My son

   14 October 2026 

60 years' ago today I gave birth to a beautiful son who joined my two wonderful daughters in our family.  He grew to be a lovely young man but his life was tragically ended by a freak car accident, which wasn't his fault, when he was 17.  His death devastated our family, we will never forget him and will continue to celebrate his birth day until the end of our lives.  I wonder all the time what his life would have been like and hope that he would have been happy. Bless you Alex and I will always love you my darling.

 

1.  
    
    
    
   

   
    
   

   
    

 

Surprise visitor

To our surprise, a hedgehog in the feeding box today, late morning! 

 

 

 

Knowing they are not normally out during the day I tried ringing our local rescue with no success, I later learned that they have closed down, which is a huge shame.  Lack of funds I guess.  The vet's surgery gave me another number but they are closed due to building work so we had to make a decision on this little one.  

We put him/her in a plastic tub with a small towel and a loose cover whilst we decided what to do and came to the conclusion we had to let it go, as it was quite active. The feeding box was cleaned out, food and water replenished and we went to let it out of the tub only to find it had gone!! How it managed to scale the side of a plastic tub, push the cover off and drop to the ground is a mystery but it suddenly appeared at the feeding box and carried on eating and drinking as if nothing had happened. 

 

It then walked off along the route which has been followed by numerous hedgehogs since we moved here! We'll certainly be keeping an eye out and if he/she appeared to be deteriorating we may have to take further action but currently he/she is very alert!

 

 

The magic returns!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Back in August 2018 I appeared to have "magic" powers which assisted my friend's boats to either win or be very well placed in sailing races on the Broads.  I had so many people begging me to sail with them that I was overwhelmed! 

However, the magic faded until last Saturday (9 August) when we were on safety boat duties at Breydon Regatta and one of our friend's boats went ever so slightly out of the deep channel and became stuck in the mud, on a falling tide! 

We raced to help, with plans to tow them off but as we approached the skipper of the sailing boat said "just give us a push on the transom" so we slowly approached the stern, with me kneeling on the bow of our dory, hands extended, palms outwards, ready to push.  Before I could even touch the transom, the boat turned slightly and sailed off the mud - obviously the magic had returned, in my palms this time, much to my delight!

In the pub later, we all watched as a hire boat went aground on the opposite bank and it did take a bit longer for my palms to work, this time with help from a crew member on the hire boat with a boat hook and some good work with engine and steering.  We all cheered as the boat came off the mud!

The first photo was taken by a friend, of us approaching Sabrina 2, ready to use the magic hands!  The second photo is of Sabrina 2, sailing after my magic hands did the trick! 

 

 

Getting old - the NHS!

Being of a certain age now (born in 1939) I am beginning to need to make use of the National Health Service a bit more often than in the past but I do feel guilty that I'm taking a place away from someone else who needs it more.

Then I think back to 1947/48, just after the austerity of the second world war, when a free health service was announced.  I can remember my parents being excited and, I guess, relieved at the time at the thought that all the health needs of a diminished nation, who had been on a depleted diet for 6 or 7 years would be taken care of for an individual's lifetime.

 

There wasn't a thought that we should protect ourselves for the future by taking out health insurance in addition to paying a tax via our national insurance contributions to cover our future health needs. That was how things were at the time so I must stop feeling guilty if I am concerned about a health issue and just use the facility that was given to me, aged 8/9.

 

Things have changed so much since 1948.  With a hugely increased population in the country and the NHS struggling to cope with the changing health issues of that population, health insurance will become the norm for the younger generation. 

 

I was probably about 5 or 6 in this photo .... and, yes, I did have blonde curls!

 

 

--

How things have changed!

 On the occasion of my youngest daughter's 60 birthday, I was thinking back to when she was born, as she asked me what time this happened.

It was in Bournemouth, where I and eldest daughter had been living in my parent's flat, with husband on flying training courses.  We were hoping the baby would arrive on 14 February, which was my grandmother's birthday but it wasn't to be.  

However, on the evening of 18 February 1965, I started to get the familiar pains.  Husband was actually there at the time so around 10.30 pm he whisked me off to a nursing home where I was due to give birth.  I know things have changed phenomenally since the 1960's and at the time we thought nothing of the fact that as soon as I entered the ward, he was told to go home!

I was then left to myself, being told by the midwife to "get some sleep".  I knew that this wasn't going to happen and I rang the bell a few times for the midwife!  Her comment was "you can't keep doing this as we all need some sleep".  However, when she had a look, she realised that the birth was imminent and my second daughter arrived just before midnight.  She was whipped away fairly quickly and, on asking the midwife to ring my husband/parents to let them know that they had a new daughter/grandaughter, the midwife said she wouldn't do that as they would be sleeping!  I knew damned well they wouldn't!  She refused to call them until 7.30 am and they, of course, thought I'd been in labour all that time!  It turned out that the midwife was pregnant herself, so I hope her birth experience was more sympathetic than mine.

This particular nursing home didn't allow the babies to be near their mothers and were in a nursery of cribs, only brought to the mothers at feeding time so it was a strange experience.  I didn't really manage to bond with my baby until we got home, which was after a week!

Thank goodness things have changed for the better as it was a very Victorian experience. 

 

Our lucky day!

 

The Bumblebee Conservation website tells me "If you find a bumblebee nest, consider yourself very lucky! They aren’t very common, and can be difficult to find."

 

Well, today we are lucky! We have an area covered with stones in the garden (not made by us), which needs weeding occasionally and suddenly noticed around 5 or 6 bumblebees buzzing around us and acting anxiously. On closer investigation, there is a nest in the stones - they have made a hole in the lining to come in and out.

 

I managed to get a few photos although they weren't too keen on us getting close. We'll leave them alone and hope that they aren't too upset by our inadvertent disruption of their nest.

 

 

The second Coronation

 I was born in 1939 so was old enough to be interested in the coronation of Elizabeth II in 1953.

I remember the build up to the Coronation was immense and there was so much excitement.

My dad built a television for the occasion, parties were planned, bunting and flags were hung and the whole country seemed to be holding its breath waiting for The Day.  The icing on The Day itself was the announcement that Edmund Hillary had conquered Everest.

I was comparing the atmosphere this time and why there didn't seem to be the same excitement, in my view. I think it was because the queen was so young, with small children and she had no expectations or grooming to be queen - it was thrust upon her by her uncle's actions.  

Also, we had not long come out of a world war, there was still some rationing and the country had been working so hard to get back on its feet after so much loss. It was almost like a release of emotions of the entire population.

I'm lucky to have experienced two coronations but this one was spent quietly on the river instead of in front of the television, although we did fly some flags!