A tribute to Leigh

 A dear family friend died two weeks ago.  Possibly the biggest influence on my life outside of family.  He was my Godmother's husband- so to me, a Godfather.  I am so glad I got to see him before he died and glad I saw him earlier in the year before he became ill but wishing I had seen him more.

Leigh, you have been such an important part of my life.

Always there, not always saying anything but always there. Smiling, caring, acknowledging.

Every Christmas, there you were.

Your home, was a place of welcome, a place of joy for all.

Your Mum, I will always remember, the grand matriarch with her pale tea.

Your epic Record and CD collection- you were the ultimate music listener- I used to stare in awe at your shelves.

Your musical knowledge was more than anyone I knew.

Those vast tall speakers, like tower blocks which met with an unfortunate incident involving the Time Warp, a tuba player and Georgia’s feet!

My chilled recorder lessons on a Saturday morning. The calmest teacher I ever had. We worked our way through recorder pieces, tried to comprehend Hans Martin Linde’s Music for a Bird. We fretted over the time I told the Chief Examiner of the Country for the Associated Board  in my Grade 8 that she had missed out a part of my Aural exam! The time I told you about the lovely examiner I had for Grade 6 recorder who had asked me so many nice questions about myself and you insisted it was the window cleaner!

Those hilarious games at Christmas- Party Edition Pictionary. Your ‘intriguing’ drawings.

The Christmas lights, hung around your fireplace that placed a whole stream of perfectly untuned melodies! Silent night was the best! That lovely tuneful swoop lower in pitch on the 4^th note!

Dependable in the Brentwood orchestra, you played every note perfectly, it was not the same once you went, you were the perfect 1^st oboe. I loved getting a lift with you and chatting in the car.

I remembered my early teen inclusion in the Redbridge Concert Band- over at Beal school. You gave me the chance to meet and play with many other musicians, the University of East London band. I went to Germany on tour and had all those opportunities because of you.

I will always remember those late night drives home in your landrover, dormobile, estate car and other cars including the one I am SURE had not only one back seat but a second layer of seats! Is that my imagination????  Always passing the MUSTDESTROY.COM building near the Barking flyover and laughing about it!

You and Georgina were an inseparable joy in my life.

Georgina, the life and soul of the party-quietly loved and supported by you, always seemingly proud and amused at the wit and vivacity of your wonderful wife.

You were the most multitalented instrumentalist I knew- the man who could turn his hand to any instrument, had a myriad instruments hidden in the loft, under the stairs or behind the sofa. You were my inspiration to be that multi-talented multifaceted instrumentalist and have a house full of instruments. I used to gleefully tell people that you played every instrument!  One of your saxophones was silver- the only person I knew with one like this!

That soft Welsh lilt, those animated eyes as you told of an amazing musical memory, you always had a story for any I could put to you.

Say the word ‘Carob’ to me and I instantly think of you!!! Your allergies meaning you had to avoid the treats most of us loved! But Carob raisins were a treat for you.

Oh Leigh, you have always been there and I am sorry that I have not seen you so much in recent years but you have always been much loved and much admired and I hope that we do you justice at your funeral.  You will ALWAYS be at the heart of my most happy memories and I thank you for your love, support and friendship! xx

 

https://www.hcoweb.co.uk/people/players/leigh-thomas/

https://www.hcoweb.co.uk/2024/10/13/leigh-thomas/

https://www.brentwoodphil.org.uk/profiles/players/leigh-thomas

https://www.abgs.org.uk/culturalactivities/GlamChoir/Orch_Jul20_1965/Orch_Jul20_1965_p4trans.html

 

A piano recital

 On Friday night, two weeks ago, my friend Lara and her husband came over for dinner.  CBC and I cooked salmon with diced rosemary roasted potatoes and greens with tomato, mozzarella and basil for starter and tiramisu for dessert.   We played a board game and had a lovely natter. It was really lovely to spend time with them.

Earlier in the day, Lara came to my school to tune the pianos and very kindly agreed to give a short recital to the children with compering by me (with notes provided by Lara)

It was such a great programme so I thought I'd share it here (not us playing sadly, but the pieces themselves).

I hope you enjoy the concert!

She started with a piece by Victorian composer, Cuthbert Harris, Introduction and Fugato which sounded really impressive and exciting, showing the full range of the piano and its dynamic range (e.g. how loud it can really be played). 

Once she'd played this, I introduced her and explained that she loved the piano so much that, not only was she a professional pianist but also a piano technician who fixes and tunes piano.

Next, I told the children they would be hearing a tune from a Disney film and I asked them to guess which one. Do you recognise it?

It was You've got a friend in Me from Toy Story.

They excitedly guessed correctly!

Next piece was Alfredo Casella's Carillon.  I explained that a Carillon is a set of bells that play a melody or various melodies and they are found in church and castle towers. I asked I asked the children whether the pitch of the music was mainly higher, medium or low?

