Abi & Izzy - the next 5 years

And so Christmas is over for another year and we are enjoying that wonderful but weird in-between period before New Year when there is still too much chocolate around but not enough motivation yet to throw the remainder away! In fact it's not too bad if I consider what the alternative could be. I've had the pleasure of lots of long walks with various friends and family over the past couple of weeks, and alongside that I've run or been to yoga every day this week. While I'm certainly not losing the pounds I should at least be maintaining a balance of sorts. Today has been a great example. Abi and I went to Westonbirt (along with about a million other people) and met Mum and Dad, Amanda, Alex and the boys and Simon and Audrey plus ALL the dogs - six of them in total! This is a massive thing for Bertie - he's not done something like this before so to go from the recent walking where we do meet people but in relatively small numbers, to Westonbirt on one of the busi

What a lovely couple of days we have had in Somerset. Of course, being us we booked for 4 nights and only managed 3, but it wouldn't be a Drinkwater holiday if we stayed all the way to the end! We drove down on the Monday (in 2 cars, Glenn with his bikes and our luggage in the van and us in the car with Bertie happily taking up the whole boot) and stopped at Mum and Dad's on the way for lunch and a walk. It's been so wet of late we knew that this would mean a muddy walk but that we could wash Bertie of then before heading onwards. We had lunch in front of the fire after admiring all the work that has taken place since we last visited - they really have transformed it beyond recognition in the relatively short time they have been there. The staircase is now in and looking as though it was always there, and this has served to completely re-orientate the house around a central point rather than the previous feeling that it was two houses bolted together (which it is I guess

So that's it - the work year has finished, as has the school year,and we are officially all on holiday.... poor Glenn, we'll be in his space for 3 whole weeks!! This week was supposed to be an easy glide path for me but it was nothing like that, I ended up working right up to the wire - something that is to be expected I guess given the circumstances. I did carve out one day to catch up with a few people but even this was a whirlwind of activity, with meetings in Reading in the morning, followed  by London at lunchtime with the plan of being back in Newbury by 4:30 to meet Glenn and the kids for dentist appointments and then on to a quick pizza and the senior school carol concert.  All was going well until there was a fatality on the line and so all trains were halted and I got home 2 hours later than planned. Oh well, kids were pleased not to have to go to the church and sing, and given half the girls then immediately went down with a sickness bug we may have dodged a  bul

The world is on FF - as I race towards the finish line at work the expectations do not seem to be diminishing and I feel compelled to make sure everything is closed out properly given I've been there such a short time. I'm leaving it all in a good place though and my work colleagues have been so kind to me - it's nice to know I've managed to make such a good impression even if it has been less than a year. In between this madness I have been loving the fact that both kids seem to be much more inclined to come walking with me at the moment - I guess coming out safe in the knowledge that we aren;t going to have some massive drama with Freya has suck in. Contrary to what you might think, it turns out Izzy loves coming for an early morning walk (setting her alarm at 6am in order to come with me me in the dark before school!!), while Abi hates getting up in the morning and enjoys the more leisurely walks of a weekend afternoon. Who knew this would be the case?! I just lo

How do I end up in these situations?!? The kids say I'm weak and it's probably true, although in my defence I do tend to think about my decisions in advance - honest! Both kids have been asking for ages whether they could have a reptile, and for ages I have said no. The main reason is that previously the request was for something like a Bearded Dragon, which just felt like it was going to be another bind on our time given they need daily care and we already have Bertie and the Guinea Pigs to look after. This had morphed into '"Maybe a corn snake", which I was also reluctant to agree to, mainly because I couldn't really see the point of something that sleeps for the vast majority of it's time. They kept asking and so I struck a deal - keep your bedrooms tidy until Christmas and we will see. Immediately both of them disappeared upstairs and soon I could hear sounds of a proper clear out and (miracle) the sound of the hoover! They clearly meant business a

My little girl, looking so grown up And so we are there, Abi is 13 and so we officially have a teenager in the house! Of course, it's no different than the day before, albeit she has had her moments over the past few days - nothing like picking a fight with a relative when you are feeling a bit feisty - and then leaving your mother to clear up the aftermath... On the day itself she had a lovely day. Pressies in the morning before school which she was very pleased with. A jumper she'd admired the week before, the picture which I'd ordered months ago, carefully hidden and then after 2 weeks of searching finally found, some new PJs and cash towards the phone she keeps saying she's going to buy but hasn't quite saved up enough for yet. It was then off to school where she was spoilt by her friends with some lovely gifts before finding out at assembly she shares a birthday with the headmaster - result (not!). I picked her and three friends up from school and the

