Moving and stress…

ARGH! I got back from South Africa yesterday afternoon, and Phil and I leave on Wednesday afternoon for Kent. We have so much packing to do, I can’t believe how much stuff we’ve managed to collect over the past year! Obviously the solution to this general stress and worry about how much we have to do is do sit and blog about it, as opposed to actually crack on with it! But its very cathartic! Anyway, if anyone knows how to shrink items, or make them disappear entirely and then reappear in Prague please let me know!

On a different note, things in South Africa went OK actually. My gran’s funeral was on Tuesday morning, and it was a beautiful moving ceremony. Although it is so sad that she is no longer with us, I know that she is at peace now. I can be thankful that I was able to enjoy so many happy years with her when I was a child. She was absolutely wonderful and such an inspiration! I feel most sympathy for my grandfather, as he sorely misses my gran. They were married for over 50 years, so its not hard to believe that it is difficult for him. As a family we have to try and support him in any way that we can. He is a man of few words though, so it can be hard to know how he is really feeling. I just hope and pray that he can know and experience God’s love and peace through all of this.

Right, back to packing..!

My beautiful Ma dies.

This morning when the phone rang at 5am, I knew that it would be my mom. She told me that my grandmother had passed away shortly before. It was so difficult to hear my mom’s sorrow when I was still very far from her, but I talked to her for a while and I like to think that I helped in some small way. So I am on my way back to South Africa this evening, in fact, I’m sitting in Heathrow Airport right now! I wish that I wasn’t going back to South Africa for this reason, but at the same time, at least I will be able to say goodbye to Ma. I know that all her family was around her over the past week, and I also know that it good that she will no longer be suffering or in pain. Over the past few months the Ma that we knew and loved was slowing slipping away from us. Now she is restored in a way, and we can are free to remember all the fantastic times with her. I know she is at peace and I believe that she is with her heavenly Father. But I am still scared about how the next few days will go. I would really appreciate your prayers for my grandfather, my mom, her sister and brother, and all the family. Thanks guys.

Deep Sea World and Sims 2 Uni…

An Atlantic seal in the Seal Sanctuary at Deep Sea World. 

Today’s expedition involved a trip to Deep Sea World in North Queensferry. One of the highlights was driving over the Forth Road Bridge, which is such a stunning piece of architechture. The views across the water (enjoyed while trying to drive also!) to the land on either side of the Firth of Forth are breathtaking, even on a cloudy day. Scotland has wild, rugged beauty that is so easy to fall in love with.

After seeing the different reefs, wee fishes, pirhanas, tiger sharks, and even a ‘Finding Nemo’ clown fish (they really are the cutest things ever!) we headed home. The museum was actually pretty cool, I was pretty impressed, although there were quite a few screaming children, for which I have very low tolerance!

The rest of the day was spent playing Sims2 University. I don’t think that its really a good idea for a 12 year old boy to help his Sims students to have as much ‘woo-hoo’ as possible, but I’m sure that trying be a moral icon is fairly low down on Mr EA Games’ agenda! Anyway, I am all Sims-ed out. If I never hear that tune again it’ll be too soon!

Phil’s Graduation June 2006

Phil’s Graduation June 2006

Originally uploaded by the ‘a’ word.

Phil actually graduated on the 23rd of June, so its a couple of weeks away now, but I wanted to put a picture up anyway! I’m really proud of him and he did so well. It is both challenging and hugely frustrating to be married to someone who has been through the New College ‘trial by fire’, but it makes for brilliant discussions! It was a lovely day, and the rain managed to hold off too. Hazel (Phil’s mum) and I enjoyed the ceremony and watched young Philip getting bumped on the head with the bonnet for the second time. Apparently a graduate from Edinburgh who now works with NASA wanted to take the bonnet into space, however the university cronies obviously weren’t too delighted with that idea. So instead, a piece of cloth has been taken into space by this astronaut, which on return will be sewn onto the bonnet, making it the only bonnet in the world (!) to have been made out of John Knox’s breeches, and gone to the moon!

Day-trips ahoy!

The Falkirk Wheel

Originally uploaded by the ‘a’ word.

Today William (the 12 year old boy that I childmind) and I went to the Falkirk Wheel, and seeing as though photos are thus far an unknown entity on my blog, I thought that I would share this photo with you. We had a nice drive down to the Wheel from Edinburgh, especially because I didn’t get lost (well, maybe a little, but not much!) We had some lunch and then boarded the canal boat in the lower canal. The Wheel works by perfectly balancing the weight on either side of it, and therefore only needs the heat of 3 kettles to work each time!! (or so our tour guide said) It is basically a boat lift that connects the Forth and Clyde canal with the Union canal. Its very impressive! The actual boat ride is fairly tame and did not manage to distract William from generally harrassing me, but we had fun all the same! More Scottish Visitor Attractions to follow!

(If you’re interested: www.thefalkirkwheel.co.uk. Its set in lovely grounds too, so nice for a summer’s afternoon.)

Monday night thoughts.

Today was a good day. I enjoyed child-minding young William, we’re getting on like a house on fire… which is excellent, as 12 year old boys are difficult to keep entertained. We then had a man from The Flat Company come round and chat over flat-letting stuff with us, which is looking pretty positive too. Hopefully we’ll have some delightful people living in our flat in no time!

