Seaside Sparkles

This is another one of those weeks where it has been busy without many special events, just the mundanity of life. When life is full of Instagram images of everyone having amazing times, it is easy to forget that this is a curated medium and real life is simpler and sometimes a little bit dull.

This year, I have been reading lots, with Mr S going to bed early each night, I am switching the television off at 7pm and putting on my music and doing school work, such is the life of a teacher, and then either browsing Vinted, my new guilty pleasure, or reading. I am averaging a book a week and this week’s Us Three by Ruth Jones was read in far less time. It was a great story and with a significant part set in the 80s a great nostalgia treat. I did laugh when the characters went to a club in Cardiff which I frequented in the 90s, it hadn’t changed with time! I really admire Jones’ writing from one of the writers of my favourite comedy Gavin and Stacey (and please may the Christmas special rumours be true) to her novels, she never disappoints.

On Monday, I was on football training duty with my son. It is a fair trek to the county town but it was a beautiful sunny spring afternoon and the later sunset was spectacular. It was a treat to see my son train and enjoy his football. I will be on similar duties until Mr S can hopefully drive again in June. This cannot come quick enough as he is not the most patient passenger.

Life is so mundane this week that 2 of my 5 are work related items. I really enjoyed a lesson I taught on Welsh love spoons in which we made our own. It was one of those magical lessons where everything seemed to come together and our soundtrack of popular songs sang in Welsh was beautiful. Secondly, we are embracing world book day next week and busy creating our costumes. My class has chosen Alice in Wonderland and I’m the Mad Hatter. On Saturday afternoon I headed to the random little junk shop which has a rail of clothes for £1. I am going for mad, clashing designs and bought a velvet jacket and stripy blouse for just £2, my hat and wig has also arrived and are fabulous, I am also going for crazy odd knee length socks and odd trainers, its certainly a look!

My final thing this week was a trip on Saturday morning, yes I gave up my weekly parkrun,to go to the open day of the college my daughter hopes to go to. It was interesting and the course does look great. I was delighted to get a few freebies, teachers are always on the hunt for free pens, pads and a tote bag, all indispensable to our daily work!

This was certainly a week of running around and by Sunday afternoon, I was wrapped up in my blanket on the sofa desperately trying to finish the excellent book, ‘Hello Beautiful’ before the week started again. I would highly recommend this book, reading the blurb, it looks as if you could predict the story, however it was very different and beautiful to what I was expecting.

As the sole driver in the house at present, I always seem to be driving, life in a rural county means its many miles to anywhere. I was a bit alarmed when on Friday morning, I glanced my car’s reflection in a window and noticed one of my lights had gone. I did not need this, but I remembered the great customer service I had at Halfords a couple of years ago and that they did simple jobs onsite. I went online, ordered my part and booked a fitting slot for the next day as Halfords was on our route to football. What could have been a big drama, actually turned out to be very smooth and simple and I was even able to book my MOT for the end of the month.

My Saturday was a bit nuts, I ran my 99th parkrun, my Flake, came home cooked and ate a macaroni cheese from scratch, went to Halfords for the car repair, got to the football stadium to watch the big match and then picked up my daughter from a friends in a different town on the way home. We got home around 10ish and I was completely wiped. In really unfortunate timing, I had a 9am food delivery and then had to drive to ‘big’ town on Sunday too so Mr S could get his glasses mended and fitted. We were home by early afternoon and I had a few hours on the sofa, genuinely wondering where I had the energy for the coming week.

The highlight of the week was the football, I don’t normally go but as Mr S recovers, I am on football duty. It was a great atmosphere as the visitors were Man City, current treble holders and it did feel a little unreal to be so close to megastars. However they only scraped a 1-0 win and our team definitely deserved at least a draw. It was the best atmosphere I’ve experienced at the stadium and I was a little hoarse by the end of the game from shouting.

My final thing of the week was a new avatar to reflect my decision to stop colouring my hair, I’ve compared it above with the image in my Seaside Sparkles header which was drawn nearly a decade ago. The avatar was more for work and my class web page. I never share my photo online and use an avatar, but I felt my old picture didn’t reflect who I am now. I do think with this look, I need to be bolder with make up and accessories but that’s a task for a later date. Sadly life is so full on that I don’t really have the head space for frivolities at present.

This past week has been half term, so a break for the children and I. However, it wasn’t a typical holiday as we stayed at home and instead of days out we accompanied Mr S to a lot of medical appointments. He is getting stronger so most appointments were at a surgery or the hospital with only one being a home visit. One of the appointments was to address fatigue and neuro recovery and since then Mr S has been implementing brain breaks a few times a day. I am interested by them and do think perhaps its something we should all be trying, simply sitting still with no distractions for ten minutes, although my fear is that I would too easily fall asleep. We also had a few trips out in the car to see how far he can comfortably travel. On Monday afternoon, we popped to the lovely garden centre in our neighbouring town, this went well, but another trip later in the week to a more distant town, was a little too far. Everything is an experiment at present and we adjust our plans as necessary. As Mr S has had his driving licence suspended until he has a post accident six month medical, I am the nominated driver. This adds a new level of organisation to our weeks, we live in a rural location so every lift, trip has to include me now, my diary has been taken up a level to cope with all the planning.

