Be Right Back ...

It appears that I still don't have very much to say just now,

so I'm shutting down the blog for a week.

See you on March 6th.  

Memos: Mail: Me

This week, the Postie brought my weekend reading.

And I'm counting the courier delivered shelving unit as Happy Mail as well.

Which makes for an extremely good haul this week.

As for the weekend, we ventured out to the lovely

Thames-side town of Marlow.

It rained.  

Slow News Day

I appear to have nothing to share with you today.

Today's entry for today in my blog post planner is empty.

I sought advice.

The Boy Child suggested I write about the sacking of Claudio Ranieri.

The Brainy One suggested I write about how to blog for profit.

A friend round for dinner suggested I write about holiday planning.

In the end, I've gone with a shot of

 the morning after Storm Doris.

I'll see you after the weekend ...

Texting | A 21st Century Dilemma

Like many of you, I've become lazy at calling people for a chat.

I'm a fan of the text message.

And therein lies the rub.

What's the protocol, if there is such a thing, when the person you sent a text to doesn't reply?

Did they receive it?  Well, it says it's been delivered.

Should I have used WhatsApp?  That tells you the exact time the text was read.

Don't they like me any more?

What if they've fallen out with me?

Have I upset them in any way?

Ad infinitum.

Perhaps I should resort to actually making calls on my iPhone.

But then they could just ignore my call ...

IKEA | A Rite of Passage?

Earlier this week, I assembled a shelving unit bought from IKEA.

It's the first ever self-assemble piece of furniture from IKEA that I've ever owned.

I feel like a grown-up ... or not.

Whatever.

 I bought it to replace an old bookcase which stood in our hall.

The one where I tried to artfully arrange the bookcase's contents. 

And failed.

Now I have a home for books, photo frames, Harry Potter CDs,

a memento from Bermuda and, perhaps most importantly.

sixteen (yep, 16) 12x12 scrapbooks.

I call that a win.  

  

4 Things I'd Tell My Younger Self

What sort of advice would you give your younger self? 

1: You will recover from a broken heart.  I know that it doesn't seem like it at the time, but trust me on this.  One day, you'll realise that you can mention their name without feeling you're suffocating from grief.  One day, you'll realise that you got though a whole day without consciously thinking about them at all.  One day, you'll realise that you're not over that broken heart, you just got better at living with it.
2. Nurture friendships.  That best friend you have at 21?  She'll be a bridesmaid at your wedding. You'll be Godmother to her daughter.  She'll be Godmother to your son.  She knows you, inside and out.  She gets you.  But good friendships only last because both sides work at them.  Otherwise that person simply becomes someone you used to know.
3. If you want to leave your job/change career, you can.  I know that seems a silly statement given that you are only just starting out on your career path and you love what you do.  But things change, and it won't always be the case.  It's okay to take control and say one day, "I want more than this", even if you don't know what that more actually is.  You may never decide what that more is, but no matter, because you'll always be employed in jobs and places you enjoy.  Mostly.  IBM notwithstanding.
4. Keep driving. It's something that you take for granted.  Something you don't spend much time thinking about.  You're a good driver and driving gives you independence.  You won't believe that once into your 40s, you'll drive less and less.  Be brave and keep being the one in the driving seat. You won't regret it.

Similar posts include this one by Jaime at angloyankophile and this one at A Cup of Jo.   

Memos: Mail: Me

The Postie may have bought me the sweater I admired 

in a store last weekend.

But I couldn't possibly comment ...

 As for the weekend, we walked along the river from

Chelsea to Pimlico in glorious sunshine.

 Once in Pimlico, we enjoyed half an hour in Tate Britain. 

Where we had fun playing the

 "let's rename this painting" game.

As you do.

In Love with Cambridge

I've been to Cambridge before.

It was either 1993 or 1994.

I went with a bunch of female RAF colleagues

to see the Chippendales at the

Cambridge Corn Exchange.

{Ahem ...}

~ Punting on the Backs ~

This year, however, The Boy Child and I had the opportunity

to tag along with The Brainy One when he went to lecture for two days

at Cambridge University's Judge Business School.

And no joke, I fell in love with Cambridge. 

 ~ King's College ~ 

~ Church tower of St. Mary the Great ~

~ Gonville and Caius College,

with Trinity College and St. John's College behind ~

So much in love, I actually asked The Brainy One if there was any chance

of him being offered a permanent teaching position.  

And my Instagram feed is filling up with images like these above.  

On Why He Should Listen To His Customers

In retrospect, it was/is funny.

But it wasn't.

Me: Hi, good morning. I need help to unlock the Apple ID 

on my late mother's iPad.  

