Checking in

 A busy old start to the week with work! Worked my normal Sunday, had the Monday off for the Queen's funeral, then worked Tuesday and the Wednesday extra! First Yoga on Wednesday evening, not stretched all summer and boy did I feel it on Thursday morning!! So on Thursday, day off and my first opportunity in a very long time, I headed off to the woods, on my own, with my camera and just ambled.

I LOVE the woods, they're my happy place. 

I could spend hours there, just breathing in the still, quiet, peaceful, calm surroundings.

I haven't taken any proper camera photo's for a long time. 

And so happy my first fungi find of the season was this classic.

If you look, you can find!!

I also got to enjoy a lovely long overdue night out, a beer, food and catch up with my lovely friend. We used to meet weekly for coffee but as the years have gone on, it seems much harder to find the time to get together and just enjoy a few hours chatting.

Caught up with jobs on Friday morning, then escaped for an hour in the afternoon, 

went out for another walk, just up the road......

......making the most of the good weather, while it lasts!

The sunflowers are still looking good!

Now Sophie has finally started her job and she could arrange some holiday leave, she and I have booked a mini Italian adventure for her Birthday in November. We're off to Milan! We owe her a European Adventure 'somewhere' for her belated 21st gift. Covid obviously stopped travel for her 21st birthday year and she didn't feel happy travelling last year, so Milan it is, this November!

Today though we headed up to Cardiff. Jeff had an Exeat weekend and a rare Saturday off, so we went up to Cardiff for the day. A chance for him to see Sophie's flat.....

.....and a chance for us to get a guided tour of Sam's student house.

He was very tired and very grumpy, having been out clubbing all night and only getting in at 6:00am!!!! Once he'd eaten, he slightly improved but we let him head back to his house to sleep and went back to Sophie's for a coffee, before heading home.

Hoping he has a good year and he actually knuckles down and does some work this year!

Anyway, it was lovely to see them both happy and settled and ready to start off on their new, very different adventures. 

I should be on holiday tomorrow, enjoying our rare weekend off together but they are very short staffed and I felt bad for my friend, so offered to swap my holiday for another time and work the Sunday. Am regretting my decision now, as it would be lovely to be at home tomorrow. SIGH!!! Too late now, will set the alarm for 6:45am and power on through. It can't be as bad as last week. We were soooooo busy because we were closed on the Monday, was like Christmas. This is when working a weekend is hard! Still, have just two days to do, my actual contracted hours, then 5 days off with nothing planned, other than clean and tidy the house!! 

Have a good week x

Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth's Funeral

RIP

A busy, busy, busy week!!

WOW ! What a busy old week.

Worked Sunday and Monday and celebrated 5 years at Sainsbury's. 

Was supposed to stay 6 months, decide what I was going to do and just like that, we're 5 years on!

Up early on Tuesday, was gifted this beautiful sunrise....

....ready for removals at 8:00am....

....and within 20 minutes we were all packed up and ready to go!

I must say, the 3 removal men were fabulous, worth every penny. 

What would have taken Sophie and I all day, was done and dusted withing 20 minutes. 

51 stairs with each load.......

.....and she was in!!!

We worked through the day unpacking, went to Ikea for a few bits and tea!! Spent the night on a mattress on the floor, exhausted!! Then on Wednesday we received the Ikea delivery, Sainsbury's food delivery and got the all important WiFi connection!! So the rest of the day was spent in Ikea flat pack hell!!

But we got the bed frame put together...

....and the sofa which came in four parts!

And then there was the kitchen table, coffee table, desk, TV unit...

Sam arrived on Thursday to collect his bike, I left them to it, about to head off and do a food shop

 and I drove the Corsa home!

Where I then collapsed on the sofa, absolutely exhausted!!

I spent Friday washing! Stripped all there beds and did five loads of washing!

Very satisfying! I'm wanting to give the house a really good clean, going to tackle a room a day once I get a few free days together. Yesterday I was getting my hair coloured and cut and today (Saturday) I've done more washing, been and done a food shop and am off out later to meet up with my sister in Bath, for food and an evening with Davina McCall, discussing all things Menopause!!

I'm working on Sunday, now have Monday off for the Queen's funeral, then back in on Tuesday for plinth change and overtime on Wednesday to cover holiday. Am meeting a friend on Thursday evening, for a long overdue catch up and am hoping to squeeze in a walk in the woods with my camera if I can find the time. Jeff has an Exeat weekend, finishing school Friday lunchtime and enjoying a rare Saturday off. So we're heading up to.....

....Cardiff to check in on the pair of them. 

Take up anything that's been forgotten and bring back anything that's not wanted.

And leave them to it!!