The next piece was by Friedrich Bergmuller L'Orage- The Storm! I looked panicked and warned that a storm was on the way!  It was very exciting and dramatic

Afterwards, I asked the children to describe to me whether the pitch was high, medium or low.

I asked who likes horses?  I explained that horses can trot, canter or gallop and asked if they could hear the clip clop of the hooves and which tempo the horse was moving at as she then played Galop by Casella.

At this point, I joined Lara on my flute and introduced Cecilia MacDowell's Hornpipe from Six Pastiches. A Hornpipe is a dance for sailors.  I asked the older children if the time signature was three beats in a bar, which has a swaying feeling, or  two beats in a bar, which has a marching feeling. Which do you think?

Finally, we concluded with the Jazz Waltz from Suite Antique by John Rutter.  John Rutter, known best for his beautiful Christmas anthems and other beautiful choral pieces, wrote a charming suite of pieces for flute and piano or Strings and Harpsichord.  I loved these pieces as a teenager and one day, would love to perform the entire suite with the string orchestra (like CBC got his pupils to do last year, lucky things!) .

For the older children, I asked them whether the structure was 

Binary (two main contrasting sections)

or Ternary (three contrasting sections where the first and last sections are similar or the same/.

Finally, as I had been teaching the year 4 children about the harpsichord and piano and how they are different and similar, Lara took the front of the piano off so they could see the strings, the hammers and the action! There was a lot of excited gasps.

The whole thing was around 15-20minutes long and staff and pupils seemed very appreciative so I was really grateful that Lara was able to offer them such a clever and well-thought out programme

Just a label?

 I had a really nice surprise today!

There's a younger work colleague, who I've recently become closer to. She was really kind to me last year when I was suffering from 2 years of no room and at the end of the year, she included me in team celebrations, let me leave things in her room, constantly let me walk through her classroom with instruments, listened in sympathy.  She was still quite reserved when it came to talking about things as I know she doesn't trust lots of people and is very professional at keeping things to herself.  I sent her a card telling her how much I appreciated her friendship at the end of the year.  This academic year, we've been sounding boards for each other a few times and there has felt a genuine warmth  and trust there which I've been grateful for.

Unexpectedly, this morning, when I did my usual cut through her room, she said she had something for me.  When I came back, she said she saw it and had to buy it for me! I was so touched.  I asked if I could open it on Christmas day to which she acquiesced.

When I got back to my room, I looked at the labels.

What a lovely label and the back was so thoughtful. She knows I am very much hot on the eco thing!

What a thoughtful message, one which gave me a lovely cosy shine throughout the remainder of the day! I'm grateful for her friendship!

xx

TARDIS Tuesday - Sarah Jane Smith from The Hand of Fear

This week, for TARDIS Tuesday, I am going with a Classic Who look again and it's the FIRST time for this outfit!  It comes from iconic companion, Sarah Jane Smith from her final Classic Who episode- The Hand of Fear.  Let's look at the inspiration:

Images borrowed from:
https://theultimateguidetothefashionofdoctorwho.wordpress.com/2017/10/25/sarah-jane-smith-the-hand-of-fear/

Elisabeth Sladen wore:

Red and white striped dungarees with side ties, red piping and 3 stars.

Red long-sleeved top

Red sneakers with white shoe laces

Red and white striped socks.

Before I go onto my outfit, I read this article with explains why this outfit was adopted! Did YOU know about the vicious, biting ladybirds???

Sarah Jane's iconic "Andy Pandy" dungarees in "The Hand of Fear" — a style of dress adopted by women in Summer 1976 as a result of a freak heatwave and an invasion of vicious, biting ladybirds, requiring breezy but full-body coverage (really. In particular, note the drawstrings around Sarah's ankles, keeping the trouser legs sealed from insects that would have been able to get up bell-bottoms). The heat, the ladybirds and the fashion trend were all swept away by a sudden downpour of rain that swamped Britain just as the first episode of "The Masque of Mandragora", the story immediately preceding "The Hand of Fear", was being broadcast on television.

 

Source: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/FashionDissonance  

And here is my version:

Firstly, I have the wonderful Ang Almond to thank for this outfit, as mentioned in my previous post.  She, her imagination, adaptability and sewing skills plus her wonderful, whizzy embroidery machine, are responsible for this outfit.  She talks about how she adapted these in her post at the link above- do show your appreciation by visiting her post!

I found a red and white striped lightweight jumpsuit on Vinted. It was originally £3 when I looked but by the time I'd gone to buy it, it had been reduced twice to £2 plus £2.89 postage.  It originally had wide legs, no piping and skinny tie-top straps.  Ang repositioned the shoulder ties to the sides and used some incredibly well-matching binding to make new straps with buckles.  She then added the piping and used her whizzy embroidery machine to make the stars and then hand-sewed them on as well as adding elastic to the ankles. I am truly astounded by how amazing they are!  She also sent me detailed instructions via Whatsapp of how to adjust the straps as I wasn't sure how!

