New Beginnings

I left work last Friday and it was a bittersweet day.  I have made lots of friends over the years and so many people came by my office to say goodbye, so there were a few tears.  I have spent so long having to be fairly conservative in appearance because of the nature of the job, so I decided to go out with a final act of defiance - I dyed my hair bright pink.  It certainly made quite a few people do a double take (especially the Colonel) When I said I was going to do it, my sons were horrified - so I have kept it pink just to wind them up and I quite like it.  Unfortunately you cannot really see the colour in the picture below.

I was treated to a lovely meal out by lots of my colleagues and just a few drinks (!) and I received some smashing gifts.  I was truly touched by it all.  I will miss the gang, but I feel amazing - so relaxed, no stress and most of all - FREE!!!!  I looked after Scarlett all day Monday and on Tuesday I went up to London to meet a lifelong friend, Ginena.  She lives in Cape Town and we have not actually seen each other for 25 years since I went out there.  But from the moment we got together the years disappeared and we talked and laughed like the old days.  We had such fun, it was like being young girls again.

I have worked on the allotment, entertained friends, cooked for Pete every night, cleaned the barge within an inch of its life and caught up with the washing - it's hard work this not working lark - but I love it!  I am probably off now until after the school holidays and then I am looking at my options.  Really I would like to cut down to part time work but there are a couple of really interesting opportunities in the pipeline, so who knows.  All I know is that I have no job, no money and I am the happiest I have been in years and really excited about what the future holds.

Sunlight and Stars

My lovely blogger pal, Val, from Waterways is going to think that I am posting this just to make her a tiny bit jealous, but honestly Val I'm not!  This is our new hatch and the difference that having it in to the light and air is wonderful.  We can actually see that the sun is shining and even when we are down below, we can still feel part of the summer.  The other bonus is that we can also see the stars.  We do not have any light pollution around here, and the night sky is so beautiful.  Pete is talking about getting a telescope to do a bit of star gazing.  On the technical side for Mel, it has a wind up opener, but the whole dome can be lifted off to enable us to use the full hatch.  It is also triple glazed, so should keep us snug in the winter and the glass does something clever with keeping in/letting out heat.  For me, it means I can sit in the snug without feeling confined because of the artificial lights and I now am waiting for it to rain, to watch the raindrops bounce off the window.

Friends in High Places!!

I told them at work that I intended to take my grievances higher, bet they didn't think I would take it this far!!!

We actually had a fab day out in London. We had tickets for the Major General's Review, which is basically the dress rehearsal for the Trooping of the Colour and then on to Downing Street to have our photos taken.  No matter what I think of the military at this moment in time, no one can quite do pomp and circumstance like the British!