Cirque Du Soleil

What a day we had yesterday going into London to see Cirque Du Soleil at the Royal Albert Hall. I have written my review and emailed it off to RNIB Connect and now I thought I would share with you the utter bloody delights of myself and my Mother on a day out in London. 
Luckily, yesterday was beautiful, the sun shone, the sky was blue(ish) and although it was cold it wasn't freezing, I even managed to get away with wearing just one pair of socks under my boots instead of the usual three.
The show started at 3oclock in the afternoon so Mum and I caught the 12.24 train from home into Finsbury Park, hoping on the Piccadilly line, enjoying the swift trip down the line to south Kensington and then walking the short trip to the Royal Albert in the sunshine arriving there in time to have a lovely glass of wine and a slice of cake before the performance began......only joking!!
We got on the train going to Finsbury Park and found two seats, got ourselves settled and then realised the reason these two seats were empty was because they were beside the loo where someone must have had a bowel problem because the stench coming form under the loo door was putrid, A few stops down the line and Mum managed to spot a couple of empty seats in the next carriage, so we grabbed them quick. The rest of the journey to Finsbury Park was much more pleasant. Once we got off at FP we needed to get the tube, now, anyone that knows me will know that I am one for needing to know exactly where I am going, so I had looked up the route, checked and double checked it, I even wrote it all down clearly on a sheet of paper so Mum would be able to follow my awful writing clearly, but no, my directions failed at the first hurdle and the tube we needed wasn't where my sheet of paper said it was, so we had to rely on the good old fashioned common sense and read the signs, which put us safely in the right direction. Once we were safely seated on the tube I began counting down the stops to South Kensington (the amount of stops was also something I had also written down wrongly on my sheet) and as we approached the stop I thought should have been our stop I felt a wave of panic as I realised the words being spoken over the loud speaker did not match the words on my sheet. I screwed up the sheet and chucked it in my bag. Two stops later and the words matched so we got off and followed the crowd, only to find the crowd had just switched platforms and were waiting for another train! Undefeated we once again looked at the signs and found the 'way out'.
As I had screwed up my sheet, I decided the best way forward would be to use the sat nav app thingy on my phone to get us to the Royal Albert, so my phone tells me to turn right and off we went, I remembered writing on my sheet that the walk from the tube to the hall should take about eight minutes. Twenty minutes later and I decided that the app on my phone was indeed shit and we were completely lost.
Mum took charge and grabbed my cane steering us across the road and into a florist to ask for directions, the florist who was really lovely took us back out onto the street and pointed to some traffic lights a couple of feet away, told us to turn left and follow the road around the bend a little way and this will bring us back to the tube station where we just need to follow the signs for the Royal Albert Hall. How the hell had we walked so far and yet been so close? Anyway after many swear words, we finally arrived at the hall with fifteen minutes to spare before the performance started.
Honestly, we managed to find Stella McCartney, but find the Royal Albert..nope, no where to be seen!
I love this building, and I hope its sight will always remain in my memory, its so beautiful and awesome. From the moment we stepped through the doors we were treated with respect and care. 

We were taken in the lift by a member of staff to our box and seated without any problems. Two gentlemen who were sat in front of us moved to a different box which left us to jump into the front seats and obtain a perfect view of the stage below. 

So, Cirque Du Soleil are like acrobats, dressed as different insects and they give the most amazing show ever. I was quite literally sat on the edge of my seat as these humans were being tossed around in the air like flakes of paper. I cant remember the last time I went though so many different emotions in such a short time, horror, relief, amazement, love and pure admiration for the trust and devotion these people have for each other. At times they were hanging or being swung by a foot or a hand, often defying the laws of gravity and balance. Definitely something we shouldn't try at home. 

On the stage throughout the performance there was a love story being played out between a fly and a ladybird, this bringing all the laughs and coo's which was sometimes a relief as it gave a chance for your heart to stop beating through your mouth and start beating normally before the next act came on. At no point during the show did their performance slip and they kept producing all the gasps and breath holding right to the very end, where some men dressed a lot like greenfly climbed to the top of a climbing wall, which was nearly the height of the hall, and leapt off the wall onto massive trampolines below and bounced back up on to the wall landing on their feet, and one point there was six greenfly all bouncing and jumping at the same time, incredible timing and bravery.

