Under Siege #2

Of all the things I am dreading about the Olympics, this is what I am dreading most.

About 5 months ago, I dreamt that my Dad and I were walking along the Greenway past the Olympic stadium and I heard this awful screaming noise, I looked up and I saw a plane crash into the ground and then come sliding towards us and it was coming very fast. I woke up screaming 'RUN RUN' because this is what I was screaming to my Dad in the dream but he wasn't running because he couldn't (and actually, in real life, cant). I know it was a dream, and of all the dreams I have had, good and bad, none of them have come true. But then last month, I read an article about proposals to put surface to air missiles at Shooters Hill and Blackheath to secure against any terroist attacks during the Olympics. This creeped me out, I can tell you.

It then got me seriously thinking about what would happen in the unlikely event they would need to be deployed. The Olympic park is surrounded by houses, apartments, shopping centre's and busy main roads, and it frightened me to think that they would seriously consider it at all.

Now they are talking about putting missiles on blocks of flats. How the hell can they justify that? I know we cannot be complacement and need to take security seriously, but really, how can this be a viable solution?

Tell me where I can protest because I am not happy and in fact rather scared. Yes it's unlikely, but so were the attacks on the world trade centre............................

I have no choice but to be in Stratford during the Olympics and I now seriously wish I did.

London Marathon

A few years ago I took Kai, who was then 4, to meet my cousin at the London Marathon. His wife was running and we decided to meet at Embankment tube to watch her go past. Kai really loved the fact that he could jump up and down, make as much noise as he liked and be generally boisterous as the wheel chairs and runners went past. I loved it too. Being at the 25th mile, I found it really wonderful when someone went past really flagging and the roar of the crowd perked them up to the finish. The atmosphere at the London Marathon is something truely magnificent. It was with this in mind, that this year I decided to go again and take Sian, who is now 4, along too.

I packed some food and off we set to the O2 to pick up the Thames Clipper Service to Embankment. Any excuse to get on a boat, plus you can get a nice coffee and they have toilets on board.

We found a nice little spot by the Tattershall castle and waited for the first of the competitors to arrive. About 20 minutes later the first of the wheelchair users came through, I encouraged Sian to make some noise, but she told me she was shy. By about wheelchair user number 10 she was clapping but obviously bored. Come 11.15 she was hopping from foot to foot as she wanted to go to the toilet. The Tattershall Castle didn't open till midday and there is a distinct lack of toilet facilities, coupled with the fact we were unable to cross the road. I must admit that she was good, albeit I got a dirty look from her every 10 minutes, but Sian is a madam, I am used to it.

Sian

Eventually, we got on the Tattershall castle and used their toilets, and out of guilt, I bought a drink. £8.55 for 3 H2O's, so we stayed there and used their toilet to our hearts content. After an hour or so, we decided to go back to watch the marathon but it was obvious that Sian wasn't going to enjoy it at all, so off we went back onto the clipper and went to Greenwich instead. We were supposed to have rain, but the weather stayed fair and we got to sit in the Maritime Museum and Cutty Sark. In all I think we had a good time, it's hard to tell with Sian. Kai is very protective of her so was happy to go along with what she wanted. I will leave you with some pics.

One of the wheelchair racers

One of the athletes

Kayakathon which takes place on the same day

London Eye from the Thames Clipper

One of the other athletes

Kai

Trent and Mersey Canal

I have been meaning to write this blog for ages and due to one thing and another have just not got around to it. In March,  I spent a week cruising the Trent and Mersey Canal. We couldn't have been luckier with the weather. Every day was blue skies and sunshine, so much so that I  returned with a lovely healthy glow. We hired a boat from Aqua Narrowboats who advertise luxury boats and it was a lovely lovely boat. We cruised to Great Heywood and while there, my best friend Sharon came for the day with Paul and Alfie.

On our first afternoon, we went through Fradley Junction where there are 5 locks close together, as it was a Sunday and wonderful weather to boot, every lock we entered was surrounded by people watching us go up through them, there was my poor friend Chris struggling with locks gates (and occassionally she was offered, and accepted, help) and my poor friend Sue getting more and more embarrassed at being stared at. At one stage, she turned to me and said under her breath ' What are all these people looking at?' to which I replied, 'They are watching to see if we are going to sink the boat'. Thankfully I didn't but they had lots of questions and at one stage a lady asked if she could come on board and have a look, which we allowed. She was very impressed with the facilities and we gave her Aqua's number so hopefully she persuaded her husband to give it a go.