Half term also brought pancake day and Valentines. I do say it every year but I do need a new pancake pan, the early ones were a bit of a disaster but they did improve over the evening with practice and despite the look were delicious. I am very much a traditionalist, sugar and lemon is the top topping. For a personal reason Mr S and I don’t really do Valentines as the date is a reminder of the saddest time of our lives, even after fifteen years the pain and grief cannot be hidden by soppy cards and flowers, I am always relieved when we get to February 15th. However, our daughter definitely celebrates it and has a rose bear, teddy bear and chocolates from her boyfriend proudly displayed in her bedroom. I did send Mr S a fun message that after months of searching in Aldi, I popped into one on Wednesday and found his favourite veggie battered sausages, that’s amore!

Despite all that’s been happening over the past few months, I felt I needed to get in control again this week and do something productive. Firstly I went and had my car properly valeted. My car was my mobile home when Mr S was seriously ill, I had supplies in case I got stranded on the long daily commutes, > 3 hours daily, an emergency bag in case I needed to stay over, crumbs from the snacking on the said long journeys. It feels so good to have a sparkling, clean car again. We also wanted to do some work on our son’s room. He’s had the same furniture since he was little, and it was looking a little worn so my big job this week was to make up a new chest of drawers and give the room a spring clean. Given the number of appointments we had I did this over a few days but I am chuffed with the result. I did the DIY all in the comfort of the lounge and happily watched the last episodes of the final series of The Marvellous Mrs Maisel. I have really enjoyed this series over the years and along with a great plotline, the costumes were such a highlight. I appreciated the flash forwards in this series so you could see the full careers of Midge and Susie and add together all the other little clues of the fate of characters which were left for fans.

Finally this week, I was shocked to hear of the death of the DJ, Steve Wright. It seems that Steve Wright in the afternoon has been there all my life. He was a real favourite of my mum and I remember her picking me up from school in her little blue and silver fiesta with Steve playing out on the radio. In recent years Serious Jockin was the start of the weekend for me and there was always something warm and reassuring about the programme. I think the things that stands out in all the tributes is his kindness and his absolute passion and devotion to his profession. I listened to Radio 2 on the evening of the announcement and the tears and broken voices from his colleagues only reflected what a special man he was.

I am writing this week’s post a day later this week as One Day, a new mini series on Netflix was so addictive I could not put it to one side to write. I loved the book and the series was one of those adaptations which really felt true to the spirit and essence of the book. Its setting 1988 – 2011, coincided with my growing up years and the soundtrack and cultural references were spot on. I loved not only the two main characters but the whole cast, and any scene with Tilly or Dex’s dad just made me smile. I knew the ending was coming but it didn’t make it any easier to watch and I still sobbed all through Episode 14. It is one of the best series I’ve watched in a long, long time, although I think Normal People still just pips it to the best adapted series. 

At the start of the week, I was able to finish the book Wintering. With all that is going on in life at present this was the perfect read, its tagline ‘the power of rest and retreat in difficult times’ helped me to reflect on what is happening and the hope of spring. I continue to live day by day and last week was particularly demanding and difficult but hope and promise are always there.

Life is all about little joys and when I was shopping with my class this week, I saw the Bonjour sign which I just loved. Its a painted wooden block and sits perfectly in my bureau and makes me smile every time I open my desk. I am a real Francophile and like to have a little bit of la vie francaise. I was also delighted with the Valentine’s tile my son made at school. It has paper decorations and some wire shapes too and will be a lovely feature of my Valentines display.

Finally, parkrun makes it to my top 5 list again. In fairness there have been some special runs recently and I’m coming up to a few achievements soon too, so it may be a reoccurring theme for a few more weeks. This week was the 100th parkrun of my home parkrun and a beautiful morning full of such warmth and joy among our community.

Life continues in a whirlwind of caring, working and holding the family together. Twice this week, when I have sat down in the evening for a cup of tea, I have fallen asleep on the sofa. I never do this but it is pretty much a sign of how exhausted I am. A quick power nap and its been back to my jobs.

