Seaside Sparkles

This week sees the 20^th anniversary of the death of Diana, Princess of Wales. It seems strange to write a post on the Royal family, I have respect for their role, but am not an ardent royalist, however Diana was different and was part of my growing up. It was the day after my 8^th birthday when Diana married Prince Charles and I remember the excitement of the extra bank holiday, getting up early for the build up to the day, the anticipation of her dress, the ceremony, a tad boring for an 8 year old and then the street parties which followed in the afternoon. I was at the age of believing in a fairy tale princess and this continued when I got to see Diana at a polo match in Windsor Great park. As Girl Guides we were camping in the park and were allowed to attend the game. Charles was playing but memories of him are blurred, however I remember Diana so clearly, wearing a stunning black and white dress and smiling. She was all we had hoped for.

As the years progressed, the fairy tale princess became an anachronism, however Diana changed and away from the soap opera of her personal life exaggerated in tabloids, I respected the work she did with ‘unfashionable’ charities, landmines, AIDs, homeless charities. I also loved her style. When Diana died when I was 24, she was a woman whose values, grace and work I admired.

Diana’s death is the ‘where were you ..’ moment of my generation. I was in a large London hotel celebrating my cousin’s wedding. As we went to bed, following the reception, in the early hours of the morning we learnt that there had been a serious accident in Paris and when we awoke her death was confirmed. The morning at breakfast was one of the most surreal times, a huge, busy hotel stunned into silence, it felt like everyone was too shocked to talk. The radio was sombre with classical music playing, the tv was the news and reactions, it was the strangest and saddest day to be followed by a similar week. By chance, we were due to be away visiting family on the day of Diana’s funeral. My uncle had been in the army and Diana had been his regiment’s royal. We watched the funeral in their home with photos, signed notes and cards from Diana to my uncle on display, I remember everything about that period feeling so unreal. The funeral was highly emotional, her sons behind the coffin, Candle in the Wind being sung by Elton John and all the flowers being thrown at the car. Once it ended, like many in the country we all headed to the nearest pub for a much needed drink.

Following the funeral a friend asked me to visit London with her to see the flowers at the palaces and although I hadn’t really thought about doing it, it is something that I am so pleased I did. It was an amazing sight, the waves of flowers are unforgettable, beautiful in colour, smell and volume. We also signed the book of condolence and pottered along Kensington High Street for shopping and an Italian lunch, it was a memorable day.

As the anniversary of her death occurs, I still like Diana, yes she was flawed but she in her own way was a role model, she embraced her charity work and used her position to help others, she held strong family values and was determining what the life of a modern woman looked like. She took my generation from believing in fairy tale princesses to something a little more realistic.

Postscript

Following the media coverage of the anniversary I’m a little perplexed that future generations will believe we were all emotional wrecks crying and mourning Diana’s death. It was a surreal time, questions were raised about the role of paparazzi and the need for privacy and respect and we all felt sad for her family. However we weren’t all crying but just trying to make sense of a terrible accident.

I’m now at the stage of the summer holidays when I’m trying to work out what day of the week it is, Mr S is at home too so there’s no work days at present and each day simply merges into another. Living in a holiday resort its holidays all round, so no real definer of time here either. In the period since my last #litteloves post we’ve been on our summer holiday to Cornwall. Normally we go abroad but this year we wanted to show the children how beautiful our country is and share some of the special places. We had a caravan on the beach near St Ives and explored Cornwall, the Eden project was the highlight but we all enjoyed the beaches and surf.

Normally I read lots on holiday, especially around the swimming pool but this year I found myself in the pool as it was a bit nippy to be sat around it or watching the children in the sea from the beach, thus reducing reading opportunities. Therefore I’ve only been reading magazines, guidebooks or puzzle books, all fun and light but I’m looking forward to starting a book tonight and working my way through my to read list.

On holiday I watched the children carefully, the sea was more tidal than we’re used to and I always had them in my sight if Mr S or I weren’t in the sea with them. Our two are beach dudes and had their body boards in the sea and tried out aqua gliders and jets at the caravan park. On one afternoon, Lifeboat day in St Ives, we watched a mock rescue display by the lifeboat and coastguard in the sea, highly impressive and I have so much respect to those who volunteer to help others.

We had a wet and miserable morning on holiday and went to the cinema to see ‘Diary of a Wimpy Kid – The Long Haul’ I really liked this film despite some poor reviews, it’s exactly what you expect a funny, family film with lots of slapstick. I did think the dynamics of the family were so well observed and I could identify so much with mum, her part was superb.

 

In our little caravan, CBBC was a popular choice for viewing by the children. Little Miss and I were inspired by Tilly Ramsey’s cookery programme Matilda and the Ramsey bunch. This is a great programme, I loved it, Tilly is bright, funny and passionate about food and such a positive role model, whilst her family are just lovely. Since watching the programme, Little Miss has been helping me to make dinner each night, preparing vegetables, cooking some ingredients etc.. She’s not only been helping but learning too and has listened carefully to instructions and explanations. I let Little Miss make her first cake independently this week, simply being present in the kitchen ready to answer any questions and take the cake out of the oven. She made a lime and coconut loaf and it was amazing. I’m looking forward to tasting more of her cakes and bakes.

