Brindleboy123's Blog

Hello, good afternoon and welcome!

Just looked back and it was the end of May when I last wrote….not like me at all! There has been so much going on (not that is an excuse, I am retired afterall!).  Anyway, first things first and we are now grandparents!  Jacob James Roseff entered the world on the 8th June at 1.53 in the afternoon, making Tony and I very, very proud grandparents. Weighing in at 7lb 8oz he has the longest fingers and feet that I have seen but when you look at how tall his dad is, why would you be surprised.  He is smashing and yes, I am totally biased but I don’t care!  I went over the day after and stayed in bed and breakfast in Weston (Spreyton House, on Locking Road) which I can thoroughly recommend.  Dean there does the best omlette I have ever tasted!  Samantha was exhausted, as you can imagine and still looked a bit “shell-shocked” by the whole thing.  She is a truely wonderful little Mum and Ben her husband is now getting quite an expert at changing nappies even though the thought of it before Jacob was born did not appeal!

Tony and I went back over on the 9th July and stayed a week in a “luxory” flat!  It would appear that one man’s “luxory” is totally different from another.  Charlton Holiday flats.  In a lovely spot just off the sea front but far enough away not to be bothered by the 44,000 people that were there for the T4 concert the day after we arrived.  The landlord had actually offered us a “free upgrade” to one of the flats right opposite the pier before we left which we turned down – ummm, think it might have been just a tad noisey!!!

Anyway, the flat was clean but not sure what constitutes “luxory” unless it is the fact that it did have two smallish flat screen tv’s on the wall?!  Couldn’t actually open the fridge door completely if the kitchen door was open, no washing machine, towels or cleaning equipment at all when we arrived.  The owner came around and did find some towels for us to use and bought some washing up liquid and an iron to replace the one which had more wires showing than the national grid! The first night we were exhausted and did manage to sleep despite the attempts of what I thought must be a water bed but turned out to be just a mattress that was so soft it was best to sleep holding on to the drawers next to the bed for fear of falling out!  The best bit however was when we arrived back on the Sunday night to find that the place was in complete darkness.  No electricty whatsoever.  I telephoned the owner with the last little bit of credit I had only to be asked if I had put any money in the meter!!!!  Dumbstruck or what!  I “asked” him if he was serious that after paying him £400 I really had to pay for my own electric too!  Apparently so…….guess we won’t be going there again!

Accommodation aside we had a glorious week.  Loads of cuddles from both Jacob and Samantha (some spare ones for Ben too!) and of course lots of shopping!  Marks and Spencer do love it when I visit the UK! We took Samantha and Jacob to a large shopping mall and at one point she returned to the car to feed him only to find herself stuck in the back of the car – she hadn’t realised that the doors had child locks on and her bag was in the boot with the phone.  After quite some considerable time she did eventually manage to get out and come back to meet us but I think it will be some time before she tries that manouver again!

I had the chance to catch up with a few friends which was also great.  Ros and Owen cooked us a meal and we had a lovely evening chatting about all sorts of things and doing the grand-parent thing of showing photos of babies/children in all different poses, places and ages!   We also spent time with Carol and Andrew and the beautiful Jack Russel lookalikes that don’t (if you know what I mean!).  Basically they are supposed to be x with Jack Russell but look nothing like them.  Bella and Archie, I love you both whatever you are! (Topper….not forgetting you either, you were a gentleman!).

We also had time to visit Windsor where Tony used to live and made our way down to Slough and Wexham Park Hospital where Tony’s son Sam passed away in 2001.  A chair had been dedicated to Sam and placed in the children’s play area. This was the first opportunity Tony had to see it and also to catch up with one or two of the nurses that were still working on the unit.  I’m sure it brought back many memories for Tony to return to the hospital but I know he was pleased he had seen the chair and also to know that other children and families were making good use of it on a daily basis.

As many will know, I have worked in the NHS for many years and so I was quite interested in the hospital.  I have to say that I was very disappointed to see how generally “neglected” it appeared to be.  The flooring on the corridors was broken up in many places and an absolute danger to anyone who had any type of difficulty walking.  I saw yellow clinical waste bins on the corridors and I did not see ONE sanitiser unit anywhere!  Having visited Bristol/Weston hospitals since the increase of MRSA has been documented over the last 10 years and since I left the NHS I had assumed that all hospitals did as these two hospitals do and have sanitiser at the entrance to the main hospital and also on the outside of each ward.  I walked past several wards in Wexham and there was no evidence of anything to clean your hands before entering a ward and certainly nothing in the entrance area of the hospital. I have sent a quick email to the hospital hoping that they will consider the comments – not a busy body, genuinely concerned.  Mum had C-diff and MRSA and I know how much she suffered from both.  Perhaps it wouldn’t prevent all infections but something so simple could help couldn’t it?

Met up with my Auntie Eileen and cousin Karen.  Wonderful to see them again.  I visited their home for the first time ever and it was strange but I felt so very much “at home”.  It was as if I still had a “family home”.  We went out for a meal and had a lovely time for a few hours together.

One thing I did manage to get done this time was to have a granite vase made and inscribed with Mum’s name.  Tony and I took it up and placed it one Dad’s grave where I believe my sister would have placed her ashes.  It looked good and matched the headstone perfectly.  I had just Mum’s name, date of birth and death and the sentence “Love you more than that” inscribed.  Whenever I, or even any of the grandchildren used to tell Mum that we loved her she would always answer “Love you more than that” so it just seemed appropriate.

I will probably go back over to the UK in a couple of months (or less!) and Tony has said that he may well come over before Christmas!  That is a miricle….Jacob must certainly be having an impact!

We saw the funniest thing when we were booking in at the airport on the way home.  There was a family there who were trying to take over their deckchair….not anything special, in fact one that looked rusty and had seen better days. The lady told them that as it was separate from their luggage they would have to pay £25 for it each way! The daughter was moaning about how expensive it was and it would be cheaper to buy one there (yeah, right….we even have running water and electricity here in Spain too!). The family were not going to be outdone though, the suitcase was opened, clothes removed and worn and the deckchair was placed inside!  Unbelievable! The guy was last seen walking through departures complaining that “it was the deckchair that probably took them over their weight!”

I was saddened to see that one of the Carer UK’s members (JohnRJ) passed away recently.  John helped me several times when times were difficult with Mum and I will always be thankful to him for that.  He was totally devoted to his dear wife Pat and family and I know, like myself, many people from the CUK forum will have the family in their thoughts.

The holiday period is well upon us now here.  Cars and people everywhere. The beach is so hot it hurts your feet if you don’t wear flip flops and it is the time of year when you get “up close and personal” with everyone on the beach – not necessarily through choice but if there is more than 12 inches between you and anyone else, someone will park a chair there!  There are so many lovely beaches around this part of the country but for some reason the world (and their mother literally) seem to want to sit on “our” beach! Not long, and Tony will be calling out “close the gate on Torrevieja as you leave please” whenever he see’s someone packing up to go home!

Bobby and Lola apparently behaved themselves when we were away – not strictly true, I think Lola did her best to make sure everyone human and canine knew she was the boss.  Tony was just concerned that she would return a virgin – Fiona had her Mum’s shitzu (sp) there and I noticed the look of lust in Mervin’s eye! Maddie and Mervin how cute is that for two dogs!

Right, well best be off now as we are off to a quiz evening.  We never win and quite often get the donuts for coming last but the landlady does a mean free egg sandwhich so who cares!

Take care one and all.

Bell x

Grampy Tony and Jacob

Nanny, Daddy and Jacob