Two Years Ago

It was two years ago that I move my family to Rutland. All the people that mattered to me because I promised someone I would move them back home. It was for them I came here and with them I fell in love with the place. It is amazing to think I have been living here two years. At times it feels like a lifetime so much has happened. There have been massive highs, exciting times, fun times and the lowest point of my life, other than the death of my Mother and Father. All this in one place and over a short space of time and all in one place. 

The highs included moving in and the weeks that followed, which I must admit were some of happiest weeks in the past ten years or so, then our first Christmas, George coming to the house, the children at there new school and seeing them settle in, starting work again and the interviews for full time work, taking the girls out to parks and theme parks, the list goes on and on. The good times have been really good, even special. 

Then there are lows, or should I say low point in all of this. The a weekend in late July last year where it all went so badly wrong when Lucy's mummy did what she did. My heart was not just broken it was ripped to shreds and my life was left a ruin. I had put every penny I had into the family and more. What is strange is I have forgiven her, because I understand and know it is not her fault, there something bigger that she can't control and never will completely.

The bad time has gone now and it is time to rebuild. That is what I plan to do. I can never have what I had because that is gone despite what I feel inside, but I can walk into the future full of hope that one day my dreams will come true. They say never lose sight of your dreams and something I will never do. Lets hope for a better year this year in the place I love so much with the people I love.

[Edited 30th May 2010 - Content removed]

Farms and Parks

This is one of a few posts from May that have been written in retrospect, this one because I was busy with and another post and work. 

It was a day that we had loads of fun on. Not only did we get to go to the Northfield farm where Lucy fed the goats and the donkey carrots but we also managed to fit in some parks along the way going to Oakham in the morning and Langham in the afternoon with her sisters.

Like many of the days that Lucy is here, what remember most is the fun she had and joy in being with her sisters. Those are the memories of days like this that I will carry with me forever.

Roy's World

The old site "Roy's World" has finally been converted into extra pages for this blog. You can still get to it via the old link if you have it. If not look for the new link at the side of this blog next time it gets updated.

Out and About

Going out is great fun even without the children. There is so much to see and do in the area and little gems to be found if you search for them. 

Below is a picture of Donington le Heath Manor which is near Coalville in  in North West Leicestershire. It is a lovely old medieval manor house set in authentic layed out medieval gardens. It free to go there and that includes the parking. During the summer they have loads of events again all free. It is a lovely place to sit and enjoy the summer sun.

On the same weekend there was a old car rally at Northfields farm in Rutland. I found out about from the local paper and although it was small compared to others I have been to it was very friendly and the money taken on the gate went to a good cause.

I never been to the farm before but I had eaten some of the pork from there and it is wonderful. I was lovely to find a tea room as well as a shop, but better still there were some one week old piglets. A great find that is sure to delight the girls.

This is a couple of the places I have visited this month. Hopefully if I have time over the summer I will post the places I go and see over the holidays.

Expensive Trip to Melton

Another Friday with Lucy and this one turned out to be far more expensive than expected. 

Over the last week or so the brakes on the car have slowly been getting worse to the point that a scrapping noise could be heard from the passenger side of the car. Although it didn't seem to affect the braking to much it was clear that something was rubbing against the break disk. I thought it was probably a stone at first given the pads seemed to have some wear left from what I could see although they needed replacing, but it turned out to be far worse. 

The first part of the morning was spent on the phone getting quote to replace the worn front brake pads. Not my idea of fun but something that had to be done. Melton seemed the logical place to go and given the state of the brakes the closer the garage the better. Surprisingly the quota weren't too bad and I found someone that could do it the same day. I even found the parts to do the job again if only I had the time. 

We set off for Melton just before lunch carefully driving and avoiding using the brakes as much as possible. I was getting rather good at this as I had been doing it all week, leaving larger gaps and using the gears including first were ever possible. It is amazing how little you have to brake if you careful. The idea was to have lunch while the breaks were being fixed in the town. 

We soon arrived in Melton and the careful picking of the garage paid off. We were less than a  five minutes walk from the town centre. We dropped off the car and headed into town in search of some food. Gregs looked like a likely candidate for a sausage roll which Lucy loves and then off somewhere to park our bottoms for a drink while we waited for the call to say the car was all done. Turned out when call came it wasn't the sort of call I wanted. The first bit of bad news was that one of the discs had worn away, the next was that the parts were more expensive due to it being the larger model and finally that they weren't in stock and we would have to spend most of the afternoon in Melton waiting for them to arrive and be fitted. 

There was only one thing to do, go to the park for the afternoon and have some fun. A quick call to the school was made just in case we were late back to let Emily and Catherine know where we were and off we set. 

I hadn't been to Melton park in years and then only once to see Lucy's uncle Paul. It was lovely to go back there again after all this time and take Lucy. I can't even remember if she was born when I was last there. It was that long ago. She saw the park and announced straight away that it was going to be fun. She already eyed up the slide and ran there as soon as we were close. She particularly liked the rocking horse and had me riding it with her. As usual she made new friends by following them around and then order them and about. She had a lovely time playing on all the rides and walking round the park. Thankfully it was lovely weather for the park too and it was a great way of passing the time.

Eventually we got the call the car was ready and shock horror the cost of repairing the brakes. A small matter of £300 most of which were the pair of new double discs at over £100 each. But I guess safety is priceless and it was good to know we where safe and the new breaks were all tested. 

We managed to arrive back home just in time for Emily and Catherine to get home from school. In fact they were just walking down the walk as we arrived back home. Quickly they got changed out of their school clothes and it was out in the garden in the sun with Lucy. Ice lollies all round brought a smile to all of them and the y played beautifully until dinner.

All in all it was a nice day but an expensive one.