Day 164 - BRB

I just can't blog right now...

...be back soon.

Day 163 - BB School

I couldn't go to sleep. Tossed and turned for hours, then when I finally went off, Oscar turned our bedroom light on and started mumbling stuff at me. I got him to the loo and back to bed but I couldn't drop off again and it was 2:30am.

Suffice to say my eyelids are swollen this morning and I snoozed my alarm for over an hour. Rob was up and out early for a change and so I star-fished on the bed and snoozed in and out. 

I spent some time replying to messages as yesterday I struggled to sit down for more than 5 minutes so couldn't concentrate on having chats. Mum even face-timed me and I have no idea what was said. She spoke to Leo and wished him luck for his first time at big school. 

I eventually got up at 9, waking Ellis up too as he needs to adjust his sleeping a bit ready for Tuesday.  He didn't even moan at me which I was surprised about.

I sorted everyone out with breakfast and eventually went out for a run which I got done pretty quickly.  I've stopped doing the extra workout as I was getting bored of it but might try and find something else to do, especially as I've been eating crap non stop for the last 2 days!  I've started baking again, made brownies and I don't even like them but scoffed it.  Done another banana loaf and made some oaty banana bites which I nailed in one sitting. Chocolate fingers are also a daily intake. 🐷

I let Leo chill out first thing and then I got him to have a shower, get dressed and took the obligatory photo by the front door.

I made Ellis come too so that he could support his brother.  He really doesn't appreciate how much he looks up to him but they did have a nice little conversation on the way down.  Leo was asking Ellis if he was nervous on his first day, which he said he was but that it was okay.    We dropped Leo off who was very excited and really nervous but did really well.

I didn't feel too emotional about it all really but I did struggle to actually concentrate on anything for the afternoon.  I did lunch, watched a film with Oscar, made the banana loaf had a shower and then it was time to get him again.

I videoed him getting in the car and telling me all about it as I knew later on he wouldn't want to talk about it and he would forget loads.  It's a long video but I'm posting it for me really.

Back at home the tears arrived so I ran him a bath and set up his iPad so he could watch Netflix and relax while I made dinner.

Ellis cooked again tonight.  I didn't take pictures as I'm just not in the right head space at the moment but I over heard them both saying they enjoyed it.

I had a really lovely chat with my Auntie, Uncle and Grandma this evening.  Grandma was having a lucid moment so it was a great opportunity to catch up.  It is amazing that she can sleep 99% of the time but when she's awake she is completely normal with all her faculties.  Well I say normal but Grandma is as quirky as they come. 😂. She is 92 in a couple of weeks and has given me an extensive list of present ideas including Champagne, chocolates for diabetics, 2 sets of pyjamas and fluffy socks that aren't too tight. 😊

I've been spending the vast majority of my time scrolling through pages of second hand cars.  I just can't decide which is the best option but know I have to get on with it this weekend. 😬

Not too much planned for the weekend but all important stuff.  I need to get a car, Mum's car is being cleaned Sunday morning, we've been invited for dinner at Mum and Dad's Sunday, will hopefully be able to get out for a walk with Shauna Pops on Monday and I've found out today that Ellis and Leo have both grown out of their school trousers over the last 4 weeks! I can't find any in stock online so will have to go out hunting for some. 😩 Luckily with the new rules they will be wearing their sports kit for at least 2 days a week so even if I just find a couple of pairs each, that should keep them going for a bit.  Fingers crossed I can find some!

Going to go for a run in the morning and will then hopefully sit with Rob and make a final decision on the car situation. 🤞

I realise I've missed a few days on the blog and I will try and get up to date over the weekend but that all depends on if I can make a bloody decision and get some sleep! Really not sleeping well, but I suppose that isn't helped by the fact that I don't go to bed!

Day 161 & 162 - Lockdown Locks

Busy busy! I'm keeping myself as busy as possible and in the evening I've been trying to finish watching The Fall in-between sitting with Rob and scrolling through pages of cars.  It's so difficult to pick one but I am grateful that I am in the fortunate position to actually have a choice in the first place.  We have to get it sorted this weekend!

Yesterday I went out for a run and then the plan was to do something with the boys as the weather was actually quite good all day.  I'm typing this Thursday (now Saturday) evening and I can't remember what we did!  My memory is really bad at the moment.

