13!

So, it has happened.  Tom is now officially a teenager!  We are so pleased and so proud of the young man he has so far become.  He has shown himself to be diligent, compassionate and principled.  Of course he has his moments and has shown signs of teenager-hood, some sulking, his voice has dropped significantly and he is growing like a weed!

As usual, he didn't know what he wanted for his birthday - I found out that Tim Peake was coming to Harrogate to do a show about being an Astronaut - as Tom's favourite subject at school is physics, I thought that would be a good idea.  We added to that with some bits and pieces: a Rubik's cube set, a new lap tray with Jungleskôg on it, a jumper and (of course) some bath bombs, oh and some helium balloons.

We got him up at 6.30am to do the morning opening of presents, he got loads.  Then breakfast and as we had time, we put on 'Kevin becomes a teenager' which although quite fuzzy in quality was quite funny - Tom completely got it and has said he won't become like Kevin (or Rory).

He went happily off to school, and I spent the morning putting his cake together. This year he asked for a messy bed cake, I started off with his duvet, him and jungle in bed, Mullan and a couple of his favourite books and stopped.  That was enough...after lunch I was bored...I went up to his room and took a few more photos - before I knew it I had added his favourite music (as CDs), a curry cook book, his favourite chocolate bar (a Twirl), railway magazine, a mammoth, his dressing gown.  You could say that I got carried away...it is a snap shot of Tom at 13.  Problem we have now, none of us want to cut into it - it means that we would have to cut Tom too - I can't cut my boy in half!  We were going to cut it on his birthday, we didn't, then cut it on Friday, we haven't - at this rate it will go off before we eat it!

He came happily home after school, got changed and then we had a game of the new Wingspan - Mum and Dad got him the European Expansion pack and it has completely changed the game, so many new things to learn.  We finished just in time to head to Gargrave to meet up with Grannie and Grandpa at Bollywood Cottage for an Indian.  He inhaled his curry (King prawn korma).  I had something called Drunken Duck which was delicious.  Then back home and bed.

On Friday, one of his friends - Dan came back home with Tom for the night.  He is the best house guest we have ever had.  We barely knew he was in the house.  They pretty much amused themselves for the whole evening.  They watched a film around 8.30/9, got ready for bed without any trouble and when I suggested that they should try to get to sleep around 11pm they agreed and they did so.  Dan was very pleasant, he added to the conversation, no trouble at all.  He can come again anytime he wants.

On Saturday we got up early and at 8.30 the boys headed off to Bury for their day on a Diesel Day on the East Lancashire Railway. I spent the morning pottering and doing some work.  Then after lunch I met up with Anne and Lauren for a coffee - we were chatting for a good 2 hours.  I rushed back just in case the boys were on their way and I had somehow missed their messages.  

I needn't have worried, no messages and when I called Matt I discovered they were still on a train (I am glad I didn't go, I would have been so bored by then!)  Gave me a chance to catch up on this.

Oh and half term has just begun.

Life as a miserable teenager

The first weekend of February we were visited by the Blezzards who were on half term.  Their boys are 15 and 13.  Rory, the eldest, really really didn't want to be here.  He is in the depths of being a teenager - he didn't add to the conversation at all, he come to the dinner table to eat but didn't say a word.  He did his best not to look at us.  

I did direct questions to him and you could see him wresting with his conscience, he didn't want to respond to me but part of him felt he couldn't completely ignore me so I would get reluctant one word answers!  Once he got here, he didn't budge.  We went for a walk in the afternoon, he didn't come, we went for a walk on Sunday morning, he refused to get out of bed.  He certainly was in the teenager pit.  Since his visit we have been telling Tom not to become Rory!  Lewis, on the other hand was perfectly pleasant.  Tom hung out with him and they slept in the same room etc.  Tom even got his guitar out which he hasn't touched since before lockdown.

Smile for the camera!

Neil and Sharon, luckily saw the funny side to it all and didn't give in to him at all.  They just left him to be miserable.  We had a good time, it was just Rory that was miserable.

