The Garden Fence - help and support in tough times

monnagran

Greenbee. Thanks for that suggestion. I had already decided to try to do a visit while the family are in Cornwall and I will certainly take a friend with me. I know just the one - calls a spade a b****y shovel.

Also a beautiful bungalow has come on to the market. A bit bigger than I had intended and a smidgen more expensive but guess where it is. Very close to this house. In fact it is even closer to the sea. However, that will be snapped up in no time and it means that my family will be quite a distance from me as they certainly couldn't afford a house around here.

Love the idea of making a sort of royal progress round the country house sitting. I could then uncover everyone's murky little secrets and threaten to expose them on here. I could start a new profession as a blackmailer. On second thoughts I'm not sure that I could get a suitcase of the size I would need on the buses.

Now. An Armada. That's a thought with which to conjure! Silvasava can be the Admiral. Just dont choose to invade the Island on the Round The Island Yacht Race weekend. Not only does the sea look like Picadilly Circus only with Yachts instead of cars and buses but the Wind Gods usually choose that weekend to show off their lung power. There are always disasters.

Oops! look at the time. I have a heavy day of child care tomorrow, one 4 year old Pickle and one 15 year old grandson. I must get some sleep in.

Night x

ETA. nursemaggie. we must get you to Malta somehow. Would you like to borrow the Armada?

It's no joke though. I wish that I could wave a magic wand for you but I'm all out of magic wands.
You are an amazing person and you really deserve this holiday. If prayers will solve the problem you have them in abundance. x

Softstuff

Apologies again. It seems my return was premature. Internet is intermittent and runs at a snails pace. Hubby seems to think it has something to do with them having made something that needed waterproofing too waterproof... and now it's condensated. In any case, he says he's not going to call to complain for a bit. There's chaps in the street digging, maybe they'll resolve it, maybe not.

Nursemaggie, so sorry about the flight, I feel sure there's a solution and you just need a friendly travel agent to sort it out. And if you end up at an airport too long, it can be arranged for you to go into a nice lounge. There was someone on one of the boards here who offered me it at a reduced rate, I'll look for that if need be.

Monnagran, I think you need to think firstly of yourself and secondly of them. Go take a look, but feel no guilt at all if that isn't what you want. It's your decision at the end of the day, not theirs. But if you are free for housesitting, there's a lovely house in Queensland, Australia that occasionally comes up, with a resident backyard kangaroo I'm not afraid of blackmail, I tell my murky secrets to amuse people at dinner parties.

So Pollyanna, it seems we have the armada covered, I wonder if I need to pitch in with the air support? Grandpa in law builds and flies his own planes, wonder if he's up to building a squadron...

I painted the laundry yesterday. Porters paints Equinox. I have a feeling it'll make people gasp. I think it's bee-yootiful.

nursemaggie

Stop talking about all these boats I get sea sick.

mcculloch29

Wow, hoping for good resolutions all round, I feel I can add very little to what has been said re Nursemaggie and Monnagran advice.

A mixed week ahead here, bits of work, the live music club tomorrow but Wednesday is the funeral of a friend. He was 71, I think, still with lots of life to live. He and his wife bred the horse we co-own with them and several others.

I don't run a car, but a good friend is taking me, she also took me to our regular horsey meet ups with our friends, so knew him as well. She doesn't want to attend the get together afterwards, so we shall go for a meal.

greenbee

Monna - remember that sometimes the 'selfish' response (putting yourself first) is the least selfish thing to do. If you really don't like the house/annexe/location then the whole family would end up being miserablt there.

Just a thought - if you're putting up most of the capital, can you have the main house and put DS, DiL & the kids in the annexe?

There's also the fact that although you liked the idea of living on your own, you haven't done it before. You might find it lonely - I love it, but then that's what I'm used to, and I need my own space. But if you're used to a busy, bustling, lively home with lots happening, you might find having the place to yourself for longer than a couple of weeks would be a bit different to how you'd envisaged it.

