Okay, I’ve been a bit quiet on here of late. Have a Cornwall coast photo now we’re moving (allegedly) into colder weather….
The irony with this picture, it was so steep I couldn’t get to the beach – I didn’t try though, I relied on The Husband and how well he did (he stopped about 8 times going back up the hill I think) – and it wasn’t very stick-friendly. Even the more stick-friendly beach bits I struggled with, so I think we know where that’ll go don’t we?
Here’s some more photos.
Is there anything nicer to look at this time of year than bluebells? I always seem to miss the season, though this year I got it right on time, hence this picture. It was taken at a National Trust place that we visited for the first time – can’t remember the name though I’m sure I’ll have a cloth badge.
H and Shaun (and my sister and her family) did the Marsden March yesterday. We’re getting an awful lot of sponsorship money which is great. Amazingly, my child wasn’t grumpy afterwards (other than when I sent her to get chips for my friend because I’d have dropped them), and it was Shaun who had the blister. When they completed the walk they got a medal and I have serious medal envy – I’ve never seen wooden ones before. How cool?
If you know me, you know I’m a bit Eurovision obsessed. Had my head not chosen to be cancerous I’d have gone to Liverpool this past weekend. Instead, I’m content with some Daði Freyr coffee which has a good taste – also helped by me being able to fill it with the aluminium pod I bought aaaages ago for our coffee machine.
The teen. She used to devour books, often reading several at once. Then secondary school happened and books, reading while still being something she liked, wasn’t as much fun as it used to be. But I know her love of books is still there – she’s straight to the Young Teens section in Waterstones and refuses to tell me anything she likes (so I have to guess, she doesn’t read it, and it eventually gets given away). So I’ve learned to hover and not ask too many awkward questions. I remember being thirteen. I needed my privacy. I’ll try and respect H’s.
As well as being someone who is on the internet too much, I also used to have a social life. An average year would have a gig every month, though that has slowed a lot as time goes on. These days I average one gig a year and I should consider myself lucky!
Anyway, as they’re in the news at the moment (they played Coachella) I thought I’d add an old picture of The Breeders from 2017. I’m fairly certain this was at the Electric Ballroom in Camden taken on the 18th October. There are no Linda Linda’s doing backing vocals, I’m afraid.
I don’t remember a huge amount about the gig other than lots of people from work were there, I always had a beer in my hand and I got some blurry photos. Probably the sign of a good night!
I’ve seen The Breeders so many times that I’ve lost count – especially around the Title TK album when they played in London a LOT.
It kind of scares me to think that in five years my child could be doing this. Although at the same time she’ll probably be going to see different musicals, and hopefully dragging her old mum along….
This is before we knew anything about the rest of the year and my head.
Taken from our seats on our first Qatar flight to Doha in July 2022.
I look at the hairline and head shape and the ‘me’ that existed before all of this.
You didn’t really think I was going to stop, did you?
This is The Pinnacles. No photo I could take would do it justice. Just imagine driving on a road alongside bushland, then you turn off the main highway and head up a smaller road, where you can get parked and suddenly find yourself in the above area. Cars can drive around The Pinnacles (it’s a huge area), and it’s quite easily walkable too if you stick to the main paths. Here’s a Google Maps link.
I never remember the name of this lake, though I remember visiting. Husband and teen both had a swim here the last time we went to Australia, though it was too cold this time. Husband did have a paddle though. Brave.
A typical Western Australian milk aisle in the supermarket.
Now, I’d say that’s a pretty impressive section – and we’ve visited Melbourne and Sydney and been in their supermarkets (which aren’t as impressive and don’t have as many varieties as pictured).
In fact, I felt a bit silly taking a photo of a large fridge and all the milk in it at the time, and now I’m glad I did.
I also feel like this photo doesn’t really reflect the sheer volume of flavoured milks that are on offer in Western Australia. I mean, this looks quite small compared to what I’ve seen. Imagine this four or five times over and you get a good idea.
I feel quite full just looking at it.
I’m enjoying posting photos with a bit of blurb. I realise this is quite different to everything Mum Friendly has been, maybe this is where it’s moving forwards to? We’ll see. Anyway, here’s some more pictures from Australia last July and August, 2022.
