family outings and traditions
Saturday, 26th April 2008
It's that time of year again when we pack two cars with people, clothes and food and head off to the South Coast. A town called Swanage, on the Isle of Purbeck in Dorset to be exact. We make this trip every year as a way to celebrate and remember my granparents who loved the area and to just be together as a family.
Just a couple of weeks before we lost another of our number when Auntie Joyce, my Nan's younger sister, died from respitory problems after suffering a heart attack. She'll be remembered in our thoughts this year also. Since my Grandfather died we had encouraged Nan to spend more time with Joyce and thus Joyce had spent more time with our family, becoming one of the gang as Nan would have called it. She was a cheeky mare who gave as good as she got and proved that many good things do come in small packages. I hope that in their final years, when both were lonely having lost their soul mates that they had some laughs and some adventures with us.
It was our usual early Saturday drive to make sure we got to Wimbourne in time for the market. We wandered around the various stalls, got some earthernware pots for the kitchen and a mole ornament for the garden (Dean named him Arthur), and then we had to get the unusual cheeses that only seem to be sold here: Cheddar Marmite and Afterburn, I intend never to try either. It's then onto Wareham for the Local Produce Market, it still puzzles me that they sell Duracell batteries, bleach and knock off sunglasses... local my arse!
Finally we arrive in Swanage at the house, our rented home for the week. We've stayed in a number of holiday homes in the town and have often passed this particular house and we were all under the impression that it was a Nursing Home. With it's full length, panoramic windows that look out over the bay we were sure it was inhabited by retired Brigaderes playing Backgammon and elderly Woman's Institute ladies making jam. But no, it is owned by a gentleman currently working in Australian and making a little money in his absense. It still looks like a nursing home but now that we've been inside it's a nursing home crossed with an Austrian ski lodge and a Spanish villa, with a green roof. And the view is amazing.
Spent the rest of the afternoon making sure everything was still where we left it. The cafe with the best cream tea, the pub with the 23 ciders, the ice cream parlour that has the best chocolate ice cream, and the shop that girls spend hours in and boys spend hours outside of propping up the wall. I don't know whether it's the early morning or the fresh air but by nine I'm ready to sleep. So I do.
Sunday, 27th April 2008
I don't know how this happens but when I'm on holiday with my parents I always end up getting up earlier than I do on a normal work day. I don't get it.
Sunday is always the day that we head to Studland Bay, where my Grandparents ashes are scattered. They never wanted us to have graves to visit. We pack some sandwiches and a flask, or should I say that Nan and Joyce used to pack sandwiches and a flask because left to Mum she forgot to pack the milk and sugar and completely forgot to bring a drink for me. Tut tut. Their ashes are scattered in the dunes, near a tree that only shows it's top most branches through the build up of sand. I gathered some stones for Grandad and some shells for Nan and placed them by a heather bush. I told them I missed them and what I was doing with the house since Dean and I have decided to move in.
Back at the house we're having some quiet time, well everyone is except Mum. Dad is reading, Naomi is reading, I'm doing a crossword and Dean is putting stickers in his sticker album. Mum has found a book about the local area and keeps piping up with all sorts of facts. We ocassionally mumble at her but largely ignore her. After a bit to eat we pack ourselves into the car to drive back to London for Joyce's funeral tomorrow. From the middle of the backseat Mum is still chattering away; Naomi has turned on her Ipod, soon after I do the same and in the front of the car Dad and Dean discreetly turn up the volume on the radio. I'd never noticed before that my Mum doesn't like silence but I'm pretty sure it's only been since Nan died that it's been this way. I always joked that when I turned 30 I would start channeling my mother, just didn't realise that in order for that to happen she would have to start channeling hers. Spooky.
Monday, 28th April 2008
Maureen arrives at the house before I'm even out of bed. It means the world to my family that she wanted to attend Joyce's funeral. Katie had wanted to be there too but had to work. A card from Kirsty and Tidds also conveys their apologies that they can't be there. Ralph will be joining us at the Crematorium. It's incredible that both my Nan and Joyce meant so much to my friends, that they were thought of and cared for.
I'd not cried for Joyce since she had died. My feelings too confused with guilt and anger and all mixed up with the grief that still lingers so closely at the mere thought of my Nan. The ceremony was in the same chapel but we sat the opposite side. I couldn't look at the coffin; my cousin Emma had placed her flower arrangement at the head of it, the word Nan was spelled out in silver letters against a pink heart pillow. Too much memory of the last time I was there took over and I sobbed. Remembering how we had listened to 'Catch A Falling Star', how Naomi had held me when I wanted to race to the coffin before they took her away from me, and how we had sang along to 'Que Sera Sera'. For Joyce the song was 'You're Beautiful', Joyce always said he was singing it to her.
Piling back into the car we head back to Swanage. With both Naomi and I listening to our Ipods Mum falls asleep within minutes. Why didn't we think of that that last night?
