Round up of the week

Friday & Saturday 3/4 June

A hectic week in the Woods' household kicked off with Simon dropping his external hard drive and losing a weeks worth of work.  The consequence of which involved  working until all hours most nights and pulling one all nighter in order to meet some deadlines. 

Last Friday night, Simon and I travelled up to Newcastle to spend some time with my family.  We popped into an IT company in Sheffield on the way up to see if they could retrieve his lost work, but whilst they could in principle, they would need to buy in some new equipment to get around the encryption and they won't be able to do it before Simon's deadlines are due. 

So onwards and upwards to Newcastle.  We had tea with Les, Eileen and Richie and saw Micky briefly (thank you for waiting for us!).  Ed, a friend of Sylvia and Les, had arranged a 13 mile walk along the Northumberland coastline from Bamburgh to Craster for some of Sylvia's family and friends.   The plan was to meet at the Wyndewell Cafe at Bamburgh at 10.00am but we were loads early. Thankfully the cafe owner opened up early for us so we could have a hot drink before we set off.

Bamburgh Castle and 13 miles to go!

The scenery along the beach and cliff tops was stunning, although it was a little on the cold and windy side.  It was good to catch up with folks, and to get to meet Ed and Jane's sons, Ewan and Keir properly for the first time.  What a lovely couple of lads they are, very into their music which made for some great conversations.  Sylvia's best friend, Eve was there with her husband Tony and son Josh.  (I must plug Josh's band - The Smokin' Barrells, they have some great tunes).  When we were growing up, Eve lived 2 doors away from us so we go back a long way.  The last family represented were Big Al and Linda, and their two children, none of whom I'd met before, but they are a lovely couple and I got some top tips for our forthcoming trip to NY from Linda.

We stopped for lunch at The Ship Inn at Low Newton by-the-sea - it was pretty packed out because of a wedding reception - but its a popular pub.  Laugh of the day come courtesy of the waiter who could only have been Son-of-Phil-Lynott - apart from being white and as shy as a mouse.  He made us smile anyway.

At the Ship Inn after lunch

The second half of the walk took us past Dunstanburgh Castle, a ruin which looked very mysterious on what had turned into a bit of a dull day, before finishing with a very welcome pint in The Jolly Fisherman at Craster.  In the pub we met a friend of Ed and Jane's, an artist called Mick Oxley, and we visited his gallery before we left Craster.  He has some stunning paintings.  I especially liked the sea scapes.  I had a lovely chat to the lady who runs the gallery - she had graciously agreed to stay over her working hours to let us browse around and gave me loads of information about other local artists.  Definitely a return visit on the cards and maybe a few purchases next time we go.

Dunstanbrough Castle

To round up the day, we were booked in for a well-earned meal at the amazing Cook and Barker Inn at Newton-on-the-Moor.  Its one of the nicest places I have eaten, with its medievel decor, and fabulous food.

Our banquet at the Cook and Barker

I think we all did Sylvia proud - there were more than a few moments that I wished she was there on the walk with us, but she would be glad that we all met up and had a good day out.

We hugged and said our goodbyes with sketchy plans for another walk soon, and then headed off to pick up my younger sister Eileen to bring her down to us for a few days holiday.

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Sunday 5 - Thursday 9 June

It has been lovely to have Eileen staying with us, and good to get out and about in the midst of a few family tensions.  Becky has officially left school until September, although has to go in for a handful of exams.  Maths is the big bug bear and we have been trying to motivate her to get down to some serious studying.  Simon has taken time out of his frantic schedule to go through some of the harder work with her but we've had tears and one or two shouting matches and a bit of a fraught atmosphere.  Eileen certainly saw us warts and all.

Sunday we hadn't planned much, to give Simon and I a chance to  recover from the previous days excursions.  Rain put paid to our plan of an outside BBQ, so we cooked everything indoors and chilled out in the conservatory instead.

Monday  Eileen, Becky and I went up to Rother Valley for a wander around the park.  The free hire of a mobility scooter meant Eileen could be mobile and didn't have to depend on me pushing her about - the sun was shining and we had a lovely chilled out time just meandering around the lake.

Eileen and Becky at Rother Valley

Tuesday was forcast for rain so we went to Meadowhall for some serious shopping.  Mobility scooters have to be hired 7 days in advance, so we were out of luck,  but the Shopmobility wheelchair I picked up last week came into its own  and thank goodness for  front swivel wheels!!!  I officially passed the driving test, although I'm concious that it must be weird being at the mercy of somebody pushing and pulling you around or just abandoning you to go look at something over the other side of the shop, so tried to keep Eileen in mind at all times.   She really is amazing and copes really well, doing her best to stay positive and to do as much as the MS allows her to do. 

Treat of the day, which we were all really excited about, was having our feet nibbled by fish!  It was a surreal experience.  The strangest bit was dipping your feet in the water and feeling all of these little critters suddenly head for your legs!  Very weird - but once you got used to it quite relaxing.  Not sure I would bother with it again, but definitely glad I gave it a try and it did make us giggle loads.

Becky and a hundred fish

Wednesday was supposed to be heavy showers in the afternoon, so we zipped off to Chatsworth Garden Centre for lunch, and then on to the Peak Village Retail Park, for yet more shopping.  We did well to avoid the rain, apparently back here in Dronfield it was torrential, so that worked our really well for us!

I didn't sleep too well on Wednesday night.  This was the night Simon worked through the night for Thursday's deadlines so that disturbed me a little, but I was fretting about Eileen getting the train home the next day.  Simon finished his work early Thursday morning, so was free to come to the station with us, which was really helpful.   Eileen was more relaxed about it all than I was, and determined for it not to be an obstacle.  She is very unsteady on her feet, and can't walk very far, and I was worried about her managing her walking stick and suitcase on a rickety train.   She did great though, and Richie was there at the other end to meet her.  She did so well that they got the bus home instead of a taxi. I'm very proud of her!