New Year's Eve 2012

It's finally New Year's Eve, I jogged for 20 minutes this morning.  Back/hip, still not good, going to resort to drugs today, some kind of anti-inflammatory should help.  I'm here with my coffee were it's warm and light, outside however is damp, dull and dark with high winds throughout the night and this morning.

I have a little shopping to do this morning then Bee and I are heading out for lunch at Ness Gardens and a nice walk, it's become a bit of a tradition over the past few years, if Bee is home, we go for a walk around the gardens on New Year's Eve or as close as we can to it.  After that, I'll be home watching TV until it's time.

Like I said in another post, 2012 was full of angst but today, I'm thinking of the happy moments and all the times I had a smile on my face, all the times I laughed out loud.  I had some really good times and I wonder what 2013 will bring me.

So, fast forward to just after noon when Bee arrives to pick me up.  We head to Ness, park up in an empty car park and proceed to read the notice on the door, I have to add at this point that it isn't usually closed on New Year's Eve.  So, the visitor's centre, through which holds the restaurant and the entrance, is closed until January 1st while it has some work done, however 'Friends of Ness,' (that is, members,) can access through, 'the Friend's Gate.'  This is where the notice should have continued with, '... which is located ...' but no, no idea where the secret, (it's apparently secret because we couldn't find it,) gate is located.  We walked up and down the length of the grounds and came across numerous gates, all of which were padlocked. 

After 45 minutes of searching, we're about to give up after yet another hopeful option is once again, a dead end when... (I must pause here to warn you that your mostly law abiding friend may actually be a criminal... now...) Bee pipes up with, 'do you think we could squeeze through those conifers?'  The conifers are tall and spaced close together so they are growing up rather than out.  I place my hands through and between two young trees and open out my arms, we could probably, actually squeeze through.  I go first then take Bee's bags and she follows, after a swift brush down of our coats, we're in and I feel like I've just broken into somewhere that I shouldn't be, like... Fort Knox.

Ness is a huge garden, the car park can be full but you may only pass two or three people in about 4 hours however today, it's a little eerie to begin with, we are totally alone, no sound, not even the waterfalls are falling.  We don't do our usual route because the ground is so sodden and so we stick to the pathways, we park ourselves on Mrs Singh's bench, (all of the benches are dedicated with a small plaque, Bee wants one when she leaves,) and we have a beautiful view.  It's bright, the sun is right ahead of us and low, we can see the rolling landscape below with the pond glistening at the very bottom. 

At this moment, the two of us produce miniature wines to toast the New Year, I think I started that about 3 or 4 years ago and now it's tradition, we're just enjoying our wine when a couple approach then another then another, we're both desperate to ask how they got in but if we did, that would give us away and expose our creative entering.

Moments later and it's as if God has flicked a switch, it's suddenly dark, the sun is gone and although it's only around 2pm, the light is gone, it's dark and the sky looks like it's about to bring forth torrential rain.

I'm home and showered and I've even done my hair again, (so easy at the moment,) I put a wash load in, watched the Auckland fireworks for New Year on the Internet, check that CJ is okay and has plans then phone to check in with J, her dog Molly is not well, (that's the one that C called 'dog' when she was little,) she is whimpering in pain and had to pay a visit to the vet today.  Molly has pain in her back but hopefully has just pulled a muscle, she's on pain killers... fingers crossed.

I'll have Jake Gyllenhall to keep me company this evening, (in the form of the 'Prince of Persia', not in person, sadly,) then a few minutes before midnight, I'll head outside with my coal, silver, salt and bread, (I hope it doesn't matter if the bread is straight from the freezer,) then I'll watch a few fireworks then let myself and the New Year in, take pain killers for the back/hip situation, then head to nod. 

Happy New Year Chick xxx

Four Chirstmases

Let me save you the trouble, I love Reese Witherspoon, but with regards to this film, don't bother x

December 30.5

Yesterday afternoon, I phoned my cousin to wish her a belated Happy Birthday, there is a large age difference but in another time, I think we would have made great friends, she talks so straight to me, talks to me like a friend, no frills, no pleasantries, very straight and just what a person needs. 