We had all agreed that we would eat out at the Italian that night. We'd never been before, not sure Nan or Joyce would find something on the menu, we certainly did. Sod the diet, I had chicken and pancetta in a carbonara sauce, garlic bread and chips, and for dessert I had some of that amazing chocolate ice cream (the owner of the restaurant and the ice cream parlour are cousins).
Full up we head for home, taking a nice stroll along the darkened beach to start burning off all those calories.
Tuesday, 29th April 2008
We always have an away day. A few years ago I chose Longleat Safari Park where I fed a deer and got drawl all over my hand and in my sisters handbag. Naomi chose a trip on the steam train to Corfe Castle last year. So this year the choice was down to Dean and he chose Portsmouth Dockyard and it was a bloody good day out. They have three ships permanently on display: Warrior, Victory and Mary Rose. Warrior and Victory are pretty much museums themselves. You can roam the decks and touch guns and hammocks and plates and cannons.
Onboard Warrior you can have yourself locked in the brig, so Dean shoved me in and closed the door! It was dark, made me shudder at the thought of actually being locked in. On the lowers decks were the engine rooms, the furnaces that were stoked by the 'Walking Dead'. I had to explain that term to my sister; that the sailors who worked the furnaces were the first to be sacrificed if the ship started taking on water. The doors were sealed and the men left to die. Though it was many, many years later my Grandfather was in the Navy during WWII and he was an engine stoker. I saw the moment that my sister put it all together and it was her turn to shudder.
Victory is incredible. It is still a commissioned vessel and as such ships coming into port still have to salute this piece of history. Out on the top deck there is a plaque to show where Nelson fell in battle and where he died later below decks. I really hope that people were shorter back then because I had to bow my head on the lowest decks, Dean was practically bent double.
Mary Rose was the ship that I was most interested in before the day. Some of my earliest memories include the day that the remains of the wreck were lifted from the depths. Though my four year old mind convinced me that it was made from yellow metal I later learned that this was the cradle that held. The ship is kept in a protected environment and is sprayed with a liquid wax to protect the wood. This preservation will continue until 2011 when it will be moved to a new interactive display. We're already planning our return trip.
Wednesday, 30th April and Thursday, 1st May 2008
The last couple of days were spent just chilling for Dean and I. Whilst Mum, Dad and Naomi had to see agents about the house they're planning to buy down there we went to the arcades and played the Bingo machines, we went to the pub and played the quiz machine, we went to the cafe and had cream tea and sandwiches and we went to the beack to scavenge for rocks. Okay I went to the beach to scavenge for rocks, while Dean ridiculed me from the Broadwalk, I'm still not entirely sure what I plan to do with all those rocks... I'm sure I'll think of something.
...
It's that time of year again when we pack two cars with people, clothes and food and head off to the South Coast. A town called Swanage, on the Isle of Purbeck in Dorset to be exact. We make this trip every year as a way to celebrate and remember my granparents who loved the area and to just be together as a family.
Just a couple of weeks before we lost another of our number when Auntie Joyce, my Nan's younger sister, died from respitory problems after suffering a heart attack. She'll be remembered in our thoughts this year also. Since my Grandfather died we had encouraged Nan to spend more time with Joyce and thus Joyce had spent more time with our family, becoming one of the gang as Nan would have called it. She was a cheeky mare who gave as good as she got and proved that many good things do come in small packages. I hope that in their final years, when both were lonely having lost their soul mates that they had some laughs and some adventures with us.
It was our usual early Saturday drive to make sure we got to Wimbourne in time for the market. We wandered around the various stalls, got some earthernware pots for the kitchen and a mole ornament for the garden (Dean named him Arthur), and then we had to get the unusual cheeses that only seem to be sold here: Cheddar Marmite and Afterburn, I intend never to try either. It's then onto Wareham for the Local Produce Market, it still puzzles me that they sell Duracell batteries, bleach and knock off sunglasses... local my arse!
Finally we arrive in Swanage at the house, our rented home for the week. We've stayed in a number of holiday homes in the town and have often passed this particular house and we were all under the impression that it was a Nursing Home. With it's full length, panoramic windows that look out over the bay we were sure it was inhabited by retired Brigaderes playing Backgammon and elderly Woman's Institute ladies making jam. But no, it is owned by a gentleman currently working in Australian and making a little money in his absense. It still looks like a nursing home but now that we've been inside it's a nursing home crossed with an Austrian ski lodge and a Spanish villa, with a green roof. And the view is amazing.
Spent the rest of the afternoon making sure everything was still where we left it. The cafe with the best cream tea, the pub with the 23 ciders, the ice cream parlour that has the best chocolate ice cream, and the shop that girls spend hours in and boys spend hours outside of propping up the wall. I don't know whether it's the early morning or the fresh air but by nine I'm ready to sleep. So I do.
Sunday, 27th April 2008
I don't know how this happens but when I'm on holiday with my parents I always end up getting up earlier than I do on a normal work day. I don't get it.