On Tuesday this half term's effort grades came out - Tom got exactly the same as last time, some of his grades went from 4 to 5 and exactly the same went from 5 to 4.  No complaints from us, he  is still trying hard at everything.

January

I made a New Year's resolution this year - to not get behind with the blog!  Ooops - it lasted 4 days!  January was pretty busy - I got wiped out chocolate-wise in December and had to start with nothing in stock.  I spent the whole month playing catch up, and still now in February still don't have much in the way of stock squirrelled away - meaning I am having to make pretty much every order as it arrives rather than just pull them out of the box and send them on their way.  First job was to restock Gingerbugs (which was down to very very little), then Sedbergh, all the whilst doing cakes (quite a busy month for cakes) and chocolate orders. My chocolate is all BB mid to late 2023 at the moment so it really does make sense to make stock up.

Tom seems to have been making friends at school.  He got invited to 2 sleepovers in January.  One with Ben who lives in Arnside and another with Tom who lives in Natland. It is so lovely that sleepovers etc are happening again and just wonderful to know that Tom is making friends.

Mum and Dad came up in the second week of January for a belated Christmas.  We had a big roast gammon, opened pressies which were under the wilting Christmas tree.  We had a fab time.  Luckily the weather this time was much kinder.  We had some wonderful blue sky days, other cloudy ones, but it DIDN'T RAIN!

We went to Tarn Hows on a beautiful day, loads of trees had been knocked over by Storm Keira, but it was still very lovely.  

We also went to Grassington for a walk by the river and to go James Herriot spotting as well as the usual trip to Morecambe (we sat outside and had lunch it was so sunny) and other trips here and there.  

Jungleskôg wormed his way into the affections of Mum and Dad and before we knew it, there was growling and silliness going on all the time.  The blue sofa typically had Mum, Dad, Tom and Jungleskôg on it every night and then silliness going on with Jungleskôg - with Dad being the team leader - was so funny to watch.  

On the 23rd, we finally got the train to Saltaire for a look around the mill, lunch (really really good) and then a canal side walk to Bingley which was very enjoyable.  

Another walk Mum and Dad could do next time they come up.  

Interesting architecture, a sculpture trail and just nice really to be out seeing somewhere new.  

 On the 29th, Tom and Matt went up to Ribblehead to see a double header in insane wind.

On the 30th, we went for a walk with Raddas around Ribblehead - did over 6 miles in the end.  Was a lovely afternoon full of chatter with the children lagging behind! 

Don't think Rebecca was impressed with the extended walk, however, the chatter between her and Tom didn't stop so it couldn't have been that bad.  Funny how when we are out with Tom we can barely keep up with him, however, when he is out with Rebecca, he suddenly slows down and finds everything hard work?!

Last Day of the Holidays

So, we got an extra day of school holidays, to give everyone the chance to test for Corona before going in.  Yay.  It was a beautiful winter's day - deep blue skies.  Yay.  What better thing to do than go skating?  Liz asked me if we wanted to go with them.  Lancaster have an ice rink for the festive season, it was still open and as most schools were back, we thought there was a good chance that there wouldn't be many there.  We were right - we had it more or less to ourselves. 

So last time I went skating was about 15 years ago when I went after alcohol at Somerset House and fell on my coccyx so hard that I couldn't sit down properly for 6 months.  Tom has never been!  We were up for it.  We pushed and pulled the cumbersome ice skating boots on and went for a skate.  The Holmans, it turned out were complete pros.  Liz's mum and Dad met whilst skating, it was therefore a big piece of her childhood, she's had lessons and everything - she can do twists, turns etc etc. 

I held onto the fence for the first circuit and then gradually got better and better.  Tom had not a clue and really struggled for a while.  Once he understood not to try and walk on the ice and to glide he got better and better. He fell over a lot, but only had one bad fall on his elbow which took him out for 5 mins, he then got back on the ice and kept trying.  Liz, Annabel and Owen were all great, helping both of us when they weren't pirouetting and prancing around.  We all enjoyed it.

