Jeremy Clarkson

I am not into slating people, in fact I really hate offending people. Maybe that is why Jeremy Clarkson winds me up so much. Does he go out of his way to insult people? Does he wake up in the morning and think today I will have a pop at Bikers, Ambulance staff and the list goes on! Not only does he say insulting things on TV and in the newspaper he writes for but he goes as far as to suggest ways to "deal" with the "problem"... piano wire being one such solution for motor bikers. The man is a total idiot. Or is it just that I am a motor biker and I am an ambulance technician? I know that my job helps people, we save lives we deal with things that he would never have to deal with, life and death things, all ages, and all manner of nasties in between. My fellow Ambulance staff across the country have probably had to deal with the results of this dreadful man's ideas, both with the "piano wire" and because of some of the stupid self inflicted stunts he has pulled ... all in the name of TV! And whilst I am on the subject of Jeremy Clarkson, I wonder if he has ever spoken to some one who has been so desperate that they have commited suicide? I think not! Jeremy Clarkson you need to think before you open your mouth, if that is at all possible..... unless of course your life's ambition is to insult everyone at some point, in which case congratulations you must nearly have reached it!

Nativity part 4

In the hills and fields outside Bethlehem, shepherds looked after their sheep through the long night. As the new day began, suddenly an angel appeared before them and the glory of God shone around them. The shepherds were very, very scared, but the angel said, 'Don't be afraid. I have good news for you and everyone. Today in Bethlehem a Saviour has been born for you. You will find the baby lying in a manger.'.

Nativity part 3

In this poor place Mary gave birth to Jesus, the Son of God. In those days it was the custom to wrap newborn babies tightly in a long cloth called 'swaddling clothes'. Jesus' bed was the manger that the animals ate their hay from.

Nativity Part 2

At this time, the land where Mary and Joseph lived was part of the Roman Empire. The Roman Emperor Augustus wanted to have a list of all the people in the empire, to make sure they paid their taxes. He ordered everyone to return to the town where their families originally came from, and enter their names in a register (or census) there. Mary and Joseph travelled a long way (about 70 miles) from Nazareth to Bethlehem, because that is where Joseph's family came from. Most people walked but some lucky people had a donkey to help carry the goods needed for the journey. Joseph and Mary travelled very slowly because Mary's baby was due to be born soon.When they reached Bethlehem they had problems finding somewhere to stay. So many people had come to register their names in the census, that every house was full and every bed was taken in all of the Inns. The only shelter that they could was a stable or cave with the animals.

Nativity Part 1

Hmm.....

Four days to go

Potter fest.

Last night whilst my husband was on a night shift, I decided to wrap some presents. Mainly his and the girls (seeing as I was completely alone). Before I started wrapping I sorted out a glass of red wine, a mince pie and all the Harry Potter films we have (the first 5), I am not keen on wrapping presents probably because I'm not very good at it, so I have to try and make it as nice as I can. It didn't take long and I managed to watch the first two and a bit films, drink two glasses of wine and eat a mince pie also..... Same again tonight with the rest of the presents then.

Five days until Christmas

slip slidin' around

First thing this morning I went out for a ride with my friend, as it was so early the frost and ice was still everywhere including the roads. Half way round the short block that we ride round if we only have an hour, there is a slight incline, this we decided to ride up in the field as the ice was quite bad in this area, once we were up, we obviously had to come down again the other side.
The slope going down isn't nearly as bad normally but today it was and Mouse slipped with both her front feet together... how we didn't end up flat out I don't know but we didn't. It was quite scary, but the rest of the ride was quite uneventful and really nice in the frosty landscape.
Once back and having turned her out to graze for the day, I went to the museum to help with the shires, who were all wet and steaming as by this time it was raining, what a day.

6 days until Christmas

Butterfly

Well that's it, all the Christmas shopping including food and drink has been purchased and is either here or on its way. I ordered the meat today, a butterfly.... that is a totally de-boned turkey breast wrapped in bacon, its going to be huge, but there will be no waste.

All that needs to be done now is to wrap the presents, this for me is the worse part of the whole celebration.

The best part??? Well. . . . that I won't be able to do this year, as I will be working, and that is midnight mass. I love everything about it...... I will have to go to Mass on Christmas morning instead.

Nine days till Christmas

Ten days until Christmas

Northern Bird

Welcome back Northern Bird, I got your message telling me you were reading my blog again, quite a lot has happened to her since I last mentioned her in my blog, the most important of which is she got married to Badger how cool is that.

She invited me up to the wedding and reception and for a couple of days after I babysat her daughter whilst the newly weds had a short break together..... Then well we did Manchester, the eye the prison.... a bit of shopping, got chatted up by a load of famous footballers....its true!! we also went to Blackpool, up the tower in the dungeons and saw the lights.