Hungry Jack’s. Ahhh our favourite drive thru/takeaway in Australia (Although Shaun would probably add Chicken Shack to that as well) – we arrived in Perth and stopped here to grab food and milkshakes because we needed some sugary bad food to make us feel normal again after a day travelling from the UK eating airline food. The picture is blurry, annoyingly. But it’s clear enough to see, and here’s why Hungry Jack’s isn’t called Burger King. They serve the same food.
“Uuuuurrghgg” say most people when greeted with this sight. But oh, how wrong they are. I get it though, I mean, the idea of a minty green milk (“It probably tastes like mouthwash”) which you drink and exists for FUN (rather than anything else significant) must be confusing. I’ll dig out a photo of the Western Australia milk aisle that I took from a few years ago – they have a very impressive selection and all the flavours. For now, let’s focus on Spearmint Milk. Surely one of the greatest inventions of all time? It’s tasty, minty, green and most significantly, different. I like to be different.
Finally – no food or drink on this one. Just H, her shadow and a shelter we passed by at Mundaring Weir. I was tired so H and I stuck together and did the shortest trail. I spotted this shelter and insisted she struck a striking pose which would create an interesting photo and this was the result. So it’s kind of staged but sort of real too, if that makes sense?
Mundaring Weir is interesting – a huge reservoir which transports water around the area (there are loads of gold pipes leading from the reservoir). You can walk across the dam walkway (H and her nana did, it was too much for me) and there are numerous trails around the area. When the water levels are low you can see a train track as well which I need to do some research on. I’m already having Ladybower Reservoir style “entire village appears when the water levels got really low” sort of feelings.
But that’s just my odd little head. The area around Mundaring Weir always has kangaroos (always!) and other interesting animals – and is always good for a wander. The Mundaring Weir Hotel is just up the road and has a decent selection of beers and food to try – we’ve often enjoyed eating then sitting in the arena-type area afterwards. We also got trapped there one year when there was a rally going on and we couldn’t cross the road to leave – which was fine, we just had more sunshine, beer and food instead.
I’m building up to a few reviews which will hopefully come very soon…. my head feels like it’s ready to have a good rant!
When I posted before it was way easier doing it with photos, so I thought I’d add three more that I really liked that summed up our Australia holiday back in July and August 2022.
This first photo is a beach on Rottnest Island. We finally went there after several Australia trips – we hired bikes (mine was terrible) and cycled around though I struggled. But the views, the scenery – the beaches! I mean, they say it takes a day to cycle around the island but I felt like it might take two – we got about half way before having to return (which could mean we would have made it back in time but we weren’t risking it). Obviously the number one reason to go to Rottnest Island was their Quokka population – and when you find that area you find all the daily tourists with their selfie sticks trying to get a picture of themselves with a smiling marsupial.
Let’s have a kangaroo picture though. Every time I’ve gone to Australia we’ve seen a kangaroo. They fascinate me – you don’t get too close to them, they’re the boss. If you’re really unlucky one will jump out in front of you while you’re driving (Shaun was driving, not me) – you need to slam your brakes as it’s a battle nobody will win. It was scary too. I think this was my first kangaroo sighting of 2022, with gazillions more to follow – but you always take that first photo just in case….
Then finally, let’s have the Perth skyline. It’s a favourite photo to take, I need to find older ones to see how much has changed – that’s why I like taking them – often the changes can be really subtle. It’s taken from Kings Park and Botanic Garden – and you have to admit, it’s pretty good isn’t it? Even though I say so myself. Even though it’s a photo I can imagine the busy-ness of everyday life – we stood taking in the skyline for quite a while.
So here’s three photos. Three different parts of Australia. Did you know Perth is the most isolated city in the world? You do now.
It was 2015 going into 2016. I was feeling tired all the time; understandable, it had been a busy year and I was probably doing too much as usual, everything at once, so ended up feeling quite burnt out. So that’s PTA, Rainbows, knitting, swimming, football and more – then there’s work and school and the juggling between the two. So I felt tired? Welcome to the club Jo. It was no big deal, we were all tired.
