When the Covid pandemic first appeared on the scene here in March 2020, it seemed a very dangerous thing to get.  For our household, it was a bit of a nightmare. At that time, Kay was working as a medical doctor in Intensive Care in a hospital near London Gatwick airport and living at home with me.  She was in daily contact with seriously ill Covid patients and wearing those high protection suits we saw so much of on the televison.  However, because I have a lung condition called sarcoidosis (granulation of the lung tissue) I was considered "vulnerable", if I were to come into c ..read more

By popular request (well, by Lynne, who is a regular visitor to my blog) I attach a picture of my wedding shoes. She had remembered that I had ordered online about 14 pairs of shoes to try on at home with my mother of the bride outfit. I could not take the dress or wear it to umpteen shoe shops to try them on there, so had ordered them online to try with the dress  at home. Of course I was not going to keep all 14 pairs, but to find the best match to the dress and ones that were comfy as they had to stand the test of wearing them all day.  The dress was a shocking pink colour. It was ..read more

Well, after a build-up of at least two years, the wedding of Kay and Darcy took place last Saturday. It seemed so long coming and the last month seemed slow too, but suddenly the day arrived and because of supeduper planning on Kay's and my part, it went like clockwork. Darcy's parents and two siblings plus their partners (six people in all) were put up in Darcy and Kay's house two days beforehand. We had the church rehearsal on the Thursday evening to figure out who went where and how. On Friday, we had access to the reception venue in the late afternoon to deliver things we needed there and ..read more

With a matter of 12 days to go to the big event, Kay and I are stressing. There is still so much to organise for the wedding. Kay is at work, so cannot do much except in the rare spare time she gets and I try to help where I can, but fate keeps throwing us boulders which either crush us or we have to leap over to avoid, like in some warrior video game. As I mentioned in my last post, the bridal dress was altered too tightly and we had to meet the seamstress, who was recommended by the bridal shop where we bought the dress,  to alter it yet again. As she lives some hundred miles away, it i ..read more

With less than a month to the wedding of the year, things are getting very busy. There is so much to sort and arrange, I can now understand why some people turn to wedding organisers to do it all for them. Kay is doing most of the hard slog, between her 14-hour shifts at the hospital, so she is rather stressed. I help where I can, but have to leave decisions to her as it will be HER day and not mine. Weddings have changed  lot since I got married in 1976, so I am out of touch.  The caterers are on stand-by. So are the florist, the make-up artist, the hairdresser, the photographer, th ..read more

I mentioned in my last two posts that mousekind had shaken my faith somewhat. The continuing saga of the mouse invasion had lasted quite a few weeks. I have lived in this house for 36 years and NEVER had mice in the house before, so it really unsettled and unnerved me. With the impending wedding of my daughter coming up in a few weeks, I was anxious to solve the problem quickly, particularly as one of the bridesmaids has a phobia about them and cannot even bear to have the word MOUSE mentioned. It began a few weeks ago, when one day I suddenly noticed droppings like little black grains of r ..read more

It seems nowadays that dealing with large companies and organisations can be a headache to negotiate sometimes. Not just a headache but an uphill struggle on slippery mud, where you get nowhere fast. I've had one such experience lately where I felt I'd be better off banging my head against a brick wall. About six months ago I received a letter to my address but with a strange man's name on. Let's call him Mr Putin. (That is not his name, but it did sound Eastern European). Now I have lived at my address for 36 years and, apart from my husband and daughter, there has been nobody else living her ..read more

For many months now, I have seen the cutest little mouse come through from my neighbour's fence, scurry from one side of my patio to the other, where it nibbles on seeds dropped from the birdfeeder which hangs on my lilac tree. It is a tiny little thing and very cleverly hides behind plant tubs until it thinks it can safely negotiate the big open space it needs to traverse to get to the seeds. I have shown it to many a visitor to my house and we have all agreed how cute it is. Sometimes I have fancied I have seen two mice as as soon as one scurries next door, another appears almost instantly a ..read more

There's less than three months to Kay and her fiance's wedding.  A year ago it seemed - well a year away - but too far away to panic. Rough hazy plans were made, deposits paid and it seemed way into the future. Suddenly with less than three months to go, it's panic stations as things start to get finalised, concrete decisions made on food, lighting, flowers, clothes, invitations etc. Suddenly it seems more real and VERY CLOSE!!!! Kay's dress has been made and we have been having last-minute fittings and alterations. I too have been dress-hunting. As mother-of-the bride, I have to look the ..read more

It is fourteen years since Greg died. In some ways, it doesn't seem that long. I can still remember vividly the weeks leading up to that, the last week in Intensive Care at the local hospital and the last hours of his life, as his blood pressure sank and his heartbeat flatlined on the monitors. I can vividly recall the conversation with the doctors afterwards and the journey home as the reality sank in. In other ways, it seems an eternity. Days, turning into months, turning into years of coping without him, solitary confinement, climbing the stairs to bed each night and turning out the lights ..read more