T is for Travel

I am a slightly seasoned traveller! I've had some great holidays in a few different countries.
I've been to Cyprus which is a lovely country with really friendly locals but you have to put your toilet paper in a bin, no flushing it down the toilet. YUCKIE is an understatement for that little gem of information! So, much as I loved the place and the people, I will never go there again.
Turkey is another great place. The people there are even friendlier than in Cyprus. It is quite under developed, though so there are very few proper roads or pavements, just tracks. And you soon get fed up of being hassled to visit every bar and restaurant and not being able to just browse in a shop without being talked into buying something. I wouldn't go there again, either, especially after the middle of June because the heat is just unbearable too.
Spain is lovely. They know how to treat tourists, they're used to us. They are polite rather than friendly and they leave you alone in shops etc. The weather is always just right for soaking up the sun without being to oppressive.I have visited several different areas, all of which I really did enjoy.
But the place I have enjoyed the most is America. I went there in the late 80's for a month. We stayed in Wyoming, Utah, Kansas and Ohio. We travelled by Greyhound Coach which I would NOT recommend to anybody! I saw some absolutely wonderful sights including Salt Lake Temple, Nauvoo and the Joseph Smith Pageant held in Richmond, Ohio every year. I climbed a small (!) mountain in the Titons, visited a rodeo and a baseball game, looked out over the Grand Canyon, slept in a log cabin in Yellowstone Park and ate S'Mores toasted over a camp fire. It was a holiday of a lifetime and I will never forget how wonderful the country and it's people were. I'd love to go back again someday.
We're planning to visit Rome this year so I'll have another country under the belt.
And the place I've never been but have always wanted to is Hawaii. Maybe, one day!

Jamie Has the Chickenpox!

My poor boy woke up yesterday looking like spotty dog. He was pretty well covered with them on his face and chest. More have come up on his arms and legs today. He isn't scratching to much yet. I've got some calamine aquaeous cream but he doesn't take to kindly to having it rubbed on. Actually, that's an understatement, he hates having it on and fights, pushes and shouts at the top of his voice so he doesn't get it rubbed in to well and looks like a.....ermmmm, I don't know really, just red and spotty with white, creamy patches.
It's a long time since I've been down this road with the kids. The other boys all caught them together when Craig was about 13. I do remember Chris being the last one to catch them. He had so many spots you couldn't put a pin between them and we were booked to go on holiday to Blackpool. Imagine how awful it was walking into the guest house with this spotty kid and having to explain he was no longer infectious (we'd had him checked by the doc) but knowing they didn't believe us! And everywhere we went people looked at us funny or left a quarantine ring round us on the beach. Great times!
Jamie is feeling quite poorly at the moment. I can tell because he won't eat and Jamie only stops eating when ill. So, I've just got him back to school after Christmas and now he's home for at least a week. Not that I don't love my special boy but those few hours while he's at school are mine and now they've gone, again. And a sixteen year old, disabled boy with chickenpox is far harder than a six year old. You can grapple with a six year old and rub that cream in!

S is for Scunthorpe

Scunthorpe is my home town. It's not up there with the biggies like Sheffield or Leeds but it's mine and I love it. People have made fun of it over the years but it is good town to live in. We have some crime here but not to the extent that many big towns and cities do. Our town is situated in the perfect place for urban, country or coastal living. We have country villages just 10 miles away with all the picturesque views you expect and 25 miles away is our own coastal town, Cleethorpes, with all the joys of the seaside. There is a beautiful country park on the outskirts of the town with a stately home and deer park. Yet, we also have the benefits of a shopping centre to rival the big towns. We have three large retail parks, all the major supermarkets and two weekly markets. We have a multi-screen cinema, large leisure centre and more bars than you can throw a stick at, so there is plenty to do here. And our football team has just been promoted to the Championship division!

I thought a few pictures would show you how lovely our town is, so here they are.

This is Central Park, a large park in the centre of town.

The steelworks, Corus, which is the main industry in our town.

Our very own stately home, Normanby Hall, is situated just a few miles from the town centre.

The town centre.

St Lawrences church is in the centre of the town and is our oldest church. It has been here since 1219AD.

Scunthorpe United, our football team.

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year everybody. I hope it's a prosperous one for us all. And hopefully we'll have no broken bones this year!
I don't 'do' resolutions because I never stick to them, like diets. So there will be no promises here, to do this or keep to that. I will just muddle along like I always do. I shall be starting the diet again though.
I do it every year and take off about a stone to start with then get complacent and slip back into my naughty habits. The lost weight goes back on and I start again for holidays/birthday/christmas, lose a stone then.......... you get the picture! So depending on when you see me, I'm either slimmer or fatter! I can't just be slimmer or slimmer, that would require to much willpower. Something I lack, I'm afraid.
Ahhhh well, here's to a slimmer/fatter New Year, whatever it is, I just hope it's a happy one!