I have seen my next car...
but I don't know what breed it is! It was parked on a piece of rough ground in Newport - not the best place for a gorgeous vehicle I must say!
It is blue - a vibrant blue, with a soft top, one that looks like it is held up with thin metal match sticks that bend in the middle and catch your fingers. The headlamps are rather like those on Lucy, my 2CV, only these are bigger and silver around them as opposed to the white ones on Lucy. It has a definitive grill at the front, a long bonnet and then the most adorable puppy as a - I don't know what you call it on cars, but the same as the lady on the Roller. He is stretching out his front legs along the ground and his btm is sticking up in the air, I think he is rather like a shaggy puppy - if there is such a breed!
I walked all round to look for a 'label' but there wasn't one so I am desperate to find out what it is. If it is one of those order now and get it in 5 years jobbies, that will suit me down to the ground, 'cos my present car is planned to have a shelf life that long.
So. please, those of you who know about these things, what car has a stretching puppy as a mascot on its bonnet, is a low slung sort topped 2 seater thing, with sexy front lights?

Gucci
There, that's all I need to stir up a hornet's nest - the word Gucci!! YES OK!!! I know I want to go to shop in NY, but I also like sleeping late in the winter, so can we arrange schooling to change the hours of work in the winter please???
Lots of week-end ahead, domestice bits and the start of the cricket season for coaching, so I can seriously announce that 'Summer is a cummin in.'

Wow!
What a beautiful moon there was tonight. It was low in the sky, brand new and surrounded by mists and clouds. It's at times like this that you realise that the best things in life are just there, we need to look out from ourselves and take them freely.
I am lucky enough to live in the countryside where the sky is not too polluted by chemicals and light so we see shooting stars, the moon etc. This morning was a really heavy frost, so all was white over and again very beautiful. It would have been even better if I could have spent some more time in bed and then had a leisurely breakfast whilst reading a newspaper.
Why did the emancipation of women mean that we had to earn our livings? Someone please give me a good reason, a really good reason?!!

Thrashed!
Once upon a time I reigned as Queen of the Scrabble game, hmmmph! This week-end was the time to topple me off me pedestal by over 100 points, and I scored over 200 so it wasn't a complete whitewash. By this morning Shirley was obviously feeling that I could cope with the real world again, we positively sprinted over to buy a paper, came back to coffee and scrabble when she totally annihilated me and then asked me for my next 6 month's life plan!!
The first point was to sort out the junk in my home, do my school work at school and not at home, then go out and live. Not much to do then!!!
Well, I am writing this instead of sorting, have just spent some time with Ru planning our shopping trip to New York next half term, we'll be staying on Fifth Avenue opposite Gucci.... Is there a gym which trains people to restrain themselves when shopping, I think I need to join!

Sad Times
How hard it is to fulfil a promise that one gives in days that seem so far away from the time in debate. Mum did not want to be resuscitated if she became really ill, well we managed that and she had no intrusive medical attention whilst in hospital. Her funeral was also something that we had discussed many times. In her latter years she had left the church for various reasons, and did not want a vicar to talk at her cremation, so we were to just say something, play some music and have her cremated - preferably in an orange box..... Now they don't do those in her size, so that one did not work! However, she wanted to have Grapelli and Menuhin playing 'Putting on the Ritz' for her last piece of music which we did.
Livvy told one of mum's stories about life, she likened it to climbing a silver mountain all your life, then at the end you have time to sit down and look at the view. At this point Livvy turned to mum's coffin and stated that her view must have been fantastic, - how right she was!
Both my children were wonderful throughout the last fortnight, DLG, you would have been proud of Rupert's piece of writing, it bore all your hallmarks.
After this, I will now do what my piece of writing exhorted people to do:

You can cry and close your mind, be empty and turn your back:
Or you can do what she would want, smile, open your eyes, love and go on

How silly
I bought a cd on Sunday in Worcester so that I could have a special piece of music played at mum's funeral. Tonight I needed to sort out the programme and tried to find said cd. Could I??? Like hecky thump! I have searched and searched, on my third way in from interrogating the car's boot I saw some plants that I had brought back...... and yes, nestling happily in amongst the bulbs was the cd. Soggy but playable. Doh!

Worcester
I met Livvy and Tim for a late lunch in town today, after some sorting out with my brother. Mum and I used to go shopping down in the Shambles for some clothes and there is still one shop there that I loved - Felice. Oooh, they have some lovely clothes, I should love to have an occasion to wear them 'cos the shopping would be so easy! Only one hour on the parking ticket so a quick lunch - a lovely Italian meal before I returned home.
Now I have two sets of books to mark before tomorrow....

