Puzzling times.

I finished my dissertation!! Wooohooo! I have rarely - if ever - felt as accomplished as I did on getting that piece of work completed, bound and handed in!

I actually ended up at a bit of a loose end after that, and couldn't quite remember what I did with my free time pre-dissertation (which has been part of my life for around a year!). I hadn't even tweeted about anything else - which I know because I checked my own tweets for boredom-busting inspiration.

It was all too easy to find things to do whilst in the middle of the work, but a massive challenge afterwatds for some reason. Obviously I had to do something, so I ended up spending some of my Christmas money on a world map puzzle. Damn I'm cool!

Having Instagrammed "Operation: Puzzle," obviously I now have to share my efforts here as well.

Here's to free time! Mine actually ends tomorrow - hello last term at uni! Scary stuff!

Rubbish drawings!

So I've got into doing rubbish drawings recently. I was Skyping Kate and Owly a week or so ago, and we decided that he needed a new Facebook profile picture. He didn't have a good one, so I drew one for him. we found it so  entertaining that I did one of Kate as well, while she drew me and William.

I downloaded the fox song a couple of days ago, to a serious lack of enthusiasm by others. I drew a rubbish picture of a fox to help the fox song cause. I love the fox song. It's awesome. 59p well spent.

Today's rubbish picture was the result of a tweet I saw during a lecture. A postman had put a "sorry we couldn't deliver" nor through someone's door, explaining that a chicken had escaped!! I foolishly showed it to the people either side of me. We laughed. The lecturer asked what was going on. Oops. Of course, I couldn't NOT do a rubbish picture of a  chicken.

I wonder what the foxes would say about my drawing???

In the park with the dogs, and why I love autumn.

I took Tally and Horatio out today, having forgotten that my camera was in my pocket. Since I had it I started taking photos. Poor Tally has to stay on the lead at the moment (vet's orders). She has been limping for months now, and we don't know why. She had an x-ray on Wednesday, which hasn't shed any light. I have been spoiling her a bit since, though. I spent Wednesday evening sat on the floor with her, and I did coursework on another dog bed for the whole of Thursday. I think we've bonded a bit as a result.

 

 We ended up getting caught in some seriously heavy rain! It was strangely nice, the park emptied, and I just love the smell of rain! Actually, I really love autumn, I think it's my favourite season. Granted it isn't quite the same in London as it is in Cheshire, but having the park over the road helps. I love autumn because I like wrapping up in autumn-y clothes and I love autumn colours. Getting out scarves, hats and gloves is fab! I love the it's-just-rained feeling, and I think frost is really pretty! Plus, I think frost brings a bit of excitement with it. I have dyed my hair for autumn, and bought autumn nail varnish (not that I needed more nail varnish, I own way too much of the stuff).

Another thing I love is coming inside out of the cold or rain, getting into cuddly, comfy clothes and sitting with a cup of sugary tea (even better if there's a fire)! It's just not the same if you haven't braved the weather first! We had the first fire of the year last week (on the 31st October), which is something you really can't match imo. 

One of the things I miss the most about the countryside is seeing the seasons. I have a really clear memory of being in year 13, and looking out of the window with Kerry just before a History lesson. It was very frosty, and lovely to see. I realised and pointed out that it could very well have been the last time we ever saw Cheshire looking like that. And now, before lectures I can gaze at... East London (can I get a "woop woop"?). I love London, but I am SO a countryside girl at heart.

I haven't blogged in ages.

It says it all in the title! I've been thinking about doing another month of photos, and then I decided that it would be really cool to take a photo of Gunnersbury Park from the same place and at the same time every day for the whole of October. That wouldn't work, because I hate being in the same place for a long time so I'm constantly away! I am going to try and do as many as I can though.

Al and I walked the dogs at lunchtime and I did a bit of scouting to decide where I wanted to take the photos from. Unsurprisingly, I chose somewhere on the other side of the park, which makes the whole thing a lot more effort! However, there are a couple of other places that I saw, so I'll try all of them until I decide which one is best. I'm going to suggest to Kerry that she takes a photo of some spot in Lancaster every day. It's a pretty place, I think she could get some really nice pictures.

