Home Thoughts Weekly

Hello. I dropped off the radar for a while there, didn’t I? The trials and tribulations have continued at Hotel H, along with a dollop of heartache caused by a stone flying into the deep, dark Pool of the Past, creating quite a few ripples. We’ve also been hit by the great ‘BT Service Outage’, resolved after five days, not by technology, but by the application of a sharp object to the router. And we’ve also been back to Ireland with Ma, but this year’s experience has been, well, different... Sunday 25 September Wake up in Bantry, West Cork, to an abundance of soft rain. Somewhere outside is a view, although the mist is so thick it’s hard to tell what it might be. Never mind, the view inside is interesting too, with plenty of fierce ornaments to keep us entertained. The cottage is large and well-stocked, although the initial fridge-like temperature that comes from the place not having been occupied for a couple of weeks, means we have to burn a small peat bog to stop our teeth ch

Gaelikaa , whose thoughtful, reflective blog about her West meets East life always makes me stop and think, has tagged me to describe myself in seven words. Here goes:- Tenacious . I will abso-berludy-lutely cling on to what’s important to me. Seven years ago my dear friend, Ann, got me into running. We joined Epsom Allsorts , a women’s group with formidable skills in talking and laughing whilst running. The club's highlight was the dreaded Hogsmill Ladies 5 Mile Race , which gave me my first taste of competitive running. As a novice runner I learned that by doing the work, hanging on in there and putting one foot in front of another you can achieve half marathons. It’s a lesson I apply to everyday life. Every novel starts with a single word. Warthoggish . When my daughters were little they were very impressed by a nature programme about a mother warthog defending her young. ‘Ooh, that’s just like you, Mummy,’ they said. No one makes my babies cry and gets away with it as

It was a Saturday morning and in the mid May rain, that BT Broadband left our house and didn't return again. At first we tried to shrug it off; it happens all the time. It comes back when the sun comes out, or sheep roll off the line. The junction boxes warmed and dried but Broadband came there none. 'We'll have to ring BT!' you cried, 'Good luck,' I said. 'Have fun!' We made new friends across the globe, performed all kinds of tests, until they said they'd send a man, 'Oh yes,' we cried, 'that's best.' Flaxen-haired and pierced of lip, he came with his computer, 'I fixed the outside line but now there's trouble with your router.' Our BT friends played hard to get and made us sign new contracts, 'Please connect me soon,' I begged. 'Just get me back in contact!' Five working days I waited, my brand new hub was due. The parcel company disagreed, 'We've never heard of you!' At BT it was Ground