Quiet Day

The longest sleep ever

For a first night's sleep, we didn't do that badly.  Tom slept the best - he did a straight 15 and a half hours, don't think he moved either.  In fact Matt had to wake him up in the end.  He was bright for the rest of the day.  Matt and I managed 4 hours sleep, then 4 or 5 hours awake before another 4 hours sleep - so all in all not too bad.

We had an easy day.  First stop was our nearest supermarket where we stocked up with the bare essentials: milk, breakfast bits, coffee, etc etc.  We then headed over to the Hakata Station area for a look around and to familiarise ourselves with all the local facilities.  We found our local Daiso (100 yen shop) which happily is absolutely massive - it is definitely going to be my place of choice for holiday shopping before we come home, saw loads of new things which looked interesting....

Okonomiyaki in the making

We then hunted out restaurant alley for lunch and found ourselves a fab okonomiyaki restaurant where we had a 'deluxe' and an 'ebi' and very nice it was too!  We then got ourselves some platform tickets for the shinkansen tracks in the station and headed down to see what we could find, we saw quite a number of N700s, a couple of Rail Stars and Sakuras, but sadly no 500 series (the blue train).  We then had another stomp around Yodobashi Camera before heading home for a quiet time and recuperation.

We asked Tom what he wanted for tea - there was no contest - it had to be Shinkansen sushi, a 'sushi go round' where your orders are delivered by train - for us it was Dr Yellow!  How cool is that?  The sushi wasn't particularly amazing (some came with warm rice) and some menu items were a little strange (cheeseburger sushi?!) but it was all readily eaten and with each plate being about 80p (rather than the £4- £8 you get charged at Yo Sushi) there really was no call for complaining.  The whole meal came to 4,000 Yen, and 2,000 Yen of that was beer!  The equivalent would have cost a small fortune at home.

Tom and a Tokyo-bound Nozomi

We came home happy.  Tom went straight to bed, and once again we struggled to stay awake until 9pm, but managed it (just) and happily rolled into bed.

Japan here we come

On the way!

So after a bad night's sleep (why do you always have a bad night's sleep before going on holiday?) we headed to Manchester airport.  We were ridiculously early, but found complete and utter chaos at the check-in.  Obviously there had either been some severe staff shortages or another severe f**k up as the queue for the check-in was enormous.  People stuck in the queue were in an earlier flight - so they then all got moved to the front, meaning that the queue then didn't move for about 40 minutes.  By the time we had checked in, we only had enough time to grab a bun for breakfast from Starbucks and head to the gate when we were hoping for a more relaxed time!

Huge ebi in Nagoya

However, we did get our flight.  It was late leaving, but it made up time on the way over.  To be honest it was lovely to leave the UK - don't think I've ever been so happy to get away from the place.  We got to Frankfurt to discover our onward connection was at the far end of the airport, so we had a bus journey and then a very very long walk to get to the gate.  It was only 15 minutes from arrival to boarding.  The long haul flight was fine, my wonderful husband had bought us Premium Economy seats and I'm so glad he did.  We were in the bulk head aisle - which meant that we could completely stretch out our legs and we had a huge shelf on which to dump all our stuff.  Fantastic.  The food was also better than expected - better than I've had in a long time on a flight.

All three of us tried to get some sleep.  I managed about 10 minutes, as did Matt, but Tom got a good 4 hours.  The rest of the time was spent watching films / TV / listening to music etc.  Why oh why can't I sleep on flights?  I get so annoyed when I look round, it always seems that everyone on the flight is asleep except me.

Even Soffie needed caffeine

We were a little bit late arriving into Nagoya, and as we had to go through immigration and collect our baggage here, we ended up missing our connection to Fukuoka.  Not a problem thought, it meant that we got dinner vouchers for 3,000 Yen, so went to find lunch, which had to be large ebi of course.  We then got the next flight to Fukuoka.  By the time we had arrived, picked up our luggage again, got the subway to Hakata and found the apartment it was 3pm so we could check in.

We were absolutely trashed by the time we got to the apartment.  It is a shoebox, but that's what I was expecting.  We had to unpack immediately otherwise we wouldn't have been able to move around the place.  Think it is safe to say we won't be cooking here.  Although there is a kitchen, there don't seem to be any plates to eat off!  In fact, I'm not sure the person who rents this place out has thought about how to live here:  we have a washing machine, but no airer - so how do we dry anything?  We ended up having to go to a 100 Yen shop to pick up all the bits and pieces she hasn't included.

Hakata Ramen

We all had showers, changed into clean clothes and then went for an explore of the area.  We found the big Yodobashi Camera - which is a mega store full of electronics, has a 100 Yen store, big toy shop, restaurants etc etc.  We then went to Hakata Station and wondered around to try to get a feel for the place.  We ended up in a Ramen shop for tea.  By this time Tom was looking quite pale, so we decided to go home.  He went straight to bed.  Matt and I then tried to stay up until 9pm, it was a massive struggle but we got there eventually and then tipped ourselves happily into bed.

We are off to Japan - phew!

So we had a week of ups and downs last week and a LOT of wine was drunk!  Most of them were downs, but most significantly the one up we had was that we can still go on holiday.  Basically we took out the travel insurance in September, and because I didn't have any symptoms or see the Drs until January, that means I'm insured.  However, if my condition isn't cured by September this year, they may refuse to renew my insurance (if you have a hysterectomy looming they will not insure you).  Anyway, this means we are still going on holiday - yahoooooooo.  Even the school were pleased for us!

Monday morning I had the girlies round to explain to them what was happening, mainly because I don't want Chinese whispers going around the school and garbled messages getting home which could end up quite bad.  Everyone was understanding, poor Kate burst into tears!  Everyone has offered to help with looking after Tom etc.

We then spoke to the travel insurance people and after a nervous half hour of being put through to the wrong number, conversations where neither person was understanding the other etc etc, we finally got the answer we were looking for and were able to relax and look forward to the holiday for the first time in a while.

