Rather Late New Year Resolution

I made the Resolution at New Year, but power cuts at the caravan prevented me trying to blog about it at the time. And then the car breakdown left me knackered and then other stuff happened too! Sometimes Life doesn't enable good resolutions!

This year's Resolution is to have more fun. The last few years have been very difficult, and we both seem to have lost the concept of fun.

So, will be reading the backlog of books that I bought 1-2 years ago that haven't had time enough to look at yet.

Hoping to get back to drawing more regularly, once a week if I can't manage once a day.

Having re-joined Ancestry when my initial subscription expired, I haven't done anymore work on my Family Tree. I was enjoying this, the hunting aspect is great when you find somebody new! So now the newly released 1911 Census may get me further in that, and maybe a jolt to continue my research.

When I first joined Fotolog, I tried to take a photo every day. Since then I mostly use Flickr, but it would be good to get back to trying to take more photos. Both sites have put me in touch with like minded people, but I haven't kept up with them over the last few years - I want to try and re-connect.

All of these things are fun to me, it will take some time to get back into better habits, but if I can manage one of them each day I will be having a lot more fun!

Edit: PS hope to blog more too!

A rather different New Year

John was able to get most of New Year's Eve off work - just had an hour to do in the morning. He had a part day of holiday left since he began working only 3 days a week. So we headed off to the caravan around 2pm. Bit of a grey day until we got past Conway, when the sky brightened, and by the time we reached Pwllheli we were in glorious sunshine... But bitterly cold! I was very glad of the heated seat in the car!

We arrived at the caravan while it was still fairly light, John got the central heating going (and lit the gas fire as well!) and unpacked the car. I was very tired after the journey, so climbed into a nest of duck down quilt and slept for a while.

I woke up in time to see most of Jools Holland's Hootenanny, and we saw the New Year in together. John was pretty tired by then so went to bed, I began to watch the Kath and Kim Christmas Special. Suddenly around 3am the lights went out, everything went off (including the central heating- urgh!) and everywhere was pitch black. Drew back the curtains, but only starlight. In other words, very dark!

I couldn't remember where the candles were (note to self, in future put ready when arrive in caravan!), so shouted for John, but he was really fast asleep. Eventually he woke, and between us we found the night lights and got one lit. We could see the lights were on in Abersoch, but none by us in Bwlchtocyn, so we both went back to bed. I lay and looked at the stars through the front windows, and eventually fell asleep.

Woke early to a beautiful dawn.

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Power back on, but only on low voltage. Enough for lights, and to boil the kettle (though that took ages!), but not enough for the central heating pump or the television. Lovely morning though, just awful cold! We were both really glad that we had the gas fire, just wish it was easier to get lit and turned up to full. But we got there in the end.

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Power came back on fully around 3pm, after another total outage - presumably for final work on the system. We were really glad to get the heating back on, made the bathroom much more bearable!

John got in a couple of walks, but since he started his own blog I'll let him write about them.

We enjoyed looking at the new decking - Tim has done a fantastic job.



I just did one gardening job - pruned the oregano. I cut it back really hard, we really hope that it will grow back as it did last year, as an almost perfect part sphere... until the wind changed its shape and it became more wild.



We had intended to come home on Sunday, and had packed the car ready to come home. Had a variety of error messages come up, and car wouldn't start. Called RAC Motability number, and they could arrange transport. But by then I was so knackered was almost asleep.

So we deferred travel till Monday.

With one thing and another (mainly the freezing weather so lots of accidents happening) we didn't get our tow till about 2pm. Our rescuer, Jasper, told us that it was incredibly snowy in Beddgelert and around, he'd had some scary rescues to do with folks sliding on the ice as well.



Took some time to load the car onto the trailer.



Our driver was Jasper, and he had lots of interesting stories to tell us - he knows the area well, and many local people and places. He came from the North Wales Recovery service who I highly recommend as being friendly and helpful.

