Like Richard Wilsons says "I can't believe it!". Tomorrow is New Years' Eve, where did 2008 go?
I retired in Dec 07, that is a whole year ago. Where did it go? What did I do?
I am supposed to make Resolutions! What can I think of?
Get fit, get slim, get improved, have fun. Be a better housewife, gardener, possibly be kinder to husband, but only if he is kinder to me.
In 2009, we shall have been married 50 years, perhaps it is time we were kinder to each other.
Tuesday, 30 December 2008
Tuesday, 23 December 2008
Christmas is almost upon us.
What a lot of fuss Christmas is, so much hassle and hype, for what is basically just another day.
Christmas is best if you have small children around. Then it is absolute magic. We shall be spending the day with our daughter, her partner, and our grandson who is four and a half.
It maybe quite a noisy day.
Our eldest granddaughter is 16, this will be her first "grown up" Christmas. I can remember it being very special at that age.
As "pensioner parents" the magic has been lost to us. Neither of us relish sitting on the settee being the "old folks" in the corner. I do fight back and do washing ups, and make helpful coffees and teas as required. But it's not the same.
Christmas is best if you have small children around. Then it is absolute magic. We shall be spending the day with our daughter, her partner, and our grandson who is four and a half.
It maybe quite a noisy day.
Our eldest granddaughter is 16, this will be her first "grown up" Christmas. I can remember it being very special at that age.
As "pensioner parents" the magic has been lost to us. Neither of us relish sitting on the settee being the "old folks" in the corner. I do fight back and do washing ups, and make helpful coffees and teas as required. But it's not the same.
Monday, 22 December 2008
Reading
I have been on holiday to Tenerife, while I was there I read four books. All different.
I took with me "Shadowmancer" a fantasy set in Yorkshire near Whitby. It was the first fantasy book I have read. Although it was primarily a kids' book, i njoyed it. Perhaps because it is set in an area that I know. The author was G.P.Taylor.
The second one was "Coastliners" by Joanne Harris, I have read most of her books, but this one did not seem to me to be as good. It was the tale of a girl returning to the small Island off the French Coast that she was brought up on.
The Hotel where we stayed had a "Library" where if you put books in, you can take books out. I put my two in and took out: "All Passions Spent" by Vita Sackville West and "My Beautiful Career" by Miles Franklin. Coincidentally, both books were set in the late 1800s to early 1900s.
Both dealt with the "privillaged" lives led by men, and the lot of women as "second class" people.
One book by an accomplished author, and one written by a first time 16 year old author who lived in the Australian outback (she had to write, like the Brontes', in a masculine name). I also began "The Girl who married a Lion" by Alexander McCall Smith. This turned out to be Aesops Fables type stories in an African setting, quite charming.
I took with me "Shadowmancer" a fantasy set in Yorkshire near Whitby. It was the first fantasy book I have read. Although it was primarily a kids' book, i njoyed it. Perhaps because it is set in an area that I know. The author was G.P.Taylor.
The second one was "Coastliners" by Joanne Harris, I have read most of her books, but this one did not seem to me to be as good. It was the tale of a girl returning to the small Island off the French Coast that she was brought up on.
The Hotel where we stayed had a "Library" where if you put books in, you can take books out. I put my two in and took out: "All Passions Spent" by Vita Sackville West and "My Beautiful Career" by Miles Franklin. Coincidentally, both books were set in the late 1800s to early 1900s.
Both dealt with the "privillaged" lives led by men, and the lot of women as "second class" people.
One book by an accomplished author, and one written by a first time 16 year old author who lived in the Australian outback (she had to write, like the Brontes', in a masculine name). I also began "The Girl who married a Lion" by Alexander McCall Smith. This turned out to be Aesops Fables type stories in an African setting, quite charming.
Sunday, 21 December 2008
Santa Train.
Today we went with our daughter, partner and her son to see the section of Restored Railway at Elsecar in South Yorkshire, where they run Santa Trains for the little children. The Railway is run by volunteers, and their children, who act as Santas little helpers.
It is only a short section of track, and the train chugs backwards and forwards, until Santa has spoken to every child and they have received a present. Today, it took over an hour and a half!
To help ease the strain on the train, for the adults, we are given mince pies and Baileys'.