Tuesday for me was spent finishing off my last Lily Pad Bakery cake (not sure when the next one will be) and doing paperwork, tidying up, and cancelling any orders I had taken up to June etc.  Also, Mandy, a lady from the PTA came round for a brew.  She had a hysterectomy 3 years ago, and on hearing about me, wanted to have a chat to give me a better chance of knowing what was going to happen to me.  She was brilliant and made me feel much better - especially as she said she couldn't eat / sleep beforehand either.  She said going on holiday directly before hand is the best thing I could do and also that recovery takes way longer than you think (oh joy!).

Wednesday I headed into Lancaster to do some urgent shopping (nighties & slippers for hospital as I don't own any) and have my CT scan.  I was looking forward to my CT scan, hoping it would be like the MRI scan - i.e. a nice lie down for 20mins.  It wasn't.  I turned up and was given a litre of aniseed flavoured liquid which I had to drink slowly for an hour (I hate aniseed).  Then a nurse turned up to put a cannula in my arm, but she couldn't find my vein.  It took her 3 attempts and A LOT of scratching around to get into one, I wasn't too impressed my vein is quite prominent and of course I was left very bruised by it all.  When I went in, it only took about 10 mins.  Everyone leaves the room because it is an x-ray and then a machine says "injecting you now' and then you get this very strong sensation that you are going to wee yourself.  Thankfully Mandy had warned me about this on Tuesday or I would have been quite disturbed by it - you would think they would warn you about it?!

Thursday I spent cleaning the house from head to toe as Mandy warned me that I won't be able to clean for a long time after the operation.  I also changed all the bed sheets, did some dusting etc etc, made up my hospital bag and started packing for Japan.  I emailed my consultant and cancer nurse to let them know we were going to Japan and how to get hold of me if they need me.  He got straight back to confirm what I wanted to know whilst away as he was worried about telling me too much on holiday, so we have confirmed that he will only get in touch with me if the date of my op changes.  He did tell me that The Christie are reviewing my case at a meeting next week which didn't exactly make me happy - means that they haven't initially ruled cancer out!

Friday we finished packing and then went for a walk around Leck in glorious sunshine before packing the car up and heading to school to pick up Tom and head to Japan.  Mrs Colledge let Tom's class out and then came over to give both me and Matt a massive hug each - I guess our holiday is approved this year!  We then drove over to Manchester as we were spending the night with Karen, Adam, Leia and Rosa.  We had a great evening: good food and wine, what's not to like?  I felt like I had left my troubles behind.

Stupid Ovaries

Today Matt and I went to see a consultant at the Royal Preston Hospital, as a culmination of seeing various doctors over the past few months.

It all started just before Christmas, when I thought I had a bladder infection, as my tummy felt a bit strange down there.  In true British fashion, I ignored it, as it was Christmas and I thought it would probably go away in time.  It did go away, but it came back again in early January and for a week or so, I did have some proper pain (not extreme pain, but proper 'something is wrong here' pain).  I told Matt about it and after a couple of days he told me to tell the doctor, as obviously something wasn't right.  Once Tom went back to school in January, I called to speak to a doctor, who made an appointment for  me to see her that afternoon.  She said my symptoms were a bit strange for a bladder infection, so she did some investigative work - prodding and poking etc.  As it wasn't my bladder, then the next logical place was my reproductive system, she managed to pinpoint the pain with her hands and we discussed various things it could be.  I told her that I have polycystic ovaries so she said it was probably that - maybe a cyst had grown rather than popped, so she referred me for an ultra sound.

I had an ultra-sound about 3 or 4 weeks later.  By now the pain had gone, and I was in two minds whether to cancel it or not.  Matt persuaded me not to.  The operator was very excited when she got a good picture of my ovaries (especially my left ovary) as she said that in her 32 years of doing this job she had never seen anything like it.  I saw the screen - my left ovary had hundreds of cysts on it.  She said that to diagnose polycystic ovaries she needs to see 8 cysts, so this really was extreme.  She was looking forward to sharing the scans with her boss!  She said she couldn't see anything sinister, just lots of cysts.  She didn't know what the next step would be, maybe a referral to Gynaecology, but she wasn't sure what they would be able to do.

I then got a letter from my GP saying that she had referred me for an urgent appointment with Gynaecology following my scan.  I got a call from Kendal hospital the same day.  I went to see a doctor 2 weeks later, who once again prodded and poked me.  By now I wasn't having any pain at all - so couldn't really help her as to where the problem was.  She referred me to Lancaster Hospital for an MRI scan, and took some blood for testing.

I had my MRI scan about 2 weeks later (very relaxing - for 20 minutes you lie down on a bed, with ear plugs in listening to the radio whilst the scanner makes lots of white noise.  I closed my eyes and very nearly fell asleep)

Two weeks later I got a call from a doctor saying that my MRI scans were in and that my tumour markers were normal and blood tests were normal, so it probably isn't cancer (the first time the term 'cancer' was used, I didn't even know they were looking for it!)  However, they were forwarding my scans to The Christie hospital in Manchester for a more specialised consultant to check them as my left ovary looks very strange, and he wasn't completely sure what it is.  In the meantime he had booked me in to see a doctor in Preston who is more specialised in this area, but I would probably need surgery - surgery!  Once again the first time anything like that had been mentioned.  I had to look up The Christie Hospital after the phone call - it is a specialist cancer hospital!!!!!!! It was all getting a little too serious!