Meeter and Greeter Guy: "Right, okay, not a problem ...

er, did you just say your late mother?"

Me: Yes.

Meeter and Greeter Guy: Cool.

Me: Erm, no, it's not cool, actually.  

Meeter and Greeter:  Oh. Right.

Looking for a Train, Found Owls

We went up to King's Cross in search of Platform 9 and three quarters.

So had what seemed like hundreds of overseas visitors.

But we did find the Hogwarts owls,

and one may have followed us home.

So, you know, there's that.

Things He Says | The Let's Learn Some Tact Edition

"This is my dog ...

he's on his last legs."

Memos: Mail: Me

Happy Mail landed this week landed in the form of

a replenishment of Christmas-themed scrapbook supplies.

  Always welcome.

And as for the weekend,

there was the discovery of a new-to-me clothing brand,

a birthday party for Cachirulo

and cuddles with these two.

Looking at those last two images, my heart is full.

A Page About The Pooch

As he's very much part of our family,

the pooch occasionally gets his own page in an album.

 He turned 11 at the beginning of the month and is currently 

in reasonable health. {Certainly when compared to how poorly

he was this time last year.} 

So ... a spot of layering, some confetti in an envelope,

chocolate brown Alphas and a few chipboard embellies.

One Photo | Twenty Words

Why is it that whenever I visit

the Apple store to ask a question,

I leave feeling like a Luddite?

The RAF Museum, Hendon | A Hidden Gem

Half-term is looming and although it is already looking fairly busy,

I'm hoping to find time to visit the RAF Museum at Hendon.

It's a family favourite and easy to spend a full day there.

Our favourite aircraft are the Chinook and the Avro Vulcan.

For us, an added advantage is that the Museum was one of the first London museums,

if not the first, to be certified as Autism friendly.

Entrance to the RAF Museum is free, although there is a small charge for parking.

Currently, however, the car park is under going works, so we're likely to take advantage 

of public transport (children under 11 travel for free).

{This short video highlights just how easy getting there on public transport is.}

And then, when you're visit is over, there'll be plenty of photos to scrapbook.

This post is sponsored by the RAF Museum, Hendon.

All opinions are my own.

One Year On

And what a year it turned out to be.

Yesterday was the first anniversary of Mum's death.

There have been times when I've forgotten that she is no longer here.

There have been times when I've missed her more than I thought possible.

There have been times when I felt what can only be described as happy

and knew that she would approve.  

During the day, I had contact with my siblings, extended family members,

 Mum's best friend and my best friend.

It was good to know that we were all loving and missing the same person.

That some people forgot or didn't think to mention it didn't matter.

Mum would have been the first to say, "Let's not make a thing of it."

So I didn't.

I went about my day as usual: school run, grocery shopping, orthodontist appointment,

dog walking, laundry, scrapbooking, ad infinitum.

And during last night's supper, we raised a glass. 

Memos: Mail: Me

For the first time in a long time, I didn't receive any personal post

via Royal Mail.  Nothing even from amazon or from a scrapbooking company.

But what I did receive via email was an invitation to 

a Bloggers' Weekend later this year.

That definitely counts as Happy Mail!

{You can see that I am keen to go!}

As for the weekend, we spent a day in the beautiful Oxfordshire town

of Henley-on-Thames.  It feels a long way from London, although in reality

it took around an hour by car to get there. 

  

What Caught My Eye #8

"When someone shows you who they are

believe them; the first time."

~ Maya Angelou

1928-2014

Keep On Keeping On

After a 90-minute meeting at school with an Educational Psychologist,

I am in need of some words to hang on to.

Month in Numbers | January 2017

I appear to have blinked and January has flashed by.

Let's see how some of it panned out.

30: the number of times I took the pooch out for his walk.

He may be getting on in years, but he loves a visit to the park.

15: the number of scrapbook pages I made. Pages to wind up our 2016 album,

pages for The Boy Child's album, pages for the 2016 travel album

and pages to finish up outstanding projects.

My love for scrapbooking isn't showing any sign of abating.

41: the number of pieced of Happy Mail posted by me.

Of which, some 28 were thank-you notes written under sufferance

by The Boy Child.   

21,290: the most number of steps I walked in one day during January.

Talking about it, according to the Style section of the Sunday Times,

makes me a stepsessive and a new kind of social bore!  Gulp!   

Month in Numbers is the brainchild of Julie

and you'll always find a warm welcome over at her place. 

 Not to mention entertaining posts about a varied list of topics.

Go on over, stop by and say hello.

You can see my previous Month in Numbers here.