Afterwards, Annabel, Tom and I went on the 'big wheel' was actually quite small but you could see all of Lancaster from the top - it really is a very small city.  

We went to café for lunch and then a bit of shopping before heading back home.  It was a really good day out.  Tom went for a bath on his return, then a game of Wingspan before a good ole British tea of sausage, mash & beans.

Back to school tomorrow - he only has 2 lessons as he has an appointment with the asthma specialist at the hospital at 12.20.  I wonder what is going to happen in the schools with Covid - can he continue to dodge it?  How long before they have to switch to home schooling due to lack of teachers? 

 

New Years

New Year's Eve we were invited to the Holman's for the night.  Seeing as we hadn't socialised together in an absolute age we said yes please!  Initially it was a 8pm start, but it got brought forward to 5pm.  We packed up all our naughty food and alcohol and took it with us.  

We played silly games, drank lots of fizz, chatted to lots of people, lots of whom just came and went and well, just generally hung out.  It was a lovely easy night.  We were there for 9 hours and I really can't work out what we did for all that time, but time went quickly and somehow it was past 2am before we thought about heading home.

Tom came third in a 'pick up the cereal box' challenge - shows just how flexible he is (although he did get beaten by a 51 year old lady!)

We had a bit of a karaoke session at the end, warning - we had been drinking for 9 hours and it was 2 (ish) in the morning!.  

We didn't get back till after 2 - as you can see Tom made himself a nest in his bed - needless to say we had a very quiet New Years Day and a pretty quiet 2nd January too!

December & Christmas

Pretty & simple decorations in the village

December was a bit of a whirlwind!  I was mega busy with chocolates and cakes!  I got 'found' for my chocolate dipped oranges and as soon as I put a batch up on my website, the website would go crazy and they would sell out in hours!  Not only that, but when they bought those, they would look for other things and order from all over.  Not a complaint, I maintain my stock on the website as 4 items of everything available, they aren't necessarily made, but putting it at that level means I can quickly make them and send them off.  Well, normally anyway, maybe not when I am getting orders in the quantities that I was.  In the end I had to go through my website and put lots of things out of stock so I wouldn't get any nasty surprises.  One day I got 12 orders in a day, considering I normally get 1 or 2 a week you can understand how mad that was!

I had also taken on some cake orders in December, so it was very much a case of head down all day every day.  

I didn't get Covid from Deacon Blue, which was good.  However, for the last week of school, Tom had a horrible cold - he missed most of the week of school.  He got the flu jab at school the first week of December and felt a bit sick afterwards, he got sent home from school and wasn't allowed back until he had a PCR test result.  He was clear, it was just the effects of the flu jab.  Then he got this horrible cold, this was after him sitting next to a lad who had just tested positive for Covid so we were sure he had Covid this time.  Took him for a PCR test.  The next day, before Tom got his result, Matt couldn't taste his lunch, so he thought he had got Covid too and went for a PCR test.  Tom's result came back - negative, phew!  Matt's came back positive - we were shocked?!  How could that be?  They had gone to see a model railway the weekend before, but it was strange that one would have it and the other not.  Tom was a lot sicker with his cold than Matt with Covid.  I had to ban them both from my kitchen and Matt was sort of isolated.  Tom and I went for PCR tests to check - I had lots of chocolate to be picked up / sent off and needed to know that I was clear.  At least with the new rules I was allowed out and about as I am double vaccinated and had no symptoms.  It felt wrong though, so I only went out to post parcels and for shopping - felt wrong to socialise.  We both came back negative.   Then a day later, Tom's lateral flow test came back positive, so off he went again for another PCR but it came back negative.  He managed one half day at school that week - just as well it was the last week of term.  Once all my chocolates were finished we opened up the house and decided to mingle - if Tom and I got Covid now it wouldn't really matter and it would mean we would have it over and done with. It didn't happen, we didn't have it, however, I did get Tom's cold and it was a nasty one - took 2 weeks to feel normal again.