The children get so excited, it is lovely to see their faces. Each and every child reacts in a different way to the experience. It may be the last trip we do on this train, our grandson who is four and a half, was looking a bit closely at Santa, so maybe next year we will have to find a different event to take him to. He is a clever child with "all his buttons sewn on." He can figure things out in his head, he seems to know insinctively how things work, or how they are done.
The experience for us is lovely, by going on the train, we are helping with the fund raising and giving support for the efforts of the restorers and rebuilders effort, helping to keep a little Railway community going.
It is only a short section of track, and the train chugs backwards and forwards, until Santa has spoken to every child and they have received a present. Today, it took over an hour and a half!
To help ease the strain on the train, for the adults, we are given mince pies and Baileys'.
The children get so excited, it is lovely to see their faces. Each and every child reacts in a different way to the experience. It may be the last trip we do on this train, our grandson who is four and a half, was looking a bit closely at Santa, so maybe next year we will have to find a different event to take him to. He is a clever child with "all his buttons sewn on." He can figure things out in his head, he seems to know insinctively how things work, or how they are done.
The experience for us is lovely, by going on the train, we are helping with the fund raising and giving support for the efforts of the restorers and rebuilders effort, helping to keep a little Railway community going.
Wednesday, 3 December 2008
What is poetry?
At a unofficial group meeting today, the question came up "What is poetry?"
Does the rhyme make a poem?
Does the metre make it a poem?
Is it that you use different language in a poem to the way use language in speaking?
Can any one define - What is poetry?
Does the rhyme make a poem?
Does the metre make it a poem?
Is it that you use different language in a poem to the way use language in speaking?
Can any one define - What is poetry?
Tuesday, 2 December 2008
Remember me, I am Baby P
Why did no one see?
What my family did to me.
Why did no one think of me?
Alone, afraid, unloved, I stayed
Hurt, hungry, my cries were never heard.
Why did Doctors not see?
What my family did to me.
Why did no "caring adult" rescue me?
Why did society fail me?
Remember me, I am Baby P.
What my family did to me.
Why did no one think of me?
Alone, afraid, unloved, I stayed
Hurt, hungry, my cries were never heard.
Why did Doctors not see?
What my family did to me.
Why did no "caring adult" rescue me?
Why did society fail me?
Remember me, I am Baby P.
Monday, 1 December 2008
Remember Baby P.
After seeing the T.V., News and the report about Baby P. Since this case came to light I have felt upset and distressed since becoming aware. Today, it was said and Haringay Social Servies are blamed as incopetent.
Please do not forget Baby P.
My feeling is, not all Social Workers are bad, or incompetent. I have a little experience in this, my daughter is a Senior Social Worker (in Yorkshire) who has had to remove children into care. I have seen the anguish and distress this experience can cause. So much so, my daughter has now taken a desk bound job in anther department.
Baby P was an innocent, unable to escape from his tormentors, somebody, somewhere must have known something. There wers 60 opportunities when "caring adults" could have ended his suffering.
"OUR children", do not just belong to their parents, the children are the future, and as such, belong to everyone. We all have a duty of care for the innocents, we must accept a collective responsibility for them.
Remember Baby P, watch out for the children in your locality. There must not be another child who dies in this awful way, at the hands of those who should care the most.
Keep the children safe from harm, do not forget those beautiful blue eyes and the curly blond hair of Baby P.
If we forget him, we also abuse him. Remember Baby P
Please do not forget Baby P.
My feeling is, not all Social Workers are bad, or incompetent. I have a little experience in this, my daughter is a Senior Social Worker (in Yorkshire) who has had to remove children into care. I have seen the anguish and distress this experience can cause. So much so, my daughter has now taken a desk bound job in anther department.
Baby P was an innocent, unable to escape from his tormentors, somebody, somewhere must have known something. There wers 60 opportunities when "caring adults" could have ended his suffering.
"OUR children", do not just belong to their parents, the children are the future, and as such, belong to everyone. We all have a duty of care for the innocents, we must accept a collective responsibility for them.
Remember Baby P, watch out for the children in your locality. There must not be another child who dies in this awful way, at the hands of those who should care the most.
Keep the children safe from harm, do not forget those beautiful blue eyes and the curly blond hair of Baby P.
If we forget him, we also abuse him. Remember Baby P
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