Look to the future now..it's only just begun

These words from Slade's 1973 Christmas song, which is played endlessly every year, always catch my attention. So I'm going to take Noddy Holder's advice and will 'look to the future'.  This doesn't mean that I'll totally stop writing nostalgic posts about memories like my last one; I'm just going to live for now and leave behind things that hold me back or haven't worked for me. This is what is going:

1. Attempting to live a minimalist/waste free lifestyle
Inspired by Claire from Just a little Less, I have tried in the last two years to change my lifestyle and buy only what I need.  This has not worked and causes stress at home because I haven't been able to convince the rest of the household to do the same.  I tried: bought my husband a copy of Stuffocation: Living more with Less for his birthday.  He hasn't read it: I have.  And he continues to buy endless gadgets, cycling gear, musical instruments..  I am now learning to accept this rather than getting annoyed.  And I enjoy shopping for clothes with my daughter (for the first couple of hours anyway) so I'm not going to feel guilty about treating myself to the occasional frivolous purchase.

2. Extreme decluttering
Bought the Marie Kondo book 'The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up' and tried her method (Do you need/love this item?  If not bin it!)   I gave a really warm comfy, good quality Celtic Collection grey wool cardigan to the charity shop.  More fool me, as I want it now.  Our house is still relatively untidy.  This doesn't matter much.

3. Excessive Worry about Work
I've been working a lot more this year and have surprised myself as I've coped well, not getting as stressed as I have done in the past. It's getting older I reckon: I don't worry so much about what others think about me.

And looking to the future...  

Well I'm going to do the conventional New Year thing and improve my fitness.  I've been inspired by another self-help book, a Christmas present from my sister who has recently discovered yoga and has an inspirational teacher, Nicola Jane Hobbs.  She has just published this book - it features my sister's friend Carol, who is my age, as one of the success stories. (Regular readers of this blog may note that I've said before I'm giving up self-help books.  This one is different - I didn't buy it myself..)

 I've let my exercise habit slip since the summer when I was hitting my activity goal every day according to my Polar Loop monitor.  Davina Fit in 15 minutes hasn't been working for me recently as my knees aren't up to the jumping involved. The Yoga Gym is a good alternative and combined with regular dog-walking should help me feel better and maintain flexibility.  I'll track my progress on here.

Happy New Year to you all!

The Floods...and Noah

I've just returned from a few days in Northern Ireland and managed to travel without too much disruption apart from a hour and half delay caused by the plane's steering breaking down just as we were taxi-ing away from the terminal.  That'll teach us not to choose Fly(may)be.  We (daughter Kate and I, abandoning family-phobic husband and dog) spent a few days with NI sister in Dromore looking out over the mist-covered Mourne mountains which you can see from her house and rarely venturing outside.  But in the midst of all the wind and rain there was one morning of calm winter sunshine on Sunday and sister, brother-in-law and I went for a very pleasant walk around the lake in Hillsborough and then to the pub for a hot port, a popular drink in NI which you can rarely get in English pubs. Meanwhile the turkey was cooking nicely - there were 10 of us for dinner that day as youngest sister and her family were there too.  I was in charge of stuffing following my dad's recipe for sausagemeat stuffing and basic parsley-based one.  I just about matched Granda's standard, according to nephew Callum.  Kate and I enjoyed this meal much more than Christmas day when we had an overpriced four course meal in a rather posh restaurant which was a bit too formal for her and full of older people. Then there was more present opening and board game playing.  'Taboo', which I bought for older nieces and nephews, was good fun.

All the footage of the floods in the news recently reminded me of the time we were flooded in Ballyronan 30 years ago.  It was the summer of 1985 and I'd brought the boyfriend who is now my husband to visit the family for the first time.  We were in bed (in separate rooms of course) and I couldn't sleep because of the noise of thunderstorm and the rain which had been lashing down for hours. We'd been flooded before - the sheugh (NI for open drain) was prone to overflowing. So I went downstairs to check and stepped into three inches of water at the bottom of the stairs.  I woke the rest of the household and we spent the next few hours with brushes sweeping the water out ot the front door.  It had collected in the backyard, which is enclosed by outbuildings and a high wall, and had reached up to the windowsill, coming in through the back kitchen door, down the step and then out the front of the house.  So we kept sweeping for the next few hours, while my father went outside with a hammer and chisel and attempted to make a hole in the wall to release some of the water.  Meanwhile my mother stayed in bed, weeping and unable to face the prospect of the mess she'd be clearing up. Another worry was that my youngest sister's new kitten was missing.