I was remembering our first ever narrow boat holiday, which you can read about in the archives, and laughing at the fact that if we saw a narrowboat approaching way up the canal, we would all go into spasms of panic and usually end up across the canal. This time I was complimented on my steering in tight corners, mostly by ladies. (Why is it that most of the ladies do the locks while the men steer?) The men tended to give 'advice' like: You should be in reverse now. Me : I am.....but I take it all in good part and realise they are only trying to help. One lady in her boat on a private mooring just past Hunts lock stood with hands on her hips, shaking her head while we had the audacity to moor up opposite, but after a hot day cruising I was tired and wanted to eat in the pub back up the canal. Shame she wasn't in her boat the next morning, when returning from the rubbish point, Sue and I saw that the boat had come off it's mooring in the front and was spread across the canal. Chris, who was still on the boat, was totally oblivious to the fact and only noticed after I ran back to the boat calling her name and got her to throw me the rope. Mrs hands on hips, head shaker would have positively had a fit seeing that we missed clumping her boat with our bow by about 2 inches.

Here are some pics of our Trent and Mersey adventure

misty morning

Fradley Junction

Carved Bench showing some history

A Dragonfly bench

Sue and Chris relaxing after a busy day

Dangerous Dog

Yesterday in our street This happened.

I presume the police didn't look at their intelligence, because this dog has been complained about by quite a few of the neighbours as being dangerous.

Last year, my dad heard a commotion outside his house and called the police, because there was quite a bit of screaming going on. A young couple, just walking down the street had noticed a dog running towards them which then sunk it's teeth into the young mans thigh and wouldn't let go. It did this without any provocation and just came out of nowhere. Eventually the girl managed to get the dog off and as my dad stepped outside he saw it running up the road and go into a house, which, unfortunately he couldn't identify. By the time the police arrived, the dog and the couple had gone. Then later last year, another neighbour had his dog bitten by the same offending 'pitbull' type.

The street is busy in the mornings, with nursery/infant/junior school children walking to the school at the top of the road and I suppose we can be thankful that the police decided to raid this house after the school kids were safely tucked up in school.

Until I saw  this video  (Warning: This is a very graphic and unpleasant video) on the news of the attack taking place, I didn't think I had even seen this dog, but then I remembered about 18 months ago walking up the street to visit a friend and seeing a young man walking towards me with a brindle (what I thought) staffy pup. It was walking beside him without a lead and I remarked to the man, what a lovely dog he was and how intelligent it must be to be walking at heel without a lead at such a young age. I bent down and gave it a pat which it happily accepted with a wagging tail.

Yesterday, it took 4 bullets to kill it, and for anyone who has watched this video, you can see why. It had been trained to be vicious and nasty and to hang on to it's quarry. It is pitiful to see the police beating,  I mean really beating, that dog to try and get it off of their colleagues, but what could they do?. I am not blaming the police, they had no choice. Who I blame is the owner. He has been arrested on  charges relating to kidnap and GBH and the dangerous dogs act and I hope they throw the book at him. I cannot imagine what kind of life that dog must have had to make it so vicious.

And I hope the 5 injured police officers make a speedy recovery

York Minster

Friends of mine are in York for the weekend and it brought to mind a little tale

A good few years back, my parents were approaching their 50th wedding anniversary so my sister and I decided to buy them a trip on the Orient Express. It was a day trip to York, starting in the morning with breakfast on the train, then an afternoons guided tour of the Minster then back on the Orient express for dinner. We planned this in great secrecy to present them on the day, and were very happy with our gift.

2 weeks before the trip, my sister and myself visited my parents for lunch and while we were sitting around the table, my Dad started to tell us a tale of his about during the war. He was an aircraft mechanic and after fixing a Mosquito aircraft he was treated to a low flying flight by the pilot to check that the repair was ok. They flew along the railway and peeled off at a pub scaring all the locals, who ran out of the pub, to see what  all the noise was about. On the way back, the pilot decided to take a trip over York Minster and my Dad was describing how beautiful it looked and how he had never been inside and had always wanted to. At this point, I felt a very hard swift kick under the table and looked over at my sister who was trying silently to cuss me for opening my mouth, which I had not. I, in turn, was kicking her back and trying to descreetly shake my head to let her know this.