The next day I got a call from 'Babs' a specialised nurse who gave me a more in-depth appraisal of the situation.  Although my tumour markers and bloods were normal, this doesn't necessarily mean everything is fine.  I have an 8cm area on my left ovary and fallopian tube which they aren't sure about, and cystic type matter on my womb and bladder. The consultants are unable to rule out that I may have a rare cancer called pseudomyxoma peritonei (PMP) - cancer spread by mucus in cysts and which normally comes from the appendix (my appendix looks normal) but can come from the ovaries.  They have sent my scans to The Christie hospital in Manchester which is one of two specialist centres in the UK.  (The other one is in Basingstoke, so I am pleased we live where we do).  They will await the response from The Christie, but in the meantime they are treating it as a mass of cysts and have made an appointment for me to see a Consultant in Preston.  If it is PMP, I would be referred directly to The Christie.  The Preston appointment was for 17th March - two days before we go to Japan.  She asked if I had any questions.  Of course the first one was - we are due on holiday 2 days later is that a problem?  Her first reaction was to do a big gulp down the phone!  She quickly rearranged the appointment for 10th March to give us a week after the appointment to make any arrangements.

We headed to the hospital in Preston on Thursday for our 3pm appointment.  (Grannie and Grandpa were on Tom caring duties for the night).  It was a grim looking hospital!  Appointments were running an hour late, but we eventually saw him, a doctor called Nick Wood.  We thought that as we hadn't heard anything, The Christie had probably come back to the consultant to say it wasn't PMP, why would he waste his time seeing us if I was going to be referred somewhere else?  The first thing he asked us was if we had heard from The Christie.  Not a good start.  He also asked if we wanted to see the scans - we said yes, but they hadn't been uploaded onto the system!  

Basically, they still don't know what I have.  He said I was the 'grey case' of the day.  It could still be PMP, but it could be a mass of cysts.  Assuming The Christie come back to say it isn't PMP, then I have been scheduled in for a full hysterectomy (i.e. everything out including ovaries, fallopian tubes etc) omentectomy and appendectomy on 11th April (first day of the Summer term).  I will need to be in hospital for 5 days (based on averages), recovery time is 6 weeks (95% recovered at that point) and I won't be able to drive for 6 weeks.  I will also have to inject myself for 28 days afterwards to help stop blood clots.  I will also go in to immediate menopause!  It wasn't the best conversation I've ever had, I found myself to be shaking for most of it, it was a good job I asked Matt to come with me as I don't think I took it all in.  He examined me - once again no pain for me at all.  I did ask how dangerous cysts are, to which he said, good question and went on to explain that they really need to see what is in the cysts, because if it is mucus they are dangerous.  The only way they can do that is to go in and see as the scans can't answer that.  Regardless of all that, my ovary is a very weird shape so something is happening which is wrong and they need to come out.  It might even be that the consultant opens me up, finds that it isn't just regular cysts and then I will get referred elsewhere for more treatment.  Mention was made of maybe having to have my bowel operated on at some stage too but neither of us can remember why or when - something to ask before the op I think!

We mentioned Japan. He said we would need to speak to our insurance company and see what they say.  He said I should be OK to go as I don't have any symptoms and have obviously been living with it quite happily for a while, but he can't guarantee my health because he doesn't know what is wrong.  We asked what to say to the insurance company - he didn't really know, but said that he would send me an email to help us out.  I then had to see some nurses for a pre-op assessment: lots of questions and more blood tests.  I also need a CT scan and ECG (if he opens me up and finds bad things the operation could go from 4-6 hours to 10 hours so my heart needs to be strong).  These will be done in Lancaster.

I also discovered that Babs is a MacMillan Nurse and that I have been assigned to her and another, Val in Preston who was present during the whole consultation.  I can call them anytime with any question, no question is a silly question etc etc.

It was a lot to take in, we managed to keep our composure until we were out, and then we both had a few wobbles.  The worst thing is the uncertainty, we thought we would get the answers to our questions, but we didn't.  We still don't know if we can go to Japan, we should be going next week.  It is all going to be very very last minute.  Obviously we are both holding on to the thought it is just a mass of cysts that will be removed during the hysterectomy and that will be that.

We got home, to find a letter about my CT scan being booked in for next week.  We then went straight out to the Old Post Office for a drink and tea before heading home and making lots of phone calls to family: with a date in the diary, and no guarantee of any further clarification, it was time to tell everyone.

Friday morning we made an appointment at the school and managed to see Mrs Colledge and Miss Middleton in the afternoon so they are aware and very supportive, they told us in no uncertain terms that they would look after Tom.  We've even been told we can take holiday in term time after the op if we wish, not a problem at all, so finally we have extenuating circumstances for a holiday in term time!!!!!!!!

When Tom came home on Friday we spoke to him.  He knows I have a poorly tummy as it was the odd wack from him that caught me in the tummy that made me wonder what was up as it hurt way more than it should.  He knows not to kick, thump etc my tummy.  So we just told him that I have to go into hospital for an operation to make my tummy better as I have a lump in it and that I will be in hospital in Preston for 5 days.   It is the truth, just haven't told him alternative outcomes.  We haven't told him that maybe our trip to Japan will be cancelled, we will wait until after the first conversation with the insurance company for that.  I have a feeling he will be more upset about a missed trip to Japan than my poorly tummy!

We are now waiting for the email from the consultant to send to the insurance company, I wonder what is going to happen there, whatever happens, it is going to be very last minute.  

I spent this week finding someone else to make a wedding cake for 30th April - which I did as it was looking more and more likely that I would be out of action then.  Huge relief that I found someone who looks good and the Bride and Groom were very understanding, such a shame I'm not doing it though, it was going to be a good one to do.

I spent Friday finishing off cakes as far as I could in an attempt to have next week clear for any last minute panics and I'm going to say no for any cake bookings in the coming months.

Oh guess what - we spoke to the District Council this week about the proposed development - the decision is going to Committee which is great.  If it makes the April meeting it will be on the 11th April!!!!!!!!!! You couldn't make it up could you!  I now need to find someone else to represent us for that!  

First kiss!

On Tuesday, it was Matthew's party - which was bowling in Morecambe.  It was a full class party so plenty of girls!  On Monday, Tom had told us "I'll tell you something to make you jealous!" - turns out he has a new girlfriend Ella, AND they were engaged and in love.

