Blog Archives

Guess What?

30/7/2022

1 Comment

Late summer 2017

September 2017

Late summer 2017

Below and right - June and July 2022

Guess what?

It is five years this weekend since I touched down at Heathrow and returned to the UK. Yep – five years! I cannot quite believe it. In some ways the time has scarily whizzed past but in other ways it seems like yesterday, and I am 'homesick' for Australia too.

In all honesty, most of the time I do not want to even think about what has happened in the past few years.

However, one positive thing is the transformation of the garden - from an over-grown, tangle of brambles, off-shoots and weeds to a work-in-progress cottage garden!

See below!

1 Comment

Yippee! End of Term!!

21/7/2022

2 Comments

Last day of term!

Well, it was MY last day yesterday as I work in two different schools on three different days of the week. And just as I have been thinking about "moving on" from working in any area of education, my faith in humanity is given a gentle prod.

A Year 1 (5 years old) boy's family found out that I wouldn't be on site for the last day of term and his father visited me at lunchtime with a handmade card and box of chocolates that his son had created - apparently without prompting! Isn't that sweet?

2 Comments

Variations on a Theme

19/7/2022

1 Comment

These photos were taken a week or so ago, generally. This is probably a good thing because after the past few days of "unprecedented temperatures" (to quote every newscaster, reporter, web and social media site) the garden is looking a tad world-weary, parched and sorry for itself. A lot like its protagonist!

I have a few strategies for coping with the heat from our time in Adelaide and Sydney - but it is definitely a bit of a shock to encounter 38 degrees in the Cotswolds!? As it is, I found myself lying on the sun-lounger in the garden at 5.00am this morning having woken up with the dawn chorus (blasted birds!) and finding the bedroom (in the eaves) a tad toasty! However, lounging in the garden was quite refreshing - dozing as the day woke itself up, with a soft breeze and accompanied by chirruping chiff-chaffs, blackbirds and song-thrushes. Nice.

Then, it was rude awakening into reality as I hauled myself into school at 8am... but thankfully it is the end of term tomorrow! More of that another time - maybe - unless I erase it from my consciousness and conveniently forget about it? Probably preferable for all involved.

1 Comment

Extraction Distraction!

9/7/2022

2 Comments

On Thursday (7th July) I had a tooth extracted. Eventually.

You may remember that the first attempt was somewhat arduous because despite copious amount of anaesthetic it stubbornly remained sensitive and it was abandoned as a bad job. The subsequent appointment was postponed because of illness. So it was with some trepidation that I edged into the dental practice on Thursday! This is fairly unusual as I’m pretty savoir faire about this kind of thing and do not consider myself particularly squeamish either.
In order to remain cool, calm and collected for the extraction I therefore focused on distraction – if that’s not a contradiction in terms!? So….

Prior to arriving at the dental practice, I visited Lloyds Pharmacy for advice on pain-relief. The staff there must think I am a bit of a nutter as once a month I turn up “for my bag of drugs please, and there’s probably something in the fridge too” [insulin]. So, the chemist gave me a stern warning about the vagaries of codeine-based painkillers and paracetamol and ibuprofen and what to eat with whatever pill, and duration of time between pill-popping….
£10.00 later and clutching three boxes of medication I wandered donw the road for…
… the third appointment for tooth extraction.
The molar is known as M6 – as it is one of the first adult teeth to emerge when one is about 6 years old
M6s are the largest teeth in the mouth and are situated on each side of the middle of the jaw. This is a surprise as we often assume that molar teeth get larger the further back they are.
Two injections of anaesthetic were initially given.
A second dentist was called in!
Three dental practitioners in the room looking concerned (two dentists and the dental nurse who commented that my dentist had been worried about this procedure as it had proved so difficult previously). Gulp.
A third injection of anaesthetic was administered!!
A period of approximately 15 minutes passed until my dentist plunged in with the various pliers and scary looking implements and started initially by removing the crown, and then the roots.
One of the roots was deeply embedded and curved – which is normal apparently but increases the risk of splintering which could foresee a whole other raft of potential problems.
After what seemed like an age, the second dentist reappeared and, it has to be said, with more brute force, yanked out the remaining root!
A minute or two to collect my breath, swill my mouth and inspect the bloody pieces of calcium on the dental tray.
Nice.
Lots of advice about what and what not to do over the healing period. For example, no alcohol, to stay quiet and do not do much physically as one must avoid raising blood pressure as this increases bleeding potential, not to swill the mouth vigorously but it’s okay to gently clean the mouth with sips of warm salty water. If bleeding is pronounced then use 4cm square of gauze, dampened and rolled up, to plug the gap and wait for it to coagulate again.
Nice.
Be aware of something called dry-socket (I think) when after a couple of days it might start becoming actually more painful and bloody and, in which case, to call the practice immediately.
Thus armed with useful and daunting information, I hoisted myself out of the dentist’s chair and went to settle up with the receptionist.
£200.00 later I staggered out of the building into beautiful sunshine when it then took me at least 20 minutes to walk home across the fields – I’m always slow but this was doubly so!

So far, I’ve followed all advice and – touch wood – things seem to be healing properly. I did not go into work [school] yesterday as sleep had been more scarce than usual and codeine can have a bit of a ‘spacey’ effect (well, that my excuse).