Boris & Bean, the fat boys! Last week before Abi turns 13 - eek, teenage daughter alert! This may be a major milestone, however I can't see that it's going to change much. Yesterday she and her friends were planning a get together in town for today and all we were asked to do was drop them off at the same time and then be back 2 hours later to pick them up. In between times no parents were required to hang around and so I went home and ran my normal 10 mile Sunday run - perfect time management! It does make for an easier weekend when this happens. I am conscious that we have our own things we want to do and I do feel very relieved that we haven't ended up with kids that do a host of clubs and practices from Friday evening through to Sunday afternoon. Izzy is trying to sort out a sleep over with her friend and between Stagecoach and a play rehearsal she's hardly free to do anything non-scripted. There's probably a happy balance between this and lazing around

So after an emotional week of getting used to there being only one set of paws following us around and greeting us at the door, we are now able to appreciate the calm that has descended on the house. Much as we miss Freya with her ways, we have come to appreciate just how much less stressful it is when we don't have to worry about how she will react to whatever new threat she has got hung up on. Bertie has taken to the change incredibly well. I'm not sure whether he is missing her and is just is very good at hiding it, but he has been working his hardest to be the best dog in the world. He has been loving having lots of long walks (in the daylight!), meeting new people and being allowed to do things that have previously been out of bounds. On Thursday we went to a friend's house and walked with their 2 dogs which, apart from a few tussles at one point when they were being washed off, went without a hitch. He had a ball charging around with them, and once they realised F

So I write this with tears pouring down my face as I get ready to take Freya to the vets for the last time. We've just had a long cuddle and she's looking at me with those big trusting eyes - as far as she is concerned it's a normal day and I'm the person who keeps her safe, protects her from the world and makes sure there is a steady supply of porridge every morning. My darling Freya - so sweet in the house but so anxious and volatile when out of it. We've known this day has been coming for a while. We've had various run ins, all near misses because I've managed to hold her when we've met other dogs and she's gone nuts, but there are all the other things which I have tried to block out... The most recent of which was her snapping at Izzy when she bent down to give her a cuddle. Freya was asleep admittedly, but even so. I made the excuse to myself that her legs had been a bit sore that day and so it's because she might have been in pain rat

It's half term and the clocks have gone back so we are currently all over the place with our routines. I've also got a few days (2 to be precise) off and so I'm making the most of not having to be up at the crack of dawn. I will freely admit that with the changing of the season and the knowledge that I soon wont have to do the 2 hour commute into Victoria, I'm finding it harder to get motivated to go into the office! This weekend we had the much anticipated reunion where at least part of the family managed to meet up again after decades of no contact. This was instigated by me and then became a bit of a band wagon, somewhat to my surprise. I made the decision after 30+ years that life is too short and so got in touch with Becky who I last saw I think when I was about 14 years old. It occurred to me a few weeks ago that this was simply daft - so much water had passed under the bridge that there was no need not to at least reach out and say hello. This turned into a p

So last week's blog went by the wayside. I failed to wrote it on Sunday (not sure what happened there - what did we do last weekend?), I thought I would write it on Monday on the way into London, but the trains were messed up and then I got into work and suddenly there were a number of urgent (i.e. needed before yesterday) deadlines and I didn't lift my head up until I got them sorted on Friday about 8pm. So much for beginning to wind down before moving to a new job! I think it will get easier, but unlikely to be much before December. On a more positive note I have had a number of lovely emails from my new team welcoming me to the fold, and another one from the person I'm taking over from talking about my PA - yippeee - I will have help again!!! I don't know who is more pleased at this, me or Izzy, who always makes an effort to meet my PA and generally charms them to the point they talk more about her than anything else! The other problem with blogs these days is I

Walking around the lake in Ypres while waiting for the rugby to finish! A wet Monday evening after a lovely long weekend away in Ypres - just the two of us and just what I needed after what has been a relatively stressful few months of decision making. The decision is now made however and on Monday I resigned my job in order to join a new company in January. This will be the same role, but a company that hopefully offers more long term stability than my current one. It's been hard going through the initial round of telling people.Despite only being there for 7 months I've made some good friends and very quickly become established and everybody who I've told has been happy for me but very sad that I'm going - it hasn't made it easy. I do feel like I've been through the mill a bit this year - what with leaving EY, ramping up to a big new role, finding out it probably didn't have the longevity I was looking for and then going through the process of finding