Oooooh, exciting stuff!  She was at the bowling party and made sure that Tom was on her team - so Tom was in a team of girls, he was happy.  Every time Tom bowled he got a peck on the cheek from Ella. It was all very very sweet and innocent.  Afterwards they went to the restaurant for pizza and chips.  Here Ella made sure she sat next to Tom, they were very happy together (see photo below) and ate their pizza etc without incident.  Until, at some point, Ella decided to snog Tom and when I say snog I mean lip to lip for a good 10 seconds before coming up for air!!!!!!!!!  Not just once, not twice, but again and again.  It was the talk of the party - both with the children and the mums.  I had the parenting dilemma, what on earth should I do in this situation?  All the 'action' was coming from Ella but her Mum wasn't there.  In the end I asked Tom if he was OK with everything that was going on and told him he didn't have to be kissed if he didn't want to.  It seemed he was very very happy about the situation, though and went back for more.  I left them to it, it was innocent, but quite a display.  The Mum who had responsibility for Ella did have a quiet word though as she thought someone should say something to her!

The loved up couple

The next morning I saw Ella's Mum in the playground, who was mortified by the whole episode.  She could hardly look at me.  One of the mums had told her what happened.  I tried my best to put her at her ease, it was a giggle and innocent, nothing more.  Anyway, she said she had had a word with her!

On Wednesday afternoon, Tom bounded out of school, very happy.  I asked him how Ella was and was told 'She dumped me....but it doesn't matter because now I have two girlfriends: Lauren and Freya'  He had a huge smile on his face as did Lauren.  I think Freya is completely unaware that she is Tom's 'second' girlfriend but Lauren looked over the moon.  Lauren is one of our favourites, so we are happy with that.

The love lives of 6 and 7 year olds certainly is fast moving!

Oh, we had Anthony from Okabe and Yampolsky stay with us on Tuesday.  He is over on a Land Rover holiday and visited us as part of it.  Matt went out with him during the day whilst I was ferrying children around for bowling and then we had dinner together in the evening - Beef in Beer, as English as I could go without making a roast, which was logistically quite difficult with being out.  He was a very easy guest, but boy could he talk, it was completely impossible to finish a conversation with him.  Not a huge problem, but I was tired and wanted to go to bed!

London

Sushi go round

On Friday, we picked up Tom from school and headed straight to Lancaster as we were catching the train to London to see Helen, Max and Baby Aster.  First stop, though, was an early tea at Nami Sushi.  We had forgotten that Tom hadn't been yet, he was very excited to see all the sushi passing by on the conveyor belt.  We let him choose a plate (he went for salmon surprise, surprise) and then we shared a chicken katsu curry, a salmon teriyaki don, some gyoza and edamame.

We then headed to the station and got our train to Euston (a Pendolino called Stephen Sutton).  The train left on time, our reservations held and we arrived in Euston on time - can't ask for better than that.  We then got ourselves across to Ilford, where we were met by Helen.  We got to her house at 9pm, not bad considering we left Lancaster at 5.40pm.

Baby hugs

We were greeted by Max, cheese, wine and biscuits - fantastic, we settled right in.  It was a good night, but quite a late night, and quite an alcoholic night!  We got to stay in their new loft conversion too, which was amazing.  Very very comfortable and large.  Normally after a bit of a drink, neither of us sleep too well, but we were out for the count here.

Imperial War Museum

On Saturday, we had a bit of a lie in, and then a breakfast of croissants, pains aux raisin and pains au chocolat.  They must have known our tastes as this is Matt's favourite.  We tucked in and then we headed out to the Imperial War Museum.  It has been refurbished, and Max thought it might be interesting for Tom.  We were wowed by the place.  The display on the first world war on the bottom floor was amazing, full of interactive displays for Tom to play with and plenty for us to read, learn and be interested by too.  We lost a good 90 mins in there, I could have spent the whole day just in that bit.  We headed to the restaurant for lunch (surprisingly good and reasonably priced) and then went to the second world war - not quite as good, but plenty of interesting vehicles for Tom including the front part a Lancaster bomber.

Bang!

We stopped for tea and a bun, during which time Helen and Aster joined us, and then headed to another floor where we learnt about life for an ordinary family during the second world war (children were evacuated from London to the countryside (?) of Wokingham - poor things!!!!!).  We then decided we had had enough - we had been there for 5 hours, so we got the bus (front seat upstairs!) and then train back to Ilford.  

Northern Baby!

We were joined by Phil and Anna (Matt's friends from Uni - Max and Phil went to university together) and were treated to 4 curries, rice, naan, popadoms and lots of other Indian treats.  Fantastic - just what we all needed with our hunger hangovers.  We all tucked in and ate too much, but were much more restrained with the alcohol intake this evening.

Lovely girlies

We had another amazing night sleep in our suite and a lie in - in fact I was told to stay in bed whilst Tom and Matt went down to the kitchen.  I got breakfast in bed (more pastries) and a bunch of flowers and a card, it was Mother's Day.  Great start to the day.  We then headed in to London Kings Cross to meet up with Katherine and Lily for lunch.    A good time was had by all.  Too quickly it was time to say goodbye.  Shame, we had a wonderful time, great hospitality, great hotel room, baby Aster was a joy (once she got to know us) - lovely to have some baby hugs, Isobel was also very good company and entertained Tom in lovely style, and well, we all got on and had a great time.  Tom was exceptionally well behaved during our time away.  On the train on the way home, I even got to read a book (and Matt got three long-ish patentability reports translated) whilst he amused himself (unheard of to date).  We had dinner at The Bridge on the way home and were in bed nice and early.

Thank you Helen and Max for a great weekend.

World Book Day

The Question Man

Do you know the answers?

So it finally happened, Tom's school asked for everyone to turn up at school dressed as a character from a book for World Book Day.  We found out last Friday so had under a week to cobble something together and as we had a busy weekend, didn't have the opportunity to go looking for items in shops.   