All was well in the end: our efforts meant the water never got too deep so most of the furniture could be dried out and there was only one carpet to replace.  My enduring memory is of the layer of slimy mud which covered everything.  And the kitten was found safe and well, on top of one of the old cupboards in the outhouse. We helped clear up and the rain stopped: the next day was glorious and I took Paul to visit the Giant's Causeway.

Miffy the kitten with a very young Paul in 1985.

Me at the Giant's Causeway, the day after the flood

With all the rain in NI in the last week I was concerned that the house would flood again, even though the drains have now been fixed.  It's not empty any more - my cousin's daughter, her husband and new baby are living there.  We visited Ballyronan on Monday and went down to the lough, where the water was very high and had flooded the playground. It seems there was one day that water had been running down the lane like a river, but not, so far, into the house. It is good to see the house being lived in and it was cosy with the Rayburn going again.  And lovely to see the new baby, the first little boy in the house since my dad was born - we were all girls.  And his name is...Noah. Let's hope this little Noah doesn't have a flood to deal with.

Ballyronan Marina, December 28th 2015

So here it is..Merry Christmas

Card designed by niece Hannah

Merry Christmas readers, if any of you are still out there after my long absence.  No excuses really - just got out of the blogging habit.  But resolving to return more regularly in the new year, writing at least a weekly post.  And now, for the record, what I've been doing while not blogging.

Teaching..
more this year as I'm covering my colleague's maternity leave. Most of November disappeared in a blur of marking and preparation. I'm doing more A level English Lit. and I've been teaching poems from the Forward Anthology 'Poems of the Decade' 2002-2011. This has been a challenge but an enjoyable one.  I'll share some of my favourites on here soon.

Hosting...
a visit from Alfrink college in Holland which I've blogged about before.  My lovely friend Anette and four students stayed three days last week with me and other families, telling students at our school about their annual Model United Nations conference.  They impressed everyone at school with their ability to discuss complex global issues in near flawless English. They enjoyed the experience too: I cooked them a welcome meal and introduced them to Christmas pudding and mince pies, and they enjoyed exploring the Christmas market and shops in Chester, which is currently all twinkly with lights.  Their favourite shop? Waterstones book shop, Really good role models for our students,

Catching up with family and going to the theatre...
Brighton sister and brother in law came to stay overnight a couple of weeks ago and we had a night out in Liverpool, Husband and brother in law on a nostalgic trip to see Deaf School, a band they loved when they were in sixth form, many years ago.  Sister and I weren't keen on this and searched for an alternative, choosing a play at the Everyman, 'The Haunting of Hill House'.  Really excellent production. Scary though - highly recommended if you are in the area.

Then another visit to the theatre on Sunday with Manchester sister, daughter Kate and my niece, who celebrated her 10th birthday last week.  For her birthday we bought tickets for Hetty Feather at The Lowry.  This is an adaptation of a Jacqueline Wilson novel, one of my daughter's favourites when she was at that stage.  It was brilliant, Inventive staging, versatile actors - at one point they became convincing circus horses, humour, music, acrobatics and serious issues dealt with in a way which is appropriate for the audience.  Saying that, my niece found some scenes a little upsetting so it's probably not suitable for younger children. My daughter loved it and was very glad to have the excuse of taking her cousin so she could go herself without looking uncool.

And now, suddenly, it's Christmas Eve.  We're at home on the day and then more family visiting as we're travelling to Northern Ireland on Boxing Day.

Two more cards from nephews,  Dominic and Nathan. 

Paris

Planned this weekend to write a catch up blog post - the usual kind of thing about what I've been doing, reading etc. Can't bring myself to do it after waking up yesterday to the news of the horrific terrorist attack in Paris.  All my petty concerns about workload and the messy kitchen brought into perspective.

When we were in New York at half term, we went to the 9/11 memorial. The names of all the people killed are etched on the memorial: ordinary people who went to work that morning and never came home. I wonder what Ann Walsh McGovern, one of the victims whose name I noticed, would be doing now, if those who carried out the attack had remembered their humanity.  What was going through the terrorists' heads as the plane approached the tower?  Any regrets, thoughts of family or twinges of conscience?  Or do they really believe they will be rewarded in the afterlife for their carnage?

