June

Well June has come and gone I turned a year older and my son is now 21.  Where has the time gone I cannot believe he is well and truly an adult.  It seems like yesterday he was that cute little boy who loved playing with his toys.  Carrying a little rucksack on his back with all his toys in it!!  Loving his Mummy's comfy arms.  Travelling around France and Italy with not a hint of a moan, being a perfect little travel companion to us.

Buying the football strip of every country we visited and wearing it with pride!!

We are very proud of him he has grown into a lovely young man.  He has helped his Dad and I in so many ways.  He has shown that despite all the moans people make about this modern generation there are good ones out there.  He has stood by us and given help without hesitation, not abandoning us when we would have understood he could have.

I love listening to the endless conversations he has with his Dad and the special bond they have between them.  They think so alike, laugh at the same things get mad at the same things.

This last year has been such a challenge for him he has been really poorly, changed his University course, taken exams when feeling majorly ill.  Been so stressed by it all and yet he has never grumbled, he has been so long suffering. I admire him so much for his quiet, dignified composure through harrowing times.

I hope all his dreams of becoming a successful business man come true, but that he doesn't lose his kindness, reliability and loyalty.

I also hope he gets out of wearing silly smurf hats!!!!

Stay just as you are Toby you are lovely inside and out......xxxxxxxx

Simon

So sorry I have not blogged for ages, but have had so much to deal with.  However, since last blogging  Simon (my husband) and I celebrated our 24th Wedding Anniversary!!!  I cannot believe how quick those years have gone.  We have been through so much together both good and bad, circumstances have really tested us, but despite it all we are here and I am confident in saying we do love each other very much.  Simon is my best friend, he is my support, my counsellor, my confidante, the love of my life, the father of our beautiful boy, the person I never get bored of being with.

We spend a lot of time together and never stop chatting, when I first met him he wasn't really a big talker, but we have grown into each other and I have taken on board a lot of his characteristics too.  I am a lot more mellow, I don't react to situations the same as I did 24 years ago, he has taught me to be more passive.  He too sees things, I guess, from a female point of view and he will notice things more from my point of view and he understands me.

 Overall I am so pleased I met the lovely Simon on Boxing Day 1987.

He has been through so much stress these past few years and has remained incredibly strong, he has had to deal with some incredibly hard situations, at times all alone, having lost both his parents so close together he has not been able to have the back up of them.  I know he would have loved many times to have gone home to his Mum and Dad for reassurance, but has had to just get on with it and deal with whatever comes up.  One wonders at times how much one person can cope with, I admire him so much for his strength and being positive in the face of adversity.

Hopefully the years ahead will bring my darling Simon all that he wants and deserves for being such a lovely husband and a great Dad.  We love you so much Simon xx.

TTFN x

Precious Family

After quite a while of not seeing my family I finally got to see them the other day!!! There is nothing like your flesh and blood to make things better!!!

We met at a lovely new Restaurant that has opened in  my hometown of Worsley, Manchester.  It is called George's, apparently it is owned by Ryan Giggs who is a Manchester United Footballer.  He happened to pop in whilst we were there, my sister was like an old friend with him lol!!! They have been quite a few times and he was making jokes with my Mum, very sweet actually.

Well I paid a visit to the toilets whilst I was there and I was very impressed by the fabulous sinks, I know it doesn't sound good but they were gold and they were lovely. So glamorous.

We had afternoon tea and as you know by now my favourite past time is drinking Tea, it was all very convivial. The staff are very friendly and the whole place has a lovely ambience.

It is a little bit at the top end for my present budget as far as the main meals, but I am sure they are very tasty and hope one day we can all indulge!!!  

Will definitely be making a return visit to meet up with my family for a cup of tea though and an obligatory chat with Ryan!!!!

TTFN!!

Too cold to cry!!!

Well this week has caught me at an all time low. Whilst I have not started this blog with the intention of being negative I am finding myself at rock bottom.  As if it is not enough to have not had a central heating  boiler for nearly five months and having to live with just limited use of an electric heater and my electric blanket for warmth, tonight we have got a power cut!!!!

When you have very little in life already and the things that make life bearable are taken too, it is very upsetting to say the least!!  So I have no heat, no light, no TV and no internet!!!  I can hear you saying well you are alive and not in pain, those are two things I have to be grateful for.  I have a strange feeling like I have heard it is said when one is drowning and your life flashes before you, well in my case I am having flashes of memories of when things were good!!!!  Lovely holidays in the sun, just relaxing by a pool in Provence, with the smell of Lavender pervading the air, drinking Rosé under the shade of an olive tree at midday.  The lovely noise as you are drifting off in the warmth of the day of people splashing around in the pool.  