When I asked what my cousin would be doing for New Year, she told me then added, 'New Year hasn't been the same since your Mum's.' Mum always used to throw New Year's Eve parties and I'm not sure what the protocol was, I just knew, when I was a kid that at New Year, everyone showed up, my sisters, their husbands and kids, my cousin's, their kids, sometimes their kids friends, neighbours, it was just an open house and so exciting, I spent the whole day waiting for everyone to arrive. 

Around 11.50p.m. I would hurry everyone to get their coats and usher them out of our back door, through the garden, down the path, out of the garden gate, follow the path around the back, to the front of the house, we'd then walk around and around the grass verge in front of the house linking arms usually with my brother's-in-law George or Jim or my cousin's.  Someone would have the car radio on so that we could hear the official count down, we'd all stop at the appropriate time, link arms and hold hands, countdown out load from 10 - to - Happy New Year!  Kiss everyone 'Happy New Year' then sing 'Auld Lang Syne' before allowing the male with the darkest head of hair to knock on the door, in his pocket he carried coal, silver, bread and salt.  The rest of us would line up behind the chosen one.

Mum would always stay in, she was the one who opened the door to the New Year and we'd all file in, one by one, wish her 'Happy New Year' and kiss her on the cheek.  The kids, of which there were many at the time, nieces, nephews, cousins, they all, one by one, fell fast asleep on Mum's bed or fell asleep then were carried to Mum's bed, and ended up, covered in coats until it was time to load them into cars for them to be driven home.

As the years went on, the dark hair turned grey and eventually, people stopped knocking on the door just after midnight. 

I can't remember when the last one of those nights was, but I don't think I've felt part of a family since that last night.  Part of a whole family that is.  It all began to unravel shortly after the last one.

December 30th

It's December 30th  and here at least, it has finally stopped raining, the sun is trying to shine, it's still cold but it is still December, so... well.  I slept pretty well but my back/hip, whatever it is, that painful lower left quadrant, kept disturbing me, not sure what I did yesterday but those two physio sessions are now a very distant memory, in fact, it's as though those miracle sessions now never happened.

I'm here at my usual Sunday morning haunt, I've had a lovely coffee, read a little, wrote a little, people watched a little, chatted to the girls behind the bar, after this, I need to recycle then I've been invited for coffee with my nephew CJ and Bee may call in after church.

So CJ and I discuss the coming year, our aims, mostly his and it was unsaid, but we both know that I am going to be his head coach for the coming year, I'm proud to do the job.  I will be Burgess Meredith's 'Mickey Goldmill' to Sylvester Stallone's 'Rocky Balboa.' Amongst many plans, he is going to get into peak physical condition, aiming to run a few 10ks and I need to find him a new hairstyle, see the power I have?

Later I'll be heading home to sort, (if my back/hip allows,) and iron, my life is so exciting.  Bee doesn't call in, she overslept and didn't make it to church, think she is still jet-lagged.

Looking Back

So we're nearing the end of 2012 and let's not beat around the bush, it wasn't the best was it?  Full of worry and stress and sadness and of course saying goodbye, whether that was to incredibly special people, who could never to be replaced, family, dear friends, jobs, people that made us happy, made us feel special, made us feel secure.  It was a year of loss for us, but mostly for you.

Christmas is about spending the day with those that you love, if you can, and we both did that.  My day was planned with military precision so that I could see everyone I was supposed to, but it all worked out and I had a lovely day.  I spent our Boxing Day, the day after Christmas, also with those that I love, except instead of presents on that day, I got one of my at least, bi-annual lectures.  The person who lectures me does it from a place of love and I know that he means well but in reality, he hasn't a clue about my true situation and I just want to tell him that he is quite frankly, talking out of his hat, but I would never do that... because he means well and because he cares.  So I sit there and take the berating. Why do I live in a property with that many bedrooms when there is just me?  Why this? Why that?  I sit like a scolded child because otherwise, I would point out that actually, he doesn't understand me at all and all of his seemingly good suggestions are actually supremely flawed and totally inaccurate for me but I would never point that out because then I would make him wrong, so I take it and I'm close to tears but I suck it in, until the next lecture.