When we presented the tickets to them a few weeks later, my Dad was so overcome he burst into tears. When he had calmed down, he said. 'You didn't have to do this, I wasn't dropping hints' and just couldn't believe that, in fact, we had bought the tickets at least 6 months earlier so make sure they got on the trip.

We often muse on this, my sister and me. Perhaps he picked up our phychic thought waves, who knows?

Menu of the day

Today is leg of lamb day. The kids are coming over and I begged my son-in-law Petrus for his tips on doing his 'thing' with it. He has Caribbean parents and he does some wonderful things with meat.

The night before cooking get a:
Nice leg of Lamb.
Stab it all over (wonderfully theraputic, especially if you have someone in mind LOL)
Mix together:
Salt
Black Pepper
All Purpose seasoning
Fresh Rosemary
Fresh Thyme
Garlic (fresh, but granules if not)
Water to make it into a paste

Once it's all mixed, massage it into the meat, taking extra care to poke it into those stab wounds. Leave it to marinate overnight then in the morning, seal the tray with foil and cook in a low oven for at least 5 hours. Once it has cooked, you should be able to lift it by the bone and shake the meat off so you can wrap it in foil and leave it to rest.

Thank you Petrus.

Days gone by.

I grew up in the east end of London, not very, but close enough, to the docks to know a docker or two. My Dad spent most of his working life working for a ships stores, providing supplies of all sorts to the ships that berthed in the royal docks, cruise liners and even the British Antarctic survey team. We were surrounded by a thriving community

What I remember most about those days, was the freedom I had to play in the streets and to disappear on Sundays over the park (Both being a good 2 miles away) with the kids who lived in the street and not coming back until dinner time. We had no mobile phones or much of anything really. If we played in the street, it was a rare car that interrupted our play. There were the Pikes, the Mansfields, Smiths, Bucklands. we all played together, silly games like tin can tommy and hide and seek. Most of their Mums were referred to as Auntie.

I look at my Grandson, Kai, who is 8 now and realise he has just started to be allowed to go to the shop on his own or to the local community centre, all within sight of his Mum's 5th floor balcony and worry. Will he be street savvy enough to resist the lure of gangs or to remain under the radar of bullies? As much as his Mum and Dad try and instill confidence in him, it's not until he is presented with these things will he know about them, because lets face it, someone can tell you, but it's not the same as the actual experience. At 8 I was travelling on buses and trains by myself, walking up to Forest Gate to buy books. Getting on the bus to meet my Mum at the factory ( in Leyton) she worked in as a surprise.

We met a lady on holiday who worked for an organisation in Manchester who tried to encourage the kids to play together outside without their parents intervention, because, she said, the fear of crime was actually far worse than the crimes that were really being committed.

Kids in the 60's were still (occasionally) abducted or went missing, there were still paedophiles in our communities and still gangs, but for some reason it was never a problem letting us out to play.

I wonder, what kind of adults will our grandchildren grow up to be ? And worse, how will their children learn to rely on their own intiative?

Witchcraft

I have finally joined the 21st century and got internet access at home. My lovely 87 year old dad, with whom I live, has viewed it with great suspicion. If it wasn't for the fact that I will have to work from home during the Olympics, I wouldn't even have it. But work have kindly supplied the laptop and the hub arrived on Friday so I brought it home to set it up.

This morning, I took the laptop into the back living room to check that the signal is good enough, we live in an old Victorian house with thick solid internal walls, and my phone was showing a drop in signal in that room. I placed it on my lap and started tapping away when Dad walked past and made a flippant comment about it not being able to play Beethoven's 9th symphony. I went onto Youtube and searched for it. His face was a picture when his favorite bit started playing. It's witchcraft that's what it is............................

Under Siege

Hello people, been ages hasn't it? So much has been happening lately, I just don't know where the time has gone.

Anyway, we are a few months away from the Olympics and I don't want to be a killjoy, but living just a 10 minute walk away from the stadium it is beginning to feel like we Newham residents are under seige. The disruption of the last few years has been, at times, quite horrendous. Road closures, pavements dug up, gridlock traffic, it really doesn't bode well for the forthcoming big event.