I must have showered and went out in the car at some point as I took a photo. 😂 Oh, I remember now (2 days later) that I went to Asda to find some shirts for Leo as the ones that I had ordered from M&S didn't fit him!  Luckily I managed to find some, although later discovered that both Ellis and Leo have grown out of their school trousers they tried on only a few weeks ago! 😱

Thursday was a really busy day and I hardly sat down.  It started with a long run then I picked up the food shop and put that away, dragged the kids out in the car before 11am, which is unheard of these days, and went to the Skoda garage to sit in a couple of cars.  We got rained on and the boys were quickly bored so we didn't stay long.

We popped in to see Nanna and Grumps for a quick chat and then on the way home for lunch I stopped at their GP surgery to try and organise for their prescriptions to be delivered and hopefully we can order what they need online to make it so much easier.  The lady on the reception desk wasn't particularly helpful though so I still need to sort that out.  It's on my now very long list of things to do.

I got an appointment for Leo to get his hair cut at the local barber and he was happy to go as wanted his hair nice for starting at big boy school. 👍

Before

During...

After 😊

I love it and it makes him look more grown up.

Next stop was the post office, followed by another trip to M&S to return the unwanted items before going home to get everything ready for Leo going to school.  I checked through his pencil case, made sure his bag was ready and uniform ironed, labeled and hung up for him.  I also made sure he knew where everything was in his bag.

I've tried to get Ellis motivated to sort through his things but he's the biggest procrastinator, like his Dad, so I suspect he'll be wanting me to go shopping for him on Monday! 😬

With both the older 2 boys going to school full time from Tuesday, Oscar is getting excited about spending some time with just me, which is lush.  He wants to go bowling, followed by pizza hut and crazy golf at some point.  I'm sure we can fit that in.

Putting Leo to bed, I spent a bit of time with him talking about the next day and he seemed okay about it all, which is great!

I finished watching The Fall.  It was okay.  I liked the ending, but I found the whole series too slow for me and they went into way too much detail about unimportant things and left loads of loose endings.

Excited for Leo to be starting big school and I hope he settles in quickly.

I realise I still haven't finished my bucket list or added the travel diary to my blog entries, and I will get on with it soon, ish.

Day 159 & 160 - Slimey Balls

I'm losing track of the days and everything is just merging together.  I'm totally lacking in focus this week and have no idea what I am doing.  Tomorrow I need to get organised so that I don't just float through the week without any plans.

I need to get the boys hair cuts done and have to finish off sorting out school clothes, getting it labeled up etc and I also want to do something nice with the boys before they all go back to their school and club routines.  But what to do!? 🤔

Yesterday Mum and Cherry came over for a visit.  The plan was to go for a walk but the kids were so happy just laughing and playing in the garden that we thought it was better to just stay home.  Me and Mum talked while I pottered about, doing the ironing etc and they stayed for the whole afternoon.

I went to netball training and it was awesome! It was different but good.  It was nice to see people in the flesh and I love running around and chucking a ball about.  We had to stay in small groups and away from each other which made marking difficult and I have no idea how they are going to police it in an actual game, so will be interesting to find out once the season starts again.  After every drill you have to sterilise your hands and the ball, which is horrible as you end up with slimey balls and sticky hands!  😂 We only trained for an hour but I enjoyed it and I'm disappointed that there won't be any next week due to the bank holiday.  It was good but still strange.  Had a weird vibe about it all but I'll take it.

Once home I snuggled with Oscar watching Sugar Rush on Netflix.  Love that programme but makes me want to make vanilla buttercream to nail it straight from the bowl.  I think I love cake, but has to be a certain type of cake.  I don't like fruit cakes and not that keen on chocolate sponge.  I especially love the creamy fillings and cream cheese icing. 😋

I didn't get to bed as early as I would have liked last night but that's okay because this morning I switched my alarm off and went back to sleep.  I need to cherish the lie ins really as I soon won't be able to have any with everything starting back up again.  I didn't wake up until 8:45am and felt groggy for most of the day though.

After eventually getting everyone up and ready we went to Saskia's house.  We wanted to do something with the kids but the weather was pants so we ended up just staying it.

We stayed long enough for me to have 2 huge mugs of tea and a nice catch up with Saskia.  From there we went to M&S to pick up an order, then went to Nan and Grandad's house via McDonalds.

It was lovely to see my Dad who I haven't seen very much of over the last few months.  He's usually busy working but we actually sat down with a cuppa and had a chat, even a giggle about something, but I can't remember what about, but was good to laugh.

