Hectic!

Maureen and I by the river in Stratford-upon-Avon (see down the page for details)

Well, it has been a bit manic over the past fortnight  and, in actual fact, I'll need another holiday to recover after the upcoming week too!
These are some of the activities that have been going on:

• House(s) Move
• School Move – new building for classrooms and Office (ongoing)
• Start of new academic year (nightmare)
• Emergency / aka expensive,  dental treatment(s)

But some nice stuff too….

• Wedding attendance
• Meeting up with friends – local and international

It’s that adage, isn’t it?  Everything happens at once and ‘ask a busy person’….!

​So, it’s all very complicated and I can’t remember who I have told but, suffice to say, my Mum has sold her house and she and my nieces have moved into another place in Tewkesbury. It is only about 500 yards down the road, and it is VERY old – parts of it are grade 1 listed and I think the whole house is grade 2 listed.  The house is listed on the web and is fairly significant in the history of Tewkesbury and a number of local movers-and-shakers – including a chap called Thomas Collins, who was one of our distant relatives and was also mayor of Tewkesbury at some point – but I need to check about putting more details on this Blog because there is a consideration of a certain amount of personal privacy.  

Anyway, it is absolutely ancient and enormously enormous.... I call it Hogwarts!

​It has that many staircases and I think there are five floors – including the attic.  I’m not sure, but there could be nine potential bedrooms and various ‘lounges’.  GULP!  The purchase was more complicated than usual insofar as the ground floor and cellar were purchased by A N OTHER as they are retail premises – so some of the legal paperwork had to be amended from commercial to domestic usage and vice versa.  

The move had been happening over a few weeks but the final push was a fairly intensive two days, and then I was involved in a unexpected move at work as well!  The new school building was [mainly] finished ahead of time and it was agreed that to get the two new classrooms set up for start of term on Tuesday 5th September – much more beneficial for the new starters in Reception class and the other young year groups (1,2 and 3).  So all staff (and family members and friends) turned up over the days prior to the first week of term and moved  in and set-up as much as possible.  It is an ongoing project (and has been, as you know, since December 2022).  My new office is also in the new building and I found out a day or so ago that the electricity will be cut off to my shed this week, so I have to move too!  Short notice, naturally, and of course the IT guys are not available for at least another week.  I also have to purchase a new desk and various items of furniture… or nothing will be happening!  Hmm… not that it isn’t busy and stressful enough at the moment with the hysteria of a new academic year…. But hey!|?

I am trying to convince and remind myself at regular intervals that there is only so much I can do and ultimately, I have limited authority and am employed on a part-time (30 hours per week) contract, and paid accordingly. 

The next point:  The beginning of the academic year…. well, that is so horrendous that I shan’t say anymore! And the emergency dental treatment involves cast and caps and a couple of appointments over the next month and is costing £900 – but that is much better that the potential £2-3K that was originally mooted.  Oh well, it’s only money. 

Lou and I glammed up for our old school friend's wedding

Helping with the flowers!

However, on the nice side of busyness….
I helped (using the term loosely) in the preparation of table flowers vases and flowers ‘swags’ for a friend’s wedding, and obviously attended too.  It was a beautiful occasion and not a bad location too! (see photos).
​
I also met up with an Australian friend from Adelaide.   In actual fact, Maureen was the HR manager at an not-for-profit organisation in the city and she gave me my first job in Australia!  It was lovely to catch up with her, her partner and {British] cousin and his son.  We met in Stratford-upon-Avon as they were doing a combination of Cotswolds towns and sights, and really enjoyed seeing each other and catching-up with all the news and events of the past few years!

It has also been nice to meet up with local friends too…. I don’t understand why it takes weeks and weeks sometimes when we only live within a few miles of each other!  This evening a few of immediate neighbours are meeting to try out a neighbour/friend’s new outside pizza oven.  Should be interesting - and hopefully tasty too!
On another plus side Waitrose has had a really brilliant offer on whereby when buying six bottles of wine  there is a 25% discount  - what a bonus! So, we naturally purchased a few of our favourite wines – from Australia –  including two varieties from Tempus Two. Check it out – it is lovely wine and has certainly helped over recent weeks!

The Fleece Inn (a National Trust property) - and wedding venue.

The Barn - at The Fleece.