There was nothing which seemed odd and okay, I was forgetful. This much I do remember. I remember being told things verbally and not retaining that information. But I’m old. Probably just the old menopausal brain fog, eh? There’s a perfectly reasonable reason for everything when you find it. Nothing to worry about.
Then of course there’s the Christmas crash. No work for two weeks and just stopping – and it all catches up with you. Family time, having fun, being really tired as you’ve had a busy year. All the normal things everyone goes through.
By early January I was feeling groggy most mornings. I’d wake up with a dull head, a dizzy head, I’d get out of the house and I’d make my way to the station and feel like I was staggering all over the path, couldn’t walk in a straight line.
Ah but I obviously overdid it leading up to Christmas, maybe I’ve not had enough time off to feel normal again. Maybe this is parenthood? We just feel this way all the time and get on with it? Don’t moan, just try stronger coffee, it’ll pass, it’s a virus. If it goes on for too long I’ll go to the doctor, although the last time I went to the doctor they said “it’s a virus, it’ll pass, we can’t do anything about it” so maybe it’s not worth wasting their time. So let’s just leave it, put up and shut up.
I took a day off sick in early 2016. I felt rubbish, I had a day in bed all nice and cosy and warm and tried to rest and sleep it off. Not that being off sick means you stay in bed all day – you have to head to school for pickup and all those things because your child can’t walk themselves home at age six.
It didn’t really help, I still felt odd the next day. Okay, let’s just power on through it. Get on the train, get to work, get a nice strong coffee and another one to really wake me up and then somewhere around the magical 11.30am mark a wave of normality hits you.
But it’s not a hangover – I only have a couple of glasses of wine on a Friday and Saturday night; that’s not the kind of volume which makes you feel unwell like this. It’s just a virus. A strange virus.
Slowly January turns to February, to March and I’m still feeling unwell. H has an invite to a birthday party – we’re all sat on our bed, H wanted to come and snuggle with us, she’s sat on top of the duvet when all of a sudden she opens her mouth and vomits all over it. This isn’t like her at all – she doesn’t get sick very often. Particularly not like this. “Maybe it’s an ear infection?” I suggest so we try olive oil drops which do little or no good, the dizziness stays.
We dream of moving out of our house, but we have great neighbours and moving means new neighbours – but we’re not fans of our house. The landlady doesn’t really want to spend money on things like new curtains or carpets and we had lived there a few years by this point. We have an awful heating system – it blows hot air into the upstairs landing and into the kitchen and front room. It’s a proper old fashioned heating system – and it wouldn’t surprise me if we were the last house with that sort of heating in the area.
You switch it on, you wait about five minutes and then the noise of a fan starts, and heating comes out of the vents. Our bedrooms are often cold because of the heat distribution so we often keep the doors open in the hope they’ll catch some warmth from the vents on the landing or if we’re feeling extravagant we’ll pop an electric heater on. The landlady increased our rent by over £230 the previous year so money is a little tighter than normal.
So, there’s absolutely nothing going on in our very ordinary lives other than I feel rubbish every morning and there’s no reason why, but I’m too busy to find out why because I’ll be told the virus will go when it’s ready, so why bother?
But now I do. Now I understand what happened. Those types of heaters go up into the loft. There’s a pipe, the flue which pumps out all the bad fumes into the air outside. Ours had rusted and had broken away. Those fumes were pumping into the loft. The loft hatch? Right outside my bedroom door.
Almost every night I take myself off to bed early, and Shaun stays downstairs watching tv with the heating on, as you would. So the heating is on, I’m in bed, the fumes are being pumped… I mean, it really doesn’t bear thinking what could have happened.
We are extremely lucky.
We never took the time to study and understand our heating system – well, why would you? But actually, it could save a life – knowing where to put a carbon monoxide detector is important. Everyone will think about the kitchen and near the boiler – but it never occurred to us we should have one upstairs as well.
Needless to say, we’ve moved, we know what is what in this house. We part-own our house so all Gas Safety Checks are organised by us – and I keep on top of when they’re due thanks to the alerts you can sign up for at gassaferegister.co.uk
I will never stop talking about what happened as it’s so important to spread the word. You don’t think it would be you – none of us do. However, it so easily can be.