Flat Land Andy's Goffer

Sorryto hera about yur recent loss, but welcome to the "blogs" post soon and let us know how you got on with the party.

Little Man got some as a birthday pressie once. Strange but he enjoyed them

Have been sooooo stressed this week. Really busy at work and trying to motivate men that act like children is becoming very trying and tiring! Have also received an email from our letting agents advising that the owner of the property is sending estate agents around to value the property. We went through this in October and now here we go again, but no-one will actually say "Yes he is thinking of selling" or is going to sell. The owner is abroad. In December we had our annual gas safety check for the Landlords safety certificate and the engineer advised that the boiler was leaking but that it wasn't dangerous and he would let the letting agency know. He did say that if it didn't get sorted the owner would land up having to pay for a new boiler because eventually it would just do too much damage to be viable to repair and so would cost the owner more money if he did not get it resolved. I also asked him to look at 2 of the 3 radiators upstairs because they do not work and we are feed up with being cold and 1 in the lounge that does not work. We consequently have 2 radiators downstairs and 1 upstairs trying to heat a 3 bedroom north facing house with open staircase and our bedroom and little mans is getting damp! The letting agents response, to say the least has been ineffectual, no recognition of the problem, no inspection, no nothing. . . . until today when I received a phone call from a company that I had never heard. They advised that they had been asked to contact me about the leaking boiler. The letting agents had not advised that this company would be contacting me but what's new, their comunication skills leave a lot to be desired. The gentleman duly arrived at the time we agreed and declared that the boiler was completely unsafe and in fact dangerous and should never have been left on or left as it was <_< :unsure: He disconnected our gas and said that he couldn't do anything else without the authority from the letting agents who needed to get permission from the owner. So we now have no heating and no hot water on the coldest weekend of the year and of course the letting agents finish at 1pm on a Friday and they didn't tell this company to contact me until 1pm and so I cannot get hold of the letting agents and we are yet again left in the dark as to what is happening or what should or will be happening and when we will get hot water and heat back. I am fed up to say the least!

She's beautiful

Been quite a while since my last blog, so thought I should just post a quickie. As I am sure anyone who has been following little mans efforts to complete the Macmillan Way, we finished last week. We have a very relaxing weekend this weekend as I know that there is plenty to do with actually collecting monies in now that he has finished, but to be honest I just wanted to chill for a short while. Little man is going on a Geography field trip this week with school. This is the first time that a year 5 will have been on this trip, so I hope they don't squash the faith that their teacher has shown in them, by letting him and themselves down. Anyway, the are learning all about Rivers, so I think little man will enjoy it but I am concerned that the behaviour of the class will deteriorate, especially as they are sleeping over for 2 nights. Having helped with Cub camp, I know what it is like trying to get them to go to sleep. I think last cub camp the last tent to go to sleep was 2am and the first tent up was 4pm so...... we will have to wait and see, but I am not holding my breath. <_< To be honest I am really concerned about Little man at the moment, I think he feels a bit lost now that he has finished his first challenge and it is a while before his next. I also think he is feeling a bit out of sorts at school as well, but he hasn't actually said this and normally he feels that he can talk to me. I will just ahve to watch and keep an eye as he has been quite badly bullied in the past and so I can see the signs all over again, but it might just be he is stretching his wings and seeing how much he can get away with. Anyway better go as it is late and Mr D has just emerged from the bath and I need to make sure I have got the car all set for any emergency if we do get bad weather next week. Take Care all

