Last day of the Mo

The Mo in all its glory before it is shaved off.

I have raised £150+ but one gentleman, Spencer Reynolds has raised over £42,000 an absolutely phenomenal achievement. If you would like to my fund donate please click here.

How the other half lives

We were "t'up north" over the weekend hunting for a wedding dress for Helena. In Alderley Edge we saw a sign outside the local off-license (wine merchants) " Two bottles of Cristal Champagne for £250". Needless to say we bought a couple of cases!

Change of direction

The time comes for all of us to say good-bye

MOvember

Yes once again it is that month when we endeavour to remind all men to check for prostrate and testicular cancer. Some of us do that by growing a "Mo" or rather a moustache. Any donations or sponsorship money raised goes towards research into these two major killers. The current status of my Mo on Movember 16 is:

If you would like to sponsor me then please click HERE!

The Pregnant Lady of Ilfracombe

We managed to spend a week at the lodge in Devon. We bought a fabulous picture by David Chambers, the Devon artist, which is now hanging over the front room mantlepiece. We have re-arranged the mantlepiece since taking the photo.

Hauling in the life-boat

We spent a day in Ilfracombe which is a fabulous seaside town. We will have to return in the summer. The reason for going was to look at the Damien Hirst sculpture of the pregnant lady. i am not sure what it "means'. It is certainly an impressive work and is the best Hirst piece of art that I have seen. It is also one of the few that I like.

 

Pregnant lady - they are still completing the ground works

 It is still a working harbour with a small fishing fleet

Sad Times

One of the reasons for our hectic life of late has been the three funerals that we have recently attended. It is a sign of our time of life that the number of funerals you go to increases.
The first funeral was that of Auntie Grace, aged 98. She never really recovered from the loss of her husband of 72 years my Uncle Gordon. This marked the end of the "older generation" on my dad's side of the family. We are now the "old ones". Thanks to road works and a road accident on the motorway we were late arriving at the crematorium in Worthing, some folk never made it. It was a lovely service with some touching tributes to her.
The second funeral was that of Margaret Morris in Manchester. She was a very close friend of Julia's parents. I spent my last night of "freedom"  with Margaret and her late husband Ken on the 23 July 1971. She was a lovely lady and we were lucky to have been with her  a couple of weeks before she died. She was in good form, Helena was with her and we talked about the plans for the forthcoming wedding. She was at our Ruby Wedding celebrations last year and really enjoyed herself. It is good to have recent happy memories of her.
The third funeral, in Birmingham,  was that of "Nana" Reynard who was Emma's paternal grandmother. We had met Nana a few times and she was a lovely lady who was much loved and will be sorely missed.

Retirement is Hectic

I thought that once I retired I would have ample opportunity to write deep meaningful Blogs on current affairs and the issues that interest me. How wrong can you get! So far all I have done is rush about. Two trips up north, wedding planning with very little time to sit and do nothing. Hopefully this will come in the next few weeks.