Au Revoir x

So the end of term came, and along with it our last day.

Celebrations have been celebrated

Speeches made

Presents presented
Cards opened
Hands shaken

Hugs given

Goodbyes said

And a few tears shed ....

And we walked away from the school where we had spent the last twenty years of our lives.

We are now entering the next phase of our lives.

Our plans?

There really are no plans - apart from setting off with our caravan whenever the weather is nice.

We'll just see what happens.

I've decided that I won't be sending any more Postcards  .... this is my last post.

It was fun while it lasted but as you may have noticed, I've lost my direction in blogging recently and my posts here have been few and far between. 

Over the past four years or so this blog has documented the highs and lows of my life, and I feel I made many friends out there. Thank you for reading my little postcards and I appreciated every comment made.

However, I think as my life is changing, the time has come to move on. A fresh start!

I'm going to try out new blog called The Next Phase where posts may be more frequent (or more likely sporadic.... I don't know yet).


Au Revoir xxx

Chester Midsummer Watch

 The ancient streets of Chester were a riot of colour today as the Midsummer Watch parade took place.

 Amid much drum banging, bugle blowing and more whistles than a world cup match, the performers whirled and danced in the warm sunshine, to the delight of the crowds lining the streets.

The procession in Chester dates back more than 500 years to medieval times. It was banned in the 1600's because there was much revelling and drunkenness, but was revived this century with a cast of many of the original characters.

The Romans

The Green Man

The Sun

The Pirate Ship

Angels

My favourite character is the unicorn.

The Elephant and Castle date back to the original parades.

The lady giant in blue is St Werburgh who is the patron saint of the cathedral.

Chester has a family of giants - a mother, a father  and two daughters.

This dragon was quite ferocious and was actually breathing fire at times.

This character is Hell's Mouth ....

.... which opens to reveal skeletons inside. Great fun!

You can find out more about the history of this ancient tradition here:

http://www.midsummerwatch.co.uk.

There's also a Winter Watch parade every year in December.... so different from this one as it takes place in the evening in the darkness and it's usually freezing cold.

We couldn't have had a more perfect day for the Midsummer Watch today as we are basking in bright sunshine. Long may it continue!!!!

Hello May!

Oops! I seem to have missed April completely while we sorted out our internet problems, which is a pity because we did lots of lovely things last month.

A very special afternoon tea to celebrate my daughter's birthday (and a belated Mother's Day).

A glorious few days before Easter when we took our caravan up to Patterdale in the Lake District

followed by a lovely few days in the Yorkshire Dales. 

Our children were home for Easter. The first time we've had four places at the table since January.

We had a fun day out in Chirk Castle and wondered why we'd never been before.

and celebrated a very special birthday for my mum with a lopsided cake.

All too soon there were sad goodbyes as our children headed back to their grown-up lives far from home. As always Inca got more hugs and kisses than we did!

Lately we've been making the most of the fine evenings by getting out on the Wirral Way. This photo is just to prove that I have actually been on my bike, and it's not just gathering dust in the garage. We've still been enjoying our Wednesday evening outings after work with some interesting visits around Liverpool .... and the countdown to our retirement in the summer is ticking away nicely.

I'll be honest  .... I've completely lost track with 'Blogland" recently, and I don't know if I want to spend as much time as I used to messing around on the laptop .... so posting might be intermittent     for a while.

Tomorrow we're off to Anglesey for the Bank Holiday weekend. Hopefully, the weather will be fine and we'll be able to do a walk along the coastal path.

Hope you all all have an enjoyable May Day weekend!

My Year in Books - February

So, it's March! Thank goodness! Spring is hopefully just around the corner. We've had some lovely bright - but chilly - days here on the P.P. and yesterday we got out for our first decent walk this year.

Blogging has been conspicuously absent these last few weeks. Our internet connection is driving us mad at the moment. Maybe it's time to change providers. Also, we had a week away in London over half term which was fun.