I realised that I don't have a long-sleeved, red cotton top to wear underneath it but what I DID have was a red jumper I first used for a Yaz Khan outfit that I could wear underneath.  Love a bit of a cosplay reuse!  In terms of the shoes and stripy socks, again, I realised that I could use a couple of Clara items.  I had a pair of high-top cut out trainers from New Look that I used for her Oswin outfit and the socks that go with those.  They're not super accurate but I am not bothered!

I decided to try and make an alternative, Summer-version from what I had too so I wore a red Clement Ribiero pointelle sweater instead which also works!

Had a go at recreating the picture above.

Oooh, I almost forgot, in the duo picture, I am holding a labradorite pendant in place of Eldrad's ring which is part of the plot in the story. "Eldrad must live!"

I am really so excited to have these dungarees. I didn't think this would be an outfit I'd ever be able to recreate and these will be perfect to wear at my Music Camp too- practical for camp yet chic and light! Last Summer, in tribute to the organiser of music camp, who died last year, loads of people wore dungarees for a photo. Loads of people own them but were asked to bring some to wear, if they had any, as he always used to wear dungarees around camp! Green or claret ones usually!

I hope all is well with you!

Are you a fan of dungarees? Do you own any? Have you ever worn any? What are yours like?

This is my 2nd pair as I bought lilac linen ones last Summer but apart from that, I haven't worn them since I was about 6. I had a pink corduroy pair and I got told off in Infant assembly at school for an honest mistake, so I've associated dungarees for most of my life, with getting told off!

x

16 Happy Things

It's been a while since I did one of the posts where I list things that have made me happy. There have been numerous things in the last week or so and I thought it would be nice to list them! 

1.  The Genius of Ang Almond:  I count myself as so lucky to have so many friends through this blog community we have here. I value each and everyone of you.  Ang is someone I am lucky enough to be in touch with outside of the blog and she has been so generous over the years to be an enthusiastic help in some of my cosplay adventures.  In the past, I have sent her cosplay projects which she has done a marvellous job of.  However, I sent her a couple of cosplay projects based Classic who characters which she absolutely surpassed all expectations with her sheer genius and dedication!  The parcel arrived back last week and I am astounded, humbled and grateful for her efforts.  Look forward to seeing this, and another project at some point soon!

2.  Wordle.  Since last Summer when CBC's family went on holiday to the South of France, I have been in a Wordle Whatsapp group with his siblings and mum (he's not in it!). I LOVE the daily interactions with them over it and over friendly, but definite competitiveness over it.  We had the most hilarious interaction last week over the word ENNUI which was the word on 5th June.

Here follows the conversation in the chat.

J1 and I had completed it in 3 guesses.  T had completed it in 4. J2 had not completed it at all.

T:The word I convinced myself it must be turned out to not even be a valid word

J1: Well, when I got 4 different yellow in the first two guesses, I just went for a wild stab at the maddet word it could have been.  They seem to swing from tricky niche words to really easy ones, but with multiple different possibilities....

T: This one seemed like a tricky niche word but it turned out to be very boring.

J: [Laughing face emoji]

J2: I'm stuck.  can't think of any boring words (or tricky niche words) that fit.

T: Maybe it's both [head exploding emoji]

Me: Yawn! You lot need to find something better to do with your time.

T: Oh Kezzie, you sound weary and dissatisfied!

Me: Whatever PEASANT!!!

J1: Why don't people sort out their boredom by just brushing up their French? Just to fill in the time!

T:  Or play some games to allevaite the boredom? Perhaps on Wii?

Me: yes, my preferred games console [Grinning and laughing emojis]  J2 hates us right now, if she could summon up the effort to feel that intense an emotion.

J2: [Intense Crying emoji]

Me: Fun fact: I know a song that includes this word! [Grinning face]

Soon after

J2: ENNUI!!!! [aghast emoji and WHAT? emoji] I've never heard of that b*** word!

J1: Clues: French: boredom: On Wii.  (very clever T)

J2: I wouldn't even know how it is pronounced!!! [Angry and crying emojis]

J1: Brush up your French!

J2: My French never advanced beyond 'le chat est sur la table'

J1: You're a disgrace to your clan!

J2: Or 'ou est la piscine'?

T: CLUESSS? In here????!

T: [Insert Carry on meme saying 'I'M SHOCKED! SHOCKED I TELL YOU!"

J2: Stupid b**** word.  Looking forward to it going back to TABLE!

J1:  Ah, but then you get the other sort-sometimes more trouble... table, fable, sable, cable, label.  FAIL!

