Notes of Life

Apart from some blood tests at the beginning of the week, all in all it’s been a quiet week. Even the Wii Fit hasn’t seen me for a couple of days.

Yesterday I took a trip in the car with Dad as we needed to mark the mileage on the directions sheet for the motorbike run next weekend. We started in Montgomery, headed over the Long Mountain, up through the Stiperstones, onto the Long Mynd, down to Bishop’s Castle and across to Lydham. There are some fantastic views from the Long Mountain, Stiperstones and the Lond Mynd (as I’m sure Mountainear will agree), but unfortunately we had to time it too, so there was no time for stopping to take photographs. It was sunny over the Long Mountain, but rained for the rest of the way so some of the views were a bit “moody”. When I’ve got a free day (and maybe when the price of petrol comes down!) I’ll take a drive following the route, but stop for photos, then I can share the magnificent views. I feel lucky with all this countryside practically on the doorstep!

Other than that, I’ve been writing reviews on DooYoo. I’ve got enough DooYooMiles to redeem a 2nd £10 Amazon voucher, although I’m nearly halfway to a 3rd, so may wait to redeem £20 in one go.

Anyway, I’ll leave you with a photo of a flower from Mum’s garden (I haven’t a clue what it is). Again, it’s a white flower on a black background… although I’ve just noticed it’s off centre!

I haven’t written for over a week and my only excuse is that I bought a Wii Fit last week! They’re not easy to get hold of at the moment, but I managed to snag one from Argos in town. So I’ve been trying to spend around 30 minutes in an evening playing on Wii Fit and I must admit it’s quite fun! I’ve even managed to get Mum on it and she’s doing better than me at some things!

Anyway…

When you were a kid, did you ever want a rocking horse? I don’t know if I did or not, but I enjoyed the one we had in infants class at school (it was an old metal type one, I suspect it’s long gone now!). Well, forget about the rocking horse… You can now buy a rocking sheep from The Rocking Sheep Company here in Wales! Is it just me who thinks they are cute?!

A funny title for a post, I know, but it’s the name of the plant pictured below.

Mum & I popped down to the village WI coffee evening on Thursday. I must admit it’s not my ‘thing’ (especially as I can’t stand coffee), but you never know what you’ll find there. We found this plant for £1 (Bargain!) along with another. I thought it was quite photogenic so last night I set about doing a mini-photo shoot.

Today Mum, Dad & I went to visit Nan & Granddad. I’m pleased to say Nan is doing very well with her new hip and she has already been for a walk up the street. She doesn’t like the crutches she’s been given so she’s using a walking frame more, but already she’s moving about a lot faster than she was before the hip replacement. Once she’s had her other hip replaced I’m sure she’ll be completely back to her old self! It’s wonderful to see her doing so well.

I’ve been a little busy since my last post, so here goes…….

Wednesday evening I met Mum off the train and took her to the orthopedic hospital to see Nan. My brother and sister-in-law also turned up so the three of them went into see Nan while I waited outside with my surprise. I then went in when my brother & sister-in-law went home. Nan didn’t see my surprise at first (or saw it, but couldn’t believe her eyes), but was delighted when she saw it… which pleased me no end. Nan looked surprisingly well considering the operation she’d had the previous day. She didn’t even have any bruising. She’ll be back to her old self once she’s had her other hip done (which shouldn’t be long now). We all had a good chat and even went beyond visiting time, but the nurses didn’t seem to mind. Nan came home on Friday afternoon, a couple of days earlier than originally expected, so that was great news!

Thursday morning I set off for London. I made it to Shrewsbury train station with just minutes to spare to catch my train. I had a reserved seat from Birmingham to London, but somebody was already sat in my seat so I politely asked them to move. When I finally sat in my seat somebody else came along and asked if I was sure that was my seat as he had a reservation for that seat. I’m not sure if he had the wrong train or if the seat had been double booked, but the reservation thing above the seat had my name on it so I wasn’t going to move!