We didn't stay too long as we had to get back for dinner and Ellis was due to be picked up to go to rugby training for the first time since forever.  He was actually going to try out at a new club and he really, really didn't want to go but I'm so glad Rob forced the issue as he came home buzzing! It was so nice to see him genuinely happy.  He loved the work out, said they worked him hard, that he liked the others there and that it was nice to see some old faces.  😍

I'm trying to watch the last few episodes of The Fall but I can't concentrate on it.  Might try taking the laptop to bed and see if I can watch it there, but will probably just end up asleep. 😊

I realise I haven't done the travel diary for the last couple of days and I'll try and do that tomorrow sometime as need to use my computer rather than the laptop for that.

Hope everyone is still staying safe and careful in these crazy times.  Boris has just announced that senior school kids will need to wear masks when they walk around the school etc but Ellis and Leo's school seem to have put things in place to stop so much movement around the school.  They'll have to wear them on the bus though.  Ellis is fine with a mask, Leo tolerates it in small doses but doesn't feel comfortable wearing it.  I've been okay with it but I am starting to hate it more and more.  It's starting to feel more like a muzzle than a comfort blanket of safety. 😷

Day 158 - Sleep Good

I slept so good.  My alarm woke me up at 7am but I turned it off to snooze and woke half an hour later ready to get up and go for a jog.

I haven't jogged for over a week so was actually looking forward to it! Don't think I have ever thought that in my life!  My leg is much better now thankfully. Unfortunately my headphones weren't charged so I had no music today and I thought that might have a negative impact.  Turns out I managed to smash my 5k, running it in under 8min miles. 👍

Washing, washing and more washing today and the boys just all vegged. Leo was up before 7am, Oscar 9:30am and Ellis just after 10am, along with Rob.

Lucy, Craig and Ashlee came over in the afternoon, bringing back the gerbils they had kindly looked after for us.  They stayed for a lovely long time and we got to talk about lots of different things which is always nice.

After they left I didn't do very much, dinner, put some washing away, suitcases in the loft, showered and blogged.  Looking to go to bed early again tonight and see if I can do some catching up on what I lost last week.

Plan for tomorrow is that Mum and Cherry are coming over and I think we'll go for a walk.  The original plan was West Midlands Safari Park but it is quite expensive and we thought we'd save our pennies instead.

The hunt for a car continues.  I think we've narrowed the search down to 3 types of car but we need just a little more time, which we are running out of.  We'll get there. 🤞

Can't believe Leo is starting school next week.  He's only doing an induction Friday afternoon but he still has to wear full uniform, take his bag and pencil case stuff. Now I just need to convince him to get his hair cut. 🤔

I'm off to netball training tomorrow night! I can't wait but also nervous too! Going to be great and strange to see the girls again and I know it won't be like normal training, it will also be outdoors so potentially could end up getting quite wet.  I haven't trained outside for years!

My head is all over the place at the moment.  Thinking about cars, what needs doing before the boys go back to school, what could we do before they go back to school, sorting out their clubs, house stuff etc.  I won't keep listing and I'm sure I'm not the only one like it.  So bed for me! 😴

Where they to? 23rd August Toronto

And so, on we move again. This time back to Toronto for a few more days with Pam and Rob.

We made our way to the bus station on the tube and I only noticed for the first time today that some people get very uncomfortable when we step into the carriage with hulking rucksacks on our backs. It's pretty understandable, I suppose, so we do our best to look like bumbling tourists rather than someone with a more sinister motive although, to be fair, looking like bumbling tourists seems to come fairly naturally to us.

The coach was fairly comfortable and we were at the station in time to secure the front seat. This turned out to be a mixed blessing. For the first half of the drive, we were able to take in the views and enjoy the ride but when they changed drivers we became rather nervous. It's a bit non-pc for me to say this and also somewhat hypocritical but there is no way, to my mind, that a bloke in his 60s who weighs in excess of 25 stone should be driving a coach with 56 people onboard. Mush and I planned our strategy for bringing the bus to a halt if he slumped over the wheel. We swapped seats so that Mush was closer and the basic plan was for me to lift his leg out of the way and grab hold of the wheel while Mush jumped in with her foot and hit the brakes. Thankfully, we made it safely to Toronto and didnít need to do anything drastic but, with hindsight, it would have made quite a cool diary entry.