Been a little while since I posted so thought I would do a quick update. Little Man received his Chief Silver Scout award a couple of weeks ago and last week got his 4 years badge for being in the scouting movement. This year is the 90th year of cubs so he got a badge for that aswell. He recently got his book readers badge and art badge so all I seem to do at the moment is sew badges onto his cubs uniform! We have got a weekend at home this week and I planned on doing so much around the house but we have all been so chilled that to be honest nothing is getting done so I must make a real effort today! Hubby will have to help whether he likes it or not I am not wasting a whole weekend at home and then trying to get everything done in the evenings during the week when we are planning for the final push to finish the Macmillan Way next week. Little Man has his school assembly on Friday. They auditioned for their parts on on Friday and he came home on Friday night saying that he had got 17 speech's to learn. He is really chuffed that he was successful in getting a substantial part. At the moment I don't seem to be able to get his head out of a book, not that I am complaining. He has started reading the Alex Rider series by Anthony Horowitz and is thoroughly enjoying them. He read Ark Angel first( which apparently is the last one in the series), he read that in a week, so we then had to go and buy Storm Breaker and he has read that in a week so now he is on Point Blanc. With regard to me I am absolutely exhausted! It just seems to be a round of work(stress tress and more stress), housework, helping at the school, fundraising for Macmillan Cancer Relief, getting Little Man to and from his various activities and never seeming to get everything done. I think that is why this weekend we are all so chilled, because we are all trying to recharge the batteries ready for the final push for completing the Macmillan Way next week. The trouble is I know that then the push will be to start getting the fiundraising organised for the 3 peaks in 24hrs at the end of May beginning of June! Our second driver for this challenge has let us down, AGAIN! We were supposed to do this challenge last year and he then came along and said that he couldn't get the time off work. Luckily we had only just started the fundraising organisation so we postponed it until this year. (Little Man was still adamant that he wanted to do it, so begged us to arrange it for another time). He, the second driver, has had a year of knowing the dates that he needed to book for this years holiday and a couple of weeks ago he came for Sunday dinner, as usual, and said that he couldn't have the time off because his boss was off. He hadn't booked the holiday and had let everyone else book theirs first! The trouble is this time the dates have all been publicised and again we are trying to do it in the school holidays because I do not agree with Little Man having time out of school. Makes me thing that he never really wanted to do it and should have just said that at the beginning rather than waiting till now! Hubby has just told me off for writing a novel, AGAIN so I had better sign off. Have got to get the dates sorted for 3 operations with 3 different consultants next week. Am tired of having to deal with cancer in one way or another. Just wish that someone could say it was all just a bad dream.

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Just a quick update. Little mans story of his endeavours for Macmillan Cancer Relief was in the local paper this evening. It is a young reporter that ran the original story and then did this follow up. I have to say he has been really great and very supportive of Little Mans challenge, so that is really nice. As I said in my previous blog it is nothing put stress at work and when I get home I am just exhausted. Little Man has got a "job" at the after school club. He has agreed with the leader to run a "story club" from 4.00pm to 5.30pm where he is reading stories(that the leader has previously chosen) to the younger children in an effort to keep them calm and because he is so good with the younger children. Proud Mum? Yes! <_< I am so pleased that he thinks of the younger ones not being able to interact with the older ones as easily and has found a way to try to get then involved.

Happy New Year everyone. Have had family over for big family meal today, which little man thoroughly enjoyed. Great nanny always manages to eat more here than anywhere else so that is a good indication of the fact that she enjoys coming and the company. I hope that 2006 will be a better year, but I know that I am going to be having a least one operation this year and probably more. But I must not complain as they are doing these to try to increase my chances of survival from certain cancers and I am one of the lucky ones. It is year end at work, so I know that it is going to be even more stressfull than normal. Hey ho how I would love to just be able to get away from stress for a short while. I have managed to switch off the last few days, especially when walking around the picturesque villages in Oxfordshire/Warwickshire/Gloucestershire, but know that come Tuesday morning at 7.30am it will be back with a vengence. I will have to try to sort out all the problems at work as well as keep my boss positive and on the right track and not chasing his tail and basically doing nothing to actually move things forward. I shouldn't complain or maon, but I just want to start 2006 with the view that it IS going to be better than 2005!