The whole hall fell silent as an insect rode a unicycle along a tightrope and a group of ants used each other as flying trapeze.

As we neared the end of the performance, I began to worry about the journey home and how the hell we were going to get back to the tube. So, Mum and I slowly gathered all our stuff and organised and prepared ourselves for London on a Friday evening at 5oclock.

On goes my coat, and I put my hand in my coat pocket for my train ticket and its not there, we searched through my bag, but no I had lost my bloody train ticket.

Gutted at the thought of having to buy another ticket we made our way out of the hall and onto the street, in the darkness I realised I had no idea which direction the tube station was, so this time instead of following the crowd, we asked for directions. A lovely man talked us through the eight minute walk and luckily we were at the tube in no time at all. All the time I kept checking for my ticket but it didn't show up. As we approached the gates at the tube station, I say approached, anyone who tries to get home from London on a Friday evening will tell you the public turn into animals and its each for their own, people push, shove and will jump over you if necessary. At the disabled gate I almost cried to the staff member that I had lost my ticket. He informed me that they would have to keep me underground then...to which I stupidly replied...but I'm hungry...so he let me through and told me not to worry about my lost ticket. The tube was rammed and my cane certainly did nothing to get me a seat, and the old familiar panic began to rise as the carriage got busier and hotter, Mum had got moved a little further down the isle and I knew I needed a focus before all hell broke loose and I had a full on panic attack on the packed train, Mum could see me changing my breathing to try and calm myself and began trying to calm me, but it wasn't working, after a few minutes I noticed that the two people in front of me where, quite frankly, talking a load of bollocks to each other so I listened in, this distracted me long enough for us to reach the kings cross stop and the train almost emptied. From then on British rail staff were fab, they let me though all the barriers and helped us find the platform for the quickest train home.

Despite my usual disasters Mum and I had a fantastic time, The show was truly amazing and I feel so lucky, not only to have won the tickets but also to have had our own box to observe it from.

Today I am exhausted and have spent most of the day curled up on the sofa writing to you!

Speak again soon x 

A Little news

Does anyone else get their hair caught in their glasses?? If there is one thing that will piss me off instantly, its getting a single strand of hair caught in the hinge of the arm of my glasses. What's worse is, I only wear my glasses to pop across to the loo first thing in the morning, while I am in the bathroom I put my contact lenses in, and at night my contact lenses come out as soon as my backside hits the bed mattress and my glasses will be on my face for about 15 minutes and still when I go to pull them off, PING, another bloody strand of hair is yanked out by the roots. I suppose some people are more sensitive to having their hair pulled, and some people quite like it there is a special time and place for that, BUT when its pulled out by your glasses as you stand at the bathroom sink at 6.30 in the morning all I want to do is throw the bloody things on the floor and stamp on them until they are nothing more than dust!
Anyway, now I have that out of my system I will tell you my news...Firstly the OH appointment is THIS week, a letter came Saturday morning with the appointment date for this Thursday, I keep getting waves of excitement at the prospect of getting back to work, sharply followed by waves of panic that they will think I am no longer any used to anyone and therefore decided I need sacking. Fingers crossed for a positive outcome!
Secondly, I don't think I have told you this before, but I am one of the most unlucky people in the world, I don't mean terrible things happen to me, I mean if someone brought sixty scratch cards and gave me fifty-five of them keeping five for themselves, I wouldn't win a thing while they would win thousands, so when I had a email from the RNIB last Friday asking if I would like to enter myself in for a chance of getting tickets to the Royal Albert Hall to see Cirque du soleil this week, in return for writing a review I immediately entered, half knowing that I didn't really stand a chance, imagine my surprise when I got a phone call yesterday saying I had won two tickets....this never happens, I don't know what I am more excited about, a trip to the Royal Albert, or writing a review! I love writing, that would be my idea job, to visit places and write reviews on them, but at the moment getting back into my usual routine is proving hard enough. But, I am looking forward to submitting my 500 words on Monday. 
Thirdly, I started swimming again yesterday, and fudge me I ache this morning, I (we, my friend and I) swam 11 lengths, it was quite busy, but It felt great to be back on it, I would really like to build up enough confidence to be able to go swimming on my own and be able to swim away from the edge of the pool. At the moment, I think I am going to focus on building up my strength again and build up the lengths slowly, learning to steer around other swimmers and keep the momentum up! 
I am still writing in my diary every night, making sure I only write positive things, it seems to be helping my sleep to be thinking about positive things, some days, obviously, its quite hard to think of a positive, especially days like last Sunday, when the weather was so crappy, we spent all day in our pjs watching TV, in fact I had to sit through so many episodes of Kardashian's I know all their names now! Long gone are the days when the girls an I would stay in on horrible days watching Scooby Doo all day, I think I would have rather watched Scooby Doo than the K's. Right, I am rambling on about nothing now, so I will leave you and speak to you all after I have been to Royal Albert Hall. x