When we arrived at Toronto, we had some time to kill before Rob picked us up so Mush spent 20 minutes looking around a pet store where they had everything from bulldog puppies to Persian kittens for her to coo over. I made sure that she didn't have our credit card as our trip may very quickly have changed from Mush and Rob's Excellent Adventure to Mush and Rob's Excellent Menagerie Smuggling - the World Tour.

We made it back to Pam and Rob's for about 8PM, caught up on our laundry, settled in with a pizza and got royally bladdered, courtesy of the beer fridge. The room is spinning right now and I'm scared to close my eyes so I'll sign off to concentrate on staring at the ceiling. Goodnight.

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Day 157 - Unpacked

Home day.  I was up early, packed everything, fed everyone and the car was loaded by about 9:15am.  We really didn't think that the cleaners would show up that early but they were in the car park waiting before 9!  

We stopped for fuel and then hit the road, along with a million other people.  The journey home was stop start, crawl, stop start, crawl and I was feeling sick pretty quickly.  I didn't use my phone at all until we were on the motorway and I tried to read my book but I think I managed a page.

The boys all did great on the journey.  We stopped at a horrendously packed services to use the loo and grab a McDonalds as time was ticking on.

Once home I started the unpacking.  I'm pretty good at this job and although it does take time, I don't have to do too much thinking or decision making so I find it much easier than packing!

The food shop arrived and Rob helped to put it away so it was done really quickly and it was soon dinner time.

I changed our bedding and put on a brand new set of clean, white, silky, sheets and after my shower climbed in and was soon fast asleep.

I've added the surfing videos now which you can see here.

Where they to? 22nd August Montreal

Unless you've got money to burn, 6 days is too long to spend in one place when you are travelling. We found ourselves wandering the streets aimlessly today - at least if it was a new town they would be new streets and we'd feel that we were seeing something we hadn't before. Mush decided to go shopping for gifts while I settled in to a little corner of a coffee shop to catch up on the diary. She came back with a beaming grin, proudly sporting a gift - a pair of trainers for herself. Apparently she couldn't find anything suitable for anyone else although, to be fair, there were only about a thousand or so shops to choose from so I can see how she'd have struggled.

Completely bereft of ideas, we lounged around for the afternoon, reading, drinking and doing very little else. I checked my booby-trapped milk to see if the culprits had returned but, rather disappointingly, it looked as though no-one had touched it.

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Day 156 - Pointless

I was asleep before my head hit the pillow but woke up when Rob and Ellis went to bed a while later, but it didn't take me long to nod back off.  It was so hot in the room though!

During the night Oscar came in and snuggled into the middle.  I literally "slept" on the edge of the bed with no covers.  I'm looking forward to being back in my bed tomorrow night.

This morning I am feeling battered.  Bruises galore and achy body but I had fun doing it, surfing that is you pervs.🤨

As I suspected it was a very lazy morning with Ellis only getting up at about 11:30am.  I'm happy for him to sleep in for now but once we're home I'm going to start getting him up earlier and see if we can shift his body clock a bit.  He isn't looking forward to going back to school he announced this morning.  He is kept so busy with school, school work, club fixtures, homework, school fixtures, guitar lesson and now being part of the Bristol Bears Academy, he's worried he won't have any time to play Xbox with his friends like he's being doing for the last 6 months!  It's going to be a huge adjustment for him, and although Leo is starting at a new school this year, I feel more concerned for Ellis right now.  He has had a long time off, going back to a different environment and being so busy, it does take its toll.  I'll be trying to keep an eye on him.  Leo will be fine as in the same boat as lots of others and has been back to school in the last few months so is aware of the changes, same for Oscar really.

Back to holiday.  The weather is pretty pants.  It's definitely got cooler and the wind is still really strong and is going to stay that way until late into the night.

This morning Rob and I played a game of Pointless.  Rob loves the TV programme and during lockdown has watched it quite a bit.  He won lots of rounds but when it came to the End Game round, I won it! 😄 A rematch will be had later on.

The dreaded packing needs to start again but I don't want to.  It's always easier packing up from holiday and I usually find it much easier putting it away the other end too.  I've done some washing this week so not much to wash when we get back and I've got a food shop delivery for the afternoon.  We have to be out by 9am tomorrow!  I don't know how we're going to do it but I do know we all need to be completely packed up tonight and not leave it to the morning as I think I'll have at least 2 zombies on my hands.