The most noticable difference is as you come into Stratford from the city, where once it was industrial and depressing, that part of the high street is now lined with shiney new luxury apartments. They are not selling, of course, they are not. They are currently at a premuim price because they overlook the Olympic park. They are also built in a no car zone, so although the developers proudly tell you they are suitable for wheelchair users, they are only suitable for wheelchair users who do not have a motobilty car. I am sure there are some, but not many. The logic astounds me.

Rumours abound, yes we have a lovely new  Westfield shopping centre, but apparently from June they are going to close their doors to cars, buses and Taxi's. In all fairness it is right beside the train station. Then there is the residents car parking, most of it is permit parking, with the first car being free, but some roads that don't have resident permits are going to have temporary permits. Really only an idot would try to come in by car anyway.

But on the bright side, it is only for 4 weeks, and I have been granted permission to work from home (in bed, in the garden) Bow back rivers have had a massive clean up and it is lovely to walk around there now and we will be left with a wonderful swimming pool which will be open to the public afterwards.Also being a Newham resident we get a 2 day window where we are able to buy pre event tickets before anyone else. I have bought some to take my Dad to see the waterpolo as he used to play back in the day

I am dreading it now, but I know I will deal with it when it happens and will probably go along to soak up some of the atmosphere even if I can't get a ticket!!

This

This, a 10 minute walk from home, and I didn't get ONE ticket. Time to book a holiday I think :-)

No Fly Zone

Living, as I do, in Stratford and about 15 minutes from City airport and also being on the flight path for those long haul flights that come in low to follow the Thames at silly o'clock in the morning. I have enjoyed the peace and quiet of the skys.

I know it has caused problems for a lot of people, and for that I am sorry, but some of those long haul flights are louder than when they are taking off from Heathrow (Due to noise abatement proceedures, which do not apply over our side of London).

They'll be back today, but it has been nice.

My Birthday present & The legend of Poo Bridge

Christine presented me with a photo album. On the front was a photo of me aged 14 months and as I opened it, there was a photo of my Mum and Dad with a little narration.

She had filled it with old photo's of me and friends along with little stories they had told her about me. One from my friend Sue cracked me up with laughter. Christine had decorated the photo of us with a ship in full sail. Many years ago I had gone on a boating holiday to the Norfolk Broads with Sue and her family, and as teenagers do, we had found an off license and smuggled a bottle of gin back to the boat. Needless to say we had both got very drunk, and as I climbed onto my bunk the curtain had opened and I swear I saw a ship with full sails just floating backwards and forwards and told her I was looking at a ghost ship!! Obviously it wasn't (although I have no idea WHAT it was but I did see something) and there it was in the album.

There were poems and photos of my grandchildren as babies and then a photo of a canal bridge along with a comment 'Poo bridge.....you can tell that story' So this is the story of Poo bridge. Its not pleasant but very funny.

THE LEGEND OF POO BRIDGE

I was with friends on our first ever canal boat holiday I have written about it here

On our last afternoon we had moored up by a pub and Christine (my friend)and I had decided to walk to the marina to get a paper. The marina was about a mile away along the canal and off we set. I suppose we were probably about 2/3rds of the way there when I was suddenly overcome by terrible stomach cramps and just knew I was not going to make it to the marina, I was desperate, and I am not going into detail, but surfice to say, deli belly had nothing on me that day. Luckily I shouted to my friend to keep a look out for boats and managed to find a little area tucked away by a canal bridge. I did the obvious and then asked my (usually) very efficient friend Christine 'Do you have a tissue on you?' She looked at me, felt in her pockets and replied 'no' So I am stuck there now are't I? So then I asked her 'Have you got anything on you to so I can wipe my ****?' Her reply was 'Well I have some bread to feed the ducks'.....................So I used the bread. Sorry ducks but I had no choice and if it is any consolation, the bread wasn't very fresh so left crumbs in rather uncomfortable places. So that bridge became 'poo bridge' and it is there in my album too which made me laugh even more.

Christine (My daughter) isn't working at the moment so she made the album and decorated it and I have to say, I laughted and cried. It has been made with lots of love and she has taken the trouble to contact a lot of my friends asking for stories and quotes and it is certainly the best present she has ever given me.

50!!

I woke up to lots of cards and a few pressies! Then I got a call on my mobile from my grandchildren. I was so happy as along the canal I rarely had a signal but we had moored back at Tal-y-bont where the canal is high on an embankment. Kai was singing happy birthday, while Sian was crying because SHE wanted to speak to me first. I must admit, for one split second, I did wonder why I had decided to celebrate being 50 without them but then the cake came out.