I went into blind panic (as I always do for anything fancy dress) especially as the note said to turn up as a 'character' from a favourite book.  Tom doesn't read story books!  In the end I decided to attack a white t-shirt and turn it into his favourite fact book.  It stretched my drawing skills no-end but I was happy with the result - and it was educational!  Here's the result - he named himself 'Question Man'.

Very busy weekend

Saturday - wow, what a day!  It all started at 9.30 with a home football match against Embsay.  They only won it!  It was the coach's birthday and we all thought he would explode, he got so excited.  It was won on the last kick of the game too.  Tom played OK and contributed to the last goal, but he still doesn't have a hunger for the ball, so doesn't tackle.  I tell you what though - I was jumping up and down on the side line and got very excited.  What a good day.

We got home, chucked Tom in the shower to warm up and then had a snack, wrapped up warm and headed to Meadow Falls for their pre-opening party.  This is a new camp site just opened up in the village, run by the parents of one of Tom's classmates.  They have come here from Cheshire, hoping for a better / slower life for their children.  They have been here almost a year and have lived in a caravan for most of that, have had almighty battles with the planners, but have finally got to where they need to open up.  It's a much better camp site than the others in the area and the toilet blocks are lovely and warm which is a major bonus.  We had campfire chilli and jacket potatoes whilst chatting with other parents, the kids were gone on arrival and only acknowledged us when they needed food / drink / a wee.  A good afternoon was had by all.

We got home, Tom got changed into his 'party shirt' and we headed out completed with lots of cakes to Isabella's 6th birthday party - a Boogie-on-Down party with one of the local dance teachers.  Once again, once we arrived, Tom was off and we didn't see him again.  He got stuck in with the dance and had a ball.  Matt and I helped with the food (putting it out and eating it at the end) so we had a good time too.

Biking on the prom

We got home, had a quiet hour and then headed out again to the Community Centre to see the local panto, The Wizard of Oz.  We have now got to the point where we know enough people that at these events we are saying hello to quite a number.  The panto was great, the usual anti-Bentham jokes, we recognised most of the children in the chorus and enjoyed the pantomime dame (one of the local councillors who doesn't mind poking fun at himself).  A great night out - Tom was sat on the front row and went up on stage for a song and a sweet.  We enjoyed it from the back.  Didn't get back home until after 10pm after a very very long and exciting day.

Battenburg time

On Sunday we all had a lie in.  Tom declared that he wanted to go on a cycle ride in Morecambe.  It was a bright and sunny day, so we agreed and loaded up the car.  We parked up by Hest Bank and cycled down to the Stone Jetty - had lunch at the cafe, which has reopened after a refurb, it was remarkably cheap - way cheaper than before.  We then headed down to Heysham before turning round and cycling back.  I was wondering why I was getting tired cycling on the flat and discovered that the brakes on the front wheel are rubbing on the wheel - very glad I'm not a wuss, but need to sort it out before we go out again, very glad we weren't on hilly terrain.  We completed the cycle (over 9 miles in the end) and headed to The Shore Cafe at Hest Bank for tea and a bun.  Tom's cake of choice - a battenburg (taking after his Great Nanna!)

We then headed home with a very tired Tom, yesterday had caught up with him.  Matt and I were tired too, so we had a very quiet afternoon before tea and bed.

Railway Boys

"For The Fallen"

On Saturday, the three boys went out for a day on the trains, so I'll let Matt describe.  I stayed at home and caught up on cake orders.  I brought in over £350 of orders so quite a good result for me.

Yes, Saturday was a boys' day out, courtesy of one of Northern Rail's occasional newspaper token days out. It was a foul day, so sitting on trains seemed like as good a way as any to avoid the downpours. Tom, Grandpa and I left Settle around 9.30 and headed to Leeds, where we only had to wait around 15 minutes before our next train, to Manchester via a number of proper old Pennine towns - Halifax, Hebden Bridge, Mytholmroyd ...

Lunch at Umezushi

Manchester Victoria station has recently emerged from a super-expensive multi-year refurbishment, so we were hoping that there might be somewhere pleasant/interesting to have lunch. Fat chance. All we could find was a Starbucks and a formulaic pub that was right down at the bottom of the Trip Advisor rankings. However, the same website indicated that there was a decent Japanese restaurant only a couple of minutes walk away, so off we splashed through the puddles. Well worth the trip. Umezushi was a nice looking place, with pleasant staff and nice yakitori at sensible prices. We ate well.

Thence back through the rain to the station, where we boarded an ancient old all-stations diesel train to Preston, where we tried to avoid a few hundred football fans before heading back east through yet more proper old Pennine towns (Blackburn, Accrington, Burnley...) to Bradford. We had enough time for a quick tea and a bun in Patisserie Valerie, which probably cost more than a full meal for 4 at the Kashmir would have!
Our journey home involved the electric train to Keighley, followed by a "rubbish train" to Giggleswick, where Nik met us with the car. We then dropped Grandpa off at home and had the usual excellent grub at the Harts Head before heading home.

Anyway, it was a nice day out, through some lovely scenery (despite the grim weather), and the Japanese lunch was definitely a bonus.

Assuming Arriva Rail North (the next franchise operator) carried on with these rover tickets, we'll try and go round the Cumbrian coast next time.

On Sunday, we had another quiet day, hoping to recharge Tom after his day out yesterday in time for school on Monday.   It was a horrible day so Tom spent the morning finishing off his thank you cards. We then headed into Settle so he could get a sound chip installed in his new train (birthday present to himself from all his birthday money) and then we headed up to the cafe in Horton-in-Ribblesdale for lunch.  I had a banana and lime pickle toastie (it sounded interesting and it was - not sure if it was sweet or savoury or hot or cold,  don't think I will have it again!)  We then returned home and watched films whilst cuddled up on the sofa.

Half Term

On Ilkley Moor

Monday we had a very easy day: a slow morning, then we went to Kirkby Lonsdale to do the river walk, followed by lunch at Country Harvest and then back home to crash on the sofa and watch Big Hero 6.  He's better today, but crashed around 1.30 and really recover.