We went out for a little walk, well actually I dragged everyone out for an uneventful walk around Newquay town centre.  It was gross, too many people and our route just took us through a housing estate.  It was good to get the boys out to burn off a bit of energy though and Oscar and Ellis had a hot sausage roll from one of the vendors.

I didn't know that the house on top of the island where there is a little bridge is actually a holiday home.  It looks lovely inside and is quite booked up until November!  You can view it here.

We went back to the house via Sainsbury's and then after a quick fuel stop Rob dropped me, Leo and Oscar off at Fistral beach so they could have their last go in the sea for a while.  It was very windy and cold.  The waves were huge and the lifeguards were constantly blowing their whistles and shouting at people to move over.  I wouldn't want their job today, looked very tricky as the waves were so big.  The boys were really good though, staying shallow and together.  I didn't like that they were so far away from me but I kept an eye on them and they were very sensible.  We didn't stay long.

I packed in the evening and Rob and Ellis watched the rugby.  The other 2 just did their usual gaming.  They really do get on so well together, hardly ever argue or fight and work well as a team.  They have a lush relationship.

I'm still watching The Fall.  It's good and I just want to get to the end now.  I told my parents about it and they must have binge watched it as they've finished it already! That's 18 hours they have watched so quickly!  They enjoyed it though which was good.

Gone 10pm and I need to get the kids to bed and I'm going to bed early too as I need to be up early and I'm not feeling 100%.

Where they to? 21st August Montreal

Motivation is something that we are finding is in very short supply at the moment. The lack of new things to do is proving to be the biggest drain and Mush is finding that she is missing home - especially her cat and even, to a small extent, her job. We are both taking comfort in what lies ahead. I am looking forward with enormous anticipation to our canoeing trek on the weekend - the likes of which we've never come close to experiencing before, and Mush is excitedly awaiting the arrival of our first familiar face since we left England - her friend Zoe who is joining us for 4 nights in New York.

Meanwhile, we've got to find ways to stimulate our bodies and minds where we are and, in Montreal, that means spending another 4 hours in the bookshop followed by climbing the hill we mentioned that overlooks the city. I used the time in the bookshop to read ahead about the national parks in the US and Mush, rather ominously, spent about 2 hours reading books about pregnancy. No, Mums, we don't have any announcements to make but I'm being extra vigilant when Mush's pill alarm goes off at 7AM local-time to make sure that no crafty shenanigans are taking place. I may have to withdraw her marriage benefits altogether if she revisits the bookshop tomorrow and I catch her reading about magic-tricks and sleight-of-hand.

Mont-Royal, as the hill is known, was a wonderful oasis of nature which reminded us a little of Stanley Park in Vancouver. Unfortunately, some of the trails are closed for maintenance so, what should have been a 2km walk to the summit turned into a round-trip in excess of 10km. There are a few things to see on the way which help break it up a bit and the view of the city and the St Lawrence river from the top, where we could just about make out our room, was just reward for our efforts.

Mush walked the last few hundred yards back to the hotel without me as I decided to check our emails and I have found a neat spot just outside a coffee shop where I can get wireless broadband for free on my little palmtop gadget, provided that I stand at the right angle and don't move too much. The drawback to this is that passers-by are free to nose over my shoulder and try to see what I am doing. Most of them just shuffle off when I give them my best 'what do you think you are looking at' glance but making eye-contact with one particular fellow proved to be something of a mistake. It turned out that his name was Jerry and he was homeless. He proceeded to give me his whole life story, occasionally dropping in that he'd be most upset if I gave him a dollar as he was celebrating his first night off the streets. I never managed to figure out if he really meant it or not when he said that he didn't want any money. Amongst other things, he told me that he used to be a frustrated antiques dealer and would have loved to have plied his trade in England where 'you guys have a whole lot more old stuff than we do over here' and that he has a vocal range of 4 octaves which, if memory serves, puts him in the same league as Mariah Carey - no mean feat. After catching up on the news back home (it's amazing how quickly you get out of touch - I've only just found out that Robin Cook's dead), I walked off into the drizzling evening, hugging the edges of the buildings for shelter and listening to my new-found friend fading into the distance as he performed a rendition of What's Up by 4 Non Blondes. 4 octaves, he said. My advice to him would be to try a different one.

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