Me: Where are your squares J?

J2: I didn't post them because I couldn't think of a valid answer so I cheated and googled it.

Me: I knew Ennui as it is in a song in one of my favourite childhood movies, The Slipper and the Rose!

J2: It wasn't in the Argos catalogue. [Sad face]

The whole thing was utterly hilarious!!!!

3.  Happy thing no.3 leads from that.... yesterday, I GOT WORDLE IN 1!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Never thought that day would happen! To be fair, glancing at my MiL's squares did help me to make my first choice of word. Never did I expect it to be right though!!!!

4.  I left my waterbottle at my Gamelan rehearsal on Thursday. This is a lovely 750ml stainless steel bottle that I won in an Insta competition a few years ago. I really am fond of it and have taken good care of it. They cost £20 new. I was so sad as I'd left it on the floor in a seating area outside the Gamelan room and it was likely that a) it would just get chucked away or b) someone would pinch it. I realised as I was on the way home so I speculatively emailed the university, guessing a generic email address and enquired if someone was able to look for it and put it in the gamelan room, not really expecting a response  to be positive.  I received the following last night after school:

Hi K,,

Sadly I don’t have a key to access the Gamelan room, but if you look to the left directly below the tap in point you’ll see it tucked away there.

Best wishes,

David

Thank you to whoever David is!!! I will hopefully find it next Thursday!

5.  Gamelan:  Ah, it has been a delight going back to it these past 2 weeks.  We have been learning a new piece called Tabuh Aras Arum (Fragrant Forest) from a wonderful teacher called Pak Dewa who is here with his lovely wife and daughter for a few months.  His style of teaching is really helpful and his pace is great.  It has been super satisfying to learn a new piece. It's not too hard but it is interesting and I was able to to do some 'working out' of the Sangsi part (everyone learns Polos first- this is the ON BEAT part... Sangsi then slots in between this) which was satisfying. It is from an older type of Gamelan called Semar Pegulingan which I LOVE and so has taken me back to my time in Bali when I learnt this.  This week, we revised it (I forgot most of it but then got it!) and then revised a dance piece called Margapati which I THINK I had learnt about 17 years ago but I'm not sure. It was so satisying to revise it and again, I was able to work out the sangsi and remember it!

6.  My Peri cosplay:

This week, I wore this outfit for TARDIS Tuesday and in my Insta post ,I had mentioned the Actress, Nicola Bryant in my post as I had gained the idea of this adaptation of the cosplay from her.  To my utter delight, she came and looked at my post and left me a comment!!!! I couldn't believe it! It was so nice of her!

7.  Last Sunday, I attempted to make a pea hummus from the Anna Jones recipe book.  It uses peas, mint, basil, olive oil, lemon zest and lemon juice.  I had 105g of fresh peas (I think frozen are better now) and a small avocado- this made it up to 205g- the recipe called for 300g. I didn't have any Basil but I did have mint. I used all the the other ingredient plus poppy seeds.  Rather than faff with the blender, I tried the stick blender... Anna mentions you can use a handblender...are these the same thing??? It went everywhere so I then attempted to mash it with a potato masher and then a pestle and mortar.  It wasn't really working so in the, I had this pea, avocadoey stodge which I put in a box with a large quantity of grated carrot.  It has been a lovely fresh-tasting ingredient to eat with either bread or left over Naan this week for lunch...even if I have had some funny looks!

8. I cover Teacher PPA in tandem with S, our sports coach.  We've got to know each other better this year.  We are very different and didn't really have so much to do with each other in the past but we've been getting on well this year. He's a complete joker.  Yesterday, he mentioned how hot it was and I said, "You need to have a bucket of water chucked over you!" and he laughed and said, "Yes, maybe I'll turn the hose on later.  Later on, I was filling my temporary 1litre plastic water bottle (a reusable, I hasten to add...) and I remembered out conversation.  I knew he'd be tidying the sports room so I called to him.. he came into the playground towards me and as he came towards me, I lobbed the entire bottle of water at him!  He was stunned for about 2 seconds as I instantly ran away and then I heard him laughing raucously, the entire way I ran across the playground.  Haven't seen him since but I know it will have made him laugh a lot!

9.  In Choir, I have been teaching them, Me ol Bamboo from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang for a festival we are taking part in and they practised the routine I've taught them and it's starting to look really good!

10. In drumming club, I have 3  children this term who have a SEND statement (special need) and who usually all have 1:1 TAs.  It's really lovely having them in it and seeing them doing really well. They don't always join my clubs and it's nice that all 3 of them are there and able to do well without any additional support.

11.  It was my Year 1 final Spring lesson this week and it's one of those 'let's choose an instrument' and compose a class piece lessons which can be really chaotic- I've finally cracked how to teach this really well without it being stressful!  Success!