Now I'm down south and she is up north, hopefully come February time she will be down here for some more adventures....

Miss you too Northern Bird xxx

Eleven you know what's till you know when

12 Days until Christmas

BEV DOOLITTLE

Whilst looking for a picture to put with my last posting I came across some of Bev Doolittle's art she is one of my favorite artists her work is so amazing, I have put a couple on here.

ENJOY

Windy Night...

Well, what a night last night!!

I went down to get Mouse in from the field at about seven pm the wind was already howling around and it was raining quite heavily, you would think they would be waiting to come in but no both Mouse and Gold were in the middle of the field having none of it. I had to go and fetch her, unheard of!, back at the gate she was spooking at everything, the wind was whistling through the chicken coops that she didn't like and when we were on the bridge something made her leap sideways so that she nearly leaped into the river, so glad my lead rope is ten feet long! finally I got her into her stable. Then went to help Golds owner bring her in.

At eleven thirty I heard a couple of tiles slipping on the roof, and suggested to my husband that I should move the car in case they came off and hit it but being snuggled up in my nice warm bed was too much, the howling wind and torrential down pours outside just added to the cosiness of my bed, the car took its chances alone in the storm and I might add survived perfectly.

On the road to the stables this morning though the debris was apparent, trees down and branches all over the place, so glad I wasn't on nights last night.

Today it's still windy and there are a lot of threatening clouds in the sky but it isn't anywhere near as bad as it was during the night. Why are storms so much worse at night?

Theatre

On Monday as I was doing my bit on Facebook, as you do... a friend put on her status "would anyone like two tickets to the theatre to see the Christmas concert tonight" I messaged her saying I would love to go and how much were the tickets, to cut a long story short I got the tickets which turned out to be three tickets and three of us went to the concert where the Royal Marines Band was playing together with the Cathedral choir and two of the local secondary schools choirs. It was a really lovely start to the season, especially as I haven't felt at all Christmassy. Well today at church after a miss communication I seem to have been left with two tickets for the lion the witch and the wardrobe next Saturday... it looks like another trip to the theatre is in order. Fantastic.

Once back from church I started off my Christmas shopping by doing a bit on line! That and the fact we put the tree and decorations up yesterday is making it all a bit more seasonal at last!

Thirteen days till Christmas

Sixteen days till Christmas

20 days to go ......

21 days until Christmas

What did I do wrong??

I probably shouldn't be writing this post, but as its anonymous what the heck I am going to. Today I was called by the police from an adjoining county telling me that my youngest daughter had been caught steeling! This sadly is the second time in two weeks and I am at my wits end to know what to do.

We have brought all the kids up to know right from wrong, but she just doesn't seem to care. She is clever and pretty and has everything going for her but just seems to be throwing everything away. We have tried grounding and every other deterrent but she doesn't care and won't comply. I don't know what I did or where I went wrong, I just want my daughter back.

Twenty two days until Christmas....

23 Days until Christmas

Farrier

Today the farrier came to the museum to shoe the three shires, they were caked in mud when we got them in from the field, yesterdays rain has made the gateway an absolute quagmire!

Having got them in and given each of them a hay net we started the heavy task of hosing the mud off their legs and grooming it all off the rest of them, strangely they all seem to like to roll in the mud!

As they all have long feathers (they are shires after all) we have to put tubigrip round their legs, A) to stop the hair catching fire and B) so the farrier can see what he is doing!

The youngster decided today that he would not pick his feet up no matter what we did, and its not easy picking a tonne of unwilling horse up. Eventually they were all ready and the farrier started the heavy task of shoeing. Assisted periodically by a chicken or our resident cockerel Sid.

When they had all been done we let them back into the field to graze.

El Camino de Santiago

I put this on my facebook a short while ago and someone informed me it sounded like a bottle of fine wine....

It is in fact The way of St James, this is a pilgrimage which can be started in many countries and goes across Spain to where it is traditionally believed the relics of St James are buried. This is a major Christian pilgrimage route and in July/August 2012 my husband and I are going to walk three hundred miles of it... or at least we hope to.

Traditionally the pilgrims who walk this route carry a scallop shell and a walking stick. Hostels allowing cheap accommodation for walkers are all along the route and each place has its own rubber stamp which the walkers get stamped on a passport which they also carry, this proves that they have walked "the way" and everybody who manages to complete the last 100km may receive a certificate. We are hoping to walk from Burgos to St Jacques de Compostelle 329.13 miles (400.92 km) Which is plenty for us! We have the dates booked as holiday with our employers and very shortly we will be buying the ferry tickets to Santander..... watch this space!