Shopping
DLG needs a little black number for the Christmas parties so I thought I would do some comfort 'shopping' for her. (No buying you understand, just looking and remembering the fun we had when we went shopping together.) There are lots of them out there so hubby take all the plastic cards and bring back several! Beadwork is in and those lovely 'handkerchief' hems. Then there are some lovely chiffon type, layered floaty things which would suit, and what about shoes? Found a wonderful shop in Pershore last week with Livvy, bit far to travel but they had some wonderful DLG shoes. German make and very snazzy.
That was good fun, and for me? I bought some non-run mascara and repair cream for the face. The lady agreed it was too late for anti wrinkles, lets be honest about it, they are well and truly in situ already! I also want to avoid the panda syndrome when I try to talk about memories of mum at her funeral so non-run mascara it is.
Let's see the dress result when it arrives back DLG?

TGIF
It's Friday - hooray, hooray, hooray!! I want to go home and slob out, no plans, marking or anything for at least one night. Tomorrow is a day to use for sorting things out, pay the bills etc, you know, exciting things....
I went out to a fund raising 'do' last night in the depths of the country, to a large old farm house. Wooden beams, floors, large rooms, lots of them etc etc. Got rather envious until I realised that I hadn't got a cat so it didn't matter that I have no room to swing it around at home. That's OK then!

Thank you everyone
I didn't mean to do an 'announcement' of mum's death on the blog, but as I have written about her quite a lot recently I thought that it was right to do this. Thank you for the messages and emails, it has been a comfort to receive them. I used to be a member of the 'coping' brigade, stiff upper lip and all that jazz. It doesn't work though, so mollycuddling myself, howling when I felt the need has all been very comforting.
One day I will write about mum's escapades in life and my goodness it makes good reading. As yet I am feeling too raw, suffice to say that I have her watch to throw over Victoria Falls - does doing something twice make it a family tradition?

We shall no more a roving go..
Mum died on Saturday morning,

From one extreme to ...
Several times I have written about my mother in this blog, she is an incredible woman who is an example of determination in life. On Tuesday she suffered another bout of pneumonia, by yesterday she was ready to throw in the towel and was so uncomfortable whilst trying to breath that she voiced a wish to die. In the past her views upon the medical profession and modern practises have been strongly voiced, she did not want resuscitating (threatening to haunt anyone who did, and my goodness you would not want an upset live mother haunting you, let alone an upset spiritual being with no earthly controls!), would not go into hospital - etc etc. So we knew she felt awful when she asked my sister to get an ambulance to take her into hospital. Thankfully her body won round and responded to the pills and she is gradually improving, she's not anything more than poorly yet - that's the hospital's definition...., but she was able to talk and drink some soup this evening.
Wouldn't it be wonderful if we could all say that the new hospital at Worcester is wonderful! Oh how the planners need to be the consumer of this service. Where will they park their car and if they are low wage earners, pay for the ticket to park - £5 for a day's parking. Will their relatives have to clear dirty tissues off the floor around the bed before their sick relative is given a bed? Will anyone provide them with water and a glass, even a flannel to cool a person down? Will they be treated with kindness and compassion, not just clinical detachment?
Mind you, when mum gets better and sees the wonderful ride on floor polishers, I bet she'll want a ride on one!

Back to different piles...
The half term break in Cornwall was wonderful! Mum and I stayed in a bed and breakfast place which was especially designed for disabled people, so no stairs or awkward shaped rooms etc, she could see where everything was and was comfortable. Really good and when I find the card I will put the address in here.
The Eden Project is stunning, what a way to use the lunar scape that the china clay industry has created. My goodness, it makes me realise that house plants in my home are ridiculous, but then that has never stopped me in the past. I am sorry but I took no photographs, I pushed mum round in a wheel chair so did not have the ability to take pickies as well, she was almost tipped out on several occasions, but did survive the experience, well that is the second type of driving she has had to teach me!
We also went to the Lost Gardens of Heligan, and true to the name they might well have remained that way to us. We got very lost, even driving down the vertiginous road to Mevagissey and of course once you have gone down, you have to go up.... oooh I hate those roads, and they had leaves on the surface which could have been nasty. When I asked the guide why there weren't more signs, he explained that they were only allowed 12 and they had to be on the main road. Well serves me right for getting lost I suppose! Hpwever, if you get the chance to go there, it is well worth it.
We spent the last day at the Tate and at Bernard Leach's gallery at St Ives. I didn't realise that he had lived in Japan and was in fact born in the far east, it was interesting to find out his connections with Dartington and see also that the head teacher's house (from the school) has been turned into an art gallery too. Next time I will go back and explore my alma mater!
Meanwhile, back to school and more paper piles, these are getting the order of the chop, I will not drown in paper again. (Please imagine that written 100 times?)