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