The weather was mixed on holiday, some stunning days but some damp and cooler days too. My most worn outfit was my swimming costume, I was in the water everyday either in the pool or sea and then spent most of my time in shorts and a hoodie or t-shirt depending on the temperature. I love the hoodie and shorts combie, it’s cosy and warm with a hint of summer.

I was surprised to hear that the film, Dirty Dancing was released 30 years ago this week, how can it be that old?  It was the coming of age film for me and my friends and is still one of my favourite films of all time. I downloaded the soundtrack onto Spotify this week and enjoyed listening to it on my runs. I also had a bit of a tidy up this week and found my original CD from 30 years ago, in the sleeve there are all the lyrics and I remember singing along as a teenager. I love the Dirty Dancing soundtrack and it still is as good as I remember.

We have few plans for the bank holiday weekend, if its sunny it’ll be the beach or a walk or if its mixed we’ve a few house jobs on a list to be done.  Next week is school shoe shopping and the final bits of uniform, I’m already psyching myself up!  We will then finish the last holiday week with a visit from family, before its back to school.  The summer holiday seems to have gone so quickly and there are signs of autumn creeping through our days now.  I’m determined to enjoy these last days of summer.

Many thanks to Morgana and all her lovely contributors to #littleloves, I’ve missed the posts and inspirations.

There really is something quite bizarre about me writing a post about cars and driving.  I am not a petrol head and in fact I suffer badly with travel sickness so spending time in a car is something I try to avoid.  My travel sickness is better when I drive but as a passenger I can be poorly on the shortest of journeys.  My work, the shops and children’s school and clubs are all within a mile radius from home so my weekly mileage is very low, only bumped up by the occasional visit to big town (50 miles round journey) or a trip to my parents.  When I part exchanged my last car, I had done less than 15000 miles in 7 years. Whilst I am a competent driver now, it did take me 4 attempts to pass my test at 18; I passed it the day before I went to uni and then didn’t drive for another 4 years and had to do refresher lessons!  As you can see I’m not that well qualified to write a post on cars, however I felt that my cars actually tell a little of my life story so thought I’d write a post about my life in cars.

My first car was a second hand orange Metro.  It was BT orange as it was an old fleet car and as I started my first job it was what I could afford, I think it cost me about £1500 which was expensive at the time.  The prices of cars have definitely reduced over the years.  The Metro was the car of choice with me and my friends yet it seems so basic now, freezing in winter, boiling in summer, dodgy car radio and it even had a choke button.  We all knew how to do the simple tasks in our cars and could check tyres, water levels, change oil etc..  Sadly the Metro wasn’t the most reliable of cars, it blew a tyre on the M4 once and on a winter’s night broke down on the Second Severn Crossing, needless to say I’ve always been a member of roadside assistance.  Eventually it was stolen, dumped and written off and having been working for a couple of years I upgraded to a Citroen Saxo.

I loved my Citroen Saxo, it was my fun car, I had it between the ages of 25 and 31 and would drive in it to meet friends, have girlie weekends away and simply bop around town.  It was so reliable, I had it for 6 years and my Dad then had it for another 6 until he exchanged it in the government scrappage scheme.  In the pictures above its on the driveway of our first house, it was a great little car.

I only changed my Saxo car because Mr S bought me a KA for our first wedding anniversary.  This felt like such luxury, central locking, electric windows and it was so fun to drive.  In the years I had my KA I started doing some serious mileage as we had sold up in Bristol and moved to the seaside whilst I was still working in Bristol 4 days a week.  My friends were even more spread about the country now, so it was visits to Berkshire, Devon, Cardiff in school holidays.  It was about this time that Mr S persuaded me to drive a larger, safer car for all my miles and my KA was part exchanged for a new car for him whilst I kept his old car ( he always has v nice cars for work) I can’t even remember what it was but I hated it and soon had gone back to a smaller car.

My next car was a 3 door C1 and perfect for my life, small enough to zip around town and to park easily, comfortable with some great features and just lovely.  The thing we hadn’t considered was family life and when the children arrived it was impractical, it didn’t fit a pushchair in the boot which was squeezed onto the back floor and then one day leaning in to do the car seats I hurt my back and by the weekend it had been part exchanged for a C3.

My C3 was the practical, 2nd family car and to be honest I never had the buzz or excitement from driving it, I think that may have been the grey colour, it was functional and reliable but a bit boring.  Its also very difficult to keep a family car clean and tidy and its normally my car which is used for beach trips, muddy walks etc.. After 7 years, we felt it was coming near to its end and rather than investing money into it, Mr S offered to but me a new car for my birthday.

Upon this offer, I asked for a C1 which surprised Mr S.  However I loved my original C1 and now the children are older without the need for pushchairs etc..it was the practical option again, although we did ensure its the 5 door model.  As well as its features, I’m also impressed with its economy, it has no car tax and my insurance has reduced considerably.  My C1 is not our family car, Mr S has a large family car for family outings, its a small second car for local trips and it fits the bill perfectly.  Whilst its unlikely to be this car, I also think that in 8 years when Little Miss learns to drive it would be the perfect model for her to learn in.

In the years to come, I can’t imagine driving a car much different to what I have now.  I’m sure the features will develop but for speed and practicality, I’m really happy with what I have.  I’m not one for sporty and flashy cars and I suppose the one feature which will attract me is environmental considerations.