Gingerbread Haus - Juli 2020

Garden Living 

I like to joke that up North when the sun shines you have to make the most of it as that will be the quickest hour ever.  So with that in mind when we heard that July was ending with a mini heatwave (how can it be a heatwave, isn’t it just summer?) we decided to make the most of it. 

We didn’t want to go anywhere as we knew the beaches, parks and any public space would be heaving.  No chance to socially distance and as we were placed into a local lockdown the thought of crowded places gave me the heebie geebies.  

Our/my plan was to spend the day in the Costa Del Burnley, we have put a lot of work into tidying up the garden, we wanted to enjoy it while we could and, also, I had acquired a paddling pool, so it made sense to enjoy it all.  The gin was in the fridge, we had snacks and lots of sunscreen.

Gingerbread Travel - Juli 2020

Gingerbread Travels

Where can we go in the middle of a global pandemic?  The government are opening “travel bridges” I haven’t seen my parents in five months, we had plans to travel, the plans have changed.  We are day trippers now, bonus I can sleep in my own bed.  If we don’t feel like going anywhere we can stay home and chill.  This is a new concept for me and GO we are used to being on the go all of the time.  Here’s to 2020 the year we stood still.

Hebden Bridge 

What a way to start the holidays; a trip to the optician.  It’s been two years or so since my last visit and no real change.  We got the first appointment of the day so after my check up and before GO’s we headed to the local cafe.  It is our first trip “out” for a meal and I am very conscious of keeping my distance.  We decide to sit outside where we can sit 2metres away from others so we don’t need to rely on face masks.  When we return to the opticians for GO’s appointment I try on some glasses.  I pick out four that I like and I am shocked to find that they all cost more than £275 each.  I work with children I cannot spend that much on glasses in case they break.  Before we get home I’m on Glasses Direct looking for a bargain or two.

The Atom 

I can’t believe how stunning Lancashire is.  The holidays had been a wash out ever since our trip to Hebden and we had been housebound.  I was going a bit stir crazy so suggested a welly waddle.  I convinced GO to visit the Atom, another East Lancashire Panopticon.  We have visited the Halo and live down the road from The Singing Ringing Tree, we had tried to visit the Atom in Lockdown but the council had closed it.

Worsthorne - Hurstwood

You can’t take him anywhere, after finding a termite riddled gun shaped log.  He spent the entire time running around the wood shouting “pyaow pyaow!” looking for Stormtroopers.  We got lost and ended up climbing up the slopes, I managed get to the top and then slid all the way back down.  What did he say? “I know, I saw you, so now I am walking where you haven’t been.  I don’t want to get dirty too!” 

Crosby Beach 

Speaking of standing still....

I shared these photos on a family chat and the first thing my mother and brother noticed, wasn’t the statues, the glorious weather, the calm sea, or empty beach, it was the..... willy!

Gingerbread Familia - Juli 2020

Time Together

Yes, it has been a weird year.  Yes, we are in the middle of a pandemic. Yes, I am on holiday and want to make the most of it. No, we aren’t allowed to go anywhere.  The government has opened “air bridges” but as people are relaxing on the beaches or in tavernas they are closing the bridges with hours of notice.  To avoid this we have decided to stay home and make the most of the amazing destinations on our doorsteps. First things first we decided to have a picnic, we chose to visit Roughlee, it has a lovely little picnic area by a babbling brook which leads to waterfall.  It’s a village we have visited before, which is steeped in history and has a monument to Alice Nutter one of the Pendle Witches.  For us it was somewhere close by for us to visit so we could have a well deserved (on my part at least) lie in.  It was nice to relax and spend time together chatting, laughing and making memories. Here’s to more trips together and more memories to make.

Fostering

We have been assigned a social worker and have had our first ever Zoom meeting.  The benefits of Covid19 are that we will be having our weekly sessions via Zoom and so they can take place whenever and whereever we want them to.  The sessions will cover our individual life stories, why we want to foster rather than adopt, 