His illness isn't helped by the fact he has about 4 wobbly teeth at the moment, including two of which are hanging on by threads.  He doesn't want to loose them so gets really upset about it all especially if they catch or bleed.  It is having an effect on his eating, he won't eat anything hard or sharp and it takes an age for him to eat anything as it all has to go in the side of his mouth and be chewed at the back.  He can't cut anything at all with his front teeth.  We have had a lot of tears, we can't wait for them to come out.

Cow and Calf Rocks

Tuesday, Tom was feeling a bit better which was good because he was due to spend a day with Grannie and Grandpa - after all that is why they have moved up here, to spend more time with him and I'm sure they have more fun with him if we aren't around.  They decided to head to Skipton Castle with him, so we dropped him off and then headed further East.  We had planned to go to Brimham Rocks, but the traffic was very slow (still road closures from the floods) so we decided to stop at Ilkley and discover Cow and Calf Rocks instead.  However, it was lunch time when we arrived in Ilkley, so we decided to have a little explore and find a tea room first.  It is quite a well-to-do town, it has charm, and the feeling of lots of money, although there were quite a few charity shops (all very nicely presented).  It even has a satellite of Betty's Tea Rooms - and seeing the prices they charge, it really does need to be a well to do town!  We found another tea room - Cafe J and had a rather nice lunch at a reasonable price.

After lunch we headed up onto the moor (both of us singing On Ilkla Moor Baht' at - well it's hard not too!)  We found a place to park and clambered up on the moor and found the cow and calf rocks.  We tried using our imagination to turn the rocks into a cow and a calf, but didn't manage it.  Anyway a good time was spent clambering, even though it was very very windy.  Luckily there was a pub very near by so we had a restorative drink before heading back to Settle and picking up a very happy Tom - seems like he and his grand-parents had a great time without us.

Tea was fun (not!)  Tom's very loose tooth was causing him grief, as a result it took a very long time for him to eat anything.  We had risotto as I knew he would have difficulty, but it was quite ridiculous.  Problem is that he refuses to touch his tooth or wobble it out - so it is hanging on by a thread.

Tom and Lord Hinton

At bedtime I asked to see inside his mouth to find his tooth had gone!  The thread must have snapped during tea time and he must have ate it.  Oops.  Tom cried when I told him it had gone (silly boy) but managed to recover himself to write a letter to the tooth fairy to apologise for eating it, so he could get his reward.

Wednesday morning Tom and Matt headed to Settle to get their train tickets for a 'Boys Day Out' on Saturday whilst I put together a cake for a lady in the village (normally I don't do cakes during the holidays, but this is for a lady who has cancer and children at the school - I figured I should make time to do something nice for her).  Matt and Tom returned back to in time for lunch so we headed out to Inglesport, we then had a quiet afternoon.

In The Cavern

Thursday we figured we really should do something this half term, so we decided to head out to Liverpool to go to The Beatles Story as we had vouchers for it.  We decided to go a different route to normal (via Ormskirk) and arrived in a cold but clear Liverpool.  The first leg of the journey was popular with the boy. It was an old-fashioned engine-pulling-coaches type train, and the engine doing the pulling (pushing actually) was the same class as the super-duper digital locomotive he now has on his train set.
First stop was lunch, unfortunately Etsu wasn't open so we headed to Miller & Carter instead for a light steak bite (if there is such a thing).

Heading to America

Then to The Beatles Story which was good.  They focused on the people that made the Beatles: Brian Epstein, George Martin etc, and recreated The Cavern and The Yellow Submarine.  It was very interesting - but I would have loved a bit more about the music.  The museum was pretty empty which we were really surprised by, in fact Liverpool was pretty empty, we could only assume that it wasn't half term there, great for us though, we had expectations of overcrowding so were very pleasantly surprised.

We all live in a Yellow Submarine!

We finished off the museum visit with a 'Beatles Cookie' and a drink and then walked over to the Pier Head to the second museum where we enjoyed a 4d film involving the Beatles music (and a Ringo Starr with very rolly eyes).

Psychedelic Tom

We then decided it was time to head home before Tom got too tired.   We went home the traditional way, stopped off at a pub in Hornby for tea.

The Fab Six

Once again Tom had a problem with a very wobbly tooth (one of his big upper front teeth).  He had ordered macaroni cheese, but even this was causing him grief.  He had a mouth full of blood!  I asked him if it was ready to come out, he said yes, so I asked him to pull it out.  To my astonishment, he grabbed it and gave it a quick pull, it came out.  Hurray!!!!!!  I wrapped it up in a serviette and put it in my bag.  Well done Tom!  At last - we've been waiting ages for these to come out and at last he had the courage to pull it out - phew!  He ate up the rest of the pasta and then we headed home and he went straight to bed.

Gappy Tom

Friday - another quiet day, so Tom could recover from Liverpool.  The morning was spent writing Thank You cards, then we went to Ireby for lunch and returned home to watch films and play on the model railway.  Not a fun day, but necessary to try to get Tom well enough for school again next week.  Oh, and Tom has been actively wobbling his other loose tooth today - hurray, maybe this one won't take as long to come out.  He is looking very gappy now though!

Poorly Boy

King Tom

So Tom enjoyed his last day at school as a Fairytale King, by all accounts, they didn't do any work, just lots of activities and a Grand Ball in the afternoon.  We asked who he danced with, to which the answer was "Lucas OF COURSE".  Silly us for asking the question!

He was pretty happy, but we figured he was tired so asked him what he wanted to do for tea - answer was Fish and Chips - so we headed off to get some.  He ate a monster portion of them.  He may be pale and tired, but his appetite was fine.

Saturday morning we asked if he wanted to play football - he did, so we took him along.  He then had a football party directly afterwards, which once again he was insistent he wanted to do.  When he came home he had a shower and then went for a lie down in bed until Karen, Adam, Leia and Rosa arrived around 2.30 - they were visiting for the night.  He was in good spirits and played happily with them.