We got towed on the loader to Conway. At the office there we were offered a very welcome cuppa tea, and then were then given a courtesy car to drive home. We got home about 7pm, unloaded the car, and I went to bed while John headed for Tesco to get some food in.

Today I've handed back the courtesy car (collected by a very cheerful chap), and taken delivery of a hire care (delivered by another very cheerful chap) from Motability. I have this for 2 days, if repairs on Big Blue 2 take longer than that we must contact them to extend the hire. While the whole business has been a nuisance, it has been mitigated by the helpfulness and cheerfulness of everyone I've been involved with.

Am so glad I went for another Motability car - wonder if the care and service we have been so fortunate to have would have been so good otherwise.

2007 - Happy New Year!

Happy New Year!



There's a nice comfy chair to the right of the photo - come and toast your toes at our open fire!

Wishing you all the best for 2007.

New Year's Eve

I've always hated New Year's Eve, almost as much as birthdays. I can still remember at school how the other girls kept going on about what they were going to have as New Year Resolutions. I don't think I ever made one, and I'm not going to start now!



We are celebrating the New Year by putting our new sheets from IKEA on the bed - or rather John is. My share of this enterprise consisted of shifting some of the huge piles of stuff that have been on the bed since I began wrapping the Christmas prezzies. These piles have been growing ever since, and last night I kept waking up because I couldn't stretch my legs out. Plus I was so thirsty I had to go downstairs around 2am to get a bottle of Tesco's Spring Water (our tap water seems to be over-chlorinated a lot of the time, most unpalatable!). By which time I was so wide awake I logged on and picked up email and did a spot of web browsing. Nicely tired after that, so got some more sleep, though disturbed by J snoring (as usual!).

Super breakfast - lambs kidneys with bacon, fried up leftover mashed potato, and half a tomato... Tomato flavourless as usual -what do the supermarkets do to tomatoes to make them so tasteless? I'm hoping that'll count as at least half a portion of fruit, but seeing as it tasted of nothing maybe not.

We're having gales and very heavy showers today. Our side windows are leaking - shows up how they really need washing as they have clean streaks down them now. At least the strong wind means the showers are blowing over quickly, but I worry about the trees across the side road blowing onto our roof. And it's getting noisier too - guess the wind strength is still rising.

John's heading out to Otterspool Prom to get some (very) fresh air and see the waves on the Mersey. Rather him than me! He's declined the use of the camcorder to video the river - reckons it's too damp. Might spend my Xmas cash on a waterproof cover for it, if they're still available.

A quiet evening is planned, a bottle of Champagne (though not as nice as the Mumm de Cramant Sarah brought from France for Christmas) will go in the fridge in a while, and I think we'll be watching Jools Holland's Hootenanny later on. Be nice to see Lily Allen and The Zutons but I could do without the rest, especially First Battalian of the Scots Guards at midnight. We usually go out and dance* around the tree on the pavement then (so missing the bagpipes) but it may be too wild and windy for that this year.

Happy New Year!

* I stagger rather than dance - vestibular dysfunction don't lead to good enuff co-ordination for decent dancing!

Saturday

Odd kind of day. Sarah left this morning, John went to get new glasses but couldn't (next week) so came home earlier than I expected. He went back to town later to take Sarah's bags down for her to get the train. Then did the shopping on the way home, now he's out swimming.

We seem to have lost the current Radio Times, both of us have searched all the likely (and unlikely!) places we can think of, but no show. Will prob turn up in three or four weeks time when it's out of date and useless.

Must try and make a few New Year cards for people I didn't manage to send Christmas cards to - practically everybody this year unfortunately. But already too late to post. I wish I could be more organized, but the way Life keeps happening it's just not possible.

Here's one of our cheerful Christmas Gnomes. We have two of these sitting on our mantelpiece, painted by the girls in a Guide away weekend, once upon a time and a long time ago. I feel like Christmas has arrived when I get these out of the box in the loft and put them out each December.