Wednesday, March 5, 2008

Train trouble

I was at a conference on volunteering in London yesterday.  A good event, well attended, food was great (always a good sign) and easy to get to.  Some interesting speakers, from Volunteering England, V, St Christopher’s Hospice, Independent Safeguarding Authority and others.  Not only is it part of my job to promote and support volunteering but important to me personally.  I have done lots of volunteering in many different guises over the years.  Currently my activities are as a school governor and at Froglife as a Hampton Nature Reserve Volunteer.  The latter I do with Kieran, and of course he is a star volunteer person.
I asked Kieran last night why he volunteers.  He said it’s because he likes to help people and because its fun.  Wise words.

Unfortunately the journey home was not fun.  Not as bad as it could have been, but certainly not good.  There were power line problems apparently so all the fast direct trains were delayed by hours (and Peterborough was the first top, some passengers were travelling as far as Scotland).  I managed to get on a slow train which was still delayed considerably.  It was packed of course but I was lucky enough to get to sit on the luggage rack.  Initially we were told we would have to transfer to buses at Hitchin (wherever that is!) but by the time we got there the problem was solved but there were lots of train movements so we had to go slower than normal.
I understand these things happen.  But at Kings Cross information was non existent and not being used to the journey it was confusing when some BR staff said catch the Cambridge train and others said wait.  But I was home eventually.  Luckily Kieran had walked (hobbled) home from school with a friend who had a puncture,otherwise he would have had to sit in the sports centre waiting after the library closed.  Too tired to cook so KFC was the order of the day - Mums Night Off!

Posted by Inez in 13:07:11 | Permalink | No Comments »

Monday, March 3, 2008

Happy Birthday Jordan

Happy Birthday Jordan - a mega Dr Who fan. 

For the birthday message go to:
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/inez.smith

Hope you got everything you wanted and had a big birthday cake
See you soon
Love Inez & Kieran

Posted by Inez in 21:51:05 | Permalink | No Comments »

Its all too quick!

I discovered on Saturday night that Primeval was over already.  Where did that go?  It seemed like just a couple of episodes.  Why does the UK record either 7 or 13 episodes and call it a series?  The US record 22 and call it a season.  Yes it can cause the quality to be a bit doubtful in one or two cases but generally its worth that little bit of disappointment.  With 7 episodes, especially where they are for less than an hour allowing for adverts, you just get into it & connect with characters & story and then its gone.  And Kingdom seems even quicker.  Thank goodness for Larkrise to Candleford, that seems to be lasting for years.
Posted by Inez in 13:36:19 | Permalink | No Comments »

Sunday, March 2, 2008

Happy Mothers Day

Well I actually got a cup of tea in bed today!  Given that he is still on crutches I wasn’t expecting it although he did make it in my room.  I was also treated to the cinema and we saw Jumpers which was a lot better than I thought it would be.  An early showing meant the tickest were cheaper than the refreshments - but I wasn’t paying!!!!!

We spent this afternoon in the back garden.  First time this year.  The front is all sorted but the back is the last to get done.  Managed to pick up all the poo!  And sorted all the planters, trimmed back some hedges, took the chair out of the pond after all the wind had blown it in and sorted in my mind what else needs doing.  Kieran sharpened the hedge cutters, which were pretty blunt and rusted - a good “mans” job!  He was also able to play with the dog for the first time since he injured himself as he had a safety point in the trampoline while Pebbles ran round fetching balls.  The bird feeders are all back in order now so we should start seeing some more activity in the garden.  We’ve neglected them a bit over the winter as we tend not to use the back of the house so much then.

Found a whole load of last years frogs (all under 2 inches in full length) under one of the logs.  No spawn yet, but then we’ve never had spawn despite having a very good population.  Need to finish making new fence panels to go round the pond & replace the chicken wire to keep Pebbles out.  Hopefully we can do that over the coming weeks.  When the garden is nice it’s the best place to be in the spring and summer, full of birds and sunshine.  I always feel good after a few hours out there.

Anyway, Dancing On Ice is about to start.  Will be fingers crossed Gareth gets through this week.  It didn’t work last night though.  As good as Andy Abraham is I really wanted Michelle Gayle to go through for Eurovision.  Andy’s song just wasn’t Euro enough were as I think Michelle’s has the best chance.

Must go.  Have a good week.

Posted by Inez in 18:31:23 | Permalink | No Comments »