The location is clearly going to have to be a compromise - your preferred location vs. proximity to family.

Bear in mind this is the first house your DS & DiL have seen - as your own house hasn't yet been sold it may well not happen anyway this time, but at least they've started looking, and you can think about all the possible combinations. It may be a good idea for you to keep an eye on rightmove etc. for things that would suit them as well... (my DB & SiL are doing this for the people they are buying from, as they don't have internet access and therefore haven't found anywhere over a year after they accepted an offer..)

Enjoy your 'holiday at home' and I hope your friend will help you come up with some ideas for possible solutions. But it's not a done deal yet - just another option to consider.

Nursemaggie - hopefully you can find something with a different airline. Even a little extra travel time and a little less holiday might be worth it so you don't have to give up your holiday completely. Can your DS have a look and see whether a search from a different laptop comes up with something different (and remember to clear your cookies before you book, otherwise the prices tend to go up every time you search). Also ask some questions on the travel/holidays board.

Love the colour Softstuff - glad you're finding time to do work on the house despite the job. Maybe the internet being down has some benefits

pollyanna_26

Monna I hope you managed a decent nights' sleep and the child care duties are going well .
I read your posts from yesterday again and was struck by the words " I feel very silly now " I hadn't picked up on that until now .
The only time you ever enter silly mode is when you're being light hearted especially when a certain lady with thigh high boots appears !
At the weekend you were thrown a curve ball , something not on the agenda . I am glad that like myself and the other posters on these threads you can come on and express how you feel safely and without upsetting those involved in real life and can begin to sort your own thoughts and feelings before returning to the situation .
As for "wise and sensible " some of us on the threads were fortunate to have a real old style upbringing others not .
You have knowingly or not scattered your wisdom and good sense across the old style forum so we both old style raised or not picked up a good deal from your posts .
Dignity in challenging situations is one I learned from you . x

SS Sending the return of the internet vibes . With recent experience of life sans both landline and internet I feel your pain .
I think you take the prize for organising a swift invasion . I defy anyone to top a Grandpa in law who builds and flies his own light aircraft !!! ( Please don't return to tell us they are models ) I'm very impressed it beats all previous solutions .
Mar never reported back on the progress of the ark she was knitting so that's either abandoned or a wip .
As well as the Armada courtesy of other peoples craft I have been pondering again the DW elephant , it wont fit on the craft so far assembled so how to get it on the ferry secretly ?
Waits for someone to pop up with " I own a container shipping firm " - may be some time but you never know on this site .
Nursemaggie Your name has been duly removed from the list of those who may need a sudden armada
Have a good day all
polly x

silvasava

Well I could always ask my friends to take the DW Elephant entourage by boat and we could be Monna's Ark!! I really fancy being an Admiral - I can practice saying 'Keelhaul the swabs' in a very loud voice or 'Row faster boys - Cap'n wants to go waterskiing!.........;)

nursemaggie

Well I got a Jet2 flight but you have to pay for so much extra it started off very cheap and ended up £57 more than with Air Malta scheduled fight, no food, there was a picture menu and the cheapest was £9 and I could make it for less than 50p and would not have eaten it anyway. I shall take a sandwich.

They kept on adding extras, I began I began to expect to have to pay for the steps to go up to the plane and for the plane to have an engine. They still reserve the right to charge me more.

I paid £200 for my original flight with no extras it was all in. Don't think much of these cheap flights if you end up paying for everything. It even costs £29 to check in!

There is a great improvement on the time for departure but am rather worried I will not be able to get home as we don't land until 12.30am. It will be cheaper to take a taxi home if there is no train as staying in Manchester is nearly as bad as London. Not going to have much left for Pocket Money.

Floss

NM check out the trains - there are trains almost all night to Blackpool from Manc airport that stop at Bolton...

mardatha

I'm having problems knitting an ark without holes innit.