Instalment 2

Instalment 2 – May to August

Well this may be the toughest of the update blogs to write..... but let’s start with some good stuff! Jane and I continued our ‘new things’ pact with a spa day in Oxford. All very girlie and relaxing. She also persuaded me to try Go Karting. This was not such a success unless you count my impeccable driving manners “please, do go past, I am merely holding you up with my slow speed” “no, no, after you, I insist!” I was quite frankly shit (but very polite!)

DH and I journeyed down south again for the Dig For Victory Show. Another awesome day of vintage fun. I treated myself to a proper hairdo from the lovely ladies at Heartfelt Vintage from Bristol. I came away feeling very beautiful.

My hairdo!

An arty shot of iconic planes or a shit out of focus one - you decide!

A demonstration of wartime cookery.

Now the end of June saw the whole Brexit thing but this all kind of passed us by. I am not sure if I have mentioned on here or not but DH suffers from mental health issues, something which affects all aspects of our lives. Things came to a head for him one evening and he took an overdose. I found him in our garden, hypothermic and unconscious. I still don’t really know what to say about the whole thing – we got to see the best and worst of the NHS system and found some amazing support from friends and family.  I did ask DH if I could mention this on my blog and he was keen that anything that got people to talk about mental health had to be a good thing.

Anyway – from lows to highs. In August DS#2 had his graduation parade from his Phase 1 army training in Harrogate. We took the opportunity to combine it with a visit to York and a couple of nights away. The day of the parade was very wet and windy. My carefully chosen outfit was hidden under a very fetching plastic poncho. I also had to hold my hat on, something the poor lads couldn’t do on the parade ground. This resulted in lots of hats being whipped off and blown away and having to be retrieved by the RSM’s.  It made for great entertainment and huge cheers from the crowds.                 

I can’t explain how proud I was of DS#2 on that day. He looked so handsome, so grown up and had gone through so much to get where he was. I was just bursting inside.. and crying a bit... and determined that he would have his photo taken. A lot. He’s not keen on the whole photograph taking thing!          

It's a bit wet!

I can see him!!!

Proud Mum moment and DS#2 suffering yet another photograph

Jane and I continued our adventures with a go at punting on the Thames at Oxford. The guy at the hire place looked quite worried and suggested, several times, that perhaps we would be safer in a row boat. But no, punting had been chosen and punting was going to be done. Jane turned out to be very good and I couldn’t get the sodding pole out of the mud. So technically she punted and I sat in the punt and cheered her on.  We finished the adventure with the worlds biggest picnic on the banks of the river which sounds lovely but involved fighting off ducks and wasps and trying to find somewhere to sit that wasn’t covered in bird poo.

Anyway, enough for today. Do look out for instalment 3 where we get up close to tanks, the family has a new addition and I 'find' myself  - deep and meaningful stuff!