But there were a few difficult things that happened too. The first was that I got a call from my mom, who told me that she was in South Africa. As this was the first that I’d heard of it, I was immediately worried that my gran had passed away. Although this wasn’t the case, the doctor has told the family that he doesn’t believe that my granny has very many days left. My grandfather is understandably really suffering, and so my mom had decided to go over. It is horrible knowing that my gran is slowly slipping away from us, and that there is nothing that we can do. She has been suffering with dementia for a while now, and this has made things so much more difficult too. When I saw her about 4 weeks ago I was completely shocked as to how quickly she had faded away. Although she could still recognise me, she was unable to hold a conversation really. This was so painful for me, as the last time that I had seen her before then she had been pretty much fine. My memories of my gran (or Ma as all us grandchildren called her) are fantastic, she was only 50 years old when I was born, and so I had a wonderful childhood with her. My grandparents lived on a farm in Bedfordview. The house was big, with stone walls and polished tile floors that felt delightfully cool on my bare feet as a child. The land that surrounded the house was perfect for the grandchildren to enjoy. There were cows, horses, turkeys and chickens and lots of places for hide and seek! On Sundays when all the family were together we played cricket and ate Eskimo pies ( ) and went swimming. There was also a tree house that my grandfather built himself, which had tree stumps as seats and a table. It was an idyllic childhood. My Ma was the perfect granny. She took us to pottery classes with her, let us feed our toast crusts to the parrot, and slipped chocolate bars under our pillows at night while we slept. In the painful times recently, seeing her as half the woman that she was, it is to these memories that I cling. I don’t want to remember her as she is now, but as she was. I am so thankful that I did see her recently, and I was able to whisper thank yous to her as she slept, because she gave to us all so richly, so generously, and so selflessly. I just wish that she could know how much I appreciate what she did for us. For how she loved us and nurtured us. I just hope that somehow she did.

It feels strange knowing that my mom will be calling me in the near future, to tell me that she has passed away. I don’t know what that will be like. I have only been to one other funeral in my life, and it was when I was only 12. I just feel so much for my grandfather. He will be lost without her. It must be terrible having to gradually lose your spouse. I know that he will need all our prayers and support, but it feels like I can’t be any real help because of how far away I am. I have to trust in God’s loving and powerful care for him, and all our family.

I’m sorry if this has been a bit of a downer, but sometimes you just need to be able to express the pain and memories.

The other less painful, but just a bit difficult thing is the thought that Phil and I will be leaving Edinburgh in just over two weeks. I can’t believe that it is that short a time. I am starting to get a bit nervous! I am really looking forward to my course, and all the challenges that it will hold, but actually moving away from Edinburgh will be harder than I had originally anticipated! I have lived in Edinburgh for 5 years now, which is longer than I lived in Kent with my family, so it really feels like home. Phil and I have some fantastic friends here, who I feel like I am already beginning to miss. I feel so lucky that we have friends like Neil and Carolyn, with who we be completely relaxed, honest (!) and just have such a brilliant laugh with. It is such a blessing to our marriage to be able to share/ask questions/have challenges with another married couple who we get along with so amazingly. I am already afraid of how much I am going to miss our times together. (There are also many other special people that we are going to miss too!)

But Phil and I both feel like this is the right thing to do, so I am trusting God with all my heart that its going to be OK! (or, at least trying to. I think that C.S. Lewis once commented that the problem with a living sacrifice is that it keeps getting off the altar!) So yeah, we’re trying to see all our friends before we go and I guess it’ll have to be email/phone calls or copious trips to Prague by our friends after that!

The other thing that I found out today was that an old long-term boyfriend from years ago is going to be a dad! He got married last September and they are already 4 months pregnant, so they’ve not hung around at all! I am completely delighted for them, and I think that he will make such a fantastic dad. It just weird when that happens. You know, you don’t hear about how people are doing unless its big news, and then the news passes like wild fire! Just makes you think how different life has turned out from what you may have expected.  As I get older, that just keeps on happening to me, I guess its a good thing though… keeps me on my toes!

Right, I think its time to go…

…night all. x

Come on Portugal!

Unless anyone has been asleep for the past couple of weeks, its the World Cup, and England are playing Portugal this afternoon in the quarter-finals. Naturally, being a South African, living in Scotland, married to a Northern-Irishman, I want England to lose. If these reasons aren’t enough, then England’s arrogant approach to all sports (of which they invented most but have yet to do them any justice by being any good at them!) is another perfectly good reason to support whoever England plays against. The further insult is that English people assume that everyone else in the UK will support them because they are the only ‘home nation’ still in the World Cup. Wrong. If England won this World Cup we would never ever hear to end of it, considering they still go on about 1966 as if it was yesterday. So, basically, I would love Portugal to win because they play more interesting football and they haven’t ever won a World Cup yet. (I enjoy supporting the underdog too.)

So, bring it on! Enjoy the match if you’re watching it, and remember to cheer for Portugal! 

P.S. Northern Ireland were in fact the last country to beat England! If they can do it, surely Portugal can?!