Friday Smiles 2022:Week 18

Well here I am back in a not so sunny Spain. I landed on Tuesday night and Wednesday the rain was heavier and more persistant than I had seen in all my five weeks in UK! However the sun has shown its face late this afternoon and the forecast is on the up now.

I am still unpacking, sorting out washing, getting to vet appointments with the dogs, and doing the most urgent shopping, so I have not had time to sort out all my photos yet (and believe me I have a lot!), but here is a brief outline of how I spent my time.

I landed in Manchester on the evening of Tuesday 29th March and went to son number 4's house where I spent some happy days culminating in the first birthday of my gorgeous grand-daughter. I covered most of that in my previous post so here is photo of me with Jonathan, and one of little A, sitting on my knee, but desperate to be on the move. She is now walking.

After the party I went home with Ben (son no 5), and spent a few days at his new house, also meeting his new partner who made me feel very welcome. They live in a very pretty area on the edge of Cheshire, and the nearest village is Astbury where this huge oak was standing in a field of daffodils. It was beautiful.

Then I boarded a train for a long ride down to Bournemouth to spend a week with my sister Jean. We are the two youngest in our family -- the two post war babies.

We were able to spend a lovely day with another sister who lives close by. Dorothy is the youngest of the pre-war babies and is now 87. She also grew her hair long until very recently and at times we look scarily alike!

I also wrote about my stay in Bournemouth in my last post, so on to the next train ride which took me back to Macclesfield where Ben met me and I spent the Easter holiday back at his house. We did lots of walks and had fun recreating one of his favourite photos that I put in his scrapbook on a page called "Moments with Mum". I think it was taken about 25 years ago. I had to sit on a rock instead of the ground, and we realised afterwards that he got his feet positions the wrong way round, but amazingly we both found roughly the right coloured clothes, and it was fun to do.

We walked around Astbury Mere and I am going to use this panoramic photo of the mere as my new header when I get around to doing it. I also took a panaramic shot of Ben and Ant's garden which is lovely, and they are working hard to make it even better by the summer.

On 20th April son no 2, Mike, had a few days holiday so he drove up from Shropshire to see Ben's new place, and then drove me across London to Sydenham where son no1 (Rev. Jim) and wife Jo live. I spent a great week with them. They knew I didn't want too many crowds but they wanted to show me some of their favourite haunts, so we did a lot of outdoor walking, taking in Crystal Palace Park, Greenwich, Covent Garden, Borough Market, and the Horniman museum. 

It was great to sit in the garden and get to chat with three grandchildren, all very grown up now, and share their hopes and plans. Amias, the youngest of the three, (and the tallest!), came up from University in Brighton for a few days so he could see me.

Jim and Jo also took me across London to my old home of Northwood, to meet a dear friend who I keep up with at Christmas and birthdays, but whom I had not seen for over 20 years. It was wonderful to have a reunion and we chatted as though I had never been away.

While I was in London, son no 3 came over from Denmark where he lives, to see me, and we had a day walking around Covent Garden, Trafalgar Square and Carnaby Street. He also came to Greenwich with the whole family.

There was a 'garden' in the centre of Trafalgar Square the day we were there. It was a promotion by Innocents smoothies to encourage more people to grow trees and flowers within the city.

I took the opportunity to buy some clothes while  I was over there, as I hate having to rely on on-line purchases. The top I am wearing here called to me across the store in M&S, and was my favourite buy of the whole trip.

On 29th April, Jim, Jo and I boarded another train this time bound for A town near Wolverhampton to watch Ben in his musical play. He is with a very professional (but amateur) troupe called the Willenhall Theatre Comapany, and they did the musical Pricilla Queen of the Desert. It was a riot of colour with fantastic costumes, and wonderful singers. It was Ben's first year with them but he had one solo song and a couple of lines to say, and he just loved being a part of it. 

We all thoroughly enjoyed the show, and afterwards, Mike, who had come to the play with his family, took me back to his house in my last UK area, at Llanymynech, near Oswestry, where I spent my last few days. We managed to walk through the bluebell woods, sit around a fire pit in the garden until midnight, and have fun with the new puppy Whisper who is an eight month old 'sprocker', i.e: a spring/cocker spaniel cross. She was lively but gentle, and quite gorgeous.

On Sunday Mike cooked a huge roast dinner for all the family - Mike and his partner Lucy, me, Mikes oldest daughter Emma with her husband and two beautiful boys, (number three arriving early July), his oldest son Mikey and his partner, his two younger sons, Skye and Finlay, and Lucy's two boys, Reggie and Herbie. So we were quite a crowd and we had a super day together. I took lots of family photos so I can bring my family clock right up to date.

So all in all I had a very happy time. I managed to see every one of my sons and granchildren, and great-granchildren; I loved seing the butterflies at Horniman's museum, I marvelled at the London skyline seen from Greenwich look out tower, enjoyed a boat taxi down the Thames to get home, found newts and other interesting critters at a pond-dipping session run by the wild-life trust, AND I managed to travel around for five weeks without contracting Covid. I tested several times as I moved from family to family, and again when I got home, and every time I was negative.

There are loads more photos to come, but that is a brief outline of my trip. Hope to be back to normal posting by next week. But for now I will link up with Annie's Friday Smiles.