Abi & Izzy - the next 5 years

We are officially in quarantine with both Glenn and Izzy having come down with the lurgy. Poor Izzy has taken to her bed, Glenn is lying on the sofa wrapped up in a blanket and Abi and I are left to be sympathetic to all. Abi isn't even trying and I'm having to bite my tongue  because when I had what I think was the same thing in the week I didn't have time to stop and think about it so it only lasted 12 hours... We went to bed last night commenting on the fact that Izzy was clearly not well and had just quietly gone to bed with minimal fuss after a dose of calpol. This was obviously the calm before the storm as at about 1am she came in to us in tears feeling like a little volcano. Luckily for me she was keen to tuck up beside me for the kind of solace you only get from your Mum at times like these. I of course like nothing more than a hot 9 year old pressed up against me to make for a restful night's sleep and so Glenn went off in search of another bed and I tried ...

 If we can still walk together liked we walked this afternoon when Abi is 14 then I will be happy. I had such a lovely walk yesterday that Abi was keen to join me today and so off we went up onto Wayfarers territory where the skies are big and the pheasants plentiful. Despite telling me I was a rubbish mother only hours earlier (I hadn't immediately conceded to her demands to judge her show while I was midway through the washing up), all our cares were blown away by the stunning landscape, total lack of anybody else around and wide open fields of corn stubble to walk through. The dogs had an absolute blast chasing as many birds as they could, as fast as they could. Luckily they are completely scatterbrained about it and didn't mange to get even close but it certainly tired them out, they had to crash into the cool grass afterwards and they're currently snoring loudly on their cushions, what more could they want? While the dogs roared around Abi told me about school, abo...

As expected back to school has resulted in the world speeding up again and so I missed writing the blog last weekend. Who knows what got in the way - I think I was dashing around getting sorted for Monday when I needed to be up early, on calls and then out of the door for an overnight work thing in some old peoples home in Kent. Clearly once upon a time the hotel we were in had been a very grand house. Now it's more faded grandeur with many staircases and freezing cold or boiling hot rooms. The meeting room we had on the Monday afternoon was in what used to be a nun's bedroom and it was brassic - thick walls and small windows have their place but in a listed building it doesn't make for easy heating! On the plus side the grounds were lovely and I found time to get out for a run so its not all bad. The rest of the week I think was ok - work is an odd place at the moment but where isn't. It seems everyone I talk to who works for a large organisation is suffering in so...

Back to work and back to school - hey ho, where has the summer gone? While Glenn can't wait for peace and tranquillity to be resumed, I'm feeling a bit more reserved about the idea of going back to the rat-race. The last few nights I haven't slept as well as normal, not struggling to fall asleep but waking up in the middle of the night having had dreams that could be attributed to work worries. Alternatively it could simply be that I haven't had enough to do and so my brain is going off on its own little journeys - who knows. I do know that once I get back into it, it will be fine, it always is, but for the moment I'm not looking forward to the pace of life speeding up as of tomorrow morning. The good news is that as of this week I start my 4 day week so that's something to look forward to. I always knew I'd have to be a bit flexible on having a regular Monday off, particularly in the start as I get my diary sorted around meetings which have been in for a ...

What a treat to come home from a lovely few days and for it only to be Wednesday and therefore to have half the week still to go with a bank holiday to look forward to as well! Having got home late afternoon we settled in and unpacked and I got to take the dogs out as well - happy to be back with my babies. Glenn was off to a funeral on Friday and then had his London to Paris 24 hour bike ride to do over the weekend, so with Abi still away, Izzy had the bright idea of seeing whether we could take one of the riding school ponies out for a hack. We were allowed to so off we went to spend a very happy couple of hours pretending this was her own pony - in your dreams! Saturday was a round of pick ups and drops offs before Sharron arrived for a well overdue catch up. I had to drop Izzy at the stables, drive to Cranborne Chase to pick up a tired, smelly but not too disillusioned Abi before driving back, dropping her at the house for a huge dog love-in. I then headed back to the stab...

With Abi safely off to Angie's for the week Izzy and I headed off to North Devon for our getaway. We braved the A303 on a Sat morning in August (foolish people!) and after we'd sat at Stonehenge for the obligatory hour or so we motored smoothly down the rest of the way, stopping in Taunton for a break. We had lunch at Mum & Dad's before heading off to see the tail end of Laurie's riding lesson and to meet Amanda's new horse. Despite Amanda trying to persuade us to stay down for dinner we managed to extract ourselves and reached our destination at Northway on the coast just after 7pm. We settled in nicely making the most of the peace and quiet before Zsara and Aran tuned up the following day. In the morning I left Izzy in bed and went for a stunning walk along the coastal path - something I repeated every day we were there and it was a fab way to wake up - amazing scenery on the doorstep. This was followed by Izzy heading out with the owner Bob to feed his...

So she's definitely out there, alive and well, but we've heard very little from Abi since she disappeared off to Somerset. We know she managed to get from Mum & Dad's to Kerrie's house. We know she entered the flower show, even managed (possibly, we aren't sure) to win a prize for her miniature garden. We know she's had a fun day out today - we've seen the photographic evidence... We think she's been on her iPad (we had a request for a new game)... but we've barely heard from her directly. I did mange to get her to answer the phone today, but it was brief and clearly I was interrupting whatever else she was doing because almost immediately I got "can I go now?" We believe she's back tomorrow - I hope it's in a good mood after all this independence. I've missed her, even if she hasn't missed me. Oh well, sometimes it's good not to be needed... I think!   So while Abi has been off doing whatever she has been ...