Chior Reunion! (by sarah)

Ok I know this was now over a two weeks ago but I promised to blog about it!

This was the reason we last trapps all the way to Essex - for the reunion of the Havering Youth Chior - I loved this chior I really did. I ended up being part of Summer on the South Bank with them, performing in the Shouting Fence by Orlando Goth 🙂 many moons agao. Through the chior I ended up singin at the Royal Festival Hall and the Queen Elizabeth Hall (thats the dingy brown one with concret pyramids on the roof next to the Royal Festival Hall!). We got used for conductor exams by the Royal School of music which was fun too 🙂

We did so many local concerts and Carol singing for local charities that I have lost count! On of the singers at our wedding was my friend from Chior - Clair in fact we started arranging stuff for the wedding at the first chior reunion. Then at last years I was heavily pregnant whilst we sang african songs and 'negro' spirituals 🙂

This year we did John Rutters Requiem and Te Duim (mmmm cant remember how to spell it!) - this last one was offle though - we renamed it to tedium! Next year I wouldn't mind doing Magrigals or some of my Jazz favorites like Birdland but we'll have to see!

I'm afriad I had to fall back on using the crutch as a day of standing and church pews where just too much! I nearly made it through the entire concert standing but 1 and 1/2 songs before the end I found myself sitting and a loud crash as I'd droped the crutch in the precoess - mew - opps!

Jean also decided to join in the concert - we just finish one of the more upbeat peices in the Requiem and instead of the silence that should have followed there were happy 'baby singing' sounds - well she had the rhythem! Apparently she also joined in with some precussion from the other end!

Jonh Morris seemed excited to have his chior back 🙂 and on top of that we had a great day and the concert raised over £300 for Age Concern Havering 🙂

Unfortunatly Football Mania had a grib of most people there - they all had minni TVs and lunch time a TV was specifically set up - it was the first match guys! Come on - its not even interesting until we get somewhere! - sigh - the church spirer was also showing its support!

Father’s Day! (by alaric)

Yesterday was Father's Day in the United Kingdom.

Now, Jean doesn't know this since she only just approaching ten month's old, but (perhaps due to recovering from illness) she was very affectionate today and always seemed to want me to pick her up and hold her, then was all fun and happy when I did. So I felt very loved 😉

Doing the Veg Patch! (by sarah)

Today we did some more clearing of veg patch and planted out the garlic and the celeriack, unfortunatly in the process we found an ants nest - so I was face with the moral dilema yet again of commiting genacide with a boiling kettle so that our food may grow. I'm sad especially as they had all their eggs and stuff which they were moving - so we made show we disturbed the ground lots to give them warning of the impending doom and hoped they moved and got the egg with the new queen in/recued the old queen out of their 🙁

I also potted up some parsley (yes more of the stuff I want to make parsley honey at some stage 🙂 ), coriander, and some globe artichokes 🙂 Then put out some more of the cherry tomatoes out into grow bags and some into pots - I still have excess which need potting out but I was having compost issues!

We also have wild strewberries growing and ordinary strewberries 🙂

In future if we have lots of a plant then we will happily let people have them for 10p a plant/pot when they visit or you can put in requests for Al to bring into London when he goes 🙂

Unfortunatly I also decided to pick nettles today not realising the gloves I was wearing werent stinging nettle proof 🙁 then I got attacked by flying insects and I found the ants nest becuase they all started bitting me and then I decided I had to recue all the poor worms they were attacking!

Laryngotracheobronchitis (by alaric)

Poor little Jean! She was well recovered from her past viral infection, but a few days ago she started to drool excessively, went off her food, and became generally unhappy. We thought at first that she was just having more teeth break through her gums, which would have those effects, but she then started coughing, sleeping lots, she'd lost her voice, was hardly drinking any milk or water, and some spots that had begun to appear on her lower lip (where all the drool was running down) turned into nasty big red ones.

So today we phoned NHS Direct, who said that she sounded like she had croup, so we should expose her to steamy atmospheres. They also said they would contact the local out of hours doctor (our local surgery not being open today), who would ring us back soon.

So they rang back, and said they'd like us to bring her down to them to be looked at, if we could; after all, various other things have similar symptoms to croup, that can be a lot worse.

After a short wait, she was seen by a doctor, who summoned a colleague who specialised in children, and they said that it did indeed appear to be croup, but the one thing they couldn't safely check for was Epiglottitis since, if it was that, poking around in her airway to take a look might cause it to spasm, choking her. So they sent us off to the children's unit at a bigger hospital.

After some form-filling with a nurse, having Jean weighed and her vital signs checked, we were seen by a specialist who gave her a thorough examination, and pronounced that she almost certainly just had croup. He then had to go because of a shift changeover, so after a bit more waiting, another specialist came and said that he agreed, and that the nasty spots were probably Herpes. Sarah panicked a bit at this since she'd only heard of herpes as a sexually transmitted disease, and didn't realise it was the common coldsore, but that was soon cleared up!

So after even more waiting, they gave her some steroids to help reduce the swelling in her throat, and packed us off home.

Phew.

The NHS doctors and nurses we spoke to were lovely; noticeably different from the experiences we'd had in London! From the NHS direct phone people to the out of hours doctors at Stroud Hospital (which, alas, is currently fighting potential cutbacks), and the Children's Centre at Gloucester Royal Hospital, even though we did have to wait a long time for the senior doctor to come and see us!

Wiggly Pets Need a Home (by sarah)

Ok guys as many of you've been waiting ages for this - let me tell you that we have over 100 wiggly pets instock there are £2.50 to friends and family but if your getting them for other people (ie not as presants) they are 3.50!

I'll get the website and comic strip sorted and up as soon as possible too 🙂 🙂 🙂