Just to prove they do smile... We definitely have almost teenagers in the house and combine that with a 50+ year old man with OCD tendencies and I seem to spend half my life at the moment mediating between them all. It's still not too bad with Izzy, but Abi has her moments and wants to push against us and life life the way she wants to, not the way we think she should. Now lets e honest, at this stage we are talking about us thinking her clothes should live in the wardrobe, and her thinking they are fine on the floor / sideboard / washing basket. My view is rapidly becoming one of 'there are bigger battles we will have to fight,is this really one we want to fall out over?'. Glenn on the other hand is adamant that she needs to toe the line and do as she is told... now! Obviously it is my way to read various books and articles about it and then discuss the situation rationally. So far this is working well with Abi - we've had a number of chats about it this weekend

It's that time of year again, the Newbury Show, and this year I made a point of not planning on going with anyone else as that always results in dissatisfaction as we don't get to do the things we really wanted to do. The weather forecast was a tale of 2 halves this weekend, with glorious sunshine and summer temperatures on Saturday, followed by torrential rain and lightening for Sunday. Of course this meant that anybody contemplating the show made the decision to go on Saturday, us included. Given we knew the A34 would be a car park we took the back roads and despite the traffic being heavy it wasn't too bad - helped by the fact that we had already resigned ourselves to a queue. On getting there it was clear that the weather had brought out massive crowds and everywhere was packed, with the tents steaming and the poor animals looking like they'd had enough by lunchtime. We went into the pig tent and half the pigs had sensibly knocked their water buckets over to have

The end of yet another whirlwind weekend - I'm really not sure where they go to but one moment it's Friday afternoon and then the next it's Sunday evening. We had planned this weekend (unknown to Mum & Dad) to hot foot it down to Somerset on Friday evening in order to join the birthday boy for a 70th birthday dinner at a pub in Langport. Amanda had booked a room for us all with the expectation of us being there between 6 and 6:30... quite how I thought that was doable on a sunny Friday afternoon in September I don't know. Even the girls commented as I picked them up at gone 4pm from school that we didn't have a hope of making it. The pick up would have gone smoother had the kids appreciated the sense of urgency I was feeling. Abi managed to appear relatively quickly, even finding the time to get a drink from Gabbies on the way, but Izzy took ages. Having rung her 5 times I finally discovered she was waiting in the normal pick up spot rather than in the car p

Finally Izzy's big day has come and on Thursday they both started back at St Gabs after a 4 year break. The preparations included not only packing of bags, but undoing the red streaks in Abi's hair from her few days in Wales with Mia... enough said about not doing stupid things like dying your hair 3 days before you are going back to school! I'd love to have photo's of the both of them but it was never to be - I do not have the compliant type of child that willingly stands outside of the front door on first day back to school so I can plaster photos of them 'then and now' all over social media. Instead mine generally tell me politely to get lost while hiding behind a dog or under their duvets when the phone comes out for a photo! I did manage to get one of Izzy but under sufferance and with promises of it not being shared. The blog doesn't count does it? After a slightly nervous breakfast we dropped them off and they disappeared almost immediately to t

I seem to have written a lot about Abi's absence this summer, and I guess the realisation is dawning that I'm having to learn to let go of her as she is definitely growing up and needs us less, at least on the face of it.  Underneath all that bravado I appreciate she does still need me - when she manages to glace through the house for 5 minutes I might get a moment of connection with her, but they are few and far between and I find myself craving attention from her which is a bit pathetic really. The special moments are still there, where we curl up on her bed together and have a chat, or where she comes out of pre-teen mode for long enough to let me stroke her hair while she cuddles up to me, but they are fleeting and I have to grab them where I can. Given she has been home so little I also have to stop myself from feeling resentful that when she is with us I'm expected to drop all my plans to fit in with hers - it really is a confusing time for us all! It does help to t

This week has flown by and we are mid-way through the most glorious bank holiday weekend with wall to wall sunshine. I would love to say I have spent it mostly with my family but they all seem to be busy, so I've had the luxury of pottering around the garden doing bits and pieces in almost complete peace. Abi is obviously at Angie's, Izzy is at Mia's and Glenn was at the rugby all day yesterday - home alone, just me and the dogs. I can absolutely see why people have dogs as their children begin to get older. Once upon a time it was because it meant rain or shine, we got out into the fresh air and got some exercise. These days it's great to have dogs because it means there is always someone at home, even if it's the patter of little paws rather than feet. Of course with Freya I also have someone to permanently angst over given all her peculiarities. She's currently at my feet snoring loudly having spent the day trailing me round the garden as I weeded the p