Didn't realise it was so long since my last blog. Managed to finish the scout christmas post on 22.12.05 and so wasn't delivering cards on christmas eve as in previous years. Will make a note for the future that collecting in the boxes on 20.12.05 was a GOOD idea. Well for the first time ever Adam was up and down the stairs on christmas eve and we had real trouble getting him to go to sleep. In all the years passed he has been in bed by 8.30pm and asleep straight away, but not this year for some reason. Mr D decided that he would teach him a lesson and the stocking that he had left under the tree was left empty, as Santa couldn't get to it because he was up and down the stairs so much! Adam came down stairs at 4.30pm & then came back up to bed. He came into us at 6.30pm & we eventually got up at 7.15am. He came into the kitchen to me with misty eyes & said that Santa hadn't been and that he thought that Santa couldn't see his stocking as it was hidden under the tree near the chair. He said he didn't mind not having anything, but somehow I didn't believe him. I suggested that he might have taken them to his Uncle Chris' instead and so he started texting Chris to find out if they were there. In the end, when Chris had arrived and he had no pressies for Adam, Mr D encouraged Adam to look elsewhere in the house as Santa couldn't get to the stocking in the lounge as he was up and down stairs so much. Adam eventally found his "other" stocking in the conservatory near the patio doors. Bless him he was so relieved! He went to see his grandad on 26.12 as he refused to come on christmas day because he is "upset" with Mr D. I am a little concerned about this because it is little man that didn't get to see his only granddad on christmas day because they haven't sorted it out between themselves. Never mind Adam didn't seem too concerned because as far as he's concerned he had his most important relative with him and that is his Uncle Chris, so that is all that really matters. 27.12 and a 2hour journey to the next stage of Adam's walk. He was absolutelt full of cold and I was really concerned that he should even be attempting any distance at all, but he said "It's for charity Mum, I'm not dying it's just a cold". So he did 10 miles and then 7.5miles on 28.12.05. We came home on eve of 28.12.05 as it was his birthday on 29.12.05. We went to see Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire and for pizza for lunch and then set off at 8.00am on 30.12.05 for another two days of walking. He did really well on both days and has now reached just over half way 146 miles A proud mum or what!

Well the christmas performances are over and little man did really well. Some of the others froze and couldn't get their lines out and so others had to improvise, others walked off stage, but little man just got on with it and that was that. On Monday we have got their christmas parties at school and so we have finished making the decorations for the hall for their discos in the afternoon. I will decorate the hall in the morning after their assembly. On Wednesday it is the christingle service at the Abbey, by then I think they will all be so hypo that goodness knows what will happen. At least the bypass has been opened (well ahead of schedule I might add) and so walking from the school to the Abbey will not be so traumatic, espcecially with the little ones. To be honest it is Year 6 that I I have concerns about more than Reception class or years 1 and 2. I thought they were supposed to be more aware of dangers, decorum and manners as they got older, well some of our Year 6 seem to be 10 times worse than even year 5! Hey ho, they will all be off to secondary school in September. Will our now year 5, which will become year 6, be as bad. I hope not! There are the famous 5 in year 5 that are the top of the class that you just cannot put together. It is a recipe for disaster, you just don't get the best out of any of them. Why is that? Anyway off to deliver approx 300 cards for the scouts and want to get it done before it gets dark.

It is little mans first night of his christmas performance tonight so everything is a bit of a rush to make sure that he has had something to eat before we leave, for hubby to actually get home at a reasonable time so that he can get showered etc ready to leave and for me to get back their as soon as possible to help with the setting up of things for the PTA. By the end of the evening I think I will be going ga ga from all of the rushing around and trying to get things done and of course there is still the scouts christmas post to keep on top of. I enlisted a couple of helpers to actually deliver the cards and guess what, the first one I called upon for the very first time couldn't do it becuase they thought they had a cold coming. Never mind, at least it will keep me fit and on the street so to speak!

Nothing much to report today, other than I have a terrible cold coming and we are supposed to be going to hubby xmas dinner dance on Friday. Typical, I bet I will look like death warmed up and feel even worse! Am busy sorting the scouts xmas post and arranging and organising the PTA fund raising events for the nativity performances tomorrow and Thursday. Am busy sorting out the festivities for the childrens parties on the 19th and generally wishing that there were more hours in the day. Had better sign off as I have 600 christmas cards to sort into streets and then numeriacl order and I would like to go to bed before midnight if poss!