12.  I may be getting actually be getting my music room back in September if the builder complete the work on time and in addition, my Headteacher may be getting me an interactive whiteboard for it!

13.  I've been really enjoying the Kate Shackleton books by Frances Brodie. They've been on my shelves for ages but I am working my way through them. Death of an Avid reader, which I finished last night, is the best book so far!

14. I ordered a limited edition Hungry Caterpillar necklace (inspired by Eric Carle's famous book). It came on Wednesday and I AM IN LOVE!!!!

15. It was my Gamelan friend D's birthday on Wednesday. She paints her nails with Nail art and posts them every few days and she posted that she had painted them with Ladybirds just because she loves them. I was seeing her the next day for Gamelan and I realised that I had a tiny pair of Ladybird studs in my present stash so I thought I'd surprise her with them! When she saw them, she was so excited and surprised! It made made really happy!

16. I  will be seeing my family today for my sister and Dad's birthday!

Is there any particular thing making you happy this week?

An exciting Blogger meet up!

 I count myself as really lucky that I have been fortunate enough to meet up with quite a few of my blog friends in real life:

UK bloggers- Sophie and Hazel, who I've met a few times, Vix, Ellie, Melanie, Denise, Anna (technically international!), I even met Sharon on my way to work (I was crossing the road in front of her car and she stopped and called out to me!) 

American bloggers Lily and Lauren, who used to blog both studied in the UK for a short time so I got to meet them.

There are still lots of you that I would LOVE to meet but the one I most wanted to meet was Ang.  We've become friends in real life, Ang has been a kind and dear friend offering support to me through difficult times and a wonderful cosplay sewing darling, adapting various garments to me. If you don't read her blog, it is the most interesting, varied and educational blogs, as well as being full of heart.

Ang very recently suffered a loss when her cousin died and she went to help out her elderly auntie and nephew/cousin (help, I get confused with cousin relationships!).   

I asked Ang if she would like to meet up whilst she was with her auntie, as I was aware that she might want something nice to look forward to at a hard time, at the same time, not wanting to intrude or detract from the situation.

To my delight, she was really eager to meet up and then Tuesday night, we met!

We met up at the station.  I got late out of school because a parent was very late picking up their child from choir and then I had to move all the tables and chairs back  in the corridor as well as locate my coat and then hotfooted it to the station.  I was all hot as I lumbered down the stairs at the station at my destination to meet Ang.

It was SO exciting to meet her in real life and it felt entirely normal!  We had a massive hug and then headed to Costa to have a drink (and a sneaky After 8 Mint muffin!).

The hour and a half we had to chat before Costa closed was so lovely and went all too quickly. We chatted about lots of things and I felt so at ease and happy to finally meet my friend at last.  It was lovely to hear news about Auntie Peggy who I had met and to talk about lots of things in real life.

Ang very kindly bought me along 2 beautiful pairs of earrings, one funky coffee mugs and then the best, a pair of Cybermen earrings from Doctor Who which belonged to Gill, Ang's recently deceased, lovely cousin, who also liked Doctor Who.  They were a really touching, sweet and very apt present from Julian, to say thank you to me for when I visited Peggy. I was so touched and of course, instantly donned them!  I gave Ang a jacket I'd found her in a charity shop that I thought was very her as well as returning a book to her she'd lent me!

Handily, Ang was going to take on another cosplay project for me so I bought it along to pass onto her.  She's already completed it so I hope to share it with you soon!

Funnily enough, we were both wearing Breton stripes and Seasalt raincoats (sadly, I WASN'T wearing my matching one to hers!) 

I was smiling from ear to ear all evening as I returned home and only regret that it was under sad circumstances that we got to meet. Definitely, my November highlight!

Thank you Ang, for taking the time to meet me and braving the wilds of East London at night to meet up!

xx

A week of wonderful things

 It's been another one of those weeks where I don't do any proper blogging. I've been so tired.  Still not sleeping very well.

But, I've had a fantastic weekend!

It all started on Friday night when I came home from school.  It was the year 6 leavers prom but a different version from normal- it was in the playground and straight after school but the children all looked wonderful! I showed my face for 10 minutes and then headed home on the train.  I packed an overnight bag and CBC and I drove to a friend's (CBC's colleague from his previous school) house.  They live in a beautiful house with fantastic, large gardens in the countryside.  We had a barbecue on their veranda with the 5 of them.  It's been at least a year and a half since I last saw them and they are such kind, interesting people.  2 of them are professional gardeners, one a jewellery maker now and the other a retired model train maker (both the latter 2 have worked as DT teachers too!).   We had a lovely catch-up and then they headed off to bed.  We were staying in their new caravan which is parked down the drive which they have bought for guests to stay in! It was quite fun sleeping in it.

