I can't believe that I haven't posted a Friday Five since the beginning of May and now it's the end of June. But it's good to be here today and think about the good things of this week.
If you want to join in or check out the other participants pop over to our host Suzanne's blog at Living to Tell the Story
I have so many things to be thankful for this week so here goes:
1) A birthday! Of course I don't want to be a year older but I had lots of lovely presents as you can see here
Yes my favourite colour is blue. I also have an Amazon voucher to spend and an afternoon tea to look forward to.
2) A date day with hubby. Last Friday we went to the cinema in the afternoon and then out for something to eat. It was great going to the cinema in the afternoon - we had the pick of the seats as there were only about 10 other people there! We saw Hampstead.
3)
Spending a pleasant afternoon on Saturday taking part in a garden trail. Our local community garden had organised this event where a number of local people opened their gardens. By buying a ticket you were given the details of the gardens taking part and the funds raised will help support the community garden. We managed to visit 10 gardens. They were all well managed with some very different layouts and types. Gave me lots of ideas for things I could do in mine.
4) Visiting my grandson on Sunday. He's 13 weeks today (2 weeks corrected) and doing well although he has reflux so is uncomfortable quite a bit and doesn't sleep for long but he is mega cute. Yes I'm biased! lol I've just realised that on my last Friday Five post he was still in the hospital but he's been home for over a month now.
5) A good shopping trip and a productive day. Yesterday I went to Ikea, Hobbycraft and then on to Westfield in Stratford for Lakeland and John Lewis. I had a lovely time picking up some things to help organise things in my kitchen a bit better. I also got a pattern and some wool for my next baby blanket. I've almost finished a blanket for Nathan, just the edging to do. I'd planned to have it ready for when he was born but of course his early arrival messed with that schedule! No idea if or when there will be more grandchildren but I've decided to get ahead of myself because of course both the other DILs have made it clear they will expect a blanket too when, God willing, they start their families. I haven't done any knitting today but I have tidied several cupboards in the kitchen making use of the things I bought yesterday and I felt quite satisfied when I'd finished.
So a good week all round for me. Have a good weekend all.
Over 3 weeks without a blog! Lots of reasons. It's been a busy time but part of me just hasn't had the enthusiasm for it. The election result was disappointing but not unexpected. However it makes the negotiations for Brexit even more worrying when the credibility of our Government is even lower.
The disaster at the tower block has also been pretty depressing and the ensuing chaos over which buildings are safe or not is very worrying. I'm so glad we have been in a position to own our own home and be in control of our circumstances.
We've been fortunate to be safe from all the recent terrorist attacks but one event was a bit close to home this weekend. We could hear a helicopter flying round and round on Sunday evening and then saw on the news about a protest outside our police station. This was about the death of a young man who had been stopped by police and subsequently died. There were claims that the police had used excessive force when detaining him and that he had suffered a variety of injuries including a broken neck. This led to the protest which began peacefully but erupted into violence including the lighting of fires in the street.
This was worrying to us as only the day before we had walked through the streets nearby on a garden trail. To watch the news and see fires burning and protestors throwing bricks at police was quite disturbing. Especially when the IPCC (Independent Police Complaints Commission) have since released details of the post mortem which show the victim had no spinal injuries and had swallowed a number of packages. Unfortunately social media played a big part in spreading misinformation.
I'm becoming more wary about social media lately with all the fake news and vitriol that seems to be on it. It's curbed my enthusiasm for bloggin but not buried it. And then of course there is just the small little bundle that is dominating our lives now.
Seeing this little face can always cheer me up.
Tomorrow the UK goes to the polls. Again. It doesn't seem 5 minutes since we were voting on Brexit and look where that has got us. Musical chairs in the main political parties and another General Election.
Some of the posts on social media have been brutal. I try to steer clear of nasty debates so don't worry I'm not going to
start something here. Except this. If you have a vote, then use it.
Even if you think it won't make a difference. Every vote counts.
I'm
hoping to get up early tomorrow and go with hubby to vote before
heading off to get my hair done. My son impressed me by organising a
postal vote as he is away this week on a sales conference which was set
up just before the election was called.
The country feels very divided. And then there have been the recent terrorist attacks to deal with too. The latest attacks have been very unsophisticated. This makes it hard for the police and security services to be able to predict these events. It's not difficult to hire a vehicle and use it to mow down innocent people and then go on a rampage with knives. What is difficult is how to comprehend that a person can think these actions can ever be justified.
I'm sure we will see measures implemented to try and protect us - there are already blockades being put in place on our bridges. It will be interesting to see if the works to local areas will be updated in light of this change of attack methods. For example our station area is being redeveloped and one of the things that was proposed was the removal of railings. Maybe that won't happen now. Part of me knows that we have to carry on as normal otherwise the terrorists win but I also know that it makes sense to take precautions when and where necessary.
On a happier note my grandson continues to do well.
These pics were taken last Thursday. Looking forward to seeing him on Friday.
