Being AWOL

I have to apologise for being absent without leave for the past month - but in Spain my blogging is severely restricted by the cost of having to use a dial up "dongle" method to use the internet.

For those of you who believed the early forecast of a long hot summer [at one time the word drought was even mentioned] and stayed for the wettest August for years I won't make it worse by writing about the superb weather we had in Spain. Sufficient to say on the night we flew home we went from 32 degrees down to 16.

I came back to a heavy first few days of work but I should be able to get back to my usual blogging routine soon.

Meanwhile I hope you are all OK and I look forward to catching up with my reading.

Summer 2011 Spain

Sorry I have been out of touch for a week or so. Crazy busy with work before departing for Spain on 19th and up to my eyes since I have arrived preparing Vista Alegre for our summer guests.

The weather, apart from one superb downpour yesterday which only lasted about one hour and watered in all our new plants, has been perfect.

The whole estate looks beautiful even if I have to say so myself. We have cleaned all the sun loungers and set them up round the pool. The Man has taken more photos for our web site which we will load on when we return.

Our first guests arrive from Holland on Friday next and will be staying for three weeks so we are trying to get all our jobs done before they arrive. Gates have been installed round our private garden and we have spent most of today putting canopy shades up over the barbeque area. New signs are being placed at the junction with the road and also on the beginning of our driveway to make it easier for guests to find us, so you can see it's all go.

I hope all of you are enjoying the holiday season too.

Masia Mum as London Tourist Guide

For the past 3 days we have had our lovely neighbour from Ibi in Spain staying with us with her 11 year old son. The trip was a special treat for his good efforts at School this year so he was having a trip, a chance to see some of London and have his Mother all to himself. This is particularly important as our neighbours have a disabled daughter who requires a great deal of care and attention and, as regretfully is unavoidable, this means the other child does not always get a fair share. He is a sweet boy who is devoted to his little sister and accepts that that's life.

So, this trip was very exciting for him. It was full of firsts - his very first flight on an aeroplane, his first experience of the London Underground, a trip on the London Eye, a river journey from Waterloo Bridge to the Tower of London by Thames Clipper, an authentic Indian Meal in Brick Lane in the heart of Whitechapel and that was only Day One!

The weather let us down on Day Two with some very heavy rain showers which meant we saw most of the major sites through the top front windows of a Red Double Decker London Bus from Kensington Palace in Kensington Gardens, via Hyde Park Corner, Westminster Cathedral,Westminster Abbey, Parliament Square, Downing Street, Trafalgar Square, Royal Courts of Justice, Fleet Street, St. Paul's Cathedral, the Bank of England before ending up at Liverpool Street Station. Time to eat and recover in Pizza Express - the favourite restaurant of my Grandson No.2 who accompanied us on the day trip.

Umbrellas up again we headed back into Oxford Circus by tube to brave the madness that is Hamley's Toy Store after which we were thoroughly exhausted and headed towards the home of The Daughter for a light supper before travelling home.

Today was their last day here so we took it easy and stayed local before taking them to the Airport. All in all a very successful trip - I have earned the ultimate accolade of being called "a really cool guy" by my young spanish friend. Because I know London so well I did manage to save them quite a bit of money by knowing which off-peak travelcards to buy and which river boats gave discounts etc etc., not to mention my free London Guide services!

I am now intending to put my feet up and have a lazy weekend.

Born Again Volunteer

I've decided to "put my money where my mouth is" so to speak. I recently blogged about my concern on literacy levels and my support for the movement to encourage volunteer reading help in schools. Well I volunteered! I filled in the emailed application form and I have been contacted for interview in a couple of weeks time. Provided they give me a seal of approval and my police check [necessary when working with children] passes muster I will have to attend a two day training course in September after which they will let me loose in a state school somewhere not too far from my home in North London. I will have to commit to a year [school terms] of volunteering up to a maximum of 3 hours a week.

Three hours a week will not be that easy to fit into my working life but if I can organise each of the hour and a half sessions at the start of the day then I can go on to see my clients and work on projects.

I've done a lot of volunteering in the past working in youth clubs and it is probably about time I got involved again.

Who is deprived?

I have been thinking a great deal today of my Mother and Father as 31st May was their Wedding Anniversary. They had a long and happy marriage of over 40 years before my Mother died suddenly in 1979 in her early seventies. They never had much money but were never in debt. They lived within their limited means. They never owned their own home but always rented. But one thing my sister and I never lacked was their love and support. They always made time to help with our education - we both could read before we started Infant School [who taught us Mum and Dad], they encouraged us to work hard and value education. Those were very different times when children were allowed to play outside, travel to school by London Transport [what not chauffeured door to door!!]and if you needed to make a telephone call you used a public telephone box. But, believe me, we did not feel deprived.

What children suffer from now is a far more worrying deprivation - their parents' time and attention. Children are not only starting school unable to read but leaving primary school still unable to read. Of course the teachers should be able to achieve success in school classes but nothing substitutes the benefit of encouraging reading at home. Without the ability to read a whole world of knowledge is shut away and as I tell my grandchildren "Knowledge is Power".

The Best Laid Plans

The best laid plans of mice and men...............
I had my next couple of months organised workwise, or so I thought. One of my major projects was due to complete by 1st June - now, through no fault of mine, it will be postpone until June 27th! Worse yet, a project due to commence on site works next week with a completion end of the first week of July has had a legal hitch which, although not a deal breaker, will delay [yes another one] the finish date as far as my work is concerned until late July or possibly early August. Now this is a problem as, in order to get the best possible flight deals and believing [foolishly as it has turned out] that my Spring/early Summer projects would be finalised I booked my outward journey to my place in Spain for 18th July.

It now looks like I will be doing a little extra flying in order to come back to the UK to supervise the final move before returning to continue my annual hols.

This is the first year I have tried to get away for a longer spell and it seems doomed. If I can't even manage to get longer holidays then retirement looks even further away. Still it is nice to be wanted and considered indispensable.

WOBS ON THE WEB

Just a quick post to let you know that, after suggestions from friends, I have started a new Blog Wise Old Birds [wiseoldbirds] to channel the gained wisdom of my and my friends and fellow bloggers mature years. Not "Grumpy Old Women" which is not a flattering title but "Wise Old Birds" or for short Wobs on the Web! Why not be the first to visit and add a word of wisdom.

Meanwhile back at the ranch.......Work has been rather busy of late as I am in the process of relocating two major charities and up to my eyes in legals, office fit-outs and furniture sourcing. The current spate of exceedingly good weather has made dashing around London, as I do, very pleasant. I am a train, tube and bus users and a fast walking pedestrian and it is always great not to have to worry about getting drenched by showers in the process.

We had a lovely day yesterday with The Daughter and Grandchildren and my mutual Grandmother [The Daughter's Ma-in-law] who all came over to us for lunch and tea. The children were expecting what they call a "Sleep-over" and got a bit tearful when they had to leave. We saved the day by booking one for next Saturday night when we will try to get the other two Grandchildren over as well - I know you all think we must be certifiable but what the hell!

All of the family have been very affected by a recent very severe accident to our good friend and mutual Grandfather [The Daughter's Pa-in-law] who has been hospitalised with a spinal injury. He is in the best possible hospital [RNOH] and receiving wonderful care but it will be a long haul and all the family can do is visit and try and encourage his fighting spirit. Bad things do seem to happen to good people.