Why Do We Do It

Well ive managed to post a little bit of Runrig but couldnt manage to put it in the actual post , the joys of being a technophobic old biddy im afraid .
Scary times getting Mr BH to and from the castle , he decided that he wouldnt pay £10 for a taxi up to the castle and through sheer stubbornness he climbed every one of those wretched steps by the galleries , he has a lovely set of black toes and he had to sit for 3 hours once he got there just to be able to get on his feet to walk in  , then wouldnt take his drugs because he wanted to enjoy the concert ...MEN.
G4S were doing the very perfunctory security checks and the support act was the Hare Krishnas who turned up for a singalong and boogie with the crowds in the queue , munchkin wanted to join them and is now chanting merrily , its a bit eerie all the crowd chanting along in the shadow of the castle , ive always had a fondness for the Krishnas , they always seem so cheerful , my ex once dragged us to a lunch with them , excellent vegan food and a bit of chanting , just the word free was enough to get him there .
The concert was excellent , wed picked a nice easy to get to seating area , they pointed out theyd played the castle 6 times , it made me feel so old id been there for 5 of those gigs , in fact it was rather like the march of the cripples getting into the gig , were all getting old , the munchkin was shattered he kept dozing off until a track he knew came on then he was up and singing yet again .
Getting Mr BH out of the gig was a nightmare , hed stiffened by then but with the help of some friendly drunks we managed , then discovered he couldnt walk because his ankles had swelled like balloons , daughter came to the rescue with a pedal taxi , which we rammed him and the munchkin in and launched him down hill , told the little taxi lad to park him against a lamp post outside the hotel .
The munchkin is now overjoyed because he was singing his head off and drunks kept giving him money . All and all a great night despite the fact my resident cripple is still in a bit of a state , he may lose a few toe nails , but as he says he cant feel his feet so why worry .
This is about the time he informed me his mate had bought us tickets for a scooter rally this weekend , so ive not unpacked the camping gear and were off again today a wet field in Leicester im informed , havent even got the washing all dry from Edinburgh .
Edinburgh was lovely never seen so many tourists in so many nationalities , it was clean the locals were friendly it doesnt take the piss price wise , super good cheap public transport even on a sunday it turns up on time !!  Park and ride is free and has lots of cctv so your vehicles fine overnight . Would we do it again? , well it depends if any of my stubborn idiot of a other half has a few more bits fall apart bless him . My daughter has mentioned christmas shopping something i dont indulge in , but it may be an excuse for a cheap trip

dance called america - Runrig Edinburgh castle

Holidays...The Return

Nice to be back ...........no it isnt , I could cheerfully have spent another week languishing in the tent , with Mr Bah Humbug .
We stayed at Thorntonloch just outside Dunbar , I dont think I could have driven any further with my driving instructor beside me ..aka ..Mr Bah Humbug , we managed till the ride home ,I spat my dummy and told him to shut up...lol ..but he has now added a new catchphrase to the family dialogue "cock wombles" this is applied to all Audi drivers and those who cut you up on the A1. Another one of his imaginary swear words conjured up for the enjoyment of the Munchkin .
The campsite was lovely we were tucked into a corner under some trees and apart from a couple of other tents were left in peace , they said they didnt have disabled facilities , but we managed , the showers were a little deadly and needed some proper anti slip matting and there was no  proper steps at a couple of points around the toilet block just big stones . Nice to know the site warden gets up and cleans the toilets at first light , a fellow member of the early risers club i think . Mr BH couldnt do the main path through the dunes so he didnt toddle down to the glorious beach . I think this is the ideal stopping off point if you doing the long journey up to Edinburgh or to the Highlands , quiet and peaceful , very faint traffic noice and the occasional train in the far distance drowned out by the waves when the tide is up . Now for the giggle , theres a huge nuclear power station next door , they dont mention it in all their publicised blurb but you can hardly miss it . MR BH has a field day with endless Homer Simpson jokes , we already knew, but it must come as a bit of a shocker if you turn up and didnt realise till you got there . You cant really see anything for the huge sand dunes and I can vouch for the fact that the huge amount of rabbits do not have glow in the dark green eyes or fangs .
I shall return and blog about the wondrous Edinburgh visit once ive tackled the washing mountain

http://thorntonlochcaravanpark.vpweb.co.uk/

Hooray Hooray its a Holiday !!

Back at xmas my daughter bought me some concert tickets for Runrig at Edinburgh Castle next weekend . Wonderfull, but we hadnt really thought this through very well..lol  Its just a week away and Mr BH has hit a bad spell with his walking , so I contacted the venue and found that because he hadnt got an ambulatory disabled ticket theres not a lot they can do to help . Short of popping him in a wheelbarrow ive no idea how we will get him in and out of there . Plus we are going to camp up there for a few days as well , just to let him get over the trip up and whatever we have to do to get in and out of the venue . Due to the budget problems we cant afford to hire transport for him , but he still wants to go and we have the munchkin going to his first big concert , while mum and partner are going down in the moshpit . We are staying at the cheapest campsite outside Edinburgh and travelling into town, shouldnt be a problem they have excellent cheap public transport its just the trip up and down to the venue, we are staying in a flat funded by my daughter for that night  ....what have i let myself in for . Holiday ?  more like survivalist training .
Meanwhile we had the much awaited Assessment of Needs the other day , really nice lady from occupational health , who was just appalled that Mr BH is judged to be fit for work .
But you do realise how dangerous this is ?
Of course we do .
But you can barely walk and the compression of standing is going to cause you far more damage .
Pain is an irrelevance, I am capable of all movements required , you can read my ESA report if you want . I was cured by Capita, better than Lourdes .
Anyway the gist of what was suggested , is that he needs a shower to be fitted and also some form of bannisters fitting onto the stairs , not as easy as that sounds as the walls cant support anything . Because he lives surrounded by family all his care needs are met . But there isnt a carers  allowance unless he was alone with someone and even then we would have to fight for it . I did point out what would happen if anything happened to me and she informed me he would be put into full time care .
So this has made him even more determined to go on holiday, sometimes you just cant make my life up..lol