Sunday is always the day that we head to Studland Bay, where my Grandparents ashes are scattered. They never wanted us to have graves to visit. We pack some sandwiches and a flask, or should I say that Nan and Joyce used to pack sandwiches and a flask because left to Mum she forgot to pack the milk and sugar and completely forgot to bring a drink for me. Tut tut. Their ashes are scattered in the dunes, near a tree that only shows it's top most branches through the build up of sand. I gathered some stones for Grandad and some shells for Nan and placed them by a heather bush. I told them I missed them and what I was doing with the house since Dean and I have decided to move in.
Back at the house we're having some quiet time, well everyone is except Mum. Dad is reading, Naomi is reading, I'm doing a crossword and Dean is putting stickers in his sticker album. Mum has found a book about the local area and keeps piping up with all sorts of facts. We ocassionally mumble at her but largely ignore her. After a bit to eat we pack ourselves into the car to drive back to London for Joyce's funeral tomorrow. From the middle of the backseat Mum is still chattering away; Naomi has turned on her Ipod, soon after I do the same and in the front of the car Dad and Dean discreetly turn up the volume on the radio. I'd never noticed before that my Mum doesn't like silence but I'm pretty sure it's only been since Nan died that it's been this way. I always joked that when I turned 30 I would start channeling my mother, just didn't realise that in order for that to happen she would have to start channeling hers. Spooky.
Monday, 28th April 2008
Maureen arrives at the house before I'm even out of bed. It means the world to my family that she wanted to attend Joyce's funeral. Katie had wanted to be there too but had to work. A card from Kirsty and Tidds also conveys their apologies that they can't be there. Ralph will be joining us at the Crematorium. It's incredible that both my Nan and Joyce meant so much to my friends, that they were thought of and cared for.
I'd not cried for Joyce since she had died. My feelings too confused with guilt and anger and all mixed up with the grief that still lingers so closely at the mere thought of my Nan. The ceremony was in the same chapel but we sat the opposite side. I couldn't look at the coffin; my cousin Emma had placed her flower arrangement at the head of it, the word Nan was spelled out in silver letters against a pink heart pillow. Too much memory of the last time I was there took over and I sobbed. Remembering how we had listened to 'Catch A Falling Star', how Naomi had held me when I wanted to race to the coffin before they took her away from me, and how we had sang along to 'Que Sera Sera'. For Joyce the song was 'You're Beautiful', Joyce always said he was singing it to her.
Piling back into the car we head back to Swanage. With both Naomi and I listening to our Ipods Mum falls asleep within minutes. Why didn't we think of that that last night?
We had all agreed that we would eat out at the Italian that night. We'd never been before, not sure Nan or Joyce would find something on the menu, we certainly did. Sod the diet, I had chicken and pancetta in a carbonara sauce, garlic bread and chips, and for dessert I had some of that amazing chocolate ice cream (the owner of the restaurant and the ice cream parlour are cousins).
Full up we head for home, taking a nice stroll along the darkened beach to start burning off all those calories.
Tuesday, 29th April 2008
We always have an away day. A few years ago I chose Longleat Safari Park where I fed a deer and got drawl all over my hand and in my sisters handbag. Naomi chose a trip on the steam train to Corfe Castle last year. So this year the choice was down to Dean and he chose Portsmouth Dockyard and it was a bloody good day out. They have three ships permanently on display: Warrior, Victory and Mary Rose. Warrior and Victory are pretty much museums themselves. You can roam the decks and touch guns and hammocks and plates and cannons.
Onboard Warrior you can have yourself locked in the brig, so Dean shoved me in and closed the door! It was dark, made me shudder at the thought of actually being locked in. On the lowers decks were the engine rooms, the furnaces that were stoked by the 'Walking Dead'. I had to explain that term to my sister; that the sailors who worked the furnaces were the first to be sacrificed if the ship started taking on water. The doors were sealed and the men left to die. Though it was many, many years later my Grandfather was in the Navy during WWII and he was an engine stoker. I saw the moment that my sister put it all together and it was her turn to shudder.
Victory is incredible. It is still a commissioned vessel and as such ships coming into port still have to salute this piece of history. Out on the top deck there is a plaque to show where Nelson fell in battle and where he died later below decks. I really hope that people were shorter back then because I had to bow my head on the lowest decks, Dean was practically bent double.
Mary Rose was the ship that I was most interested in before the day. Some of my earliest memories include the day that the remains of the wreck were lifted from the depths. Though my four year old mind convinced me that it was made from yellow metal I later learned that this was the cradle that held. The ship is kept in a protected environment and is sprayed with a liquid wax to protect the wood. This preservation will continue until 2011 when it will be moved to a new interactive display. We're already planning our return trip.
Wednesday, 30th April and Thursday, 1st May 2008
The last couple of days were spent just chilling for Dean and I. Whilst Mum, Dad and Naomi had to see agents about the house they're planning to buy down there we went to the arcades and played the Bingo machines, we went to the pub and played the quiz machine, we went to the cafe and had cream tea and sandwiches and we went to the beack to scavenge for rocks. Okay I went to the beach to scavenge for rocks, while Dean ridiculed me from the Broadwalk, I'm still not entirely sure what I plan to do with all those rocks... I'm sure I'll think of something.
...