I'm also late with my Year in Books post for February, so I'm going to tackle that first.

I'm joining in with Karen at A Quiet Corner, linking with Laura at A Circle of Pine Trees. You are invited to just choose a book each month and do a post about it. 

My book for February was The Book Thief by Markus Zusak.

This was a re-reading, before we go to see the film which is out now.

I love this book. Yes, it's all about life under the Nazi regime in Germany during the Second World War, and all the horrors that that would bring, and it's terribly sad. But it's such an uplifting story, where kindness to one's fellow humans cannot be diminished. Highly recommended! I've passed this on to everyone I know, and they have all found it deeply moving.
(Apparently the film doesn't get very good reviews, but we shall see. I'm going anyway.)

My choice for March is a bit out of my comfort zone as I never usually read crime fiction.

It's another one with lots of hype around it, as it was actually written by J.K. Rowling.
I'll let you know what I think of it at the end of the month.

A Belated Chinese New Year

I've just spent a bitterly cold weekend in Newcastle with my daughter. On Saturday we mooched round the quirkier shops, and galleries, and drank lots of hot drinks to keep warm. 

The photographs of Saturday were all grey and grim, but Sunday was much more colourful.

We wrapped up well and popped round the corner from her flat to see the Chinese New Year celebrations. They were a bit later than everywhere else because the local derby football match was played last weekend. It was good for us, because we wouldn't have seen it otherwise.

 We were able to get up really close as the dragon danced right past us. 

 We enjoyed the lion dance too, especially this part when he met up with a friend outside the Chinese Centre.

 The noise from this one drum was deafening!

 This whole street is lined with Chinese restaurants and these wonderful lanterns, and just round the next corner is the Chinese arch.

 We followed the parade down to the archway, and then scurried home to get warm again.

It was painfully cold!

The Year In Books ~ January

I've finished my first book for the on-line book club organised by Karen at A Quiet Corner, linking with Laura at A Circle of Pine Trees. You are invited to just choose a book each month and do a post about it. 

 I've been reading The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt. This book has been ten years in the making, and at over 700 pages long you can see why. There's been a lot of hype about it in the press, with claims that it is like a modern day Dickens classic.

Thirteen year old Theo takes a painting from a gallery after the explosion that kills his mother, and the rest of the book deals with the impact of that decision on his life in the ensuing years. I won't go in to any more details  .... in case you might want to read it too.

At first, I was enthralled by the writing. The descriptions are so detailed and vivid, I couldn't put it down. Theo's grief at the loss of his mother is painfully raw, and as his life spirals into a giddy maelstrom you can feel his hopelessness at the lack of control he has over where he lives and who is supposed to be caring for him.

As the novel progressed though, I realised that I didn't like the adult Theo had become, and I was just plain annoyed as the book descended into a study of addiction and crime. At  about two thirds of the way through I was just longing for it all to finish, and I know I was skimming the final chapters,  just so I could find out what happened in the end.

So, would I recommend The Goldfinch? Yes, if you've got plenty of time on your hands, and you don't mind reading a book where the main characters are quite unpleasant.

Hand on heart I couldn't honestly say I enjoyed it, but it has had many more favourable reviews than mine!


For February, I'm re-reading The Book Thief by Markus Zusak.

I read this ages ago, but the film is coming out at the end of the month and I want to read the book again before I go to the cinema. I remember being blown away by this book, and I've had the same reaction from friends who have read it too.

February

We've had a fault on our landline this past week, leaving us without a phone or broadband.
I found it was no problem coping without a phone, but it's been so hard with no internet.
I thought I generally just faffed around in Blogland and Pinterest and I'd manage for a few days, but we needed to pay bills and get car tax which we always do on-line. We had to do it all in work.

How did we ever manage before computers?

So, it's February already. Do you think it will ever stop raining?

January has left us both with stinking colds ... I'm sitting up in bed writing this post in the middle of the night because I can't breathe. Now, where did I put that box of tissues?