In the meantime, the Omicron variant of Covid was beginning to take hold in the UK and it looked likely that there might be a lockdown after Christmas, that plus a number of other factors meant that Mum and Dad decided not to come for Christmas, so we were back to being just the 3 of us.  We had a quiet run up to Christmas, Matt wasn't allowed to leave the house until the 23rd due to Covid isolation - he was lucky in that they reduced isolation from 10 to 7 days whilst he was isolating so he got out early.  We aren't all that sure if he had it anyway, his lateral flow tests were always negative?  

The weather was pretty grim too - we stayed in and watched films and did a very difficult 1000 piece jigsaw - never seen such small pieces before.  We all spent ages on it - and then discovered it was missing 1 piece - argggggghhhhhhh!  There were two nice days where Tom and I went for short walks.  We saw a steam train head across Ribblehead Viaduct completely by chance.  Was pretty cold - as you can see from the ice!

Oh I have never been so ill prepared for Christmas as this year, at one point it looked like it might be a damp squib, none of us had Christmas cheer, I didn't have food ordered, didn't have that many presents ready but somehow it all came together.  It was a little bit stressful though, next year I need to get myself prepared in September/October before Christmas orders come in.

Christmas Eve, Jude and Craig came to say hi, have lunch and drop off and pick up pressies.  I was so unprepared this year, that it only occurred to me as they were on their way over that maybe we should offer them some lunch?  Luckily I had bought lots of buffet food and was able to provide a decent spread that actually looked planned!  As you can see from the photo Tom has now comfortably outgrown Jude now.  He was very pleased!

In the afternoon we headed out to Morecambe as we heart that they had Christmas lights for the first time in a long while and also they were lighting up the old buildings on the front.  We got there a bit too early so did a walk up and down the prom, then drove back in, parked in the centre and saw the lights, they were so pretty.  We also bumped into the Radas again so spent a while with them before heading back home where a lamb rib stew was waiting for us.  

Christmas Day came, we invited Pat and Bob over for the day.  Only Bob came.  The day seemed to go really quickly, we seemed to spend most of the day trying to open presents, but kept being interrupted - for good reasons.  We spent over an hour with the Smyths in Australia which was fab, then we attempted a zoom call with Mum and Dad - they couldn't get the video to work so it wasn't as good as it could have been and then Bob arrived.  We had a Cornvale rib of beef:

220 degrees for 25 mins

140 degrees for 1.5 hours

It was delicious - the best rib we have ever had. 

Tom made the yorkies, we had red cabbage, parsnips, roast potatoes, broccoli, carrots and cauliflower as well as gravy.  It was a feast - we all ate well.  Tom drank through his non alcoholic wine and we were on the red. 

The rest of the day was spent not doing that much. I watched the snowman - my Christmas tradition and then we slobbed out for the rest of the day.

Considering it was a quiet one, we had a good day.

Thank you to everyone who gave us presents, we were spoiled once more.  Here's a picture of me in one of my pressies from Matt - I asked him for something to slob around the house in. This is what he came up - it's not flattering but oh it is so comfy and warm AND the stars light up at night - he didn't know that when he bought it for me - but how fun.  I love it!

Between Christmas and New Year we tried to get out and about to get some walks in.  On Boxing Day we headed over to Arnside - initially for a short walk, but somehow we found ourselves walking up to Arnside Knott - it was lovely just to get some fresh air together even if the weather wasn't great.  

We also headed over to Blackpool for an evening to see the illuminations.  We have been plenty of times before and enjoyed them, but they were a bit old, tired this year, lots were missing and many weren't working properly.  Such a shame, oh well never, mind it got us out and we ended up with fish and chips which is always a good thing and as you can see we saw the illuminations train which is always a good sight.

We also went to Snaizeholme to see the squirrels, who once again put on a good display for us. 