Well my little man did it! He walked another 15miles today of the Macmillan Way. To be honest I was concerned that his ankle was going to give him problems, but on the contrary. In his normal determined manner he just got on with it and came home and relaxed afterwards! The trouble is that I am spending the whole day travelling from home to drop them off at their last point and then driving home again to try and do all of the other things that I help with in the village. For example various fundraising things that need planning and executing for the PTA and the numerous cards that need collecting, sorting and delivering for the local beavers/cubs/scout group. I get a couple of hours at home and then I have to leave again to get to where they need picking up from and then I have to drive home again, so I am trying to do all of our own christmas preparations in the evenings, after work and when little man has gone to bed as well as the things for the village/school. We were talking this evening about our memories of christmas when we were children and what our parents did for us. My Mum and Dad were fantastic and my memories are all of fun and my Dad winding my Mum up, her buying a turkey that was to big to fit in the oven and the brussel sprouts always being boiled to a pulp. Even when I was 27 and staying at my parents on Xmas eve, my Dad still came in(as he always did) between 3am and 4am and say "he's been Sarah Darea" are you getting up. I always did and my Dad and I had a special couple of hours together just cuddled up in front of the fire watching TV until my Mum got up and started getting all stressed about the fact that the turkey had only been cooking for 12 hours and it wasn't going to be ready on time! I DO MISS THEM SO MUCH

On Wednesday I delivered the christmas post boxes for the local scout group to 3 local businesses. People pay a donation of 5p per card to have their cards delivered in the village by the cubs and scouts. The only problem with this is that it sometimes feels like it is just me and a couple of other mums doing the actually delivering! Anyway I popped into one of the shops today to buy my little man a chocolate bar after a hard day at school practising for his christmas performance,( ha ha) only to be told that the box was full all ready! The logistics of sorting and delivering approx 1300 cards during the next two weeks might be daunting to some, but Adam in his indicative fashion cannot wait! When I emptied the box he immediately asked if he could do them there and then. He suggested we could sort them in the car and get them done before it was dark. We compromised by agreeing that we would empty one of the other boxes that night, sort them before we went shopping and delivered them after football tomorrow! On Sunday he is walking another 15 miles of the Macmillan Way for Macmillan Cancer Relief and so he cannot deliver on Sunday's which he is gutted about.

Thanks for this Andy. Sorry to here about your friends & family but glad that people you know have had a positive experience with Macmillan. They were great when I was diagnosed and fantastic when my dad was dying. There are only 4 of us in my immediate family, me, my mum dad and sister and they have all died from cancer so I know what it's like to have those you love suffer from this disease, but what some people seem to forget is that it doesn't just affect the person with cancer, but all those around them. That is why Adam is so determined to help.

This is the first entry in my blog and is going to start with a moan I'm afraid. My little man(9yrs old) is walking the Macmillan Way for Macmillan Cancer relief, 290 miles. He has completed 75 miles and you would have thought that he would get encouragement from his nearest & dearest, wouldn't you. But oh no! I emailed his Grandad today(the only one he has got I hasten to add, as my dad died from cancer almost a year to the day before he was born), just to confirm that he will be here on christmas morning. My husband is the eldest of his two children and my little man is his only grandchild and the only one he will ever have. The last two years we have actually had to chase him up during mid morning of Christmas day and one year actually had to phone around petrol stations to find out where there was one open, because he said he hadn't got enough petrol to get here. This is depsite the fact that he actually lives directly opposite a petrol station and complained that it was a 24 hour petrol station and could not understand why it had closed at 10pm on Christmas Eve. He is a retired CID police officer. Well anyway he knows that Adam is walking the Macmillan Way on 27th & 28th Dec, it is his birthday on 29th and is walking again on 30th & 31st. His grandad has said that he cannot be bothered to come over this year(he has no other committments and his other son will be here as he comes every Sunday) and that his uncle should take him over on the 26th or 27th and he will take him out and treat him to something. When Adam asks why Grandad's not coming I did not know what to say really other than he can't make it, but I know Adam will ask why as he knows Grandad has no-one else in his life and he knows that he is not going to be able to go over on the 26th and that he is walking on the 27th. That means that he is not going to see his Grandad for christmas or his birthday yet again! Why exactly do we bother with people that cannot even show an interest in their own grandchildren. Their grandchild who has endured seeing their mother(me) suffer with cancer, their nanny die of cancer(my mum) and their only anuty(my sister) die of cancer within 16weeks of one another! Sometimes I just want to scream at them and say for goodness sake take an interest, you don't know what youv'e got until its not their anymore! Sorry end of moan. Knowing Adam he will take it in his stride and just say "whatever"