Sunshine at last

We've finally got some real sun at last! Throughout the floods we'd have the odd day of hot sunshine and then 3 days of rain again. I remember thinking one evening that it's a sign I'm a true Brit when I can get up one morning and it be hot as anything and then get up the next and it be bleak as winter and not think this is weird!! My sister also pointed out that this unpredictability is perhaps why we're well known for our obsession with the weather - and obsessed we are - I know one friend who turns on the tv just to see what the weather forecast is and then changes channel to see what the other weatherman says because he will more often than not predict the exact opposite!!

Anyway, I wanted to thank anyone who popped by and added the flooding in their thoughts and prayers. The power is back on in Gloucester (although Kelly mentioned to me that reading Harry Potter by candlelight was very "Hogwarts-like"). The water, last I heard, had been turned back on but it was not yet suitable for drinking. There have been a few more casualties, but thankfully the fears of more flooding are now dropping. So thank you again! It's going to take a long time to repair the damage done but the clean up has begun. I'm also sending out my thoughts to those elsewhere, where the excessive heat is causing fires and other problems... whatever is going on I just hope it settles down soon!

On to sunnier news - I've been able to sit in our garden drawing illustrations for my handmade books - yep I'm finally getting round to making them and it is so exciting. I was originally going to start a mini-business making them but all the legal bits and bobs and finding the time to make sure I created enough products was too demanding at this stage in my life - so I gave up. But I had already bought the material (yes I am making the whole book by hand!!) and so I'm making up a few to begin with for close family and friends and we'll see how they turn out and just how much time is needed - perhaps a mini-business will evolve in future years.

I'm especially pleased to see the sun as I am going on camp next week. I go each year to look after disabled teenagers and I was not looking forward to trying to rescue electric wheelchairs stuck in muddy potholes!! I have to say that pushing manual wheelchairs up the hills is not all that fun when it's this hot either - but at least it's clean!! Don' t get me wrong - I have nothing against getting dirty myself but it's much harder to clean a wheelchair and trying to shower 20 odd campers who need hoists etc in a tiny showerblock with only 8 showers is not the easiest of tasks!!(note how the tents are much higher up than us - and that isn't even the steepest part of the camp - one thing's for sure ... I always come back much fitter than when I go!!) I don't know who I'm looking after this year but I can be sure it'll either be someone who requires a lot of manual lifting (as most of the other helpers are in their teens and that bit weaker than me) or someone who needs an older helper who is strict with them (like I had last year). It's always so much fun but SO tiring, especially when you're in a tent where you don't get much sleep. Last year I had a two day migraine and my vision started to blur and I spent most of that time with another camper who insisted I say "whoops-a-daisy" every 2 seconds whilst her helper took my camper swimming and on activities I couldn't cope with at the time... needless to say if anyone says "whoops-a-daisy" to me now I think of her!

Getting to and from the campsite is a pain too as I don't drive and it requires me going through London on a busy day with a huge rucksack and sleeping bag so to break the journey up I'm staying at my friend's in Cambridge for a few days afterwards. This is actually a real necessity because usually as soon as I stop running around after my camper has gone home I find it incredibly difficult to stay awake and I don't want to end up in Edinburgh because I fell asleep on the train hehe!! I can just about manage to stay awake the two hours it takes to get to Cambridge.

I'll also be going to visit the nursery again. I was talking to one of my old colleagues and she told me all about the babies I used to look after and how they're all walking now and how some of them have become biters *gasp*! Last time I went they all looked at me like they didn't know me - which was so sad... by now I think they'll have definately forgotten me *sniff sniff*

So, as you can tell it's gonna be a busy two weeks for me so I won't be posting for a while. But hopefully when I do I'll have lots of cool pics and funny tales to share!