September | 2014 | Not Just a Granny

Archive for September, 2014

Goodbye Dixie my love, may you rest in peace…..

Posted in family and relationships, tagged angels on earth, dancing, death, Dixie, family, heaven on September 15, 2014| 4 Comments »

It was a very sad day, the day I learned that the woman I liked to call my ‘mother-in-law’ had passed away.

September 3rd to be exact she finally slipped away after a short illness and a battle well fought; she was a remarkably strong woman in both spirit and body and despite being on death’s door with pneumonia she rallied round and went home….albeit not for long and just on 2 weeks ago at the regal age of 93 she gave up the good fight and left this world for another realm.

Dixie was her nickname, her real name was Alexandra Ethelwhyne, and a sweeter, lovelier, funnier, quirky, more cheeky, naughty, kind and delightful person you would go far to find. I met Dixie very briefly…once in 1979 when I was dating my daughter’s father. For one reason and another, of which I shall not go into detail I didn’t get to see her again till 1995 when at the age of 15 my daughter said that she would like to meet her own father…..the son of Dixie.

When we did meet again, I found her to be everything I could have wanted in a mother-in-law and although technically she wasn’t, she and I both delighted in that I referred to her as that and she called me her daughter-in-law. She was also a friend and a confidant and in the few times we met and spent time together we always had a good laugh and a chuckle exchanging tales and stories of the past.

Sadly those times became less frequent once I left South Africa and came to live in the UK, but we kept in touch via old-fashioned letters for as long as she could still write and phone calls for as long as she could still hear me…..16,000 km’s is a long way away when you are going deaf and let’s face it mobile phones are not really conducive to a good conversation. I did take to sending ‘postcards from London’ but I fear that not all of them got through and they could only contain scant information anyway. I recall how she always said how much she would like to go to London and we plotted and planned for her to come visit but in reality we both knew that was a dream unlikely to be fulfilled as she was very frail and it’s unlikely at her age that she would have enjoyed the trip. But she loved that we, my daughter and I lived here and when we visited South Africa she relished my stories of London and the things we, my daughter and I got up to.

Dixie was an incorrigible flirt, she adored dancing and would use any excuse to get up and dance the night away. She laughed frequently, smiled a lot and loved nothing more than a good gossip. Whenever we stayed with her and her partner, the wonderful Alan who sadly passed away about 3 years ago, we would always sit around and drink copious cups of tea and chatter away like two little brown hens… or is that white hens?

She had the most twinkly blue eyes that sparkled with mischief and it was really sad to watch the sparkle slip away as she slipped further and further into the confusing and often frightening world of dementia. But for all that, she never lost her bright sunny nature, and you would always see her sitting with a smile ready for a wee chat or mischief, and even though we knew she didn’t really, she always said yes, she remembered who we were.

I will always remember Dixie as being one of God’s angels on earth and I know for sure that if there is a heaven, then for sure she is up there dancing and keeping them entertained with her wonderful stories, her delightful, sweet smiles and laughter……they will all find it hard to resist her cheeky flirtations.

Dixie

Goodbye darling Dixie, I know with absolute certainty that you will be dearly missed here on earth and the wonderful legacy of your children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren will carry a little of you with them in their hearts and genes! 😉 You know what I mean!

Rest well sweet lady, we will always remember you with fondness and deepest love.

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The Universe was having a laugh….

Posted in It's my life, tagged living in london, london emergency services, travelling in the uk, visiting museums in the uk, working in the uk on September 5, 2014| 1 Comment »

So yes, indeed the Universe had a laugh on me!

For the last few years I have constantly asked the agency for work in London, mostly so that I can be close to home and especially so that I could be in the city and explore…. but it seldom came my way and I have been sent off in different directions to all corners of this little island!

high tide in Richmond – home 🙂

But now, now that I have closed down the business of 3 Days in London, suddenly I get a job slap bang in the center of Kensington…almost next door to The Natural History Museum to be precise….is the Universe having a laugh or what?

So laugh over, off I went and settled in for the duration….glad for the opportunity to have a fling in London. The flat where I was working was literally a 5 minute walk from the NHM and the marvellous V&A Museum….and that is where I spent a lot of my break times, if I wasn’t sleeping. It was also a treat to see the magical roof of the NHM from the kitchen window each morning. I was staying in one of those amazing looking apartments in Queensway Gardens on the 4th floor and view was terrific albeit limited.

the roof of the Natural History Museum

The V&A is so enormous that it’s impossible to see everything in one or even two visits so there are a lot of the galleries I have not yet explored. It was great!!! I discovered some wonderful galleries of 15th-19th century England where I saw David Garrick’s bed, a model of the Queen’s State Coach and a model of the 1861 Crystal Palace exhibition hall as well as a number of terrific Victorian items and treasures. I entered the museum via the Exhibition Road entrance and then turned immediately right and up the stairs….three floors of galleries filled to the brim with fabulous items.