Tom and Leia

They went to bed around 9pm, but at 2am he was up with a hurting ear, then again at 4 and again at 6.  In the morning he was inconsolable, crying and crying.  Why do these things always happen at the weekend?!  We discovered that there was an out of hours surgery at Kendal Hospital, so the Komorowskis' visit came to an abrupt end and we took him to the hospital.  We were lucky, there was no-one in the waiting room, so we got seen straight ahead.  The doctor said he had a very ANGRY ear, so gave us some penicillin.  We then went for lunch at the Motor Museum (as requested by Tom) and headed back home.

Not a great start to the half term, but I'm not surprised, he was 'on the edge' all last week!

The Best Narrator

Narrator Tom

Thursday was a big day for Class 3, it was their annual show.  Instead of a nativity this year, their teachers decided to do a Fairytale with a difference.  The show consisted of children from years 1 and 2, each child in year 2 had a speaking part (the first time for all of them as in previous nativities - all they have done is sing and dance).

Tom had the privilege of being a narrator.  I was very pleased as it meant that I didn't have to come up with a costume as he just had to be smart.  A friend had given us a smart shirt, tie and waistcoat outfit which was perfect, Tom was very excited to be wearing a tie.  They had two performances: 9.30 and 6.00.  Matt and I went to both, Bob to the morning one and Pat to the evening one.  

The play had been written by Tom's teacher and was Cinderella with a difference - from the viewpoint of Prince Charming and with a host of fairytale characters in it. 

The cast

As we thought it was just lovely.  Each child was wonderful, they all shone.  Obviously we are biased, but we thought Tom was wonderful, he had quite a few lines, but had learnt them all off by heart, however, he had been given a book to read from - just in case he got lost.  He also had lots of jobs to do: he had to clean up after the ugly sisters, put an extra bit of stage on for Michael Jackson and was the programme seller at the start of the show etc etc.  He had a very loud voice and spoke slowly so every word could be understood.  We were very proud.  In the morning performance he even delivered a line with his back to the audience whilst climbing up some staging as the other narrator had started whilst he was doing a job on the stage.  The line was delivered clearly - so it didn't really matter that he had his back to us all.  (This didn't happen in the 6pm performance as the first narrator waited for him to return to his seat before delivering her lines).

I can't say he was belting out the songs, but he still did us proud.  In the evening performance he had to run off and get some flowers and give them to the teachers, which he did without a hitch.  

Tom was absolutely buzzing on the way home saying he wants to do it every day. I just wish we could have recorded it so we could be reminded of it and show those who weren't there.  A pure gold day - we all went to bed happy.

7

 So it happened, Tom has turned 7.  I've not been looking forward to it as I think 7 is a proper age - I can remember being 7.  He really is growing up!  We celebrated the day by getting up at 6.30, so he had enough time to open all his presents, be excited and play with some of them.

Lots of presents

As usual he got a good haul.  His main present from us was a digital controller and train for his train set.  The digital train is all singing, all dancing, in that it lights up and makes really realistic sounds.  It also starts and stops really smoothly.  It has been an immediate hit, which is good because his interest had been waning.  Matt is really excited about it too.

Bruder - hurray!

He also got some more Bruder, other vehicles, loads of clothes, money, jigsaw and lots of other bits and pieces.  For breakfast he had the last of a packet of smoked salmon which I had been saving  - how spoilt!!!!

He went happily to school for the day - they were doing a dress rehearsal of their show today for the whole school - which he was really looking forward to - because he got to wear his tie!  He came bouncing out of school - but was worryingly pale.  We took him home and fed him some snacks to try to perk him up.

A good haul

Grannie and Grandpa came round about 3.45 with their presents and he received calls from Granma and Pop Pop and Jude before heading out for birthday pizza at Kirkby Lonsdale with Grannie and Grandpa (delicious - he ate a good half of the garlic prawn pizza) before his swimming lesson.  We could tell he was tired as he was much slower than usual at swimming - we were in two minds whether to go or not but he was insistent that he was OK.

We came home and he went straight to bed, happy but very very tired.

Birthday tea in Avanti

Foot Golf Birthday Party

Foot Golf

Today was Tom's birthday party.  We had taken a risk and booked an outdoor activity - Footgolf.  Essentially booting a football around a golf course, where the holes are football sized.  Tom had chosen 8 friends, all the boys from his class and Lily and Lauren.

The party was complete chaos, there were rules, which we tried to follow for the first hole (wait for the ball to stop before kicking it, counting the number of kicks, no dribbling etc etc) but it descended into complete chaos, and in the end it was easier and less stressful to just go with the flow. 

It was very windy, but the rain held off.  Various children whined and whinged (the less sporty ones) but I think on the whole they had a good time.  Certainly a nice walk for the adults with some good views over the Lune.  We whizzed round the course (they were all running and dribbling with the ball by the end) and came back to the club house where they were busy serving up pizza and chips for everyone.  Nice food too!  

Party food!

The kids were very very loud and there were some snooty old ladies out for a genteel Sunday round of golf who weren't too happy to share the course with us and then were probably devastated to have to have lunch in a very noisy room as well.  They didn't get much sympathy from us as they were so snooty to us on the course!

Hamish the Highland Cake

Tom was very pleased with his Highland Cow cake (he requested it ages ago), so much so that he kissed it and shouted "Don't kill the cow" as I cut into it.  No one seemed to have trouble eating it though!

Once it was over, both Matt and I crashed.  We headed to Sizergh Barn for tea and a bun, and then back home where we collapsed.  Matt then treated me to a platter at the Old Post Office as I was not in the mood to cook.  It was a good idea. 

Then back home to bed - Tom has a very busy week this week, what with his birthday and his school play!

