Celebration

We as a family went out for a celebration meal last evening and had a wonderful time. We don't do these get togethers often enough in our family now that we are scattered.   Today our son has gone off to Las Vegas with a group of friends for yet another celebration - hope he remembers he's supposed to work for a living when he arrives back at Heathrow next week.                                                                                                                                                                 

Autumn

This is the time of year when our lovely country changes it's clothes and it becomes even more beautiful, even in the cities the trees light up the streets with orange long before the street lights switch on.   Out in the parks or the countryside is the place to be of course clutching camera and flask of coffee.  

A good day.

We woke up to autumnal mist today but it soon gave way to glorious sunshine and reasonably good temperatures - Oooh! I hope it lasts.
We have a celebration day tomorrow, our son flies in from Dublin to join us for a meal in town in the evening with the rest of the family.    Today I heard that my sister in law was free from cancer cells after 6 months of chemotherapy and my friend in Australia became a grandmother to baby Hugo -  so celebrations all round.

A Day in London

Went to London yesterday by coach and it was a nightmare.  The coach dropped us at the V and A we where we found an exhibition of the Grace Kelly years - sadly it was booked up with just one ticket available for the next tour.   Not problem we decided to do the Raphael exhibition instead which was free but when we actually reached the entrance we were told we still needed tickets which were available in the entrace hall.- no hope of my husband doing the return journey so we did our own short tour which was very interesting.  Eventually we decided to join the fight for refreshments - very expensive and not that good.
Took the touring bus in the afternoon but the rain forced us all undercover and we eventually alighted in a packed Trafalgar square.   My sandal broke and I was unable to walk easily so we tried to find a taxi,impossible!  so waited half an hour for a bus which took more than an hour to get back across to the V and A and made us late for the coach home.   How stressful the journey across London became as we wondered whether they would wait for us or whether we would have to take out a mortgage and find a train to return to Bristol.   Hey, Ho, they waited bless them but we had to run the gauntlet of the full coach apologising profusely as we found our seats.   Another visit.....not for quite a time.

Shut up...please.

I am sick of Richard Dawkins, Peter Tatchell, Stephen Fry and other 'free thinkers' telling me their
opinions at great length and too often.   I am free too, to believe whatever I want to.
'Heart speaks to heart' - indeed it does but they and their friends could never speak to my heart.
This has been a good day, the sun is shining, I went for a long swim first thing, followed it with coffee and cake and then retired to the chair with the Saturday Telegraph - looking forward to fish and chips for supper!
Off to London tomorrow to the V and A - exciting.

Outer Space

On a day when your ego's in bloom it's always good  to look at pictures of outer space.   'Astro Wheels'
on Twitter has the most outstanding shots taken from the space station.

Helping hands

I am proud to belong to the only country in the world who has not reneged on Gift Aid despite aggressive recession.   The only way to heal the world and our own families is to help each other.

Schools today

Went to look at senior schools yesterday with my grandaughter - it was exhausting but I was very impressed
with the children selected to be our guides, they were smart, friendly and knowledgeable, a credit to their school.
We hear so much in this country about low standards in schools so I was shocked and amazed by the amount of  resources they had.   I mused for the rest of the day on how on earth I was educated without all that back up
equipment way back when even our paper was rationed. 
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