Gingerbread Life - Juli 2020

While it’s probably not true, it feels like the rest of the country have just had four months holiday.  During the pandemic lockdown I have worked everyday, making resources, uploading lessons and calling children to check on their welfare.  It has been hard, I’ve worked harder and longer than if I was in the school building.  I have tried not to get in to any bad habits, so I have been waking up at the same time, having my meals at the same time and have documented everything I have been doing.  For the last eight weeks I have been on the Essential Worker/Vulnerable worker rota meaning I have been back in school.  Initially I worked with groups of children but as they stopped coming(self isolation) I became a glorified mover.  I single handily emptied two reception classrooms and a huge nursery of furniture and resources.  There is a bigger story here about lazy coworkers but I’m not really ready to discuss that, yet. Baring all of this in mind I can’t believe we’ve made it.  It’s the end of the weirdest school year ever.  On top of the global pandemic which has wiped out a generation of children’s academic year, we’ve dealt with a restructure which has meant saying goodbye to some amazing staff.  I have “warned” the senior leaders that I am planning to leave as the commute is really hard.  Particularly when I now know that it can take just over half an hour.  This is because a lot of council staff are working from home (until at least the new year 2021) and because the major flood prevention works has finally finished, after four years of work. Goodbye 2019-2020 I am now on holiday and while I can’t visit family and friends, I intend to make the most of my time at home with my One True Love. 

Gingerbread Haus - Juni 2020

We have been so lucky during lockdown to have had the chance to be in our own home.  Thinking about the houses/places we lived in together I am glad we are here.  We have lots of room to have space on our home, we have access to a front garden and a back garden.  We have used this time improving and tweaking the kitchen cupboards, dining room, garden and have started to refurb the big room. We had picked up a couple of beds on Facebook just after we moved in but the room took on a musty odour. GO said it was the house I was convinced it was either the beds or the mattress his mother had given us.  We decided to sell the beds, we made £50 profit which we used to get the gutters professionally cleared. Once they had gone it was obvious that smell was due to mattress.  We are waiting to find out if we get approved to foster before we make any big purchases.   It all depends on the age range. 

Gingerbread Travel - Juni 2020

Back to work for me so we haven’t really travelled.  The daily commute has been halved because everyone else is at home in lockdown.  The press has really gone for teachers calling us lazy.  What really annoys me is that most of those are tucked up safe either furloughed or working from home.  Once society reopens let’s see how quickly they return to their workplaces.

Gingerbread Life - Juni 2020

Well it was with great trepidation that I headed back in to school.  I had been sent home in March to shield, as an asthmatic, but had found out that I wasn’t asthmatic enough.

I have to say I was so happy to be working for the trust that I do.  Their priority the whole time has been the health, safety and well being of staff and pupils.  Everything that was put into place made me feel so safe and at ease and that meant the children and parents also felt safe and at ease. It was a bit strange but I was initially only on a two on three day off rota until some of “my” children came back in.  I enjoyed lunch with my colleagues watching Batgain Hunt and Antiques Road Trio. Then we only had a couple before they had to self isolate and didn’t return.  I was then placed in lifting and shifting duty, which I honestly didn’t mind, until I realised that no one would be helping as I emptied two reception classroom and a huge nursery.  After three weeks my back gave out at 2.30 on the last day!  

Gingerbread Familia - Juni 2020

We were watching the news when the host mentioned that during lockdown it had become more obvious that there was a worrying lack of foster carers.  Children weren’t getting the help they needed or deserved.  “That’s so sad isn’t it?”  I asked GO, his reply shocked me, “It is, so sad, that’s why I have applied to become a foster career.”  In some marriages that fact that one spouse has applied to become a foster carer without discussing it with the other could be a problem, for us though it was such a pleasant surprise.  Fostering has been something we have discussed, we applied to adopt which didn’t work out for us, we wanted to help children.  We want to make a difference, selfishly, fostering is a way to have a big family.  All the joy spread out (I know I’m a dreamer).  We don’t know what is ahead of us just yet, will our previous attempt to adopt be held against us?  Do we come across well on video?  COVID has made a difference to how the process proceeds most of our meetings will be on Zoom.   All that aside, for now, we are excited for our future.

Gingerbread Life - Mai 2020

We Will Remember Them

Today we will remember them, our thoughts are with them, their families and loved ones and all of those affected. I will never forget hearing the news.  How devastated I was, how devastated and shocked everyone was. People I know were there.  People I know, knew people who were there.  Families were shattered, lives were forever changed, loves were lost they will not be forgotten.  The world will not and cannot be the same.

22-05-2017, Manchester’s 22 Angels

Gingerbread Familia - Mai 2020

Happy Mutter Tag

I feel like I should be saying it’s a strange one but for us it’s normal to only see each on Skype and to pass greetings via social media or text messages it’s how we have lived our lives for over twenty years.  For the last 9 we’ve been living in three countries always apart but always together in our hearts.  

Happy Mother’s Day to the funniest, weirdest, feistiest and lovely mother’s I know.  She is great at her job (mumming) and has, “even if I say so myself” done a wonderful job of raising two decent human beings.  Lovely you lots Mamilein.