First Goal

Goal reward

So Saturday saw us in Skipton at 9am for a very cold and rainy football match against Embsay.  We thought we might be in with a chance for a win as they had been thrashed by Settle and Grassington - by more goals than us.  It wasn't to be though.  They played on AstroTurf, the only place we can play at the moment with this weather.  It was a good game (i.e. a good atmosphere) but Craven were well and truly beaten.  However, Tom scored his first goal for the team.  Matt was so so proud and I don't think Tom could believe it! (Matt: it was a cracking goal - right into the corner, from a long way out)

We celebrated by heading to Keelham afterwards.  I got Tom into some warm dry clothes and we bought him a big mug of hot chocolate to warm him up.  Then a little bit of shopping before heading home via the Highland Cow road.  We mooched around for a while before heading out to Inglesport for a large lunch - chilli for Matt and I and a jacket potato for Tom.

Flying Scotsman

Despite the horrible weather, Tom and I (Matt) headed up to Ribblehead before tea to see Flying Scotsman's delayed first run along the Settle and Carlisle line since refurbishment. The crowds were amazing, around 2 miles of parked cars along the B6255, but we timed it absolutely perfectly, parking the car about 10 seconds before the train started to cross the viaduct. It was a fine sight, and I was more than a little jealous of the people in the Pullman dining cars, who had paid £400 a head for the experience.

Pie and Peas

The evening saw us in Eldroth Village Hall for a musical evening.  The Shults had invited us and the Bickerstaffs.  It was a really good night.  Most of the audience were old ladies but the band played music from our University days so we were belting out the tunes with them and the children were up the front dancing away.  Jack, Seth and Isabella are all natural dancers and were dancing care-free.  Tom was up there through peer pressure, but he had a good time.  Tea was pie and peas, and then a bit more dancing before we headed home - shame I could have stayed all night.  Was some very good people watching to be had, but essentially the wine was good, the company good and therefore the mood good.  Didn't get home until almost 11pm!  What naughty late night stop outs we are!

Spokeswoman

So Monday was the Parish Council meeting, we went along to make our objections in person.  It was a strange experience.  We (or rather Matt) were told that not everyone could talk so a spokesperson was needed.  I decided to do it as I have done so much research on it and had made a crib sheet of the main objections.  How I was supposed to voice all the objections of the other people in the meeting who I had only just met I don't know so I opened it up to everyone else when I had finished - I guess I did an OK job as no-one had any other points to make.  The council agreed with all I had to say and said that they would make their objections known to the District Council as long as I forwarded all my info to them.  That is the best outcome I could expect.

As I left, people came up to say well done and afterwards, Matt got an e-mail from a school Governor who was there saying I did good.

The meeting was very much the reserve of retired men.  There was one woman who didn't say anything, and one guy our age, but everyone else was of retirement age.  When we walked into the meeting the Chair spoke to Matt about arranging a spokesperson and a number of people who turned up to object told Matt what a good letter he had written.  Matt had to explain that it was me who had done it.  Sexism isn't dead here!

The meeting was badly run by the Chair, who seemed unable to wind up any discussion or steer people towards action points. No wonder nothing ever gets done here.  Apparently the Parish Council have been given £110,000 by the District Council to spruce up the village.  No-one knew what was happening or how much of the money had been spent, this coming from people on the steering team?  I don't quite understand how that can happen.  Anyway for sure the needs of young people and middle aged people aren't met by the council.

Anyway we have a week left to gather more evidence and make our objections known to the District Council...

Another grey weekend

It was another grey, miserable weekend.  I had a cold for it so the weather suited me just fine!

Tom spent the morning at the scout hut playing football again as the fields were waterlogged again.  He then spent the afternoon with Matt and Grandpa at a model railway exhibition in Kendal whilst I stayed home and felt sorry for myself.

Trainspotting

The model railway exhibition was very good - some very impressive layouts, but Tom showed little interest in the actual scenery of layouts, and much preferred standing behind the layouts watching the operators do their stuff in the "fiddle yards". Why does this nor surprise me?

Sunday, we had more of the same weather so we decided to get the train to Bradford for curry.  We went back to our old favourite - The Kashmir where the service was a little more enthusiastic than usual.  It was still quite cheap, although Tom had his own curry this time, so it was over £20!  We spent the rest of the day feeling bloated, so much so that neither Matt nor I had tea.  Tom did though - and he ate the same amount of curry as we did!

Miserable rainy weather!

Our Craven Wanderer

We were back to grey, miserable weather again this weekend.  Boo!  First up on Saturday was a trip out to Grassington as Tom had a match there.  His team lost, but it was to be expected, they haven't played on grass for over 8 weeks now due to water
logged fields at the school, so they were out of practise.  That being said, they all did well, everyone got a game and they seemed to enjoy themselves.  Tom's not ultra competitive, so doesn't mind when they lose.

Moo

We decided to take advantage of our location and head to Keelham Farm Shop for lunch and a quick shop (our freezer seems to be full at the moment).  We then went home via the Highland Cow road so we could say hello.

Sunday was horrible again, so we decided to go on a train trip.  We drove to Carnforth and got the train to Grange-Over-Sands.  We had lunch at a rather lovely tea room: Hazelmere Cafe where they bake lots of artisan breads.  We then went for a walk in the drizzle before getting the train home.  Not an exciting weekend I'm afraid.

Snow!

Zooming down the slope

We had snow this weekend!  We didn't get to play in it on Saturday, but we did on Sunday.  We were one of the first to get to The Old Hill Inn and we spent a good 2 hours sledging up and down the slopes.  Half of Tom's class were there too, so there was a really good atmosphere.  Note to self though, we need another sledge as Tom wants to go by himself now, so Matt and I have to wait AGES to have a go.

Happy, rosy cheeks!

After 2 hours we all had freezing cold feet, so we decided to leave everyone to it and head up to Hawes in search of food.  We figured we had been good active boys and girls so we headed to the Penny Garth cafe in search of their fab chips.  It was a great morning, Tom would have stayed all day if he hadn't got cold feet!  As we drove back past the slope, we saw loads and loads of people on it - we definitely did good by doing the morning slot - fresh snow and more space!






You Tube Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AVJOHP8adbM