Counting my lucky stars

Yesterday, my friends, I successfully managed to set fire to my washing machine......the first bloody day in weeks that the sun has shone and the wind has been strong enough to dry washing on the washing line...and the only wet washing I had was singed and smelt of burning and only fit for the bin! However, I count my lucky stars that I hadn't gone out or done the washing over night like I usually do otherwise things could...no, definitely would be a whole lot different today. 
Now I have a new washing machine and dishwasher on order, an order that cant be delivered until the 4th Feb, bloody marvellous! I wonder if anyone would notice if I did the washing-up and my laundry at the same time in the kitchen sink? I refuse to let this get me down, I promised myself that I would maintain a positive attitude throughout this year, two bloody weeks into January and already I am being tested, but tonight when I write in my diary I will still write something positive and put the negative to one side.
In fairness, the washing machine has been playing up for a few days, so I had a little nagging voice in my head warning me to be careful with it, but I had just popped upstairs for literally 2 minutes when I heard Ralph whimpering, thinking he had hurt himself I came rushing downstairs to find the kitchen full of a foul smelling smoke and big electrical popping sounds which could only mean that I needed to move bloody quickly, stupidly I just yanked the plug out of the wall socket when I suppose I should have gone to the main switch board thingy and flipped off all the electrics, but hey, nothing like a little shock to wake you up in the morning!
Ralph and I managed to get the clothes out of the machine, but they were nasty....Ralph and I just stood there looking at each other and then looking at the heap of disgusting clothes on the floor, if I left the clothes wet I would never get rid of the smell and my best jeans were in there and daughter number ones new clothes, so I shoved them all into a bag, grabbed Ralphs lead and we ran to the bus stop, jumped on the bus, to the relief of all the other bus goes we got off a few stops down taking the foul smell with us and took the washing to mums, where she did some kind of mystical magical miracle and a couple of hours later the washing was returned, clean, dry, ironed and smelling like wild flowers on a summers day! I cant wait for the day that I turn into a hero mum, actually maybe you never realise that you have turned into a hero mum, perhaps it time we started telling our hero parents that they are hero's!!
Anyway, all drama aside, the important thing for me at the moment is that I seem to be continuing to be able to see through the black smudge that is my friend the floater, my confidence is definitely returning in leaps and bounds. The girls and I took the train to Woodbridge two weekends ago, there wasn't a single moment when the dark bothered me as we did three different station changes on a Friday night. I am so very lucky to have friends who we can go to and feel so welcome, there is never any expectations we do what we want, wear what we want and talk about the strangest things over Sunday dinner. So I have been set up with a dose of the tinkling boats, fresh sea air and cosy calm chatter, mind you, if this current bout of things breaking continues I might find myself packing bags, getting back on the train and finding detachment from it all. 
I am feeling so confident that I am going to start swimming again next week, my lovely friend and I will be braving the cold water at Hitchin pool on Monday morning, and hopefully things will start falling into place now and before I know it I will be back at work pissing everyone off with my constant bossiness. 
well, I suppose I should go and walk Ralph, the sun is out again, and its windy, bloody typical another day where I could have had washing on the line, just you wait, as soon as I get a new machine, the April showers will start early!!
Speak soon x

Another new year!