24 days until Christmas

The Choir

Two days ago my Husband and I watched the Military Wives Choir on iplayer!! Oh my goodness!! I managed to cry at all three episodes, what a moving programme. Those girls are awesome, everything they have to deal with, not sure I could stay sane knowing my husband was in a war zone. Glad he is no longer in the military (selfishly)

I hope the single goes to number one!

401

This, according to the dashboard is my 401st post on this blog. Hence the title.

I had intended to call it something else but I can't remember what, my memory is totally shot at the moment!
I could do with a holiday ha ha shame my bank statement doesn't agree!
Well, what can I say, My Husband is at work, Beth has gone away to stay with friends for a few days and Litlun is out...as usual. So I am again home alone.
Yesterday I was taken by some friends to Walsingham, it was a good day the weather held out until it was time to leave and the "boycotters" were let down as the procession was diverted so they couldn't shout abuse at us, which is what they apparently have done each year.
There were thousands of people there, but even so there were less than in previous years due to the mass exodus to Rome earlier in the year by many priests and their whole parishes.
I should write more on this but have lost the ability to think right now.

Routine

The Mouse is home! I was quite sorry to leave the yard where she was, as the people there were extremely knowledgeable and both Mouse and I benefited from it, still its good to be back at our own yard really, where I know where everything is and we have our routine again.
That is, at the moment the only thing that is still routine, I have been signed off for another two weeks, I am beginning to wonder just how much longer I will be able to manage with this ongoing stress.
I am also beginning to see who my true friends are, and am extremely grateful for them too, I hope that if my friends ever needed me I would be there for them as much as they are for me.
When I say that was the only thing still routine, my lovely husband who is obviously going through the same situation with our daughter, is still fab, and I love him. Sometimes I forget he is going through it too and I can be quite selfish.

Escape..

A little bright window, other than the weather that is, today I went and rode mouse in a bridle, traditional style for the first time. . . she was brilliant, and I loved it. An hour of escapism, before re entering the real world again.

spinning

For the past week I have been signed off sick, thanks in the most to my 14 year old daughter who sees fit to trample all over us, she comes in at gone midnight... on a school night and will not do anything at all that we ask. She lies to us and has tins of food in her room that we have not bought?? She is not getting any pocket money as her room is a tip and she is so rude! Where is this stuff coming from? To add insult to injury she expects us to do things for her, and if we do the good will is thrown straight back at us and if we wont, oh does she make us pay! I have another week signed off then its back to work. I don't know if I am coming or going at the moment, and am beginning to feel as if I am on a constant fair ground ride which is making my head spin but the operator wont let me off............. Where do we go from here?? Answers on a post card PLEASE!

Mouse trip!

Yesterday Mouse went away for two weeks.

A friend had broken her in for riding using the Pirelli/natural horsemanship methods, sadly I can not get the hang of it and the combination of green horse and novice "natural" rider doesn't work very well. Add to that the cost of ongoing lessons, just for daily hacking and its a recipe for financial as well as body disaster! To mention nothing of a very confused horse! So I decided to have her re broken in the way that I have been riding for 40ish years. One of the girls from the yard offered to take me in her horse box so we met at the yard and bundled all Mouses tack and a sweat rug into the box then added her! Then with the owner of the box Cilla, and another friend from the yard, Sarah we set off. On arrival at our destination we got out and one of the stable girls showed us where Mouse was to be stabled, Well!! Mouse and I both stopped dead in our tracks, the stable had to be bigger than my kitchen diner it was huge!, I was just about to tell the stable girl that when ever Mouse goes into her stable she will roll, when she did exactly that! Everybody thought she was beautiful, and such an unusual colour, I suppose I am biased as she is mine and as for the colour I guess I am used to it now. Having had a cup or tea, and met the yard people and funny furries (lamb who thinks its a human and a grumpy donkey as well as the horses) we set off back to our yard to tidy up and do Cilla and Sarah's ponies. What shall I do with myself, no stable work for two weeks!

Crash test dummy

I feel like a crash test dummy......

When you have kids you have a rosy picture in your head (and don't tell me you don't!) of happy mummy and daddy with bouncing baby on your knee and possibly a brother or sister for the fore mentioned baby, in due course all happy and smiling. . .

But, what happens when that picture doesn't quite look like that in real life, for instance the bouncing baby grows up and turns into a teenager that detests you and everything you have or stand for? What happens when they just go completely off the rails and don't care at all for you or your feelings, when they go out and stay out late and you have to get the police involved, when they do the opposite of what you say just "because"! when they are rude and hurtful and they upset you every day. They can't or won't see your point of view, after all you were never young!! And when anything you do to try and mediate gets thrown back in your face...... What happens? I'll tell you what happens, you cry, . . lots! But you won't get any help, none at all not from social services (yes it is that bad!) and in the end you will feel totally empty, totally. . . and will you come back out the other side.................................. I don't know!