Events of the past few days have had an impact in other ways too. A friend and I were meant to be enjoying this weekend in London but we have decided to cancel. This is such shame as we booked tickets for the Duran Duran Hyde Park gig over two years ago but it was postponed twice because of lockdowns.

We have tried to sell / give-away the concert tickets but – at the time of writing – they are still available. We have two nights in a hotel booked and paid for and train travel booked and paid for, as well. However, due in some part to my trepidation about tooth pain and so on, but more seriously considering major complications and stresses in my friend’s family’s current situation, and the re-emergence of covid infections ramping up, we thought it was sensible to stay at home.
This was a pretty difficult decision as we have been hard-core Duranies since attending our first “pop concert” in 1983 at the age of 14 years! We have seen them on numerous occasions but it’s always good to add another to the list. Oh well.

So, I’m consoling and distracting myself by planning not very much for the following sunny days of predicted temperatures of 26 and more degrees! Hmm… Where are my sun-glasses? Where’s the sun-screen? Where’s my book?

Nice! Truly.

2 Comments

Tower Tour - views

7/7/2022

0 Comments

The road carries on round toward Abbey Terrace and the centre of the town

The street going away and out of the town - towards Cleeve Hill and Cheltenham.

Christian worship began in Winchcombe in Saxon times. The earliest reference to St Peter’s church is in 1175 with reference to its association with the abbey that once stood to the east of the church. Winchcombe Abbey was a Benedictine abbey was once in the heart of Mercia, an Anglo Saxon kingdom. It was founded in c.798 for three hundred Benedictine monks, by King Offa of Mercia or King Coenwulf of Mercia.

During Edward the Confessor 's reign, between 1042–1066, Winchcombe Abbey became one of the most powerful Benedictine monasteries in the country. Later, in the early sixteenth century, Winchcombe Abbey was known as a centre of learning under Abbot Richard Kidderminster (1488–1527), who was also a renowned preacher and acted as an ambassador for Henry VII.

The church tower is 90ft tall and is built in perpendicular style. Surrounding the church roof 40 stone ‘grotesques’ – scary and ugly stone faces. Half of the grotesques represent demons and the rest are possibly caricatures based on town and Winchcombe Abbey dignitaries from the 15th century. One of the grotesques is reputed to be the inspiration for The Mad Hatter from Alice In Wonderland; Lewis Carroll is known to have spent some time in the town and surrounding area.

The quality of the stonemasons at Winchcombe was known to be very high, and it was a Winchcombe master mason who built the Divinity School at Oxford.

The present church building dates from the 1450s (recent then!).

Photos above and to the left are the same view - but obviously I've tried to show where our row of cottages are situated in relation to the church and the centre of the town.

0 Comments

Tower Tours & Endless Wire**

4/7/2022

3 Comments

Volunteering at the Church Fete at the weekend was fun – as long as one can be phlegmatic about the weather which was typical of a British summer! For example, I trundled up to the greenhouse to collect the tomato plants I was donating for one of the stalls, and within just those few minutes had to change my top as I got soaking wet! Thankfully, then, upon arrival at the church – when it was just a dank drizzle in the air – I found my spot was inside the building, and the first table close to the entrance. So, my remit was to sell the tickets for “Tower Tours” as well as covering for the Teddy Zip Wire sales. Well, both proved very popular and despite limited ticket numbers for the Tours (because of H&S rules) I took over £100, and The Teddies must have raised a similar amount. That’s a lot of stuffed fur hurtling through the air!!

It was good to put some faces to names too. Obviously, I have had fairly regular contact with individuals linked to Winchcombe Open Gardens and Friends of St Peter’s but have only met a handful of people – because of Covid rules and the fact that many are older and therefore shielded more than most.

However, a few things made me laugh! Whilst chatting to my Zip Wire colleague and making small-talk I mentioned that as children [and teenagers] me, Kate and Ali were the bellringers at our local village church, as well as being stalwart members of the choir. The choir comprised a raggedy bunch of kids, but we did our best! My sisters and I rang the bells for at least six years – but it was just a peel of three bells- and even then it might sound very temperamental and just a cacophony of clanging! Anyway, literally less than fifteen minutes after mentioning this background information, another woman turned up at the table to see if I would like to join the bell-ringing team?*! I don’t know about Zip-wires but the speed at which this news spread was phenomenal! Needless to say, I have not committed myself to this venture but have said that I will go to a Wednesday rehearsal one evening to see what and who is involved.

Another thing that made me smile was the enthusiasm of the kids to have their stuffed toys lurch into space from the height of 90ft, from the top of the church tower. One small child surprised his mother when buying a ticket for the event suddenly produced three toys from his rucksack! Needless to say, Mum paid one pound for one bear, but the small boy had to use two pounds of his saved pocket-money for the others – which he was very happy to do! Bless.

I also had interesting conversations with a whole range of people – volunteers and visitors alike. The majority of people were local but there was a smattering of tourists too – from Italy, Portugal and America.

Of course, it all happens at a Cotswolds Church Fete… I found myself deep in conversation with a chap who was (or used to be) the sound engineer for The Who / Pete Townsend, and amongst other things, an award-winning photographer for books /images associated with The Lost Gardens Of Heligan (by Tim Smit). A tenuous gardening link for this Liability-Brown Blog!

It was interesting...different…unusual!

** BTW - "Endless Wire" is a song by The Who (although I don't know it - I just Googled their song list).

3 Comments