It's March Already!

Tweet

Hello to you all. I hope you're well. My last post on here was Christmas. I have popped I since then, read a few things, but didn't participate. Firstly, I remember telling you about my dad breaking his leg. He is on the mend. He's walking unaided. He's very slow, but he was slow before he broke his leg! He's hoping to be able to get outside soon. He's looking forward to summer. His passport finally arrived after various difficulties! Now, we've got to get my husband's passport renewed. We have run into another potential problem, however, in that my husband takes various medication that is banned/restricted in France so he has to check that he can take it! Things that have happened since I was last here: January is a very busy month for birthdays. We treated my in-laws to a takeaway. We used to have a meal out with them and my parents (my mum's birthday is the same day as my mother-in-law's) but we weren't able to do that with my dad recovering and my mother-in-law not being in the best of health. Other January birthdays were our middle niece, youngest daughter, and eldest son(Midi). We weren't able to see the girls but I did spend a couple of days doing things with Midi. I'd saved some money to have a 'wellness' day. Midi and I had a package at a spa that included a float tank, infrared sauna, and a massage. It's in a town that's not far on the train. After the experience, we met up with a friend of Midi's and went for a meal. His friend had travelled from up north to the Midlands for the day. We had a meal at Turtle Bay (Caribbean restaurant) and then spent some time at a gaming cafe. I happened to have booked a weekday off work as well (the spa was on a Saturday when I don't work anyway) so asked Midi if he'd like to do something else. We had a look at a map, checking where we could go by train. We ended up in Hereford where we visited a cider museum. We also had a lovely walk around the river Wye, and we stopped in a cafe for a drink and then a pizza place for lunch. February was our eldest daughter's (C) 30th birthday. We don't normally get to see the daughters on their birthdays. Mainly because they live so far away. This time, I made sure to book some time off without knowing if any plans were being made. I usually have to book my time off a year in advance. Anyway, I booked a few days to make a long weekend. C's birthday was on a Monday so we went down Friday to Tuesday. It was also school holidays. This meant that we also got lots of time with our granddaughters. We spent C's birthday with her and the little ones. C said she wanted us to take her to McDonald's. We did do that but we went to the cinema first, then on the miniature steam train and to their local park afterwards. That was really lovely. It's one of those ordinary things that we should be doing as grandparents but don't get the chance! We also got to spend some time with the other daughter and other family while we were down there (they live on the south coast). We have seen our best friends in February and March. That was tricky trying to catch up with everyone as we'd just not got much available time! March - my little sister gave us an experience gift for Christmas, which we have just used. The experience was for half an hour with armadillos at an exotic zoo. It included entry to the whole zoo. It's quite small for a zoo, but the animals are looked after well, and they have plenty of space. There were animals that I'd never seen before, and one or two I'd never even heard of. They had a couple of really cute animals called genets. They look like cats. I'd say they resembled a small ocelot. But they're more closely related to the mongoose. We looked around the zoo before we did the experience. Armadillos are more interesting than I'd have thought We met a 3-banded male called Woody. Then we fed two 6-banded females called Doris and Dylan. That was quite enjoyable. They were very friendly. That zoo is probably just over an hour away from us in a car. We went on the train, which would normally take about twice as long as driving but took longer as some of the trains were replaced with buses. It made for a long day - about 8 hours of travelling to spend 2 hours at the zoo! It was worth it, but I think I might drive if we go again That's the fun stuff. I've also been doing training at work. Training that should have happened months ago but didn't because of various changes. I told a couple of people that I was hoping to do a social work degree, and they all said to go for it. I'll look into it next year as I might be able to do it through work by then (you have to be there for 2 years and I've been there for only 10 months). In other news - my boys are still both looking for jobs. The youngest is volunteering at a local charity shop, and he's got back involved with local theatre. He's doing the sound for their next show, which is on next week. Eldest has had a couple of interviews and is waiting to find out about the last job he interviewed for. It's a teacher in a prison. It pays well and he says it has good benefits like a generous amount of leave, early finish on a Friday. It's a bit of a pain to get to but, if he gets it, he intends to learn to drive. I think that's all from me for now. I've got to get me a cup for tea before I start work. After work, I'll be visiting my youngest son's nan, and then I'll go to see my parents. Ta ta for now. I'll try to pop in later to catch up with some of your discussions.