The next morning, I woke as soon as it was light, even though there was only a small chink of light through the curtain.  CBC went to the loo and then I saw a Munckjack deer staring through the chink at me!  We snoozed for a bit and then at around 8.30am, I got up.  I couldn't work out how to heat the hot water in the caravan shower so I shivered under a cold shower which unfortunately ran out of water before I had washed the soap suds off me!

I sneaked into their house and made a cup of tea and had a final walk around their paradisiacal garden in the early morning sun.  Sadly, they weren't up so we left without being able to say goodbye. 

 

Our next destination was Chelmsford where CBC dropped me off at one of the members of my flute trio/quartet's house.  We've been a trio for 2 years as we've never managed to coordinate a 4th player but happily this was the 1st time our fourth member could join us! 

It was SUCH a joy to play together! I do feel a bit underqualified though.  The other 3 members are an ex-headteacher, an ex-head of a county music service and a senior lecturer and deputy head of a teacher training course at a university/also deputy head!

We played through some wonderful flute quartets including my arrangement of Another Day of Sun from Lala Land AND my flute quartet written 20 years ago and the indirect reason I met my husband!

We had to finish around 12.30pm and I walked from the house via Moulsham street back to the station. I made a brief couple of stops into the Oriental supermarket, Lush (for shampoo bars) and 3 charity shops. The charity shops were BRILLIANT and I found some really nice bits. I wanted a new checked cotton dress as my one is too small and I'm giving it to my work colleague and the first shop had FOUR of them in a choice of shapes! Maybe I'll photograph my finds another day but I was super happy!

Finally, there was a vegetable stall in the market on the high street and I picked up the plastic free veg and salad I needed.

When I reached the station, it was a few minutes till the train.

Unfortunately, there were 2 trains within 5 minutes of each other on my platform and I only realised as we departed, that my stop was FIRST STOP LONDON! WRONG TRAIN!  I was dismayed as I knew I had to clean the house and prepare food for my expected  guests and I would not have time if I had to go all the way to London as I'd have to wait 30minutes for the next train back! Also, CBC was due to depart for Manchester (he has broken up from school already and was heading to a 40th birthday celebration/baptism combined onto Northumberland after) and I wouldn't get to say goodbye!

I was SO angry with myself and panicked about how on earth I would get back in time to do everything and confess to swearing at the situation and bursting into tears. It was going to be the first time I'd hosted my Godmother and family and my first time hosting alone for anyone other than one friend and the house was UTTER SQUALOUR! What would I do????

 Then, what I thought might be an answer to prayer occurred  and we stopped at Ingatestone station for no reason. I tried to press the Door button to get off but it wouldn't work.  We just sat there and I made a decision to take matters into my own hands thinking that if I made my way to the front of the train and we hadn't moved, there might be platform staff who might be able to do something.  I walked as quickly as I could with a trolley suitcase and 2 large bags of shopping and ended up at the front of the train (the driver had subsequently saying he had no idea why we had to stop there).  When I reached the front, there was no problem staff so I made a bold decision to try knocking on the driver's door.

To my amazement, he opened the door to me!  With floods of tears and a bright red face (well, that which was visible outside of my mask), I explained the situation and he said he couldn't open the doors as he'd get into trouble and the doors won't open at stations they are not supposed to.  I said I was really late and said it was torture that we'd ACTUALLY stopped, and he said he was really sorry but asked me to sit down and try to calm down if I could.

We departed a minute later and I snivelled in my seat. We then stopped outside a tunnel and I could hear him from a distance on the radio. A minute later, he made an announcement that the train would now stop at Shenfield and the doors would open for the passenger who needed to get off! He'd managed to get permission to make an unexpected stop!  I was SO thankful and utterly grateful, particularly as he was now behind schedule! I said thank you profusely at the window when they let me off. Honestly, I was SO grateful!

When I got home, after a hot walk from the station with lots of luggage, I was happy to find CBC still at home.  I was also grateful he'd cleaned up the mess and washing up on the workshop in the kitchen (which was his from Thursday night) - that was one job I was SO glad not to do.  I set to work immediately, tidying up the lounge, table, kitchen and hoovered all the floors.  I then began to prepare the food for my guests.

It was actually fairly easy to prepare as my Godmother's husband has a very limited diet as he has lots of allergies and I prepared various salads, corn cobs, boiled potatoes, as well as a pan of roasted chicken thighs.

Mum arrived at 5pm and helped me to pick and hull strawberries from the garden.

The 3 guests arrived at 5.30pm and settled very comfortably into the garden whilst I prepared the remaining dishes after serving drinks.

They were SUPER excited to be having a meal cooked for them and to be able to see our home at last and to be out socialising. L, my godmother's husband has so many allergies that he hasn't been able to have Covid vaccines for fear it might be an issue for him allergy-wise plus he has heart problems and so they've not been out much and they are usually at the opera and concerts (including ALL the proms) in normal times- plus they are musicians. L usually plays in one of my orchestras.