I'm not with Harriet and Maia any more. I've moved back down to London. Funnily enough, without Maia around I seem to be taking far, far fewer photographs! However, I'm heading into central tomorrow, so I'm guessing I'll take a few pictures then. I might just go into central on Saturday as well; I am dryin dying to do some touristy things!

I got stuck in the shower room for an hour and forty minutes on Friday! The twisty thing on the lock fell off and I couldn't reach the mechanism. Everyone thought it was hilarious, which in hindsight it was. Sigh. However, every cloud has a silver lining. As Harriet pointed out to me, at least I wouldn't've been in any trouble if I needed the loo; it was definitely better than being locked out!

I think there's something wrong, there!

I spent Sunday with my father.... Need I say more?

We set off to drop my grandfather off at the bus station so he could get on the coach home at half nine. Daddy decided on the way that we needed to get  Grandpa a mobile... So we dropped him off the hit Tesco's, before rushing back to give it to him. We then went back to Tesco's, and bought a radio and headphones for a customer of Club Class who is in the hospital. Woody is a disabled guy a few years older than my father. Daddy does accounting for him, as well as most of his shopping and other bits and pieces like that.

While we were at Leighton, we got a phone call saying that Bob (a driver) had broken down in the wheelchair bus, with a wheelchair passenger on board! We got Sue (another driver) to go with the Renault (another wheelchair vehicle) to rescue the customers, while we dropped off the VW Jetta we were in at home (it is automatic, and therefore not great for towing), got in the LDV, got some tools from the yard and drove from Wincham to the other side of Tarporley (a thirty minute drive on a good day).

When we got there we discovered that Sue and Bob were struggling for several reasons: without power, the hydraulics in the bus would allow them to get the passenger out, and they didn't know how to get it into the Renault anyway. Daddy managed in five minutes to get the passenger transferred and took them up the road, to the restaurant they were heading to (they got the trip free of charge by way of apology).

Meanwhile, Sue, Bob and I stayed with the other two vehicles. While we were waiting, I discovered that the problem was less mechanical and more to do with it having run out of fuel. Hahahahahahahahahaha. Of course, it is a diesel engine, which is a little trickier than if it had been petrol. Sue took the Renault home, and Daddy and I towed Bob to a petrol station. Having got some diesel into it, 'we' (by 'we,' I mean them. I was cold so I stayed inside the van) tried and failed to get it going again. We did have a phone call saying that another driver had broken down though.... The fun never stops!

So, we towed Bob halfway back, to another petrol station. A police car nearly crashed into us on the way there, leaving us with a snapped tow rope and, for some reason, snapped front number plate!

After an hour of waiting around, during which time Daddy had collected the Renault from Sue, collected the passengers, taken them home, given Sue back the Renault and come back in the LDV, we got going again.

It later turned out that Bob's bus is barely with repairing. There was more wrong with it than a lack of fuel after all.

The moral of this story is never to pay for an £800 respray of your vehicle, because it might break down!

And I thought Sunday was hectic!

I was rudely awakened at seven thirty on Monday morning by Maia. We came downstaallirs and had a leisurely breakfast while planning our day. We decided to play with her dolls for a bit, do some painting, have lunch and then head off to the swimming pool in the afternoon. HA. I ended up considerably damper than I generally like, and a lot more stressed!

Harriet had phoned as Maia had started her painting to say that the cavity wall insulation and loft insulation people had just let her know that they would be coming in a couple of hours to do the installation. We have been waiting for this, and mucked around with for months now! It did mean that we couldn't go swimming, but there is always Wednesday.

It all started to kick off when I went with Maia to wash all of the paint off her arms. I noticed a suspicious puddle of water on the floor of the hall. On further investigation, I discovered that water was dripping through from upstairs. The majority of it was hidden by a cupboard, the contents of which was soaking. This cupboard is underneath the boiler (which is in the airing cupboard). I went to have a poke about and see what was going on, and discovered that the contents of the airing cupboard was completely soaking.

