Lazy summer days ..

H has gone to London for a course that started at 11.00 a.m so I had to drop him at the station for the 6.45 train.  It was a stunning early morning and I came back and spent some time in the garden before it got hot - a drop in the ocean compared to what needs doing I'm afraid.  After I'd had breakfast, tidied up a bit and even did the ironing, I went to the DIY place for paint - M's old room is being painted next week - stopped for coffee and a snack in Ledbury, and dealt with some overdue correspondence.  Which means I am at last in front of the computer with time to blog! (Brief pause as I suddenly remember I haven't paid H's credit card bill as specifically requested before he left -oops).  The weather's gone rather sultry now so I'm glad I gardened early.

It seems ages since Marion and I went to Winchester, but there hasn't been a moment to blog about it.   It's an area I know rather well as we've lived in and around Salisbury and in Hampshire several times whilst H was teaching, but Marion hadn't been except to the coast. We had lovely weather on the Wednesday morning and made good time, even though we stopped in Marlborough for coffee.
We stopped next at Mottisfont Abbey.
                                            
                                                  

It was the pefect time for the spectacular rose garden and the scent was wonderful.  We spent a happy couple of hours pottering about, eating lunch and even eating ice cream before heading off to Winchester, where I'd booked a hotel right by the Cathedral that H and I had used before.

Once we'd sorted out a room, we went out into the town for coffee and the walked around to the Great Hall  to look at the Round Table and back through the back lanes to the house where Jane Austen died

It was very quiet here so we stopped to sit on a wall and rest our feet until a bevy of tourists arrived, then we followed the paths down to the water meadows and back up into the town centre.  Feeling rather warm and weary, we elected to eat in the hotel bar which meant we had a clear view of the Cathedral.  We were the only people in the bar so we had a pleasant, inexpensive meal with a great view and no noise.  

The next morning we went into the Cathedral early.  It's now £7.50 to get in though you can return for free.  I'm always in two minds about Cathedral entry charges: I know the upkeep cost are colossal but it never feels quite right to have to pay.  It varies across the country with some charging, some not charging but hoping for donations, and some set up with a charging desk who say it's not compulsory.  When we lived in Salisbury, and had cause to go into the Cathedral frequently, I usually didn't pay every time but made a donation. In Worcester, H contributes lots of time and effort and financially  (in the form of printing a newsletter at his expense) to the musical endeavours, so, whilst I always add to the collection after a service or recital, I don't make a donation every visit - especially as we frequently go through the Cathedral to get to daughter's house which is next to the gate. (Progress here can be slow as grand-daughter always has to stop to admire the carved lions at the bottom of the stairs to the nave pulpit).   Anyway, we paid to enter Winchester and wandered round in the early morning shafts of sun coming through the windows so that Marion could see Jane Austen's memorial which I always find rather touching.

I hope this is just about readable. More information, on this and the other memorials in the Cathedral here

After we'd had coffee, and found Marion a dress for a posh occasion, in Debenhams, we checked out of the hotel and came home via lunch in Oxford.   H had a friend to stay while I was away so he was well occupied and we all felt we'd had a good change of scene if not a rest.

After another hectic couple of weeks with lots of babysitting and H rushing back and forth to various musical pursuits, I managed last week to go to Essex to see my sister-in-law and finalize my brother's estate.  Again I had lovely weather and managed to fit in a visit to a school friend - who kindly delayed the start of her holiday so we could have coffee and a catch-up (only 40+ years so it didn't take long really). I hope she and her husband will visit us sometime, though like us they have grandchildren and elderly parents to take their time.

My step nieces and nephews were again very kind and I had a lovely afternoon admiring one's horses and dogs, followed by a wonderful roast dinner at another's.  My sister-in-law has taken a voluntary job in a local charity shop, and is coping well.  I was amazed at how much the little Essex town I spent my teenage years in had both changed and stayed the same.  Stanstead (only 4 miles away) has obviously had a big effect and it seems brighter and cleaner with lots of coffee shops and restaurants, but there are still some shops I recognise from childhood - we moved there when I was 9yrs old - and I was amused to buy a toy for Miss F in the shop where I used to spend my pocket money, and see the family jeweller, whose daughter was my best friend in primary school, is totally in the 21st century when it comes to current stock (and current prices).  Sister-in-law took me for a trip around the local villages and many houses I remembered as near wrecks are now converted (some replastered with the local pargetting and rethatched) and probably worth many hundred's of thousands.  It's a very pretty area - not to be confused with the Essex of outer London but bordering Suffolk, Cambridgeshire and Hertfordshire.  The road systems are so much better than I remembered so I expect it's a favoured commuter area but it still has a sleepy feel once you're off the main routes.  Sister-in-law lives in a group of houses which face a large green and it's very peaceful even though the farm land behind has all gone to housing.