What happened in Paris is Europe's 9/11.  A normal Friday night in the city. Young people enjoying a concert. Or at the football. Others enjoying a meal in a restaurant, as we did on our visit to the city in September. Shot in cold blood. Indiscriminately. Randomly.  Families and future plans shattered in an instant. And for what?  What do the terrorists and those who control them want?  How can we stop these things happening?

I grew up with terrorism.  Many people in Northern Ireland and in England lost their lives; many of them were innocent civilians. The violence on both sides was unacceptable.  But at least there was a 'reason' (not quite the word, but you know what I mean) behind it and leaders you could talk to and attempt to negotiate with.  Through peace talks, the violence in Northern has ended.

How can world leaders respond to this attack?  More air strikes?  That's hardly going to solve the problem when there seems to be an unending supply of young men prepared to blow themselves up to combat the evils of the west. Like young people who go out to enjoy themselves on a Friday night.

There'll be a memorial in Paris, just like the one in New York.  We'll visit it and feel sad and sorry for those who have lost their lives.  And secretly, and guiltily, glad it wasn't us, as it so easily could have been.

Time and Times Square

It's half term and eventually I've found time to write a blog post.  Life has been pretty busy as I'm doing more hours at school because my colleague is on maternity leave. I'm doing more A level teaching and that takes a lot of preparation. Don't mind really as I'm quite enjoying the teaching but some things neglected - housework mostly and, unfortunately, the blog.

But now it's half term and I'm in NewYork, staying not far from Times Square.  We're here: me, my sister and daughter Kate to celebrate her 16th birthday which was on Tuesday.  I'm writing this on the iPad and she's still dozing beside me and getting grumpy as I'm waking her up.  Outside I can hear the sound of the city, sirens and horns and the general non-stop buzz of the place. Times Square itself is incredible - a bit overwhelming actually with all the skyscrapers and crowds and flashing billboards.  I'm m happier when we escape the crowds and go to the park.  On Tuesday, it rained and Central Park was quiet so we enjoyed a damp walk round there.  And today we're going to walk The High Line which is an disused overhead freight train line now converted into a garden. And then do some more shopping....which is what the birthday girl likes best. No photos now as haven't uploaded but will try to find time to do this when we get back.

Harvest Moon

Just briefly checking in here with these pictures taken last night of the moon.  I didn@t see the eclipse or whatever it was but we spotted a beautiful full moon rising as we ate dinner last night and I had a go at capturing it.  Not much time for blogging at present nor for reading others so apologies if I am not commenting or posting so much.

End of the Summer Outings

Just a final round up, for the record, of our outings at the end of the summer holidays which, on this wet Monday evening, a week or so later already seem far away. On the day before the children went back to school Kate and I went to Manchester with the small cousins on a damp afternoon and first explored the newly revamped library in St Peter's Square.  I love this circular building and was impressed with how it has been modernised without losing its character. There's a new staircase and glass lift within the old building, yet the central big room with the glass dome is untouched and just as it was when I studied there years ago. We didn't stay too long as we had a few stern glances from disapproving library users when the children discovered the buttons which automatically opened the shelving areas. Then we dodged the rain and the puddles and went to Manchester Art Gallery, where after a brief wander around the exhibits, the children created this work of art.  

And then last weekend we flew to Paris to meet husband and his grown up nephew who had cycled there all the way from London, arriving at the Eiffel Tower on the Saturday afternoon.  I'm running out of time to write this post so I'll let the pictures mostly speak for themselves.  We stayed in a bland marble tower block hotel but had a good view from our 23rd floor room and we weren't far from the Eiffel Tower which was twinkling with sparkly lights when we arrived on the Friday evening.

On Saturday we first went here, then walked down Boulevard St Germain to have a croque madame at Les Deux Magots, shopping en route at H&M which wasn't exactly designer French clothing

We caught a bus to Opera for more shopping and then back to meet the weary, but triumphant

cyclists by the Eiffel Tower. On Sunday, nephew Carl and I climbed the steps to the second floor of the tower, a good way of avoiding the queue, and then took the lift right to the top.  Glad we did, even if husband and daughter got a bit grumpy waiting, as the views were spectacular.

Then we had lunch by the Gard du Nord here and there was just time for a quick walk to the Sacre Coeur, my favourite place in Paris, before catching the Eurostar home.  It was a bit of a shock to get up for work the next day after that.