A tribute

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-11791194

I had my next Blog entry planned out (a mini rant on the way our schools seem to always have their hands out) but on Thursday night, something awful happened in our community.  I initially felt that this was too raw to Blog about, but I feel that I cannot let something like this pass without comment.  Disrespectful as it may be to write about this event, I feel that it would be somewhat worse to sweep it under the carpet.

You may have seen in the news recently that a lady was killed in a house fire having passed away from smoke ingestion.  For those of you who need a recap, please check the link above - I'm not going into details here.

What I wanted to say was that this lady was a true neighbour and we were getting a fair way onto being real friends.  There are a lot of rumours going round from people who only knew this lady by sight, but having lived next door to her for a number of months, I can confirm that yes, she was a quiet lady who kept herself to herself.  She was also a considerate lady, a kind lady and a lady who had strong family and social values.  Taking care of her mother and sons, she still had so much love to give to her beautiful dog and to share out with the neighbourhood.  Collecting newspaper vouchers so she could give Little Prince the Lego sets is one example, but in no way was he the only child in the street.  If toys came her way, she would collect and pass them on, just her small way of saying that we all mattered.

Every day she could be seen walking out with her dog, and always made time to stop and chat, her biggest worry being that she would upset the neighbours with the dog barking or the music from her son being too loud (It never was, despite the notoriously thin party wall)

Her son is a true credit to her.  His strength and dignity after this tragedy bears through his upbringing.  A quiet and polite youth before this, we would regularly lend him tools and he sought Prince Daddy's advice on the care of his pushbike more than once.  Very aware of his role as "man of the house" whatever his private arguements with his mother were, they were just that. Private. And whenever he spoke of her, or she him for that matter, it was the love and respect for each other that always shone through.  Now that she is no longer with us, I have every belief that he will step up to being the man she has always known he had inside.

Sleep Well Wendy, we'll miss you more than you'd ever believe.

NOTICE:

There will be no blog entry today due to personal tragedy.  I will try to blog again in the next few days.

After yet ANOTHER break

I haven't blogged for ever so long and its gotten to the point now where I feel I can't go back cos I've been away too long. But I'm a hard faced mare so I'm making my grand return. Yet again.

So much has happened since we moved to Mold and my last blog in August, but I'm mostly going to concentrate on Little Prince's start at at school.

But first, the Heelys. Huge mistake! I fell down, got up, fell down, got up... you get the drift. It's a good job I'm used to falling down and comfortable with hitting the floor! In the end, Prince Daddy confiscated my wheels for my own health and safety. So now I have some very nice shoes! I have put them away until either I become balanced enough for them (HA!) or Little Prince grows into them. Guess which will come first!

So, Little Prince started nursery in September. One week he has a morning session and the next week is an afternoon session. As you can imagine, this plays hell with Princess Mummy's internal clock, and on one occasion so far I have taken the Little Prince to his afternoon session an hour early and we had to return home and leave again later. Little Prince took this all in his stride, as you may have expected.

Little Prince took to school like a fish to water. Without a backward glance he trotted in, as I dabbed my eyes with a lace hanky, for all the world like a 1940s mother sending her child off to war. I went to a cafe 5 minutes away (I DID time it!) and sat for the whole session, drinking coffee and watching my phone for the inevitable message that my little angel would be missing me so badly. It never came. Despite my being there to collect him 10 minutes early, Little Prince was one of the last out, and only when a teacher promised him he could go back. He still resents the weekends because he bounces out of bed ready to go and is forced into having a Play Day at home.

We've had a few minor issues. One of our first conversations on the way home from school went like this:

LP: I don't like X

PM: Why not?

LP: He's a willy head

PM: Don't say willy head. Why is X a willy head (yes, I know!)

LP: He keeps calling me naughty when I wasn't.

PM: Did you tell a teacher?

LP: No. (pause) I pushed him down.

Little Prince and X are now best friends and hold hands in the playground.

Sometimes I feel like he understands the world better than I do!