As we had a few hours to kill until Christine, Sharon and LM arrived from Crewe (And what we didn't realise was that we would end up with a LOT more hours to kill)we decided to take a nice hike up the hill to Talybont reservoir On the way up I came across a lovely little villiage called Aber. It really was a delightful little place as you can see



It was raining on an off, but again the views were fantastic!!

We then went back to the boat and waited for my guests to arrive. Now, when I was arranging it with Sharon some weeks previously, she pointed out to me that there were 2 Talybonts (in actual fact, there are 5) so I established that I would be at Talybont on Usk and she duely booked the B & B. About 2pm I got a text to say they were running late as they had left late, then about 4pm my niece got a call from my daughter to tell her they were just coming into Talybont, so I stood on the tow path and waited for them to come along the road, there were no cars to be seen and then I could hear Elizabeth telling Christine to look out for the post office and it was obvious by the one way conversation that they couldn't see a post office, in fact, they could see the sea!!! They had gone to the wrong Talybont and were in the one close to Cardigan bay (hence the view of the sea!!) I have to admit, I was upset at first but then gradually began to see the funny side of it, because if it was going to happen to anyone, it would have to be Sharon!!

Eventually we went out for some dinner and caught up with them at their B & B at 9pm!! The poor things had been in the car for 9 hours, and as Sharon has some serious health issues, was a little stressed. But they said they had seen some of the most beautiful scenery, and as the rain stopped, seen a really lovely sunset along with most of Wales.

Christine presented me with her gift, and that deserves a blog of it's own. It made me cry, it made me laugh, and I have to say, was the best present any girl could give her Mum

Day 3 Last day of 49

On Thursday we decided to leave Llangynidr and go up the canal a bit before turning around, we had aranged to meet my best friend Sharon, my daughter Christine and Sharon's daughter Linn Marie the following day to celebrate me 'not being 49 anymore' The views were fantastic and there wasn#t another boat in sight as we slipped over an aquaduct and turned into a turning point.............Where, we got stuck, Solid!!

We couldn't jump off as we were too far away from the bank, we couldn't pole off as trying to use the pole just resulted in the pole going about 18 inches into the mud! Which was also why we couldn't jump off into the water! We stood there for about 20 minutes when a group of teenagers came around the corner with the hugest back packs I have ever seen. They were on the Duke of Edinburgh scheme and how fantastic they were. They caught the back rope and heaved, and I do mean heaved until they managed to pull us around the way we had already been facing, it meant going to the next turning point and I had no idea if it was as bad as one we had already been jammed in, but we left them with a promise to gee up the others on the scheme who were behind them. About 5 minutes later we came across them having a rest and a fag!! Then immediately after them the turning point. Blink and you'd miss this one, but I turned in and got stuck when we were almost turned round. Again we couldn't pole off but The Duke of Edinburgh lots came to our rescue again and we were able to start our criuse back to Tal-y-bont.

It started to rain heavily but it was still beautiful, as you can see

Boating continued.

Wednesday, it rained all day, but it wasn't windy and with good waterproofs who cared? I was about to do my first ever tunnel and OMG what a tunnel it was!!! The guy at the Marina had warned us that it sagged in the middle and sag it did, to the point that I steered the boat on my knees with my other friend squatted down beside me and the ladies at the front shouting LEFT! NO! NO! RIGHT!!! It was really funny, but only after we emerged from it. At one point I thought we had stopped, but you could see the opening either end and it was only 375 yards long. We emerged into the rain unscathed, with painful knees and big sighs of relief.

We cruised through 5 locks at Llangynidr one in a boat hire base, he had all his boats moored up and one was moored on the lock mooring which meant I had to hold the boat outside the lock and then got stuck in the silt!! The marina owner was very nice about it but I was so worried about bashing his boats I was a bit rude to him for mooring his boats at the lock!! He did make it up to me though, by jumping on and poling the boat off of a massive tree we had got wedged against.

We found a lovely mooring spot in Llangynidr amongst the trees. While we were cruising down a frog had jumped from the lock gate into our boat and was sitting quietly hidden in the hose reel, my niece took this picture. Finally I have found my prince!!