So, now we're into another kind of busy.  Daughter is gearing up for the end of term in her job and H is going quite frantic preparing for the St Swithun's festival next week - details here 
Anyone who would like to join in will be very welcome - it's not often you can hear someone reading in Anglo-Saxon, various musical concerts and recitals and  see an art exhibition all in the same week.  By the end, H will either be elated, or dead on his feet.  I'm just concerned with getting things to the right place, making sure he eats and fitting in the usual babysitting.  On Saturday we're going to an annual lunch for a local organ association then rushing to Tenbury Wells where H is playing in a concert of local amateur organists - not something he would normally get inolved in but he couldn't say no.  If we all survive till Sunday, I'll tell you all about it.  I'm making noises about us both going away for my birthday at the end of the month - we shall see!

Hope it's cool enough downstairs to try some knitting later - need to keep myself awake until I fetch H from the station.  Still have things to blog about from when we went to Norwich!  It's Art in Action next week which I think I'll have to miss this year and wondering if I can make the Festival of Quilts in August......

Still here

Thank you to everyone of you who have emailed to ask if I'm alright - yes, I am but everything has been a bit manic.  I can't actually say that any one thing has happened to take all my time, though this person takes a lot of it:-

Isn't it lovely to be not quite two and have your first bucket and spade? Especially when your other grandparents are sensible enough to actually live at the seaside.

  

H and I went to Norwich for three days in May (holiday, you ask? No, we took the Virginals (see this post) to be regulated by its maker)  Actually, we loved Norwich and wished we'd had more time there, especially as it's a trek of a journey from here.

 Lovely to find independent shops like this department store - great teacakes in the cafe!


H's field of study is the medieval period and he specialized in the Medieval Mystics as part of his first degree, so it was a treat to go to the church (sadly flattened in WW2 by bombing, but now rebuilt) where Julian of Norwich was an anchorite.  I'll try and find time to write a longer post on her, and some of the lovely musical things we found in the cathedral soon. This is just a pop-in to say I haven't disappeared.  On Weds I'm off to Winchester for two days with a friend. Hopefully, the weather will be tolerable and we can sit around drinking coffee and watch the world go by which is just what we both need.

To quote the best know line from Julian's writing 'All shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of things shall be well'  It gets on some people's nerves I know but it would be nice to believe it might be true. Take care all.

MARCH

It's been a rather sad time here as my beloved brother died on March 23rd.  He had recently been diagnosed with a terminal illness, and I can only feel relieved that an infection cropped up and took him very quickly, so sparing him from months of intrusive and unpleasant treatment.  I wasn't with him when he died - the motorway system defeated me - but it is a tribute to his gentle kindness that, as well as his wife, of course, all five of his step-children and their partners were there for him. Having only known his ready-made family as teenagers, I was impressed by their concern and the way they immediately enveloped me and made me feel cared for.  I said to my sister-in-law what nice people they had become, and she said my brother had been a large part of that - he having taken on a family of five aged between 4 and 18 whose own father had died very suddenly. I don't think anyone could have a better memorial.  I wrote about my own relationship with him here.

ooo-ooo

H wanted to go to Cirencester on Saturday last for a morning recital and it was the first chance in the month that we could go out together.   The town was packed and when we wandered around after the concert we found that lots of people were wearing 'rabbit's ears' .  We then realised by seeing banners hanging above the roads that this was the Cirencester March Hare festival.

When we went back on Monday for another concert in the church (part of the same series on Italian music) we were surprised to meet these chaps - one inside the church and one in the porch.

After the concert we stopped for lunch and this fellow was sitting in the pub porch as we went out!

He certainly cheered us up - though a  lovely concert and a very good lunch helped too!

There are 23 hares dotted around the town (each sponsored by a different organisation) and a trail to follow to find them.  They're each 5 foot high and very appealing!  If you want to see them, the festival runs all through the summer until 14th September.  For anyone who doesn't know the area, Cirencester is a lovely market town with many Cotswold stone buildings.  The church is particularly nice both inside and out, and there are independent shops and places to eat.  A great place for a holiday visit, or day out.

We finished the day with a quick stop at the church in Compton Abdale where H's great, great grandparents were married and his great grandfather christened.  We'd been before and it's always icy cold and incredibly quiet, but it has an atmosphere of peace.

It's a lovely village too. 

Tomorrow I'm having lunch with a friend, then back to Essex next week.  Hope this rather nicer weather keeps up.  Hope to show you the new bathroom soon but work has been delayed .......

Photos of Cirencester are from Wikipedia and the Compton Abdale ones from St Oswald's church site.

