Word of the week - Dad

It was my father's birthday on Monday.

He would've been 87.

I can't comprehend my father being 87 as he died aged 77, 2 months short of his birthday.

This is the 10th birthday I haven't been able to buy him a card or a gift or visit him.

Not a day goes past where he's not talked about or thought about.

At the football. When I talk to or see the grandchildren. When I sit at his desk in our home. When I go up into the loft room and see the piles of stuff I still have to sort through or when I use one of the stamps from his collection on an envelope. 

Our home and travels and lives are full of memories of my father.

Of course I miss him and there are so many things I still want to tell him and still want to ask him.

But I'm at peace with that now. I was at peace with that when he died. We'd had a good few days. We'd had a good afternoon the day he'd died. 

I was with him when he died. He's still with me now.

Word of the week - Equanimity

I had to search for a word to sum up this week and I found Equanimity. Between calm and chaotic.

It was back to school this week. An inset day on Tuesday, sitting in the hall, lots of breaks and slideshows and online training to be done (all at home this weekend) straight off to the football in Birmingham with train disruptions and I didn't get home till 1am. Then new year 7's arrived on Wednesday with the rest of the school and on Friday the year 11 mocks were released and we went straight to see our grandchildren for the evening.

I've organised a cupboard for the school uniform collected over the holidays and washed it all. Sorted out timetables, planned unexpected lessons, gained an extra student for English and Maths two lessons a week and this list will grow and basically just not stopped at work or home all week, including Friday morning dusting the bedroom before work as it was getting on my nerves.

I've been gardening, shopping, organise birthday gifts, writing letters, I dusted the bedroom Friday morning at 6.30am. I've stayed up till 1am and I've been in bed and fast asleep by 9pm. I've been crafting, reading, to the gym and running. There's been TV and reading, coffees out and endless scrolling.

Today, Sunday, started early on the train with my book to Birmingham to watch the football, there will be some shopping afterwards and the train home for a BBQ and an early night before the new week starts and we start all over again.

Picture of cat who remains equanimous despite the chaotic environment around her as long as she gets fed

Word of the Week - Blues

After a colourful two weeks in Crete it was back to the UK and to a brown and dull countryside.

Crete itself was very brown with a very low rainfall, but perfect conditions for bouganvilliea to blossom in giving everywhere a pop of colour. I've tried and failed several times to grow it in the UK. 

You may be wondering what this has to do with 'Blues'. 

There are two parts to it, Blue as in feeling sad and Blues as in Birmingham City FC. 

My GAD and PTSD has been in overdrive the past few weeks, even a holiday hasn't helped. It's difficult to explain but it is possible to be happy and do nice things and even look and sound like everything is ok, whilst underneath your whole life is falling apart and you're catastrophising and the whole world is against you.

I used to think it was normal to say 'I imagine the worst, then anything else is a bonus' I realise now that this has been going on since my late teens and this approach is not normal. I of course know my life isn't unravelling and my world isn't falling apart and I'm not going to jail for not having paid my car tax back in May, but in the 4 weeks whilst I've been waiting for my £80 fine to reach me (it arrived on Saturday) I have indeed been thinking that Jail is the worst outcome, so a CCJ wouldn't be that bad, but why if they've taken our car and crushed it whilst we've been away, so I've been checking the camera on the front door almost hourly (yes whilst I've been by the pool and on a coach trip) and I've still got to pay the 2 months car tax I missed and I don't know how or to who and telling me not to worry because they'll contact me eventually isn't helpful and I'm just exhausted by it all. I contacted the DVLA on Monday and paid the £106 outstanding and they couldn't have been more helpful and understanding.

Back to the other Blues.

I went to Birmingham to watch the football on Saturday, the day after we got back. It was the first home game of the season and my first game in my new seat as a season ticket holder.

I've opted not to buy this years shirt as I just don't like it and decided to go in something colourful and summery to carry on the holiday feeling a little bit longer.

I need to do something about the colour of my hair, the blue has faded since the start of the holidays, just in time for back to school, but I'm not happy with this grey, there's no shine to it.

I've had to sell my Cup ticket back to the club for the match against Brentford on Tuesday due to family commitments.

It was nearly a blues day all round after going behind and a disallowed goal, but we managed to pull back an equaliser in the dying minutes.

As it was a lovely day I opted to walk back into town rather than catch the 1875 bus and I noticed just how colourful the area was.

I've carried on taking photos of colourful things this week for my One Daily Positive and Project 365.

