AM I CHUFFED, OR WHAT?

Am I chuffed or what? MaggieMay has gifted me with another award. She is now officially my bestest friend.

I now humbly pass this award on to those far more deserving that me:-

Fully caffinated

Confessions of a rotten correspondent

Laughing alone in the dark

Big blue barn west

Famous for all kinds of wickedness

Mutley the dog

Red, white & Blue

Wayne Ashford Racing

And- who cares

Seven Year Itch

ALMOST HEAVEN

The trip didn’t get off to a terribly auspicious start. First thing to happen was that my sister-in-law, after reassuring the checking desk clerk and the security gate man that she had no liquids in her luggage, was actually found to be carrying several items of liquid! After setting off the scanner, being frisked, having her bags searched, she finally had several items confiscated. Great.

While this was all going on my son-in-law waited patiently in charge of four excited little children. Then a message was announced on the tanoy asking him to go back to the bureau de change (located in the main passenger terminal) where he had left his credit card. Second great!

No problem on the plane, the children and adults behaved impeccably; took off on time, no problem; arrived Geneva, no problem; collected baggage, no problem; caught train on schedule, no problem; arrived at destination station,ah! problem. One item of baggage had been stolen. No only that, it was the item of baggage that contained all the children’s entertainment ie Nintenos, DVDs, Gameboy, etc. etc. In fact it turned out that £1600 worth of entertainment had been stolen! I said this was an obscene amount of money. In hindsight, that was probably not the most helpful thing to say at the time. Third great!

So - four over excited, hyperactive children are now trapped in an apartment with us without their accoutrements. Thankfully the weather is stunningly beautiful (as usual) and they are enjoying the skiing clases so there is respite for them and for us.

The first day was spent enrolling the children in the classes, getting them kitted out and reporting stolen items to the police. Yesterday we settled ourselves in and my son-in-law’s two brothers arrived. Today the three adult boys have taken themselves off skiing and the four little children are at ski school. At 1600 they all arrive back, together with son-in-law’s cousin, who is also coming to visit. Until this time my sister-in-law and I are enjoying the blissful peace.

RECOGNITION AT LAST

I am such a saddo. I have received an award from MaggieMay and I am so delighted you wouldn't believe it.

I have been asked to pass it on and I nominate

Three Dog Blog
Reluctant Memsahib
Dulwich Mum
Newmania
Mutterings & Meaderings
Crystal Jigsaw
Frog in the Field
Dumdad
Stinking Bill
Not Wrong Just Different

I hope you are all as chuffed as I was and ask that you pass the award on to your top 10 blogs.

Love, Ann xx

ALL THINGS FOREIGN

Some of my family escaped to France and sent me pictures of the two little ones having fun on the ice in the South of France.

Of the three children the little boy is the one who is having the most trouble adapting to the French school system. The oldest boy (not pictured because he loathes sport of any discription) is being "head hunted" by the maths teacher because he is considered to be a bit of a genius so he is acting very cool and waiting for a better offer. Good lad.

The little girl is a natural actress/performer and we are sure that one day she will be a great star, so each day is a production number in which she takes the main lead. There are other non-french speaking students in her class and they are all being given an intensive course in how to survive. She is always upbeat and optimistic and, I am sure, loves the attention.

Although the little boy is always laughing and appears to be outgoing he is actually quite shy. He is the only non-french speaker in his class and life is a little difficult for him at the moment. I'm sure he will overcome this, but our heart goes out to him at the moment.

Apart from this little wobble things are very new and exciting for the family. They are gradually working their way through French beaurocracy and loving every minute of it. Needless to say we miss them.

I am off to Switzerland for a week on Sunday with two grandsons, two great granddaughters, one son-in-law and his two brothers and my sister-in-law. This trip has been planned for some months and originally my beloved was coming with us but for obvious reasons he is staying behind. I had also dropped out until this week when it became "do-able" because there is a "window" between tests being finalised and chemo starting. So I am leaving him in the capable hands of the family and heading out for a mad week in the snow with two little girls who call me "Nanny Bully" and two little boys who are not totally sure about me at all! Should be fun.

MY SPIRAL STAIRCASE

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Originally uploaded by anninfotel

This is the box that they bought my new spiral staircase in! I thought that it was way too small to house a big staircase, but it's like the tardis. Bit by bit they unpacked it and - wadoyuknow, there it was! It will soon transport me between my wonderful new bedroom and a huge dressing room upstairs. Victoria Beckham eat your heart out.

Now I'm off to take one of my daughters to the hospital to get her leg plastered up (Dr. speak - "you've done your ligament in"- I can remember a time, not so long ago, when doctors were articulate and well educated). Oh what an exciting, exhilarating life I lead.

RESOLVE NOT TO SHOUT AT BREAKFAST TV FAILED

One of the news headlines this morning was “shock horror” an MP has been bugged by the security services whilst speaking to a terrorist suspect in prison, This, apparently, is not allowed because MPs are afforded special protection from bugging under the Wilson Doctrine. Excuse me? Wasn’t Harold Wilson the Prime Minister that security services suspected of being a Russian spy? No wonder he introduced this “doctrine”.

And if us mere mortals can be bugged why should MP’s be exempt? They are the most disreputable bunch of no-good tossers that ever walked this earth. There, now I’ve upset myself again.

A second news item was that the 600-year old tradition of pancake racing at Rippon Cathedral has had to be abandoned this year because they couldn’t find enough volunteers to a do a risk assessment. Scream, scream, pull hair out!

And on a more random note - Ernest Hemingway made a $10 bet that he could write a complete story in 6 words. He wrote - For sale: Baby shoes. Never worn. My life in 6 words? I came, I saw, I failed. Only kidding.

ONE STEP CLOSER TO A CURE

So, we take one step closer to "the treatment plan". The most likely scenario is that "my darling husband" formerly know as "old grumpy" will have a 3 to 4 month course of aggressive chemotherapy followed by surgery. The first stage of this is to test easly next week that his kidneys can cope. If it proves that his kidneys are up to the job the chemo to start within days. If not they will go directly for the operation.

One of the specialists who will be treating him said "we are going for a cure here" and as "old grumpy" (sorry, habit) will be in the care of one of the best teams in the country there is no reason to doubt this statement. However, until we get to "the cure" life will be very rough for him. As one of our medical friends put it "bladder cancer is a vicious disease".

In the meantime, bizzarely, life goes on. This morning we took delivery of our "loop" radiator for the en suite in our newly built bedroom which is within weeks of being finished. That only leaves several months work to finish the new kitchen/family room and then on to refurbish the part of the house we are living in now! Still it gives us something to look forward to. As my old Dad used to say "the only good thing to say about banging your head against a brick wall is that it feels so good when you stop".