February

I've never like February much, it's the month of endless bills and appointments.  This year it's been really busy and life has been made more complicated by flooding - not here on the hills, of course, but all the ways to the other places one might want to go, colds and other minor ailments, and, more pleasantly, the builder suddenly appearing to start the work we want done on the house. We now have a nicely tiled hall - so much easier to keep clean after pram wheels or the influx of 10 members of the U3A.

When M died we said we would refit her old bathroom - scene of many a battle and covered in holes where hand rails had fitted - especially because the shower has leaked onto the hall ceiling.  After the builder had done the hall,  he  estimated about 3 weeks to a month until he could start.  I'd found fixtures and fittings but not ordered  as I was waiting to get H's opinion and he's also been rather busy and beset by the problems of changing computer.   Last week I thought I'd got lots of time to do some more on M's estate paperwork, have coffee with a couple of friends - both met through blogging, and start ordering bathrooms. On the face of it there was only just one day of babysitting.  Of course, plans like that are fated, and although I did get to meet up with both friends, everything else was put on hold whilst I raced up to rural Essex to see my brother who hasn't been well.  On my return, Grandpa having manfully had a babysitting morning on his own, I was met with the news that the bathroom is happening next week, leaving me 10 days to order everything and arrange a skip! February was coming to a rather hectic end

So, now we're in March. Everything is now on order and fingers crossed it'll all arrive as promised.  Compromise came into play - couldn't get the bath we wanted with a hinged, not fixed screen and finding a basin to fit the existing tailor-made unit was a big headache.  We've gone plain white for the wall tiles as we couldn't agree on a colour but the room is very dark and that will look clean and bright.  It will be lovely to have two bathrooms again and as the bedroom isn't in use it should all be quite non-invasive - unlike the hall where we were marooned either in the kitchen or the sittingroom.  Having to stay in all week for deliveries means I might get a good go at the paperwork and that would be one less thing hanging over us.

Meanwhile, thank goodness for drier weather and some sun - Judith and I sat outside in her garden on Saturday morning and my trip to Essex and back was pleasanter for dry roads.  Waiting now for daughter to come and collect her cat who's been here on 'holiday' while they went to in-laws, so nothing will get done once Grand-daughter arrives.  Grandpa has gone to 'blow' an organ for a famous organist so he'll come back exhausted.

Taking advantage of H's absence, I was inspired to change the loose covers on the sofas and armchair in the sitting room.  I hate doing it, it's such a battle, especially the armchair.  I'm pleased to have my nice pale blue covers back and the pink ones are revolving in the washing machine.  I hope they will shrink a little as they'd gone a bit saggy.  I'm now working up the energy to change sheets and disembowel a cupboard that needs to be emptied to access the plumbing for the new bathroom.

 I fear when the new tiles arrive (hopefully later today) they won't be put straight into the garage but left on a pallet at the kerb and will all have to be moved.  This new clause in so many delivery terms stating that delivery men may not enter premises because of  insurance regulations is a new one to me.  The large fragile items have been ordered as 'two men white glove service' (which brings visions of country house footmen) and they should deliver to the room of our choice and unpack and check the condition of everything - an extra cost of course.

Hopefully, by the time I get to do another post, the bathroom will be in progress.  I'm off to scavenge in the fridge for some lunch - shopping has been a bit haphazard the last week or so, but there are always eggs...

EDIT :  I have maligned the poor tile delivery men!   They came on time and put all the tiles in the garage.  'We don't take any notice of the daft insurance nonsense ' they said.   Horrah for common say I.

Lists and mysteries

January has passed in a flurry of lists - things-to-do, things to buy, people to contact, things to dispose of, things to have valued. In fact, January seemed to go on much too long and I'm glad February has come at last - might we now get rid of the wet weather and flooding worries?

Ebay has come up trumps - we have now got stairs without a stairlift, a completely empty room where an adjustable bed once sat, and H has said good-bye to a pair of chairs and replaced them with a rather smart chesterfield club chair in his study - self-interest here, if his study is more inviting he might actually use it instead of having piles of books on every surface in the sitting-room.  Floor tiles have been bought for the hall and hopefully a builder will come and put them down in a week or so, and we might have come to some agreement about re-fitting the bathroom that was M's and sorting out the shower that leaks intermittently onto the hall ceiling.