The tube journey from Euston station to Wembley seemed to take forever and I found out that Wembley Central station was quite a walk from the hotel and Wembley Arena and Stadium. I soon realised there was an overground station right by the stadium!

I stayed at the Hilton Wembley Plaza hotel which overlooked the stadium as well as Greater London. They allowed me to book in a couple of hours early which was great, but the hotel isn’t up to other Hilton hotel standards. Still, the room was warm and did its job (provide a comfortable place to sleep!). I had a bit of a rest before heading down to Wembley Arena. I had a standing ticket to see Matchbox Twenty and wanted a good view of the stage.

When I got to the SE entrance of the arena there was already around 15 people queuing, so I joined the queue and sat on the floor to save my legs/feet for the concert. As the queue steadily grew so did the black clouds above. It wasn’t long before it started raining. Thankfully I’d got a lightweight waterproof coat on so most of my stayed dry (but cold!). It rained on & off so by the time the doors were due to open the queue was restless and eager to get inside. Unfortunately, it sounded like the band were only just doing their sound-check and the doors weren’t about to open.

Half an hour later were were finally let through the doors. Security was tight and everyone was being searched. I got stopped and questioned about my camera (it seems they can’t tell the difference between an SLR camera - which aren’t allowed - and a non-SLR camera - which I’d got!). The girl finally let me through, only for me to be stopped again as I was putting the camera back in my pocket. So I went through the whole thing again. This security guy kept telling me it was a professional camera and I kept telling him it wasn’t. Another security guy came over and looked at it and said it wasn’t professional and it was fine for me to go. Finally, after a hundred or so people had gone past me, I was allowed to make my way into the arena. I wasn’t happy! Thankfully, I still managed to bag a spot by the barrier in front of the left side of the stage.

The support act was a band from Nottingham called Headway. I’d never heard of them before, but certainly enjoyed their set. They were a nice compliment to Matchbox Twenty. You can check out their music on MySpace or Bebo.

Matchbox Twenty came on stage and were fantastic! The entire arena got a notch louder when ‘Real World’ was played (’Real World’ was the first MB20 song I heard and was hooked as soon as I heard it). Standing in Wembley Arena on Thursday night you’d never believe that MB20 aren’t a big band here in the UK. They put on a wonderful show.

Towards the end of the evening there was a bit of comotion in the middle of the front row of standing. A girl didn’t feel too good and the first aid staff sorted her out, but left her in the crowd. Rob (Rob Thomas - lead singer) had noticed this while singing the last verse of a song and as soon as he had finished he called for the lights to go up. Up they went and Rob asked the girl if she was OK. He had a lttle chat from the stage and then asked for security to pull her and her partner out of the crowd and to sit her right in front of the stage for the last song! She looked a little embarrassed, but Rob made sure she was OK. It shows just how much of a nice guy he is.

I came out of the concert much drier than I went in and in my had were a USB wristband (containing a recording of the show I’d just seen) along with a t-shirt and programme (which I can’t help but get when I go to a concert).

I headed to the hotel bar straight after the concert for some much needed refreshment before heading to bed.

Friday to Sunday to follow shortly!

Yesterday, Mum & I spent the day together and decided to visit Nan & Granddad before Nan goes into hospital on Monday. She’s having one of her hips replaced on Tuesday (at last! - it should have been done at least 6 months ago), so I’ll be visiting her again (this time at the hospital) on Wednesday evening after work. She’ll be needing her other hip replaced sometime this summer too. We’re just seeing how this one goes first. It’s been tear-worthy to see her trying to get around this past year or more. She’s been in so much pain, but hasn’t allowed it to get her down. Both Nan and Granddad have always been active. Granddad is in his 80’s, but that doesn’t stop him calling other people old!

On the way home we stopped for Mum to buy some plants for the garden. She was after plants that are due to flower over the summer, while I was after plants that I could photograph now… So we got half and half - some that had already flowered (see below) and some that would flower June - August. We also picked up a couple of packets of seeds, so hopefully Mum is going to have another beautiful summer garden.

Pansy