Out And About – Part 1

Days Out, Family
Jun 252011

Hello my lovely readers. Thank you for stopping by again and for your comments. Well, the last couple of days I’ve been galavanting about Essex. Where have I been? Well, I think I’ll split this post in two parts for the two days.

On Thursday, hubby and I treated his parents to an afternoon out over in Leigh-on-Sea. They’ve never been to the shops on the Broadway so we thought it was high time they discovered it. They drove down from their home in Dagenham, but we all went down on the bus from our house, as parking in Leigh is an absolute nightmare. Plus, we don’t own a car anymore so we get around everywhere by either walking, bus or train. So with their free old age bus passes at the ready, off we went.

We first stopped for some lunch at our favourite spot Stop The World Cafe. If you’re local to this part of Essex or are in the area visiting, you ought to give it a try. The food is wonderful, there’s a good selection of teas to drink and I won’t mention the cakes and pastries. They are to die for!!! The service is excellent, but don’t expect your food served instantly. This is the sort of place where you can relax and chat while you wait for your meal. You’re not hurried, unless it’s nearly closing time. This makes it very popular and, needless to say, it is always busy.

So, after our scrumptious meal, it was time to have a good old mooch around the shops. My MIL simply loves exploring charity shops and there’s a fair few down there. As Leigh is quite an affluent area, it’s not unusual to find designer stuff on the racks, and even ordinary high street goods tend to be of the more tasteful variety. I have to admit that I enjoy a good perusal and was thrilled to find this summery dress.

Isn’t it lovely? It originally came from Richards Shops, so it’s quite an old dress, seeing as the firm closed down  nearly 20 years ago.  The price tag? A mere £7.55. Bargain :)

I have to say that they were suitably impressed with the area. We didn’t get to go in all the shops as MIL finds walking a bit of a problem now and typically, hubby and FIL aren’t into shopping the way us girls are. But they’re very patient and understanding about our ‘needs’ and tag along, even if it is only as a ‘walking wallet’ rolling on the floor

MIL says that she is definitely coming back again once she’s saved up some pennies. I may drag DD down with us next time around. We can make it an all girl trip,  especially if there’s the chance of a free lunch thrown in. The boys can stay at home worrying about their bank balances :D

 

 

 

Posted by moleymakes on 25 June, 2011 1 Response » Tagged with:

Best Laid Plans And All That ………

Family, Other Stuff
Aug 202010

Well, to say that the last 24 hours have been challenging is a bit of an understatement. Yesterday was A Level results day and like thousands of anxious parents and students we woke up with some apprehension. DD came down at 9am in tears to say that she checked on the UCAS site and found out she was in Clearing. After a quick tearful outburst she hurried to her college to find out exactly what the damage was. For those of you not in the loop, clearing is when you’re matched to available courses for your exam results. Usually, it’s because you didn’t get the right grade or UCAS points for a particular course at a particular Uni. Occasionally, it’s because you did better than anticipated.

In LJ’s case she didn’t get the expected grade in English. She had a tough time on some of the questions during the exam and I think, possibly, deep down she was panicking about the final result. So with her hopes of studying English with Journalism at Lincoln Uni dashed, it was time for a rethink. What were her options? Well, she could redo her A Level in English, but that would mean another 2 years, only this time as an adult student. Do a foundation course for a year then transfer to a BA course for years 2 and 3. Or, change courses completely.

She opted for the third choice. So rather than English with Journalism it’s just Journalism. To be honest, when we were looking at courses last year, I thought she would’ve gone for a BA in Journalism. It was her idea to switch to a combined course with English as she thought it would give her more opportunities once she graduated. Who could foretell this would happen. So after searching for open courses in Journalism, a short list was made and after checking out the course details, entrance criteria, two Unis were selected as suitable potentials. University College Falmouth in Cornwall and Middlesex University, to the North of London. Both offered her a place, all she had to do was to decide which one to accept.

As LJ mainly wants to go into print journalism, she has opted for the course at Middlesex University as she feels this is going to be better for her. She’s happy with the choice and really, that’s all that matters. Obviously, we’re disappointed for her, but sometimes these things happen for a good reason. If she struggled with parts of the English exam paper at A Level, how would she deal with the degree paper. This may prove to be a blessing in disguise. Middlesex is also closer to home and as going through clearing means there is no on campus accommodation available, LJ would need to find private accommodation nearby, which, in North London, would’ve worked out expensive. So she has opted to stay at home and commute from Essex to Trent Park Campus, in between Oakwood and Enfield. She hopes that after her first year she’ll have made some nice friends and then move into shared accommodation for her second and third years as she would’ve planned had she gone to Lincoln.

So, we have LJ home for another year which, of course, isn’t a problem. It means George and I will have to wait another year to get our own bedroom back (that’s a different story altogether, folks). She seems happier today with the new choice she’s made and is looking forward again to this new chapter in her life. As I said to her, life has a habit of dealing you a bad hand every now and then. But it’s these challenges that help to mould us into the people we become, so we should embrace them. I know that both George and I are better people because of the bad times we’ve been through.

So, panic over.

Who said parenting was easy.

Posted by moleymakes on 20 August, 2010 1 Response » Tagged with:

My Son … The Rock Star

Family
Aug 122010

Well, they may not be as famous as Led Zep or Pink Floyd but my eldest son, Damien, is in a rock band rock on. Yesterday, hubby and I saw him perform with his current band Rhythmic Arcs of Red. (Damien’s the one on bass guitar in the short sleeved t-shirt)

They were playing in a pub just up the road from us in Billericay. It was their first local gig for some months, but as I missed their last local gig due to illness, I didn’t want to miss this one. They’ve recently been playing quite a bit up in London. In fact, a couple of weeks ago they played the famous Hope & Anchor Pub in Islington. This is where bands like Madness, The Clash, The Stranglers, U2 and, more recently, Keane, Bloc Party and The Ting Tings and sooooooo many more all played their early gigs before going onto fortune and fame.

Will my son and his mates achieve the same accolade …. who knows? Needless to say I’m extremely proud of him and they’ve just released their first album 2 days ago applause. It’s called “The Nausea” and it’s available on iTunes, Amazon and CD Baby.

He may not be crafty like me, but he is certainly creative as not only does he play bass, but also electric guitar, acoustic, ukulele and drums. People often ask if the noise bothers us, as our daughter LJ also plays bass. To be honest, it really doesn’t, we’ve become so used to noise and racket from our kids’ bedrooms over the years.  Not too sure what we’re going to do once they’ve all left home, it’ll be so quiet. Maybe hubby and I will start up as a duo rolling on the floor

Long live rock ‘n’ roll …………….

Posted by moleymakes on 12 August, 2010 1 Response » Tagged with:
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