Today I shall be Mainly...

[Sue]

Off to Erins school this afternoon, its an end of term assembly and awards ceremony and it seems Erin is getting an award. Claire and Adam received an invite to attend but they are both working so we are going in their place.

Been out for a 4 plus mile walk this morning, op Rooley Moor and through Healey Dell. We would have gone further but my knee started to hurt. Its at the side not on the joint face. It happens sometimes. Anyway went home and put some washing on instead. Its certainly blowing today.

[Stanley]

Very cold wind again here Sue, Crombie weather all day. Pity, if that wind hadn't been blowing it would have been a warm afternoon.
I'm feeling guilty about the shed....

[Sue]

Going out for the day, off to Chester. Its years since we have been.

Erin got her classes. HEADTEACHER AWARD for ‘her phenominal approach to learning and being an excellent role model’ how nice is that. It was a lovely assembly. The school is small and they managed to award nearly all of them for something whether it was an Easter egg competition or a House Event. Each class had a bronze , silver and gold award as well as the headteachers award all nice little certificates. These awards were not about being the best but about things like improving their handwriting or behaviour. We were very impressed.

[Wendyf]

Say hello to Chester for me Sue, I loved living there.

[Stanley]

Isn't it nice when kids do well..... I have been lucky in that respect, never a minute's worry.
I like Chester as well. Of course I had a connection with the Cheshires but apart from that I love the Rows, the walls and of course the river.
First night of our honeymoon was in the Grosvenor Hotel....... 60 years ago. Where does time go?

[Wendyf]

Nearly 44 years since we were married in Chester Register Office. By coincidence I found myself sat next to a chap from Chester for a good half of my train journey on Thursday and we spent a good couple of hours chatting away about living there.

[Stanley]

Why am I getting shades of 'Brief Encounter'?
The Roodee always fascinated me. I looked it up this morning, " The small mounds in the centre of the course, like the one which marks the burial site of the statue, are known as 'roods'. The popular name for the course is derived from this as 'Roodee' is a corruption of 'Rood Eye', meaning the Island of the Cross."
It is thought to be the smallest and oldest racecourse in the country. If I remember rightly you got a good bird's eye view of it from the walls. (LINK)
I shall be aiming for a spell in the shed..... Plus nursing duties with warm salt water on Jack's ears.....
Indexing Warner is going well!

[Sue]

You are right Stanley, when you walk the walls there is an excellent view. Plus the city is well endowed with information boards explaining the various sites, including how the racecourse used to be a large harbour before the river silted up in the 1300 s .I remembered from past visits there that the racecourse is indeed rather a boggy one. The Roodee was explained as was the word gee gee for horses. The roodee was a small island in the harbour in days gone by. The whole day was very successful, and to complete it we had a lovely drive there and back in the sun with no hold ups. We even managed to open the sunroof on my new car...a little addition that I looked for when I changed from my Jazz at Christmas. Lovely fresh air so much nicer than the air conditioner system

[Stanley]

Things have changed here, I realised that I had veggies to cook and so the shed is receding. It doesn't get done if I neglect it! That's one of the reasons why I like being a singleton.... I am not battening on the free labour of a woman!

[Sue]

How long did you live there Wendy?

[Wendyf]

How long did you live there Wendy?

I moved there in 1973 camping out in my brother's house for a bit before I got a tiny bedsit on the top floor of a big Edwardian house. I worked as a wine waitress at a restaurant before starting behind the bar in The Boat House pub at the end of the Groves. Met and married Colin there in 1975 and after a couple of months we got a flat just outside the city walls on Foregate Street. 1976 we moved a few miles out of Chester into North Wales but Col still worked in the centre for the City Council. We left in 1979 to go up to Scotland. 6 years or thereabouts!

[Stanley]

I missed going in the shed yesterday, cooking got in the way! I hope to do a bit today..... Vet's this afternoon with Jack.

[Stanley]

Usual tasks plus administering Jack's ear drops and massaging his ears. Some more gentle activity in the shed. Thinking about next Monday when I go for another operation, wash my dressing gown and find my PJ bottoms? It's a pain in the bum.
Cathedral of Choice first for milk and taxi money!