I also had the chance to meet up with my wonderful friend Valy from Belgium who was on a quick 2 day visit over the Bank Holiday weekend and we managed to catch up for coffee at a little café in Gloucester Road.

: a little cafe on Gloucester Road

: roller-skaters roll by

I discovered that London is quite noisy at night with a constant flow of traffic, albeit not anywhere near as noisy as Richmond where my bedroom is but 30 feet away from the dual carriage way that is never quiet and rumbles with traffic all day and most of the night….with an occasional lull at about 3am.

I had been scheduled to be there for 2.5 weeks but suddenly and without any warning after just one week the lady up and died. She was 98 so I suppose it shouldn’t have come as any surprise, but she seemed well enough and was quite alert and all in the morning…but within 45 minutes of the London ambulance services being called she took her last breath and gracefully slipped away.

As for the London Emergency Services, I was most impressed. I had barely put the phone down and there was a ring at the front door…..and there they were. A lovely trio who were so sweet and caring with my patient and just lovely after she passed away. This is not the first time I have lost a patient while working as most of the people I care for are either very, very old or at end of life, so although it came as a shock that it was so unexpected it wasn’t a surprise.

I spent the next two days at the flat tidying up and sorting stuff out for her daughter who was flying in from South Africa and then after handing over to her I was on my way home again…..I never complain about being on my way home.

I so enjoyed seeing my daughter again, albeit just for a few hours as I got more work almost immediately and Thursday saw me on the train and on my way to East Sussex for 1 week. Down on the farm……….

on my way to the farm in East Sussex

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disconnecting from Facebook

Posted in It's my life, tagged disconnecting from facebook, facebook, photos on instagram, social media, travelling on September 2, 2014| 2 Comments »

I used to be a great fan of facebook and loved being able to keep up with friends and family, to see what they were up to, where they had been and generally keeping in touch. It has also been a terrific way of keeping up with my daughter and what she is up to on any day….. In the first heady days of registering I set about connecting with as many people as possible and managed to hook up with a lot of friends I had lost touch with over the years…it was also great to be able to keep in touch with family especially as I was now living so far away.

In time and when MLM was big I had loads of people connect with me in order to sell me their products! Needless to say I got ensnared in a company called Success University which really wasn’t at all what it appeared to be…..but that’s for another story. Over the years facebook has changed and they have become far too smart for their own good and the word algorithm should be banned from their dictionaries….in fact I think their computer smart-asses should be banned from ever changing anything ever again (yes, I am being grumpy). It’s lost it’s charm. People can now abuse you on facebook and mostly get away with it. Sure you can block them and I have blocked and reported a number of people, may of whom were fake id’s anyway, so no loss there. But with facebook deciding whose updates I can or can’t see and with them changing things so much I just got fed up! I’ve been off the platform before and didn’t miss it but after a few days curiosity got the better of me and I logged back on…but this time I’ve had it…I have disconnected my profile and plan to keep it that way.

Alongside of this and after my decision to close down my business, I have been on a self-imposed detox from social media and my computer….so it’s been quite a challenge to actually log on and write this blog…..

I just haven’t had the heart to open up my computer; a constant reminder of what I was so focussed on for the last 4 years…..it all seems such a waste now, but I do keep reminding myself that what I have learned can’t be unlearned and all the wonderful things I have done over the last 4 years are forever in my memories and my photos 😉 ….lest we forget those!!

It’s been interesting….I haven’t missed facebook AT ALL and have probably, although not saved any time, I have certainly been less irritated and had more time to actually grab a book and read instead of scrolling endlessly through hundreds of updates.

I haven’t been on twitter much either, and except for the odd peek now and then, I have pretty much left the world to just get on with itself while I have relaxed, slept and taken myself out and about….taking photos of course. New places, new views.

The only platform I have continued to use, and that’s because it really is my favourite platform is instagram. I love to see photos of far-flung places and most definitely love to see photos of London via my favourite London igers. I have sadly lost all my hashtags…this happens everytime I update the bloody app and it’s terribly annoying…some of them are not often used but when I want them they are generally there…..However, I am now in the process of compiling new and different hashtags relevant to my new adventures. I have also recently rediscovered snapseed (thanks to my daughter) and have had much fun converting my photos to HDR via the app. It certainly makes a huge difference to the quality of the photos and as an accompaniment to that I have started shooting in HDR too….I have to say I am most impressed and sorry that I din’t venture into that arena earlier…..but never too late to start.

I have also followed a lot more different igers and sadly I have to date lost over 130 followers…who have skipped town so to speak. I guess my not posting mostly London images now means they are no longer interested. But I have watched the numbers bounce up and down and occasionally someone new follows and then someone else goes away…..but since it’s no longer important to my business, I am slowly releasing my anxiety when the numbers drop. Hopefully I don’t eventually end up at zero…that would be pitiful LOL

In the meantime, my self-imposed detox from social media means that not only have I not posted much by way of anything on twitter I have also not posted any blogs…..so this is my first for a while. It feels quite strange not having all that ‘work’ to do for the business of 3 Days in London any more.

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