The rest of the weekend and week has been spent with the grandchildren, rearranging appointments, booking hotels for my upcoming Ultra Marathon next month and the London Marathon In April 2027. Getting files up to date for going back to work next week. Football tickets have been bought to take our great nephew to watch Barry Town, letters have been written and birthday cards sent and 101 photos have been uploaded onto Vinted and all this productivity and family time has lifted the Blues and things are looking a lot brighter and more colourful.

Word of the week - Colourful in Crete

Crete in Colours

RED

PINK

ORANGE

YELLOW

GREEN

BLUE

WHITE

Word of the week - Crete

Crete

Such a beautiful island and definitely somewhere I would come and visit again, although we do try and see as much of everywhere we can when we holiday as if it is the only time we visit. We are staying in Panormo, almost in the centre of the Island on the north coast, half way between the two airport. Chania in the west and Heraklion where we flew into in the East. 

Cost

Having priced up a fortnight in our campervan with awning to be near the beach coming in at around £1000 and then still having to use communal showers, we decided to book a last minute holiday to Crete for not that much more including flights and transfers with Tui.

Cases

In our cases I packed an extension cable as the plugs are never anywhere near the bed and there are never enough, but we've got plenty in this this hotel and there's even a light over the mirror. I also brought with me a pool float from Aldi that was £5.99. They're on sale here around €20. I packed beach towels bought on a previous trip to Greece and a bath mat for the shower room. We've got 9 books between us and I'm already 4 down.

Clothing

I've packed shorts, t shirts, 2 dresses, swim wear and one set of running gear and packed in cubes. It's all been worn. The beach shoes have been invaluable as the beach is rocky, flip flops as slippers in the room and for going down to breakfast. Both pairs of Birkenstocks to match my outfits and and the trainers for travelling in.

Catering

We're bed and breakfast, but have a small fridge/freezer in the room and we brought a small water boiler and a battery operated whisk so I can make lattes using our espresso maker. I also packed some breakfast cereals, bread rolls and biscuits as I'm gluten free and found a bakers in Heraklion on a day trip and purchased bread and a cake for the second week. We eat out once a day, fish and salads and the other meal is salads with tuna, cheese that we also make up into picnics with fresh fruits and crisps etc using ice blocks made with frozen sponges in zip lock bags and freezing our water bottles. We found a restaurant that made me some gluten free pasta.

Coach Trips and Culture

We booked three coach trips as we discovered on arrival that the Train Station as advertised by Tui 1000ms from the hotel was an actual bus stop for the 20kms to the centre. 

The centre being Rethymno. There is a bus that runs every 30 minutes and tickets are bought from a little shop, you need to buy 2 for each journey and it's called the No 20 Hotel bus. It's a beautiful town with everything you need, an old town and harbour, market on a Thursday, a more modern shopping area and beaches.

Our first coach trip was out to Knossos, the trip was badly organised with a late collection, we had to queue for our own tickets which took almost 40 minutes as the cruise ships were in on the Tuesday and  the tour guide changed the collection time but didn't inform us and took no ownership, then made an announcement on the coach at the end of the trip thanking those for the positivity for not spoiling his day. 

Knossos was absolutely packed, you could hardly move for us tourists. Heraklion city was beautiful, we had 3 and half hours, enough time to explore the Venetian Harbour, have lunch, wander round the shops, sort out some banking, buy souvenirs, get Peter a couple of new t shirts without logos on, find the gluten free bakery, check out some historic sites and grab a Starbucks.

The second trip was a 4 hour hike in Imbros Gorge and a swim in the Libyan sea.

The third trip is to Chania next week. I'll let you know how that goes. We are wondering if we will bump into our neighbours who are there. Peter's oldest friend's daughter is staying not far from us also.

Coast

Our immediate beach is not a good one, it looks pretty and calm but you need to be a strong swimmer just getting out. I am, but without a life guard or other people around I'm not prepared to take the risk and just me and Peter in the shallow water up to our waists we really struggled with the power of the waves getting out as it was rocky and slippy under foot. It was also a very steep and shaley route to get to the beach and access was through another property and a broken fence, not like the images shown on the Tui website. As we can't travel round the Island as we'd hoped forth beach has now become a bit of a priority for the second week and there is a lot more walking to do to access the one in the village.

Cats

Absolutely everywhere and very well cared for, as are all of the islands animals. Sheep, donkeys, dogs and goats and there are so many adverts on local TV, radio and posters around the towns and cities.

Calamity

Thankfully we flew from Birmingham the day before the luggage fiasco, where people waited several days to be reunited with their luggage, the shut down and re routing of flights from Bristol and the problems on the M25 with fires that delayed people getting to Heathrow along with train disruptions over the weekend and the eruption of Etna causing flights to be cancelled.