Family time

Well last week I had some special family time in Derbyshire and it was lovely - special memory making time for me. I took Caleb, my grandson, back to Derbyshire after he had spent a few days with me and Steve, then I stayed for a few days while Steve went to work.

My daughters are very different - thank goodness. It would be a very boring world if all our children were alike - or the same as their parents. I celebrate the differences in them and their children too and recognise similarities and differences to me as well. Of course they are grown adults in their own world at the ages of 34 and nearly 33(sorry to publish that on the world wide web girls) and have created their own lifestyles. There is also the obvious generation gap which I am pleased about most of the time. I think the music, the fashions, the lifestyles and the opportunities were better in the 60s and 70s when I was growing and nesting and they have a lot more pressure than we did. Steve and I are now benefiting from the good times being at the latter end of the post war baby boom - having more money, better pensions, more freedom and being fitter than our parents were. God help my grandchildren who have little hope of a Great Britain any more, poor job prospects, mega expensive living costs and next to no pension prospects. I will come off my political bandwagon now.

I stayed with Lisa, Caleb and Teyha for the first night and had the joy of being woken by a smiling toddler face at 6.40am who got into my bed, switched the cartoons on and generally indicated that the night time was over. I was sleeping on a mattress on the living room floor I hasten to add so I was invading their territory. I walked Caleb to school - he was very reluctant to go knowing he was going to miss a day out with the rest of us - but hey ho. Teyha came along too for some exercise and time with me. Afterwards I took Lisa and Teyha to Mansfield for a look round - the weather was awful - very cold, wet at times and bleak.It was good to spend time with them and Lisa and I did a lot of talking - as we do. After collecting Caleb from school and taking them home I went to Louise's for dinner (or tea in Derbyshire - the north/south divide has its issues). Mark, Louise's husband was at home, being on the night shift this week poor soul. We had a lovely dinner/tea and sat and chatted. I used Skype to call Steve and catch up with his day too.

That night I had a bedroom to myself as Aiden was bunking in with Neev so I had his room. After walking Aiden and Neev to school, I took Louise to the dentist - she had a gum infection and wanted to make sure it wasn't an abscess - which it wasn't thankfully but antibiotics were prescribed. Then we went off to Chesterfield for the day. We all used to live there so there was a lot of reminiscing and surprise at the new shops that have emerged. The day was much sunnier and bright which made it a lot more enjoyable. I bought pastry steak slices from an award winning butchers for our dinner and we got back in time to collect Aiden from school. The food was really gorgeous when we sat down to devour the lot - too much but everyone loved it. I then popped back to Lisa's to see the children again before they went to bed. I was staying at Louise's again and would therefore not be seeing Caleb the following morning as he would be at school. After another good nights sleep I took Aiden and Neev to school in the car as the weather had returned to cold, wet and windy and then left Louise to go to work after saying our goodbyes. After popping round to see Lisa and Teyha again I set off on the journey home.

The pictures above are of Louise with her children Aiden and Neev, then one of Lisa on her own and another of Caleb. I couldn't manage to get a picture of Lisa with the children as they didn't seem to be together or in a suitable mood when I was ready with the camera. There will be time ahead for those I hope.

The weather was atrocious by now - driving rain and strong winds - just what you need for a drive down the M1 and M25. The spray on the motorways prevented fast driving and the water was standing on the roads making the journey even worse. I think this must have put off a lot of travellers because at least the traffic kept moving. I was very relieved to arrive home in one piece.

I'm really pleased to have spent the few days with my family and although we will not be in the country with them in future years we will come back for holidays and be able to spend longer periods of time with them than before hopefully as we will not have work to interfere with our plans. We also hope that they will come out to visit us in Cyprus so that we can share time with them there too.

Another episode over - next weekend we are going to visit Steve's dad, sister and niece in Southampton. More photos to come of them. Today is April 1st - the month of our departure - it feels more real somehow entering into this month and we are growing more excited all the time. Steve is doubly excited as he is anticipating his leaving work with glee.