A visit to Cambridge to see our son.

 Last Thursday we went down to Cambridge to see our son and family who live there.Our grandson ,Finlay(18) ,was flying to Thailand on Friday morning to go travelling for 8 weeks with friends.It was lovely to see him and enjoy a family meal with him ,his younger brother Angus(15) and his Mum and Dad.This is a shot of Kings College taken from the Backs.

Friday morning Matt and Jude were working and Angus was in school.We had arranged to meet our oldest friends for lunch so we decided we would go to the Orchard Tea Rooms in Grantchester for a coffee/tea.

These are some pretty cottages in Grantchester.

The church in Grantchester.

The tea rooms are famous because they were visited by so many famous people .They are just a punt away from Cambridge.Famoue people who came here were Rupert Brooke(above),VirginiaWoolf,Maynard  Keynes,EMForster,Bertrand Russell and others.You sit in the orchard and drink tea sitting on deckchairs like they did so many years ago. 

I will continue the story tomorrow but it has been a great weekend.After two years of lockdown it was a pleasure to escape it.Masks worn all the time.!,,

Which should I do?

 

It is my daughter’s birthday in two weeks time  and I thought I would do her a little cross stitch kit.Her surname is Peacock  but the other one says love.I havn’t time to do both.Excuse the rubbish photos but I shake.

Tomorrow we are off to Cambridge to stay with our son and family for the weekend.We havn’t been down for two years.We are going tomorrow because our eldest grandson,Finlay,Whois 18 is going off travelling for 8 weeks.They are starting off in Thailand.l must admit to being a bit anxious about going.My OH is in the vulnerable category but has had his fourth jab.We will off course wear masks when appropriate.

Our daughter has just come from 3 days in London with her two daughters (our granddaughters )who are 14 and 16.Grandpa(my OH) gave them each £100 to spend .They packed so much in and had a wonderful girlie time and walked 5 or 6 miles each day shopping and sightseeing.

Now going to watch the final of Landscape Artist of the year.

Bye for now.

Barbarax

I am delighted to say that I have got my money back.

 A couple of weeks ago I put a post on saying that I had been scammed by. “policeman “ to the tune of  almost £20.000.I heard last week that the bank had recovered the first £10.000 but the second lot went to an independent bank.That they haven’t been able to get back from them but gave it me from their scam fund.They admitted that they had not warned me it might be a scam and had not shown a duty of care.It has been a wretched time me feeling gullible (but it was all very plausible)and also what a waste of my hard earned money.Anyway I have got it back but it has made me very nervous.It has also made me feel old and vulnerable.There are some evil people around.

The first thing I am going to do is to put £1,000 into each of my five grandchildren’s savings accounts for university (or whatever).

Back soon with a brighter post.

Barbarax

A warning.Please read.

 I was scammed of £20.000 yesterday by a “policeman”.He had even tampered with my phone so he could get me to call 999 to check his identity.He told me not to contact my bank as they were the ones being investigated.

I just feel sick.Thank goodness that didn’t clear me out.Not certain whether I will get it back.

The vase in yesterday’s post was bought in West Berlin in 1966.

 Has a history behind it.In 1966 my brother had married Ute ,aGerman girl he had met on holiday on the Isle of Man. She was working there for the summer.They settled in our home town of Bolton.In the summer of 1966 my brother suggested we drove to West Berlin to see Ute’s mother.He didn’t have a car and we only had an A35 van with seats in the back but no windows! We had to drive through East Germany to get to West Berlin as the Berlin Wall was still up.It was quite scary.We spent two weeks there in the middle of the World Cup.Peter and Charles were in their element as West German tv were showing the West’s footie matches and East Germany the Eastern bloc matches.It was interesting visiting West Berlin and seeing the Berlin Wall,Checkpoint Charlie etc.We drove back home watching the first semi final in a bar in Belgium and then racing home for the second semi final.

To get round to the point I bought the vase on Kurfürstendamm back then.It survived the journey back and various house moves and it is still treasured today.Unfortunately my sister in law did not survive .She died in 1976 from malignant melanoma aged 32.She left behind three children aged 4,6 and nine.She was a lovely lady and a wonderful mother.So sad.Peter went on to remarry and his second wife took on the children as if they were her own.Bitter sweet memories.

First daffodils of the year.

 It is always good to buy that first bunch of daffodils.

We had lunch today with a group of friends back where we used to live.Great company and great food.I miss it so much.There used to be eleven of us who lunched together.One couple went to Cambridge to be near their daughter,another couple went to Wiltshire to be near their son.Another of the group has dementia and is in a home so now we are down to six.

What a beautiful day it has been today.Clear blue skies.I wish I had taken some views of the Clwydian Range from the pub.Next time!

Stay safe.

Barbarax 

Happy New Year.

 My wish for 2022 is return to something like normal.Just when we thought that was happening along comes Omicron.Things we had planned for January have already been cancelled.Let’s not dwell on that.

Looking back the biggest thing we did was move house,even move country.Would we have done that if it wasn’t for COVID.I think we were scared and wanted to be nearer family.So in April we moved from Wales into England to live very close to our daughter and family.That has been brilliant.We see our daughter and granddaughters on a regular basis.But we miss friends .What a strange two years.

Highlights of this year have been three of our grandchildren getting good results.Emily got 10 A* (but is struggling with being an enormous,very competitive 6th form college).Finlay got BBC and has secured a place at Nottingham Uni for September 2022 to do Psychology.Ella got a First from Manchester University in American Studies and was best in year.

My OH celebrated his 80th birthday earlier this month and we had a brilliant family weekend celebrating.All eleven of us.We have not done that for two years.

Xmas was spent here with Sarah and family.So much fun and laughter.Truly great memories created.

We have had our jabs(but unfortunately we are ten weeks past the booster and protection starts to fall).

We are just thankful we have remained healthy apart from COVID worries.

Two days ago we celebrated our 55th wedding anniversary.

Our son in law (had a brain tumour removed February 2020) latest scan showed the bit they couldn’t get at  hasn’t grown and the benign tumour they cannot get at has shrunk.

So, Happy New Year and fingers crossed it is a better one for everyone.

No celebrations here tonight.We were invited to Sarah’s but have declined.They are coming here tomorrow for Grandpa’s roast dinner.He has a reputation of doing the best roast potatoes and Yorkshire Puddings.

Barbaraxxxxx