[Marilyn]

Well if you have lost your pyjama bottoms and have a pain in the bum...ones mind can only boggle at what you could have possibly done with them Stanley!
I have some pyjamas you can borrow. Freshly laundered. ( I expect them back the same way)

[Stanley]

I'll find them Maz. You sound bright!

[Sue]

Interesting story Wendy. I recognised the names you mentioned from my walk on Saturday.

Maz, I hope you will now improve with a vengeance. When my daughter had the op, the year before me, it was more like yours with the larger incision. Her recovery was slower and she had to wear a corset and sit on high stools for weeks but once recovered she was fine. I think I was very lucky.

Today is yoga, hospice shop and pilates plus a bit of nurturing to my seeds in the greenhouse which seem to be on strike. Perhaps they have heard about Brexit and aren’t keen on their destination. if we leave without a deal I probably won’t be able to take them so my little garden here may become a small market garden.

[Stanley]

if we leave without a deal
I don't think that will happen Sue, it's the last thing the EU wants.

[Sue]

if we leave without a deal
I don't think that will happen Sue, it's the last thing the EU wants.

I agree with you Stanley, they want the money!

[Stanley]

oR THE SOLIDARIRY THE uk COULD GIVE IF GOVERNED PROPERLY. bUT THAT'A S BIG IF! Bugger caps lock!

[Sue]

I wish Stanley, I wish.

Going for a short walk this morning in Heptonstall and down to Hebden Bridge where the U3A lunch group are meeting at Stubbings Wharf for lunch. Having traced my Widdup origins back to Heptonstall in the late 17 th century we shall be browsing the village and the Church yard before walking down the hill for lunch. The walk up after lunch will not be too easy. The other option is to park in Todmorden and walk the 4 miles along the towpath to the lunch and catch a bus back or beg a lift from friends. Its such a lovely morning either will be a nice walk

[plaques]

Heptonstall, a very interesting place. Sylvia Plath is buried there in St Thomas A. Beckett Churchyard, Heptonstall. The old cemetery has a coin clippers grave. The last time I was there I spoke to an old postman who said it was so quite up there that if you saw someone who you knew you shook hands, even if you didn't like them!

[Stanley]

When I was going regularly to Ellenroad I often took the road across the moor and down into Hebden Bridge through Heptonstall as the run reminded me of Scotland.
Today could be a washing day. I need to wash bedding in case Jack has shed any mites! I have the washer going now on what was waiting in the washer and will do another load when this is done. But I should still be able to get some shed in....
I hatechanging duvet covers!!!
Come to think, if I was a woman I would be a very demanding wife, my husband would be in charge of duvet-changing, it's a man's job!

[Wendyf]

I don't mind changing duvet covers, as long as there isn't a playful cat involved in the process.... or I go to bed at the end of a long, tiring day and find ive stripped the bed but not put the clean stuff on, probably because a playful cat came along at the wrong moment.

[Stanley]

That's happened to me as well Wendy. Completely spoils bed-time!
The Bedding is just finishing its hot wash, this morning has been all go! I shall hang the covers outside and then go and fight my fresh duvet covers.

[Sue]

Heptonstall, a very interesting place. Sylvia Plath is buried there in St Thomas A. Beckett Churchyard, Heptonstall. The old cemetery has a coin clippers grave. The last time I was there I spoke to an old postman who said it was so quite up there that if you saw someone who you knew you shook hands, even if you didn't like them!

Absolutely, we spent ages browsing the headstones, so old and worn. We found one dated early 1600s . No Widdups though, although they must be there. Probably couldn’t afford headstones. Lots of Sutcliffes. My early Rochdale ancestor John Widdup married in StChads, Rochdale in 1785, and moved to Barlick about 1790 where he created quite a dynasty of Widdups that lived in the ares right back to Burnley and beyong. I suspect his wife Martha Edmundson was from Barlick according to my research. Anyway he , himself was born to William Widdup and Susan Surcliffe of Heptonstall. Williams father was Daniel, also of Heptonstall. That's about 1710. I have been unable to go further back but the chances are that the village is the point of origin of the family.