Their daughter M, is also a musician as well as a lecturer and a music workshop business owner so she's had a very difficult year with trying to teach her university course online.

L was thrilled with the selection of food, all of which he likes and can eat.

We all sat down outside to eat and it was scrummy.

We then ate Dessert, homegrown strawberries, raspberries and blueberries plus shop-bought Nectarines along with left-over cream that G had bought along which they had left over.

When I issued the invite to them a week ago, I'd invited them for dinner and board games.  These 3 people ARE my ideal Christmas. I have SO many happy memories of board games and meals eaten on Christmas eve, Christmas day eve, Boxing Day and any day after Christmas as we always spent them together and Christmas has never quite mean the same since we all moved away and that stopped. So I was keen to play Board Games with them and asked them to bring along my favourite game.

After dinner, we played a fun game called Mind the Gap and then, the one I've been longing for:

PARTY EDITION PICTIONARY!

We split into 2 teams- Over 70's versus Under 50's and laughed and screamed lots at the hilarity of it!

This was ROUND ONE and none of them guessed what it was.

The first one was my Mum's drawing, the second mine. Can you guess what the answer was. The category was food and drink.

What about this one?  It's a common phrase:

After that, we chatted about lots of things and laughed lots! Ah. I've MISSED them so much! Mum was SO glad she'd said Yes to coming along and being able to spend time with her best friend.

They departed around 9.45pm.  Mum and I chatted and then went up to bed after me trying on 2 of her vintage Laura Ashley dresses she'd bought over for me as well as my charity shop purchases.

OOh, I had to share this picture as my Mum brought me a recycled milk bottle vase full of beautiful home grown flowers! How wonderful.  The yellow roses were a gift on Thursday morning from my Year 6 flute-playing pupil who was auditioning for the Music School orchestra and I'd given him about 2 hours of support/lessons before and after school to help him out.

Typically, according to my irritating current sleeping habits, I woke at 6.15am. I tried to snooze and then got up around 8am. I peeped a look at Mum in the spare room who was still asleep and headed downstairs to work on the washing up from last night and make a pot of tea.

Mum must have smelt the tea as she appeared just as it was ready to pour. We drank a few cups whilst I did the washing up.

We both went and showered.  She had stayed last Saturday and the shower heater had been off as the heating had been fixed but not reset so we both had cold showers.  Luckily, this week, CBC had set the programme so we both had hot showers.

I made scrambled eggs with cream and chives (a recommendation from M last night that cream in scrambled eggs is delicious) and cooked tomatoes and basil on toast with orange juice and it was delicious! Mum was really happy to have had meals cooked for her on 2 consecutive days on 2 consecutive weekends.

It was boiling hot so we headed into the garden to do some watering and I managed to con her into pruning back my tomatoes and tying them up,  as well as the cucumbers, as they were a bit rampant. I, meanwhile, emptied school tea bags onto the raised bed and did the watering.  I also picked 5 long stalks of rhubarb.

Then, I went upstairs and changed into one of the Laura Ashley dresses and a charity shopped floral hat as I was heading to my friend M's Jane Austen-themed Bridal tea party.

Mum dropped me at the train station and I got the train towards London.

It was WONDERFUL!  The host had decorated her Mum's garden and house with Jane Austen decorations and quotes and even made a beautiful bonnet for the bride-to-be. She was so excited when she arrived! Everyone had made an excellent effort to dress up!

I won round 2 of Austen Bingo and we ate a wonderful afternoon tea in 3 courses! There were lots of games too!

It's hard to see but the host had MADE these massive fake boots with the bride and grooms names on!

I left around 6pm and managed to get a train home straight away. 

The walk home from the station was SOOOO hot and my face mask was saturated after 40mins wearing it on a sweaty train!

I headed into the shower when I got back and cooled down. I then sat on the sofa eating crisps, jelly babies and peas in the pod and finally went outside to water the garden.  It was so cool out there in the semi-dark.

My dinner was left over salad from last night and a corn on the cob plus herby potatoes.  I watched 3 days worth of Neighbours on Catchup whilst doing that!

I'd better head off to bed!

3 days left at school...

xx

CBC's birthday weekend and the previous week

 Ah, what a lovely weekend we have had!  I am going back to school tomorrow feeling really glad about it.

Last week, my first week back at school was actually fine.   You know I was worried about the shelves?  Well, although the level of the top shelf IS too high for the little children, because the shelves are double width, I have managed to fit most things on the shelves and it is working out ok so far.  I got very, very dusty last Monday getting everything put onto shelves, getting the cupboards sorted etc.  The return to school was fine.  I had my first choir and drumming club- with 17 children and 10 children, respectively, and both were enjoyable and the children seemed to be really pleased and have a good time.  The first orchestra since Christmas was good too and we began an arrangement of Korobeniki, the theme from the Tetris computer game. I WAS tired after the week though.