This week my reading and one of my film choices have all had a common theme of grief and loss. Considering what we’ve been through over the past couple of months, I can’t help but think there is something there to be analysed. Good Grief and A Pocketful of Happiness came highly and deservedly recommended. I also read A Year of Magical Thinking on the same theme but found it less deserving of its rave reviews. A Pocketful of Happiness, is the most beautiful love story and packed with delicious, witty titbits of the entertainment world. Grant’s zest and enthusiasm for life makes this an uplifting and joyful story and the reader in total awe of his marriage. I listened to the audio story which is narrated by Grant himself and I feel its the only way to read the story, his voice is so melodic and adds so much more to the text. I could not stop listening to this book, on my commute, making packed lunches, in bed, it really is outstanding. By coincidence, Grant also appears in the must watch film, Saltburn which we streamed earlier tonight. I really like Emerald Fennell’s work and this film was as shocking as expected but also brilliant fun with a wonderful soundtrack, never again will I be able to hear Murder on the Dancefloor without thinking of ‘that’ scene. Good Grief was another uplifting film and the scenes in Paris brought back many happy memories of my year in France and a desire to return soon. Whilst we are very much home based at present, there will be a time for trips and adventures again and I’m already noting ideas, ready for when the time comes. With all this reading, my new stripy blanket is my best Christmas present, as I cosily cuddle up on the sofa.

This morning, I was at parkrun, the 99th running of our home parkrun , 99 is a thing in parkrun world, the ‘flake’ so yes there was a chocolate treat as we all finished. I felt much better running today after two + long weeks, my cold and cough finally seem to be disappearing.

Its another busy week next week, is there any other type of week at present? As Mr S is unable to, I am taking our son to football tomorrow, which will take much of the day and then next week is full of meetings and appointments, I am so looking forward to breaking up for half term on Friday afternoon. 

It feels like this week has been sponsored by Boots the chemist . I’ve a heavy cold and have been highly dosed up each day on throat lozenges and day / night flu remedies. I did do parkrun today, not one of my best ideas as my cold really did affect my running. However as I’m on my run-in to my 100th I’m trying to get there as quickly as possible and didn’t want to miss the run. I was hoping I could sweat the cold out!

With a cold and life as it is, there was lots of time for reading in the evenings. I loved and sped through ‘After I Do’ by Taylor Jenkins Reid. The story of a couple who take a break for a year to try and rescue their relationship. I was so invested in this story and felt the ending was true to the characters.

As well as reading, I’ve had time to potter in the evenings. My parents were able to go home on Wednesday afternoon and as Mr S is in bed by early evening, he sleeps lots as part of his recovery, I’ve had a little me time. I finished off my 24for24 list and added it to a Padlet so I can drop in a picture or comment as I complete each one. I have my first ticked off, clean my pier plaque and am working on others too. I like a mix of quick wins of things I’ve been meaning to do, little projects and more long term goals.

It was a wonderful surprise to receive some beautiful flowers from my uncle this week as a little thinking of you gesture. I was so happy to see him last year after he had been so ill and his generosity and kindness was most appreciated this week.

Finally my 5th thing of the week was a new bag. I’m always on the quest for the perfect bag and had been looking at this one for a few months online. I had liked it in bright pink but when I saw the duck egg was half price I opted for this. I love it so much, I’m using it as a work bag as it fits in my small laptop perfectly but am also toying with the idea of a different colour for non school days too. It’s a vegan leather product and has my initials embossed on it too.

As the new year begins, I decided to try and revamp my weekly recaps which I have done for nearly a decade in different guises. I’m choosing to focus on five things each week, but we’ll see how the idea develops in the coming weeks.

This week has continued to be focused on my husband’s recovery. It is now nearly six weeks since his ABI, but I’ve definitely seen real signs of improvement this week and some of the medical equipment has been able to be removed from our bedroom. I spent Saturday afternoon, tidying up the medical cupboard, returning the blood pressure monitor, thermometer and oxygen monitor. Its little things like this which really mean that things are moving in the right direction. He also left the house for the first time and walked a few steps along the pavement ably supported by me and with his stick, but gosh those few steps felt like a very big deal. 

As Mr S health improves it makes us a little more optimistic for the future and notably for our big holiday in August. It was planned as a post GCSE celebration but now has more meaning and I’m so pleased when we booked it we went for a big ‘blow the budget’ holiday. With all that has passed over the past few months we really need that special celebration. Fortunately, my annual pay rise has covered the extra expense and we are excited for the summer.

Obviously there is nothing on my calendar apart from medical appointments at present and when I finally sit down each evening it is with a book. I really enjoyed the short story anthology by Lily King ‘Five Tuesdays in Winter’ It was a real mix of stories but all different and entertaining. My book count is pretty impressive so far this year, already ahead of target on my Good Reads book total!

I love to fill my house with flowers and I have been very privileged to receive some beautiful blooms from family and friends in the last few weeks. I have also received two floral gifts from my son, who as part of the taster courses at the local college has done two weeks of floristry. I don’t think its his chosen career path and he’s looking forward to moving on to catering next week, but I appreciated his efforts.

I finally got my favourite winter fruit this week, lychees. I always try to have a bowl at Christmas but the season seems a little later this year and its taken to mid January to find them in the shops. They are my little juicy bites of sunshine in these winter days.