We took a look around the villiage. Sadly the villiage shop was almost empty, she was hanging on by the skin of her teeth but admitted she had a cash flow problem so couldn't stock the shop up fully. With the new boating season starting I hope she manages ok.

For our evening meal we went to the Coach and Horses,it would seem that Bollocky Bill had been there before us. As we ordered our dinner the rather distinguished looking landlord came to our table and began to recant this tale!

(Imagine strong Welsh accent with very good story telling skills)

'The tom tom drums were going. There is a boat full of women stuck in the mud! The cry went out!! Send out a rescue party!! 200 volunteers went in search of the women but they couldn't be found for they were here eating dinner'
We all laughed, surely a boat full of women isn't that unusual? The food was great though and so were the locals. He even lent us a torch to go back to the boat with as our boat didn't have one.

Brecon Boating Birthday Bonanza

On Monday the 22nd of March we set off to not so sunny wales and picked up Delyth from Cambrian Cruisers. After a little run through Jonathon jumped off and we made our way to Brecon marina. There was only one lock on the way, but they have to be left empty with the bottom gates open, and as we were going up, it was twice the work. I got the boat in the lock and then we started to fill it up and we waited and waited and waited, silly us had forgotten the basic rule of lock operation! The bottom paddles were open slightly, once we sorted that out we were out in no time. Brecon is a lovely little town with a big population of Gurkha's and the marina has been refurbished with some lovely cottages for the elderly. That first evening we ordered a Chinese and I have to say, it was the best I have ever tasted! Lovely

This is the motley crew, taken as 2 pics because someone had to take a photo.

Being some of the first boats of the season there were quite a few shallow places and inevitably we kept getting grounded..........in front of the same boat. So picture this, there in the boat behind, is Mr Super experienced (Fondly named Bollocky Bill by one of the all female crew!!) sitting smugly by the tiller while the wife has to jump on and off and do a lot of the graft, dispensing his wise words like 'Oh just reverse when the front floats out' Or 'Aquaduct? What aquaduct?' All the time, watching us trying to pole ourselves off with this smug self satisfied look on his face because he wasn't stuck!! Eventually we got the hang of staying no matter what in the middle of the channel and actually caught him up at Tal-y-Bont on Usk where he kept the electrically operated lift bridge open for us.

Now we all know it rains in Wales, and it did, continually, but the views? Stunning, we would cruise around a tight little bend, and there were the most spectacular views of the brecon mountains. New lambs in the fields, woodpeckers, long tailed tits, wrens. It was magnificent. By the end of day two we moored at Tal-y-Bont on Usk. A pretty little place with a fantastic post office/store/cafe. Bollocky Bill had gone ahead..............

Off cruising

Gosh it's been a long time since I blogged. My old manager took VR in July and I have been busy ever since.
Anyway I have been reading with envy about Akelamalu's lovely cruise and I am off on a cruise myself on Monday, but a cruise of a different kind.

No lovely Caribbean beaches (Or weather) for me but a weeks cruise along the Brecon and Monmouth canal with 3 friends and my niece. I'm 50 you see, my half century will be upon me next week and my daughter, best friend and her daughter will be meeting up with the boat in Talybont on Usk to help me celebrate my 'not 49 anymore' birthday! I am soo looking forward to the break and seeing the beautiful Welsh countryside, I am determined to take it easy and get off and look around properly. It's only 33 miles long, and I could get to the end and back but what would be the point of that?

So when I get back I will be uploading some pics so you can celebrate my 'Half Century' with me.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

Well it's been a bit of a hectic year for me. Old manager took voluntary redundancy, I now have my old old manager. No Comment! Christine got married at last. I moved back to London to look after my Dad and rented my house out in Crewe. So I would like to say MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A VERY HAPPY NEW YEAR TO EVERYONE.

Things to look forward to in 2010
Being more settled.
Sister moving to Devon so I have somewhere else nice to visit in this country
Reaching my half century and spending a week on a narrowboat to celebrate with friends
Visiting the old boss in Spain
Winning the euromillions? Or is that a bit too much to ask?!!!

Enjoy all.

More wedding pics

Here are some more

Wedding Bells

Well there were no bells, but I have just come back from St Lucia where my one and only baby, Christine got married. I was so proud to give her away. Petrus's parents live in St Lucia so they organised a party for the Saturday after the wedding. Here are some pics for you