The journey home was not good, heavy rain, a mostly hour long, downhill journey with so much surface water on the roads, I didn't feel like I could feel the tarmac, I dropped my speed to 50 for most of the journey, even that wasn't slow enough.

After calling in at my eldest sister's on the way home on Boxing Day, I finally got home about 5pm, phoned my brother-in-law to wish him a belated Merry Christmas, he was working on Christmas Day, watched some TV and then went to bed and slept in fits and starts waiting for my alarm to go off ready for work.  I did that thing several times where you hear your alarm go off, and you wake with a start, but the alarm was only in my head.

Work wasn't too bad on Thursday, think I was on my own for the first 1.5 hours, I left at 2pm board out of my skull.  My two 'nearest' people, J and Bee are both unavailable.. via the phone, so it's just me this evening.

Christmas Eve

It's Christmas Eve and I woke early but after a good nights sleep.  I've come out for coffee  and brought with me an old journal, and an old issue of Elle magazine.  The journal makes me laugh out loud (slightly embarrassing,) and the Elle has so much reading in it, it's two years old but no wonder I haven't managed to part with it yet.  You see, this is why I have trouble recycling my magazines.

I jogged for 25 minutes this morning at a pretty good pace, got a text from my friend Lisa to say she was on her way to work after all, that was at 6.40am.

I'm having a lovely and peaceful hour, (just listening to 'Summertime' on the Starbucks sound system, it's much preferred to their choice of Christmas music this year which seems to be some kind of Tudor/Gothic ensemble, not my taste at all.)  I'll be heading back into the insane traffic soon, well, not much traffic but people driving insanely, I'll just give everyone a really wide berth.  The rest of the day will be spent dropping off presents and packing reading for tomorrow.

Going to be a long day, my sister Bee is staying overnight after midnight mass, she'll get home around 12.35 so that's when I need to stay up until, then I need to get as much sleep as possible before I have to get up to make breakfast then drive to my cousins.

Wedding Belle

It's December 23rd and it's such a different day today from yesterday.  We must have had 48 hours of solid rain but today, there is a light wind and the sky is powder blue, it's beautiful, and so mild so I'm wearing a long sleeved t, a gilet and my jeans, (and a bit of Swarovski, well you have to don't you?)  Surely this ensemble is unheard of in December? 

I read a little and write a little over my coffee then it's the Sunday paper purchase and a bit of foodie things then home.  I jogged for 20 minutes this morning, same as yesterday but it was easier today and I did a great stretch afterwards, I feel so sorry for my body and I know I have been neglecting it, the stretches feel great. 

It was great to chat last night, so glad you called.  I feel like the time difference and, well, life has really got in the way these past few weeks when I wanted to check on you the most.  Now that I've confirmed which medium is best for you to read what I write, I'll make more use and will send you messages more often.

So I'm heading home to wrap presents and after that, I expect a visit from Bee, I haven't seen her since I deposited her at the airport en route to NZ on November 20th, will be good to see her.

My main news from last evening is that my cousin, (always felt like a little brother,) PQ, has finally got engaged to the lovely Kate.  I have to confess that I had a sneaky feeling in my water that an engagement was imminent and I bought a card a few days ago.  I won't tell them that I bought a 'wedding' frock in the summer... just in case.  It's blue, floaty and romantic, perfect for a Spring/Summer wedding, if it's an Autumn/Winter wedding... I have a problem.  Seriously, I'm so excited and so looking forward to a lovely day.  They are a wonderful and perfect couple and this will be the last family wedding bar one for about the next twenty years, so it will be very special indeed.  Finally... some happy news.