In February it will be 10 years since I lost him, and it just seems like yesterday sometimes.
I'm thinking about you Dad, and love you as much now, as I always have.... x
After a muddy walk up the hillside, we arrived on the top of the Carn, and positioned ourselves, where we could see the horses and riders as they met, before their Boxing Day ride across the countryside.
As the clouds crossed over us and passed into he distance, Fred and Milo spotted each other and caught up on their doggy gossip...
Meanwhile the riders drank their warming drinks, and chatted amongst themselves, whilst the hounds came amongst the crowd for some welcome fuss.
We were amazed by how clear the skies had become, and realised that we could actually see further than we ever had before from this spot.
Once we had wandered back down to the village again, we drove back for a welcome cuppa and a nice bit of cake and cream.
They were also the only ones with tinsel on their collars.... amazing, last year all the dogs on the beach were wearing something Christmassy
It was a beautiful day, and certainly much warmer than last year.
The dogs were angels, despite my Fred wanting to go out every 5 minutes!
Hamish enjoyed some love off of him Mom, whilst poor Mike looked on, in the dim and little light that he could cope with behind his shades.
The weather was so good today, that I called Sally-Ann to see if they fancied a walk on the beach after I finished work.
The dogs got very excited to see each other again, and went racing off, following each other, where one sniffed , so did the other, where one pee'd so did the other (yep you heard correctly LOL)
and then proceeded to follow the boys back, all the time gossiping away like mad, to catch up on the last few weeks worth of stories!
A lovely afternoon, of gossip and exercise!
I stood and cheered as Chris and Ola were crowned the SCD Winners for 2009. Their Charleston was THE dance the season, if not of all 7 seasons! If you don't believe me, see for yourself - you can watch it here
Well done Team Cola
Sorry for the big blank pause bloggers, but I have been, and still am, full of a really nasty cold (does a womens cold translate to flu in man speak) since Tuesday, and finally gave up whilst at work on Wednesday, and came home to bed, which is where I am posting this from in between the wretching over the conveniently placed bin!
Needless to say I will have to go back a few days to tell you about our works Christmas Party on Saturday evening, as my brain has been so full of nasty things that I have not been able to think straight to be able to show what a great time we had.
So sit back and scroll down, for the party photo's and story. x
Anyway, I digress. The Christmas Party Night.... In the past we have just booked a meal at the local carvery and turned up 15 minutes before, chomped down the chow, and headed off home after an hour and half.
We did the whole Yell.com search for decent hotels within a 20 to 30 minute drive of all of our homes, and I contacted them for details of party nights if any, and the menu's they were offering.
We narrowed it down to 3 hotels, and then, finally, down to the Penmere Manor in Falmouth. The girls on their reception were so very helpful, and offered details for any questions, swiftly and concisely by return email. So this was the hotel we booked.
I generated food order forms for each person, so that I could advise the hotel of the orders in advance, as they had requested, and having made everyone part with their deposit, I headed over to the hotel one afternoon, to pay up and give them the menu choices.
Needless to say I booked a room for Liza, who had asked me to keep it quiet from her other half, and also for us. We originally were not going to stop, as we have had an awful lot of expenditure recently and this would just be an indulgence, but hey, I could not turn this opportunity down. It was a chance for Fred to stop in a posh hotel for only £8..... I could not possibly deny my poor little doggy this could I, LOL.
The next question was how was I to do this. Give them the place card on arrival and let it be every man for himself to the table, or place them ready on the table so that all they had to do was arrive and sit.
Finally, we arrived at a seating plan, with partners opposite each other, and now all that was needed was to panic that the meal and hotel would meet expectations.... I have to say I was pretty stressed over it all, as this was out of my hands and I could do no more to make it a great night for us.
I needn't have panicked. Everyone arrived at the allotted time, and we had a few drinks in the bar, while I took each couple off to one of the lovely side rooms for a special photo to commemorate the evening. Bless them all for agreeing to this. They know that I am a camera maniac, and they also know that it will all end up on here, but what good sports they all were!
Then I had a huge SHOCK!
Not long after this shocker, we headed off to our table, which I managed to snap before we destroyed it
After the most divine meal ever, the dance floor seemed far too empty, so we helped out a little, as you do!
A thoroughly enjoyable evening was had by all, and the following Monday, as they all started to arrive at work, it was all we could talk about.
We emailed Sally at the Hotel to say what a fab time we had had, and then booked again for December 2010.
A wonderful evening - What was I worrying about? LOL!
Paul was still in immense pain this morning when we awoke, so I told him that I would be calling Nigel to book him in for some realignment.
Nigel is the Osteopath that comes to our work to ensure that people are kept fit and not having to take un-necessary time off with pain that could be prevented if treated immediately.
He has been qualified for 30 years and really knows his stuff. I know, as he has treated my back on a number of occasions, and always reduces the pain to zero in one visit, despite it being a chronic problem that I have had for a number of years.
We drove down to St Ives for a 6.30 appointment, and Nigel welcomed us with open arms.
He took some medical histories from Paul who explained that this was an injury that had happened about 6 years ago, but had reared it's head after doing some heavy lifting at work recently.
He then did some basic tests - reflex, cardiac, blood pressure (which was a little high), and a few other things to give him an idea if everything was as it should be.
Then the hard work began. Nigel began to manipulate, pull and push various part of Paul's back, arms, legs and buttocks, with a few ow's coming from Paul's mouth and a few 'Was that you? LOL' comments from Nigel.
Finally, he pronounces that the results were the best they could be for the severity of his injury, but that he will be sore tomorrow.
We booked him in for next Monday for, hopefully, a final realignment, and paid Nigel the reduced price that he had given us as a friends and family discount.
Paul was amazed, as he already felt loads better.
Of course, all I could say was - "I told you so"
Nigel has wonderful hands!
OK - so today's title is a little dramatic, but hey - those winds were gale force, and we really did have to battle against them to get to the top of St Agnes Beacon!
Once we started on up the hillside, we realised that, not one of us was as fit as we should be! Sally-Ann has a bad back, my hip is still very painful, Mikes eyes are very sore and hidden behind sunglasses still, and Paul damaged his back at work, so I need to book him in with the wonderful Nigel and his Magic Hands.... (that's the osteopath from work for those of you who are new to my blog!)
the walk up the hillside was well worth it for the views we were getting
and once at the top Fred stopped to admire were we had come from, despite the wind flattening his hair to his head, bless him!
Paul and Mike braved standing still long enough for a picture
then it was time to head back down, this time on the other side of the hill, so were were actually able to breath for a while against the wind, which had taken out breath from us on the way up
We had a lovely walk that really blew the cobwebs away, and even better, the heavens didn't open til we got back to the car!
.JPG)
