Swedish Afternoon

 We were on a roll this morning...two washes done, Blood Orange marmalade done (tasty!!) , clothes and sheets ready for ironing....sun and stiff breeze meant that didn't take long!!

Pirate went to have bloods taken at the surgery here....and on returning, decided that we were going out.....to a certain Swedish Shop!!

It was a lovely day to be out, but I'm glad we were in the car as that breeze was cold.

First a good (and very reasonably priced) lunch, then to slowly make our way around the shop...following the arrows as that makes life easier!

We had hoped for a quiet Monday shop.... unfortunately it appears to be half term...cue a lot of grannies with grandkids....so we missed one thing we were looking for.

I gathered a few things in my big yellow bag....plate shelves to stand plates on on the kitchen bench instead of one stack of plates and bowls....a loo brush and holder, a mattress protector...Pirate took a shine to a large wooden spoon x spatula, a pair of roller blinds for my study....and then Pirate realised that what he wanted, a mattress topper, was upstairs....

Off he went... bravely as he Does Not Like Shops....back up the stairs...only to find that what he wanted was downstairs on the warehouse shelves....and he had difficulty finding his way back down.....one rather stressed Pirate later, we found the beast, an assistant got us a trolley and shopping was Done...and he felt Done In !!

Then the joys of rush hour traffic...and a roll home, seeing the crescent new moon in front of us, and thinking that without the clouds, the sky would be surprisingly light.

The topper feels good... hopefully it will give us better sleep.

The old mattress is still good after 25 years...it was apparently very expensive then...even if you take out time spent in NZ it must have done 18 years work. It shows that a good bed and mattress is worth the investment, but we looked at the price of a new one and gulped!!

He has had an early night tonight, unsurprisingly.  Pirate is still doing what he can, but Charlie is pulling him down..he has worries about the op, but hopefully it will relieve symptoms even though it won't remove the problem.

Most people are understanding and do what they can to help...but a couple of his relations are being rather callous, almost accusing him of " crying wolf"...as he has been here before with prostate cancer..."here we go again"....but it is serious, it is terminal...people he cares for too. So unfair.

At least I have a quiet time to unwind after the day, blog a little, read others, do my Duolingo lesson... especially as I missed this morning!!

Night all xx

Cats (and a dog)

Racing over, Pirate has gone to see his daughter for a couple of days. I stayed with the Carpenter and family last night..three hour's drive in the dark and wet was not inviting!
This morning...

I'm allowed.honest!!
Then I was Tango-ed...

Leaving after the rush hour seemed a good idea..but I still got delayed by lorries..but not too bad as they rolled at a reasonable speed..and three hours later arrived for lunch at Daughter's new (to them) home. Re-acquaintance proceeded with her cat

Who was thinking that she needed attention, not the keyboard.
Of course after three days inside a hot velodrome, now the outside calls..it's cold and wet!!

our wedding

 "Woodchip" my granddaughter..sheeps!!

 our young piper

 busy kitchen at the Black Bull in Straiton,Ayrshire,where we were married in the garden..the first actual wedding there.

 piping in

 Wilma,our registrar..when the Pirate was using the Ayrshire Cancer Support Transport to get to his Radiation therapy appointments,her husband was on them too,but didn't survive a brain tumour..but he always talked about the Pirate and enjoyed his company

We added the old Celtic tradition of Handfasting,using a gold ribbon as we had no cord..and the knot that ends up in the ribbon represents the knot we have tied

 done it!

 signed it

 our best men...The Carpenter,my youngest and Woodchip's dad...and Pirate's nephew, The Joiner !

 Rogues Gallery...five 80+ riders, and the Pirate...80 next year

 Hannah and Fred..good to have another potters' family there!

and the Carpenter's stepson..looks the spit of him at that age!

 for Mrs Boxes and Bellows..

 cake! complete with pave (cobbles) and riders and Llongyfarchiadau/Congratulations on the banner..made by son in law...

 Pirate's shelf of memorabilia

 and mine,including a photo of me riding a 2 up time trial with my dad

 cards

 the Saltire given to the Pirate after the Manchester Commonwealth Games, now signed by the 2018 Scottish track cycling team at the Brisbane Commonwealth Games

 the banner says it all...

and this is Arthur Goodall, absent friend.

Pirate's clubmate in the 60s, tandem partner, best man at his first wedding.
Since we've been together we've been visiting Kent a few times a year, and seeing Arthur. He had been seeing more of his cycling cronies too,for tea and gossip. He was well pleased to see Pirate happy and that I'd let him go to Australia for a month.

He died  while Pirate was in Brisbane and the call arrived on the phone we got in New Zealand a few years ago,as the uk phone locked him out.

On his return here, he unlocked the phone..two days before he died, Arthur left a message on it..."Hi,I'm still in the land of the living.Hope you're having a lovely time in Australia"

Thirty riders had a nine mile ride together in the morning, and after the ceremony and the food, about a dozen of us did Straight Line Sprints on the grass at the Recreation ground.

Then back to the pub where we were married, for supper from the cafe over the road... veggie curry and mostly veggie nibbles and some gluten free for our coeliac friends, and talking well past 11pm!!

Friends and rellies stayed for a long weekend and it was a change to be a tourist for a bit!.

We've been tidying up the house, sorting who gave us what..when taped on cards fell off...moral,write on the paper!!

We asked for no presents,just health and happiness.  We've had some lovely useful gifts, plus a LOT of cash..which as helped towards the cost of the pub...the bill was a lot more than we'd thought...and shop vouchers..which will help ease the bank balance after all the expense!!

Then after the high of the weekend..and three days of beautiful weather..we're back to cold wet and reality.

Next step, a Rixon family annual get together in North London and a Possee Party for those of the Pirate's family in Kent who couldn't come.

the end of Winter

This weekend we're having (hopefully) the last fling of Winter- yesterday we had a heavy (as in you think you're standing under the tap) shower for an hour or so.

This morning it was back down to 3 degrees C and although the sun is out again there is a half cloudy sky and the breeze is decidedly chilly.

Talking of weather and harvests I learnt that last year's apple harvest was bad here too-a little consolation to UK apple growers that they are not alone in this, but still not good news worldwide.

It is interesting to see how expensive fresh local/NZ grown food is- until you realize that no, it isn't expensive, the UK has just got used to cheap food over the past 65 years or so.

The house today is full of children, the two here, their cousins and friends.
All are charging round on bikes and scooters,  bare feet and jandrells ( flip-flop sandals) abound.   A trailer full of calves is to be collected from near here today and taken back to cousins' farm.

Bare feet or jandrells are in order for all ages here..and shorts! 

I will have photos from the past month on here soon....when I borrow a cable!!