Friday night, CBC and I bought some Chinese takeaway for dinner which was delicious and a welcome treat after a tiring week.

Saturday morning, we got up at a reasonable hour, not hideously late but not early and I made CBC a brunch consisting of Pain Au chocolat (reduced to 38p for 4 from the Co-op), tea/coffee, juice and then crusty brown bread, scrambled egg with chives, salad leaves (rescued from the bin at school- it was on top and totally enclosed in plastic)  and Gravalax with honey and mustard sauce.  Whilst we ate that, we had a Zoom meeting with his mum, brother and sisters which was pleasant.

He then opened his presents. I bought him:

• Homemade cheeseboard box: rather than buying an overpackaged special box, I bought vintage Gouda, Brie De Meaux, Gorgonzola, Manchego Reserve Gruyere, Somerset Crunchy vintage Cheddar; Oat and Chive wheat biscuits, Rosemary Crackers, Beetroot and three seed oaty biscuits from Lidl and then packaged them in a recycled cardboard box with some straw from my birthday hamper.  As I have alluded to, CBC is a cheese fan and he was really pleased.
• 4 Cliff bars- these are energy bars for long distance cycling.
• Lidl special Ginger and Belgian chocolate wafer biscuits; Almond, dark chocolate and sea salt nut bars, Cadbury's Caramel nibbles.
• White Stuff navy blue linen Summer trousers (purchased last September in the 70% sale!) 
• 4 pairs of Seasalt Bamboo sailor socks (purchased in January with my 50% off teacher discount code) 
• I commissioned a lovely young artist called Emily White to do an A4 painting of a Robin, Blue Tit, Sparrow and Blackbird all sitting on Honeysuckle as CBC loves the birds in our garden and spends a lot of time watching them feeding and sitting on our honeysuckle.  It arrived on Saturday morning and it is so utterly beautiful.
• He was so pleased with all his presents.  He was also really pleased with the beautiful RSPB ceramic bird bath that my Mum bought him (which I saw in a catalogue at hers and suggested she buy for him)
  

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• After we'd hung some washing, we drove to a village called Stock to meet our friend N.  We then all got in his car (with masks and windows open) and drove to a village called Blackmore where we ate lunch at the tearoom.  Ah, it was so nice- we sat in the beautiful sunshine and ate our lunch.  I had a Hoisin Duck salad and a thick Chocolate Milkshake with cream and sprinkles.
• We then walked the stretch of the St Peter's Way from Blackmore to Stock which was around 14km  Ah, it was such a wonderfully interesting walk and really pleasant and easy.  We saw lots of lovely things, including going through a brilliant Victorian tunnel under the main Norfolk line railway which was really long and dark.

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•  We saw and heard lots of birds and even saw a Barn Owl!  We unexpectedly stopped at the  Red Lion in Margaretting for a cup of tea/pint for the other 2 plus a bag of crisps.  We reached the car back in Stock and then drove N to pick up his car in Stock.  We then drove home, via our much missed, beloved Thai restaurant in our old town of resistence to buy a sneaky takeaway before returning home to eat it.
• The next morning (today), CBC got up to cycle to the old town to meet another of his old housemates for a social cycle ride.  I also decided to get the train back to that same home town to attend church.  It was SO lovely to be back in person to church for the first time since last year! It was so nice briefly see people to say hi behind facemasks- and I really enjoyed the calm and peace and thought of the service.

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• After this, I called CBC who was having a cup of tea in his old housemate's garden and so I cycled up the hill a few miles to see them also.  We had a happy catch up in their garden whilst admiring their raised bed of vegetable and fruit plants and playing with their 3 year old. They also have a 4 week old who it was lovely to meet.  L, CBC's housemate's lovely wife was so pleased to see us and she said it made her weekend to see us.  They gave us delicious 'Breaded Vegetable Finger' sandwich.  CBC escorted me on his bike (me on mine) to the station and then he was planning to cycle the 15miles or so back to our house.  To my chagrin, the moment he'd cycled off, I found out the next train was cancelled so I had to wait 47 minutes for the next train.  I had a brief walk up the high street to look in a charity shop.  When I FINALLY got home, CBC was already back! Sigh. He's so quick!
• CBC and I had a pot of tea along with a M&S Belgian chocolate eclair (the best type!) and then we did a few garden jobs.  I then planted some Chard, Pak Choi and Bean seeds to germinate.   I'm pleased to report that the 2 sunflower seeds I planted aaaaaaaaaaaaaaages ago, have FINALLY germinated! I thought all was lost but they were just shy!
• We ate the left over Thai food for dinner alongside the remainder of my last batch of Nettle soup.

Ah, it's been SUCH a lovely weekend

I hope that it has been enjoyable for you too!

xx