’ve been working out the miles and it was about 440 miles of travelling to visit all the parkruns. It was unusual yesterday to go to a place simply for the parkrun, its taken me nearly 5 years to do this challenge and generally the parkrun has been part of a family day out. However as no no one else fancied the very early start of 7.15am it was me and my neighbour who headed off to Bridport. It was the perfect parkrun day, gorgeous sunny weather, super friendly park runners and team and just a great atmosphere. It seemed the right place to celebrate our achievement. Bridport is a fabulous little town, it was market day and the town was bustling in the spring sunshine, the surprise of a steel band playing in the square provided a beautiful spring soundtrack.

Despite the heavier traffic, we were home for lunch and it was the first al fresco lunch of the year. I am such a summer person and after another wet week, the sunshine was very welcome.

As I write this I have the London marathon playing in the background, one of my favourite Sunday afternoon tv events of the year. I’m in awe of the elites, but the stories of the ‘mass’ are always so emotional and I am in bits, I have so much respect for those who run a marathon. As much as I love my running, I do think a half marathon is my limit.

Apart from the usual clubs and activities, it’s looking quiet next week, after this week I really am hoping for an uneventful, even boring week..