Happy new year to you all. I, personally, am more than happy to say good bye to 2017, and now, with the door firmly shut on it I hope this year will be better. Of course, I am a strong believer that life is what you make it and your attitude towards life's struggles defines how you cope and in turn makes you stronger.
So I start January with a fresh positive attitude, for Christmas I was given a diary, quite a big one, in fact its unusual in that its pretty, colourful and just like me, different. I am going to write in it every day with at least one positive thing that has happened during the day, no matter how small. 
This new years eve Mum and I went to the cinema and then for a meal, while my girls stayed home and drank too much Bacardi..I used my newly acquired cinema card, CEA card, and Mum got to see the movie for free, I wasn't really looking forward to it because I was worried about how the bright screen might affect the floater especially as one of the things to avoid was the cinema, but I need not have worried, other than a head ache the next day I was fine. TGI Fridays were fab, I had already emailed them and asked for a fairly well lit table and a large print menu if they could, they didn't fuss, we had a lovely table, it was up some steps but the waiter quietly talked me up them, they hadn't got a large print menu but he was happy to talk me through it. I had already checked out the menu while I was at home on-line and chosen starter and main. It was a lovely evening and a fab way to start the new year.
So, with my daily job list and writing a positive thing in my diary each day, I feel like this year is definitely starting differently....I stood in the garden new years day and the air smelt fresh, it was so quiet, I had that little spark inside my tummy like when you know everything will be ok, and then it started to rain, and it poured down for the rest of the day, but it didn't matter because I was something I haven't been in a long while...Happy!
A few days into January and I realised I could see better, I don't mean a miracle had occurred and suddenly I could see again, I mean my brain has started to manage the floater better, its still there and if I look for it, I can see it, its still in my central vision, but I seem to be able to see through it. I don't think I can see as well as I did before the floater arrived, but there has been a definite improvement. Hugely excited, I dashed about telling myself that I could be back to work next week, so I made an appointment at the doctors to get signed back on and emailed all the important people to let them know I thought I was ready to get back to normality. Only for it to occur to me that things might not be that easy, getting back to work certainly isn't that easy as I have to see various people to check that I am safe to be in the school environment for both the pupils and myself, this I totally understand, and the fact that I haven't been anywhere for the last three weeks or more might be leading me into a false sense of security. By this I mean, I have been following the instructions given to me by my consultant and those that I found on the internet about treating a floater, I have literally done everything by the book, I have rested, not spent too much time on the computer, drunk more fluid, taken gentle exercise, made sure I sleep well, but all these things have been done in my own environment, where there are no children moving around quickly, and no demands on me, there are no time limits when I am at home, there is no pressure to read or write, at home if I feel I have done too much, I rest...that is not transferable into the working day. Also, no two days are the same, the weather makes a difference, bright sunshine makes the floater blacker, dull rainy days makes it less visible. However, to my mind, the only way to find out if I can manage back at work, is to go back to work. Meeting with the Occupational Health isn't a nice feeling, initially the thought of having a referral to them made me feel like everyone thought I was lying, or that my employer was looking for ways to sack me, but its a process that has to be gone through to protect me, my employer and the children in my care. So I wait for the appointment to come, take each day as a new one and look forward to what ever happens.
I am not sure how Ralph will be when I get back to work, animals can be funny about having the routine changed, he has become used to me being in all day, used to snuggling up and sleeping on my lap. I am pretty sure he will cop the nark, he had a mood on for three days when we put the Christmas tree up cos the grumpy little bugger doesn't like change....and lord help you if a suitcase comes out of the loft, he will take to his bed and not want to move!
Anyway, Happy new year again and I will keep you all updated x