Observations

I had the pleasure of the schools sports day last week , every bit as cringeworthy as it was back in the day ...even though the day was a long long time ago . The headmaster was running round with a shovel desperately trying to fill in the mole hills that resembled the Somme , the grass had been cut but it resembled haymaking more than mown . But the thing I noticed is that the kids cant skip , has skipping died a death, has it become like marbles a playground thing that isnt encouraged anymore ?
Munchkin won by miles and hes only a squirt . Do the kids never use the field anymore? All rather baffling .
Affordable Housing ......http://everydayagem.blogspot.co.uk/   who decides that housing is designated affordable?  the wonderful affordable housing they tuck into most estates is usually tucked into some dark and gloomy corner or next to the land drainage pumps in Lincolnshire , but they now no longer have to build affordable housing into any development . So all the retirees from the Carbuncle in the Corner  aka London ,wont have to be troubled by the locals anymore, they can live in their gated communities after selling their 2 up  2 down and have everything delivered to their door , while pretending theyve retired to the countryside .
If I sound a little bitter and twisted its because our not so local post office and shop  has announced that they will no longer be selling food , they only sold basic items like bread and milk and a few groceries but to even stay open they have decided they can no longer afford to do that and will just sell locally produced crafts and tourist tat , the new post office contract no longer pays a wage only comission on what they sell so the hours are being reduced as well . It will be having to pop to the tourist hell that is Woodhall Spa if you need anything . We are now a group of villages with no services the post office hanging by a thread , all we have is endless delivery vans.
People who have lived here for generations are being squeezed out by endless streams of retiring Londoners , they dont use the schools , so they keep shutting , but they dont seem to think it through very well .
 Its all very well coming to live here , its beautiful but how you cope with life deteriorates  , it might not be a problem waiting 5 weeks for a GP appointment when your fit and healthy , What happens once you cant drive anymore ? theres no public transport .
 Shopping ? well what happens when you deteriorate to the point where the internet is a struggle . Do you want to be facing moving again in your 70s and 80s?
Mostly they have no idea how bleedin grim it can be in a winter , weve had a few mild winters , the Spring after a bad winter half the properties in the area are for sale ...lol

The Lackluster World of the Poor

Im still here!!  Just been rather busy ,the few days of nice weather have meant that working and major yard chores are eating my life , not a jot of crafting have i done and ive spent a whole 10p on thrift items , i do love a bit of Spanish Holiday tat . Mr Bah Humbug has threatened to have me sectioned if I get a donkey with a sombrero .

Its been a strange week it was the munchkins School Fair and Granny had to attend , now ive always been a ,so long as they arent maiming other children let them get on with it kind of parent and im just as bad as a Granny , dont fret the small stuff they grow up into great adults . So munchkin was rampaging round the school fair with the parents looking on in horror his teacher meanwhile just smiles and says he enjoys life so why not . But then it gets to the big raffle and they had excelled themselves this year . There was some pretty amazing prizes , his little friends name comes out and he proceeds to have a spectacular melt down when his mother leaps on the spa day prize and he wants some tacky toy .
Then a few names later the Munchkins name comes up and he marches up to pick a prize and he picks ......a huge sack of logs . His headmaster looks at him gone out and then says wouldnt you like to go out for pizza ? or bowling? The Munchkin draws himself up and says ..I have a use for them!!  he looked and sounded so like his great grandad it was scary . The bag of logs was bigger than he was but he dragged them back to the car .
When he gets home he passes Mr Bah Humbug on his way to his bedroom with his sack who looks at him gone out and asks if hes living in a parallel dimension.
So what did a seven year old want with a huge sack of logs? Well we dont have a wood burner or fireplace so even I was intrigued . When I went upstairs he has them all lined up on his bed wearing a pair of his underpants each, he then decided that he liked one particular log and this is now Loggy his new best friend who he sleeps cuddled up to at night . His mother then went up the wall because hed decided to put them under his bed to keep his pet woodlice in !! I'd sort of forgot to tell her about the boxes and jam jars of creepy crawlies he keeps hidden up there . I got a long lecture about encouraging his weirdness..lol
I have been informed by the Munchkin that Mr Bah Humbug has given Loggy a face and its currently in his school rucksack so mummy cant burn him...lol  We are also going to build a wildlife home with the rest of the logs , so he can collect more creepy crawlies !!
I'ts great being a granny !!!

This seems very appropriate today so ive dragged it out of the archives , apologies to those who have seen it before .
Maybe its the 100 year anniversary of the Great War that drew me to my Great Grandad , I can remember been taken by my great grandma to see his name on the war memorial . She was a women of legend widowed 3 times and as i also found out looking through birth and census records a mother of many . She didnt tolerate fools and idiots even into her 90s  and was still pottering to the betting shop and the pub for a lunchtime half of stout up until her death .
Its a sad tale really, Frank died in 1916 at Thiepval in France his body was never found , he was 26 and left great grandma with 5 children the youngest who he never saw was my grandad . I do have a very bad photo of him from regimental records indulging in bayonet practice , he does look a weedy little chap and had been unfit for foreign service at the beginning of the war , but because of the manpower that was lost he eventually ended up in France . He was a fustian cutter before the war working in the Cheshire Mills , having found his army number it was a simple matter to look at the Commonwealth War Graves Commission

 and this is what i found