We also played countless games of Tom's new board game Wingspan.  It took us two days to fathom it out (the first time we got it out, we had to put it away again none the wiser) after watching a video on youtube we worked it out and got immediately hooked.  I have been lucky and won every game so far, but I'm sure that won't be the case for much longer.

Oh, forgot to mention, Tom is certainly becoming a teenager now.  He is getting a good 10+ hours sleep a night, doesn't wake up naturally until after 10am now.  I can't complain - I suffered terribly from being unable to get out of bed as a teenager and given a chance will still lie-in.

Deacon Blue

So on 30th November, I finally got to see Deacon Blue live.  I think I first got into them when I was around 15/16, I can remember my best friend at the time, Anita was into Bros and gave me jip about being into 'alternative' music.  I can certainly remember playing their album on my turntable in my bedroom in Wokingham and also sending Mum with money to Bristol (when we were in Backwell) to get their new albums.  Certainly I spent a LOT of time learning the lyrics to their tunes (which became evident during the gig as they all came flooding back!)

Living in Bristol in my late teens meant that I never got the chance to see the big bands of the time as there were no suitable venues - the best we got was Tanita Tickeram at what was then called the Colston Hall.  Then at uni, once again I didn't have a chance and by the time I had come out of uni, they had stopped recording!  

Fast forward over 20 years, Matt takes me to see Muse in Manchester, which reignited my interest in live music so then I started looking at bands that I like.  I found that Deacon Blue were touring, they were going to Manchester and the ticket prices were very reasonable.  Excellent - I bought 2 tickets there and then as there weren't many left.  Matt saw them when he was at uni and didn't think much of them, I didn't want to go with someone who wasn't that interested so asked amongst my friends - bingo, Janine was a fan and had seen them and thought they were great.  She was up for it.

Then - bang!  Covid hit and it was postponed for a year.  Suddenly it was November again, with my chocolate business going mad I was mega busy and could really do without another trip to Manchester, and I was worried about Covid and Christmas and my business - so I got every order finished before we went just in case.  Then Janine and I got the train into Manchester.  We decided it was a night to enjoy ourselves and forget about Covid.  I great idea.  We booked into our hotel, and then got a taxi up to the venue, we were surrounded by an audience which on the whole looked (slightly) older than us - I was finally with my tribe!  We decided on cider for the evening, found our seats and took in the atmosphere.  

It was a wonderful night - everything was funny - we giggled like school girls for most of the time.  We danced, we sang our heart out, there may have been tears.  I was transported back to being a teenager, I relived so much in my life - marrying the songs to events.  I knew the words to more songs that I realised.  In short I had the best night.  I didn't want it to end.  They did all the big hits, some new material, some lesser known stuff, high energy stuff, chilled stuff, I loved every second.  I think it was better for the fact I had waited a good 30+ years for this night.  Both of us were exhausted after it though - we then looked up how old Ricky and Lorraine are: 63 &57 - wowzers, they are looking, moving and singing so well - we were both humbled!

We came out thinking we both had Covid - there were 1000s in the venue and everyone was singing at the top of their voices, but it was worth it.  I still well up now when people ask how it was and I start talking about it!  I think having lockdown delay it by a year and everything that went with it - made the evening even better.

  

  

November

So Christmas started early this year, I got my brochure and on-line shop ready for 1st November and offered an early bird discount and suddenly got order after order!  Some were big too, with some ordering over £100 of items which, for me, is huge.  So, the kitchen is in full chocolate mode - just as well I didn't get many cake orders for November!  So far, I have kept up and everything has arrived in one piece which is great.

Tom has started his immunotherapy at Manchester Children's Hospital - he has an injection on a Friday afternoon for 4 consecutive weeks.  Means he misses 3 lessons at school - PE (not a problem), Spanish - teacher is keeping him up-to-date and Art (teacher doesn't reply to any email so no idea what he's supposed to be doing, and anyway it is only art so it doesn't really matter).