Everything to do with Probate seems to be circular - you fill in a form and they send you another form and you fill in all the same info again (they being banks, building societies, HMRC etc)  Valuations seem to take forever and again require lots of pointless information, most of which can't be provided - who knows what the purchase price of something bought in 1941 might have been and is it really a great deal of help to know when it will stand no relation to today's prices?
 Then there are the little mysteries - whose is the gold signet ring found in M's jewellery box?  H is certain his father never possessed one, but thinks it might have been his uncle's.  And the biggest mystery of all; who wrote the novel obviously typed by M and kept in typescript but equally obviously not written by her. The corrections are in a totally different hand (not that M would have brooked corrections in anything she'd written), the style so far from anything M might have conceived, and the characters exist in a world that M would have had no knowledge of.  Apart from the fact that it's called 'Play the Echo' must have been typed before electric typewriters on flimsy typing paper but is held together with plastic treasury tags, and is set in the twenties and thirties, and was more probably written by a woman, there's nothing to say who might have written it.

Miss F is walking and has acquired her first shoes - bright cerise pink with pink gingham bows, size 2G. She is very pleased with them.  She can actually say quite a lot of words including Grandpa, but prefers to point and nod and make approving or disapproving mms.  Talking is obviously unnecessary when everyone completely understands what one means, and I completely understand what's being said.

Hiding is great fun, especially when everyone pretends they don't know where you are!
We've seen rather a lot of her lately as Mummy has been very busy and there have been car problems as well so it's been easier to spend time at Granny and Grandpa's. In consequence, Granny and Grandpa have been kept busy too!

So, now we're in February and hoping to have some more exciting days which don't involve endless pouring over lists and spending time on the phone or the computer but more time out and about.  I don't think we're going to solve any of the mysteries though, there's no one left to ask.

Just been listening to the radio adaptation of Barchester Towers (Radio Four).  I don't think it will surpass the excellent television adaptation of the 1980's starring Nigel Hawthorn, Alan Rickman and Donald Pleasance and an excellent supporting cast - well worth tracking down on DVD.  We still have a VHS version which is just about watchable.  H is a Trollope fan so it's had very frequent use - we'll have to upgrade before it falls apart or fades away!

Hope you all had a good start to the year.

Out with the old

It's been a strange year.  There have been happy moments and a few when we almost despaired when we couldn't see any light at the end of the tunnel.  Now we start a new year with all the usual hopes and a few worries - and still a lot of sorting out to do with M's affairs. 
Slowly things are happening - a buyer found for the stairlift, responses from various organisations which will allow us to start the long process of winding things up, and starting to feel that we might go forward.  It's hard to change your life overnight, however much one longs to, and we had been living a restricted life for five long years - almost like becoming institutionalised.  We haven't yet got used to being able to walk freely through the door, lock it behind us, and come back when we please.
Grand-daughter has changed from a small baby at the beginning of the year to a walking, sort of talking toddler who gives us a lot of pleasure and we have more time for her and our friends and family. 
The blog should really be renamed, there isn't a Me any longer.  Watch this space, who knows what we might do now - though at present getting up late, eating when we feel like it and going to bed late or early are life's greatest small pleasure.
Happy New Year to you all, I hope we all have a New Year full of happiness.

Phew, sorted.

There I was all ready to ping my accounts to the Taxman when I went to look up something on our solicitor's site and WHAM my computer was frozen by this ghastly thing -

 

 

Advanced Police Central E-Crime Unit Virus

Police Central E-Crime Unit virus belongs to ransomware whose first version was detected in May, 2006 by Websense, a filter software vendor, to ask for $200 to acquire the decipher code for encrypted files. The first version of ransomware is quite simple, there’s no national logo, flag, emblem, regulations or payment method as the case in Police Central E-Crime Unit virus attack.

  It's apparently called a UKASH or ransome virus and it completely freezes your computer and demands money to unfreeze it _ which of course it won't even if you were fool enough to pay.  After a few moments panic - the full text is pretty unpleasant - I looked up ways to remove it on my tablet.  If you are unfortunate enough to be struck DON'T fall for all the ads offering further software to do the job, some may be in cahoots with the virus sender.  Turn off your computer with the power button or at the wall.  When it comes back with a black screen, reboot in SAFE MODE.  When you get you desktop back don't panic if things are missing, click on the windows icon at the bottom left (where you go to turn your computer off) go to ALL PROGRAMS then click through ACCESSORIES, SYSTEM TOOLS, to SYSTEM RESTORE.  Restore your computer to an earlier date.  When you're up and running again, go to McAfee and download Stinger and MalwareBytes free from their site and use them to scan your computer and get rid of any thing left in your system. 

It's a truly horrid thing and I know many people who aren't computer savvy would be quite frightened by its threats and implications.  I hope my computer hasn't passed it on to anyone, and I'm at a loss to know where it came from as I'm very cautious about suspect emails and links. 

You'll be leased to know that the accounts obediently floated off into the ether to HMRC - won't heave a sigh of relief until they accept them but at least they've gone!

Hope you aren't having such a stressful time!