Time to breath

Ahh my last shift of the set done and dusted, now I have some time off, not that it isn't busy.
sometimes I wish I didn't fill my diary so full... Take today for instance, I finished my shift at 06:30 and got home, managed to take my granddaughter to school and vote at the poling station come back home and get a couple of hours sleep before going down to the stables to wait for the vet to come and give Mouse her inoculations, then go home then go back to the school collect Flower, back to the stables for the farrier then home for some dinner before being able to relax properly, 1 down, 5 to go! Hmm, I wonder what tomorrow will bring?

:-(

Just a quick update, The Northern Bird did not win the competition. She made it into the finals but that's where it stopped. Sorry Hunni, I had everything crossed. xxx

Out of control

Father forgive me for I have sinned, it has been way too long since my last blog!
It has as you can see been over a month since my last blog. Things here are in a muddle, my youngest daughter is totally out of control (I blame the parents!) and she acts as if she hates us. We have tried to get help but where do you turn for help with things like this? I even tried social services, who have twice said they will send me a letter with some information sheets in and have twice NOT done so. I am getting close to the end of my tether, and when I reach it I'm sure I don't know what will happen. One or two of my friends know whats going on but to be honest its not the sort of thing you go round talking about! This sucks.
To add to this we are receiving constant text and phone calls from one of our friends ex partners, I have not replied or answered the phone so I have no idea whet they want but I have no wish to be drawn into a slanging match...My friends are my friends I will always be on their side (unless they do the dirty on me, at which point they no longer qualify as friends!)
On the plus side, My husband will be ordained priest this June, we also have a three day event with the Army to go to, this is to see for our selves if this is the path we want to take once my husband has finished his curacy. He is seriously thinking of becoming an Army Chaplain, personally I think he would be perfectly suited to the job, what with his past military experience and the things he does now, it'll be me who will have to get a grip with the military way.... still can't be any worse than the Ambulance service!
Amen.

A year in one night!

Tonight my Husband will go to work aged 47 years, when he gets home in the morning he will be 48 years old! Its the start of the silly season in our house, tomorrow its his Birthday then on Saturday its Beth's, then on the 7th its our youngest sons then our Daughter in laws (I think I missed a few!! But you get the picture.

Down with this sort of thing

We have a new Grandson, his name is Jack. He is one month and two days old, and today we travelled to London to see him, our son and daughter in law before they fly out to Spain at the end of the month.
Unfortunately London was in chaos today as there was a "peaceful" rally/march going on there were somewhere in the region of 250,000 people. To be fair most of them were peaceful but as usual there were a minority who went there just to cause trouble, and they certainly managed that all dressed in black with balaclavas to hide their identity.
On the way back several of the underground stations were closed or having trouble, one of them had apparently been seriously paint balled and that was causing an almost complete stand still.
I have never seen so many mobile detention vans. and just as a point of interest not one of the ones I saw was from London they were all from other counties.

Spring Forward...

Oh the joy!!! An hour less sleep tonight! Don't forget to change the clocks tonight.

Stay awake.

When we do a night shift, my crew mates and I do a six hour stint at attending then swap over and do six hours of driving. Or vice verse of course.
Last night Tepic drove first and I attended, we were sent all over the place, mainly jobs but one or two cover moves, at half past midnight it was all change and my turn to drive, well for the two nights before this shift my husband was on nights, (hate it when our shifts collide and we see nothing of each other for a few days), anyway when ever he is on nights I don't sleep very well taking this into consideration together with the fact that our days were very busy I was absolutely exhausted and by three thirty the road had become not much more than a blurry haze in front of me, and I could feel sleep pulling my eyelids shut. No good! on our way to the cover point I pulled in at the first garage to get a can of Red bull, well they had an offer on which was too good to miss so I got two cans and decanted them into my empty water bottle. . . once at the cover point, then again after the next job I drank my way through 500mls of Red bull!! Yes!! it worked the road was a road again and I was wide awake and quite able to finish my shift in the knowledge that I wasn't going to crash the ambulance.
We finished on time and I drove home. Once there I began to feel fidgety and anxious it was a really uncomfortable feeling. I then remembered the same thing had happened when I had a can before, a long time ago whilst doing my EMT training. It took until about 1130-1200 before I started to feel normal again, I don't think Red bull agrees with me!

Aaaahhhhhh........................