We have been staying at the Komorowskis in Salford each Friday night, which has been good.  Tom isn't allowed to take part in strenuous exercise or have a hot shower for 48 hours after the injection, so we have to take it easy at the weekends.  The first weekend, we went to the Christmas markets in Manchester, the second weekend we went to the Airport pub at Manchester Airport to do some plane-spotting.

There have been a lot of dark, cloudy and dreary days which makes working hard easier.  Today we had a beautiful day so headed to Morecambe for a flat walk - the views were outstanding.

I have a feeling the next couple of weeks are going to be manic work weeks.  I've got a gig to see Deacon Blue at the end of November which I can't wait for, but apart from that it is going to be work, work, work. 

Catch up

Wowzers - I am 2.5 months behind!  Sorry folks, I think life got in the way somewhere!

So, in an attempt to catch up, I'll just give you the highlights of the last couple of months and then hopefully do a better job of keeping this up-to-date.

Tom managed a full half term at school with no interruption.  There was plenty of Covid around at school, including some in his friendship groups, but he managed to not pick it up, which was good.  He also got his Pfizer injection, so he has some protection now which is good.

He seems pretty happy at school, got a good half term effort grade report - with only 4s and 5s on it which is (I think) very good.  The first couple of days back were spent getting to know the layout of the school as he didn't get to go round it last year.  It only took a couple of days for him to go from being worried about getting lost and then thinking it wasn't all that big after all.  He has enjoyed being able to mingle with anyone he wants and seems to have moved into a friendship group made mainly of Year 9s and headed by Rebecca.  Oh and he is suffering from a very squeaky voice at the moment.  It sounds like he has a permanent cold, but actually it is just his voice breaking.

He continues to grow, he eats us out of home and is already needing some new school trousers - as his ankles are showing already!  Lots of clubs have started up at school, he goes to a science club, wants to go to an IT club but has yet to find it?! and badminton and hockey.  He seems to have less homework than last year which is a little strange (or maybe he is rushing through it much quicker than last year?!)  He is in different classes to last year (people wise) and now has some lessons with Caitlin and Evie which was a nice surprise for him.  Favourite lessons are Computing, Theatre Studies, Physics and DT.  We don't really get much info about what happens at school and most of what we get is about 3 weeks old before Tom tells us about it.

In other news - Mum and Dad finally made it up - it had been almost 2 years since we had last seen them.  As usual, as soon as they arrived it felt like 10 minutes and we settled in easily with each other.  Unfortunately they came for the worse weather week of the year - it rained and rained and rained.

However, they didn't complain and we managed to get out everyday.  It also turned into a bit of a eating fest - we managed to cram 2 years of naughty food into a week - we were all much heavier at the end!  Anyway it was good to see them, and as I had turned down all cake bookings I was able to concentrate on spending proper quality time with them with no pressure which was great.

For half term we managed to get away for 3 nights to Kielder Water.   We didn't have the best weather, but we managed to get out for a bike ride each day.  Tom was shattered after a half term at school so we did spend a lot of time in the hot tub, and in bed.  I was full of cold, so Matt and I took the twin room and Tom got the double bed.  He was very happy, watching telly in bed in the afternoon - something that  he never gets to do.

The rest of half term we suffered a bit with bad weather - we had a cooking day (curry), the boys went to Glasgow for the day on the train.

Other Notable Events:

+ Night in the van in cow alley where we bumped into some Ingleton friends doing the same

+ Walk around Gresgarth Hall gardens

+ Sunday in Liverpool - meeting up with Jude and Craig for top nosh at Mowgli and shopping - biggest Lush in the world, where Tom got to use his bank card for the first time ever (very apt - it is his favourite shop)

+ Matt got a new motorbike - a Triumph Thruxton - vintage looking modern bike

+ Tom got into South Lakes District training

+ I got to make my dream wedding cake - with a Dales theme and for a lovely couple.

+ I have started selling my choccies through a shop in Sedbergh.