I phoned H, who came home from work to see what was going on!! While she investigated, I hung up the wet stuff from the airing cupboard, meaning that we couldn't move for bed linen! Harriet tried (and failed) to get in touch with her plumber, just as the cavity wall insulation people arrived. While sorting them out and letting them get started, we discovered another leak. The kitchen ceiling was soaking. The house was packed, it was complete chaos... And then another couple of guys turned up, here to do the loft insulation. They looked a little bemused.

H got in touch with the plumber, who said he'd be straight here after finishing the job he was on so she went back to work. At this point, the loft insulation guys came to me and said that there is broken asbestos in the attic and so they couldn't do the work. They left. Meanwhile, the circuit breakers had tripped. I battled my way to the switches to get the power back on so that I could put on a film to keep Maia happy and out of the way, then made lunch in the square metre of the kitchen not occupied by ladders, tools and men.

The cavity wall insulation guys then decided that the air vents in the walls might not be big enough, so they had to call their boss and get him to come in. I was going to tell H this, but she had texted me saying that she was having to get an ambulance for her boss, so I left out that little gem until he came and said it was fine.

The cavity wall insulation guys finished up, and were just leaving as the plumber arrived. On having a look around, he said that it looked as if it were coming from the attic. Sigh. Texting H about it, we came to the conclusion that it was a good thing that the loft insulation hadn't been done after all. Never thought I'd be saying "Thank goodness for asbestos!"

The plumber found that not only was there a leaky pipe in the attic, which he has fixed, but there is a leak in the roof as well!! The plumber fixed what he could and told us to get a roofer!

H had cancelled the solar panel people who were supposed to be coming (the only people we were actually expecting to have around), but the message hadn't got through from head office so as the plumber left, the solar panels guy turned up and I had to tell him to go away, in between reassuring a concerned neighbour that all was well (even though it actually wasn't).

Harriet got home soon after this, and I made my escape up to Cheshire. That was all a bit hectic!

Also, it had been raining cats and dogs all day. Humph.

Shaun

Today was both sad and happy. It was Shaun's funeral. A sad occasion for the obvious reasons, but happy because it was amazing to see how many people came, and because he would have LOVED the send off we gave him.

My parents, brothers sister and I moved to Lostock Green in 2001. Shaun lived around the corner with his wife, and (later) two children. My mother walked the dogs with Shaun every night for years, before he started his taxi company - Club Class. Meanwhile my father had gone off to Iraq (he was the Public Affairs Officer to the Deputy Commanding General, Multi-National Force Iraq and Senior British Military Representative, Iraq... A fab job title if you ask me, totally worth having memorised). When he came back, he joined in with Club Class, becoming a director along with Shaun.

In 2010, Shaun was diagnosed with cancer of the tonsil. He was given 3 three months to live! He managed three years, a pretty impressive feat in and of itself. However, he managed to achieve a lot! As well as doing as much work with Club Class when he could, Shaun organised the CCT Charity Rally. 

In September 2012,  seven teams (including myself and my sister) set off for Gibraltar. Driving there and back helped us to raise over £10000 for The Christie and SAMM. He also organised a charity ball and "Witton Fest" to help add to the total. Pretty impressive, really.

This morning, all Club Class drivers, along with other taxi drivers from Northwich and the surrounding areas followed the yellow cab (an NYC cab Shaun for hold of) in a convoy around Northwich. We then headed up the bypass to Lostock Green and followed the Hearse up to the church in Knutsford where the funeral service was held. It was a very fitting send off, and was amazing to be part of.

The church was packed. In fact, not everyone could get in! There were so many people it was a fire hazard. It really does say it all about how loved Shaun was.

Farewell, Alpha 1.

EDIT: Here is a link to the Northwich Guardian article about Shaun. We only made the front page!!! http://www.northwichguardian.co.uk/news/10597234.Northwich_says_farewell_to_Shaun/?ref=ec