Of course they know they can come home at any time and I can pop up easily but after a summer at home, it's now time for them to get on with it all. Sophie should be starting work on Monday officially but due to the Queen's funeral, her first day will now be Tuesday. Sam still has another week to go but his house mates are drifting up this week and he has to get his course change sorted, so he can have a relaxed week getting himself organised. They're in Ikea together this morning, Sam needed a desk chair and I'm glad they've got each other should they need it. The're about an hours walk away, 20 mins on Sam's bike and about the same in Sophie's car. Near enough if they need something but far enough away to not be in each others space! I for one am happy they're both up in Cardiff, makes it so much easier for me to see them both at the same time x

She got the keys!!!!! And the Queen died!

A very busy, emotional week! 

On the one hand great excitement as Sophie got the keys to her new flat....

....and on the other, such sadness at the death of our Queen.

A very odd week!!

I worked my normal Sunday, Monday and finally had a Tuesday off! I stopped working a Tuesday a while ago but with meetings and plinth changes and overtime, I've hardly ever actually had the day off. The weather wasn't great, in fact minutes after taking this photo, the heavens opened and a torrential downpour ensued but I enjoyed a few hours having a mooch around Wells.

Wednesday was also forecast showers but I decided to go to Bath. I haven't been in over 3 months and just fancied a little retail therapy. Although I didn't buy anything......

....other than the most delicious cinnamon bun!!

The window displays were autumnal with.......

..... a sprinkling of Christmas for good measure!

On Thursday I walked with Lynn.

We parked up at Middlewick and walked around the Tor.

Thankfully we dodged the showers....

.....in fact it was actually quite warm.

We had coffee in the new cafe!

It was Thursday evening that news broke that the Queen had died peacefully

 at her home in Balmoral.

Such an incredible dutiful lady, with 7 decades of service given to our Country.

This image of her at the funeral of her husband Prince Philip still makes me feel so sad.

"A woman deep in grief for her husband of seven decades, a woman who almost certainly could have used her position and had her family around her, yet chose that day to sit alone, like so many others had to do who lost loved ones during the pandemic.

She understood. She knew that countless families had never had the chance to say a proper goodbye to their loved ones, she recognised the sacrifices they had made for the greater good and led by example.

On that day, as our Queen, it felt like she really was one of us."

This was the last photo of her, taken just two days before her death, meeting the new Prime Minister. I think that is why her death felt so sudden, she looked well, albeit small, old, frail, well she was 96 but she also looked very much alive, certainly not days away from death.

Her son Prince Charles is now King Charles the III

Our new King, whose birthday is the 14th of November, the same day as mine!! 

I joked he should declare his birthday a Bank Holiday, wouldn't that be good!?!

Sophie and I saw the Queen in Wells during her Golden Jubilee celebrations in May 2002. I was pregnant with Sam at the time, so he was unknowingly there and Sophie was just 2. As a child I saw her a few times, as we lived in Romsey, the home of Lord Mountbatton and near Winchester. She has just been that constant, a figure of stability and she will be missed. 

So we are in a period of mourning, the TV is constant news but life goes on......

.... and on Friday Sophie and I headed up to Cardiff to collect the keys to her new home! 

She's living on her own, in a rented flat. Fab position on the top floor, with a good commute to the office, right near the train and a bus to get into the city center. She has a Morrisons, M&S Food and Lidl within walking distance and I think she'll be brilliant. She's ready for independent, working, adult life!! And I now have a place to stay over in Cardiff!!!

We headed home, accompanied by a fabulous sunset, a busy but productive day! I'd built a flat pack wardrobe, Sophie cleaned, we got our bearings.  I have to work first on Sunday and Monday, then have removals 'proper' booked in for Tuesday.

Sophie is supposed to start work on the 19th but the Queens funeral has just been announced to take place on that Monday. I'm working, it's been declared a Bank Holiday, will be interesting to see how things pan out. I'll be honest, I'd like to watch the funeral in 'real time' rather than on catch up later in the day. Would be honourable if supermarkets etc closed for a couple of hours for the funeral but I think that'll be highly unlikely, will just have to wait and see. It'll only take one supermarket to close and maybe others will follow!

So an emotional week just gone and a busy week ahead!

Work for me, then up to Cardiff for 3 days to settle Sophie in, then home to a nearly empty house. Sam is moving his stuff up on Thursday and then driving me and the car home. He'll then head back to Cardiff under his own steam ready for the new Uni year and the start of his new course and life in a student house! I'm meeting my sister on the Saturday, then a 4 day stint at work before a day all to myself!! More likely than not, I'll spend the day cleaning the house, stripping beds, washing....... or go to my happy place, the woods and spend an hour or two with my camera soaking up the calm, still, peaceful surroundings xx

Have a good week x