2006 – The Poem

I doubt I’ll win any accolades for my rhyme, but I hope you enjoy my efforts……


Christmas is coming and we’ll soon be getting fat
It’s time to send out cards, buy gifts to give and wrap

A year has past so quickly but can’t think where it’s gone
I’m not sure I’ve much to say – tell me, what’ve you done?

In January I visited Toni in hospital for a week
She took some time to heal but now she’s at her peak

In March my dad was 70 and had a party to celebrate
With friends, good food and lots to drink, the ‘do’ was really great

Then I got new wardrobes with big mirrors and lots of space
They hide my clothes and other stuff, everything in it’s place

In May mum broke her elbow, she did it in a fall
It’s all fixed now and luckily no sign of damage at all

I planted lots of veg in my garden, though it’s not really big
It turned into a jungle and was worth the effort to dig

Courgettes were in abundance, we had more than we would need
With beans, tomatoes and rocket and huge sunflowers for seed

I got a water butt and composter as ‘green’ is the way to go
Despite good efforts I think we’re more a ‘turquoise’, don’t you know!

July brought us a heatwave, the sky was sunny and blue
I’d sit on the beach and gaze at the sea, I love doing that – don’t you?

We went to see some racing pigs at a local family farm
We had such fun, it was a laugh, and the piglets came to no harm

August was our holiday time, and lots of fun was had
In Denmark where we had a great time, despite Mette being mad

I started writing a blog, for those on the internet
I try to keep it short and interesting, but it’s sometimes hard you can bet

We’ve had some friends to visit, so exploring we did go
To see lovely towns and villages that Yorkshire has to show

In September Lydia started her final year at school
She turned 16, is looking great and is definitely very cool

I’ve not done lots of things I should to make my house look great
Just some painting and new radiator valves, so the rest will have to wait

I love the long, hot days, but Summer passed too quick
Now Winter has arrived and we’re waiting for St. Nick

In November it was my birthday, and what a time I had
A weekend away in Whitby, thanks to Jacqui and dad

So 2006 will soon be over and a fresh new year’s on it’s way
I think there’ll be some changes, but what, I cannot say

Liddi will take her GCSEs and let’s hope she does really well
She’s a clever girl of whom I proud, I’m sure that you can tell

I want to wish you all the best for Christmas and New Year
Make sure you laugh and have lots of fun, and don’t shed any tear

I’ll be spending time with family, and having fun with friends also
If anything really great happens, read my blog and I’ll let you know

Happy Birthday, me!

It was my birthday on Friday 24th November and I couldn’t have had a better day…or weekend! I took the day off work (that’s a great start!), got Liddi off to school, made a cup of tea and went back to bed to open all my cards. Sheer indulgence. Thanks everyone!

My friend, Jim took me out for a delicious lunch of roast beef, Yorkshire pudding, etc. at a cosy local restaurant. After that, we went for a look around Burton Agnes Hall which had been fantastically decorated for Christmas in a range of traditional and modern styles. It was a delight and a fun way to spend the afternoon. I got a great DAB digital radio which I have been enjoying ever since. Don’t you just love technology?

By 6pm Toni arrived at my house and Liddi was back from school, so we piled ourselves and our weekend bags into the car and took the 1 hour journey to Whitby where dad & Jacqui had hired an apartment for the weekend as a birthday treat for Toni & me. I hadn’t been to Whitby before and neither had dad & Jacqui. Toni had been for a couple of hours a few weeks before, so we were all excited about exploring the joys of Whitby, despite the fact that the weather reports were not good.

Luckily, the weathermen didn’t get it quite right and despite a bit of drizzle on Saturday morning, it soon cleared up to give us a sunny and mild afternoon. We explored the quaint, narrow, cobbled streets with interesting shops and then took the 199 steps up to the Abbey, which looked spectacular in the winter sun. I had been given a fantastic Lumix digital camera with a Leica lens which has all manor of wonderful features (most of which I am still trying to figure out…and possibly never will!). Luckily, Lydia decided to take over as chief photographer for the weekend. She worked out how to taken photos in colour, black & white, sepia, sports mode, short video, long shots, close ups, self photos, and managed to compile a lovely reminder in a mere 250 photos (!!) of the weekend. Thankfully, I will not put them ALL on this blog…..but I will publish a few of my favourites!

The apartment was lovely, smart and modern and ideally situated overlooking the harbour on the River Ouse. We had a fantastic view of Whitby, including the Abbey and St Mary’s Church on the top of the hill. Jacqui cooked a lovely birthday dinner on the Friday evening rounded off by Liddi’s home baked birthday cake (successfully made in the roasting pan as the cake tins had gone missing!). Toni, Liddi and I were then in charge of dinner on Saturday night, which we all enjoyed. We had bought fresh smoked Whitby kippers which we had for breakfast on Sunday morning, together with scrambled eggs using fresh eggs that dad & Jacqui had picked up along the way.

After breakfast, we packed up everything and reluctantly left the lovely apartment and headed for Robin Hood’s Bay which is always a delight, especially as the tide was right out allowing us the chance to walk amongst the seaweed and rock pools on the beach. A bright, sunny day made it a great day for exploring, so we then headed for a lovely long drive following the River Ouse and across the picturesque North Yorkshire Moors, stopping for Sunday lunch along the way at a lovely pub where the food was fantastic and cheap too! All in all, it was a really great weekend and we all thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. How will I top that for next year’s birthday??