I have even found myself remembering padding about the house with bare feet and the feel of warm towels on your body after having a bath.  Turning on a tap and having hot water to wash your hands.  I have forgotten what it is like to put clothes on for pleasure and to think about looking nice, now all I am concerned with is keeping warm.

I realise I do have to be grateful I am not living in the South West of the country where at the moment they are immersed under water with dreadful flooding, but really how bad can things get before they get better.

I do understand no one likes to hear someone moaning and how frightfully boring it gets, but tonight I am finding it cathartic to write and besides as the title suggests I am too cold to cry!!!

I am waiting for that little red light to appear on my TV to let me know power has resumed. It is amazing in this country how awfully unprepared we are for any kind of disturbance in the weather.  We were hit with some gusts of wind last night but really does the power have to go?  The mad thing is the power went when the wind had calmed down and it has been off for hours now and it really is calm out there.

I wouldn't mind but sleep is eluding me tonight so I can't even get out of it and get engrossed in a dream!  What did we do before the internet?  It really does keep me going nowadays with Facebook, Blogs and Vlogs. 

My mind is turning now to getting up in the morning not being able to have a bath through the lack of hot water and no cup of tea!!! Please, please, please turn the electric back on!!!!!

TTFN!!!

I spoke!!! Aaaaah!!!! I actually got to speak.......

So sorry this is so late but I have been doing twelve hour days on  ITV's Foyles War.  A TV drama set in the 1940's in England.  I left home in the dark and arrived back in the dark and I am beyond tired!!!

The location was in Nantwich Cheshire, at a rather lovely Jacobean Manor House built in 1616, an absolutely fabulous house.

The house is privately owned by the family and they were there whilst filming was going on. The Lady of the house was very nice and loved sharing with us all the historical facts and talking about her family.  The house had been used for quite a few productions previously, like Sherlock Holmes.  It really did have a lived in family feel, with Tolly the Retriever wandering around wanting to be stroked and patted by all the crew and cast.

I was the Housekeeper!!!! Well I was immediately out of my comfort zone arriving with only a small amount of make-up on, for me, and having that removed.  Then the hair, well as you know the 40's was all sweeps and curls.  I wasn't really prepared for my forehead being on display it hasn't seen the light of day for years, if ever, I am really not a fan of it!!!  One has to just grin and bear it for the sake of one's art and I even posed for a couple of photos eek!!!!  What I did think was how much time did they spend in those days curling and fixing their hair?

There were other extras on the set who all looked very authentic and you immediately get taken back to another time.  A rather glamorous time considering WW2 was happening!  Both men and women wore hats and there were shoulder pads and waists giving generally a much more stylish look.

Being a background artist you very rarely get to speak, however, this time I got to say "thank you sir". Only three small words, but in this business that is 'something'.  Ok I am not booking my flight to Hollywood any day soon, but for someone who has come to this late I am rather excited.  Of course, by the time the production makes it to our screens there is a very good chance it will have been cut, but for now I am basking in the experience of imagining what it is like to be an actress.  During filming I had to nod my head at one point to an actor and it is amazing how a simple instruction becomes a big deal, I kept repeating it after to see if I had done it right!!! I know, mad!!!

It was a lovely experience and the actors and crew were very nice, all in all a good time was had by all. We just have to wait for the series to start again on our screens, which I think will be in about six months.  Now I have to brace myself for that!!!

TTFN!!!

Coronation Street

Spent a pleasant few hours at Coronatiion Street.  I was in the Bistro fleetingly having a chat and drinking fake wine!!  

Coronation Street has moved to Media City now and it is very impressive all very modern!! It reminds me of Canary Wharf in London.

We finished early so it will be nice to go home and chill tonight and watch the eviction in Celebrity Big Brother!!!

TTFN

Costume Fitting eek!!!!

So today I am rather excited as I am off to Croxteth Hall in Liverpool for a costume fitting for a programme they are filming next week.  Crazy as it may seem, but as I have got older I rather like dressing up as somebody else.  Maybe it is an attempt at running away from the real ME!!!  

Here is me as a Nurse on the Hollyoaks set

The era is 1940's Wartime Britain!!!! My imagination is running wild thinking maybe - Land girl, Wren, Nurse or just a lady in the street!!!!  What on earth is going to happen to my hair??? Which is wild at the moment, let's hope a hat is on the agenda!

What was going to be an ordinary week next week is now going to be filming for four days.  It will be so interesting to work on something new.  Hope there are lots of tea making facilities to keep me going, as I love my tea.

Later in the day......

I am going to be a housekeeper!!  I rather like my dress and the shoes well what can I say very sensible!!! I couldn't take pictures but I have found a picture of the nearest to the look of my costume I could find.

I am thinking of doing my extra work in the style of the housekeeper out of Daphne du Maurier's Rebecca.

More about this next week so keep watching!!

TTFN