Ronnie's Ramblings

It's not quite the New Year yet, but I've made a few resolutions already; to lose a couple of stone (nothing new there), to go out for a decent walk every day, to write something for the next Pros Big Bang... and to update this journal far more frequently than I have been doing.

So, in anticipation of regular posts in the New Year, I thought it might be a good idea to recap what's been happening at Ronnie Towers of late. I suppose the biggest news is that we have another grandchild on the way! Our daughter G is expecting a baby at the beginning of June, so granddaughter Izzy will soon be a big sister! Needless to say we are all overjoyed and looking forward to the big day. G and family have recently moved house as well, so there's certainly a lot going on in their lives.

Our youngest daughter K also has big plans for next year - in September/October she will be taking off with her boyfriend for a round-the-world backpacking trip, and will be away from home for nine or ten months. So far the plan is to start off in India, and then to take in Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos and Australia amongst other places. It'll be a huge adventure for them, and whilst I'll admit to being a bit nervous about them travelling to such far-flung places I'm also very excited for them.

As for the OH and me, we have put our plans to move house on hold for the time being. The main reason for this is because we have for a while been mulling over the idea of renting a place in London (or possibly Brighton) for six months or so before we finally sell up and settle elsewhere. One of the problems attached to this was the security dilemma of leaving our house unattended (with all our possessions inside) for all that time, but now we've come up with a solution - when K and her boyfriend go off on their travels they will have to give up their rented flat and will therefore have nowhere to live when they come back. So, they will move into our house and house-sit for us while we go off on our adventure! It will be the ideal situation for all of us, and it also means that they will be able to house-hunt at leisure without any pressure.

There's not a lot we can do about finding somewhere to rent until nearer the time, but that hasn't stopped me looking! And while our original plan only involved staying in London, I have to say that Brighton is looking more and more attractive. The cost of renting is so much cheaper there, and yet it's only a short train ride from the Smoke so there'd be nothing to stop us travelling up several times a week. And, of course, it would give us the opportunity to explore some wonderful places in the south of the country.

So, busy and exciting times ahead for all of us here! Daily life is dominated by Crimbo at the moment, of course, and I seem to have loads left to do in the next few days. No Christmas dinner to cook though! We are invited for dinner with daughter G, son-in-law M and Izzy this year, so although we will of course be pitching in where needed the pressure will be off. We've still got the hordes descending for Boxing Day dinner though! *g*

It just remains for me to wish all my lovely LJ friends a very Merry Christmas and a happy, healthy New Year. I'm afraid I haven't had the time to create a new Christmas greeting this year but I hope you won't mind if I resurrect this one from several years back -

Yet again, I've failed miserably at updating here. Sorry! I really do start off with good intentions, but then I think that everything that's happening around these 'ere parts would just be completely boring to everyone else and I end up not bothering...

So, what has been going on Chez Ronnie then? Well, I've had another little holiday in the Smoke! Just a few days to mark the birthday of 'im indoors, but very enjoyable although overshadowed somewhat by the fact that I had a funeral to attend while I was there. My cousin died unexpectedly a few days before our holiday - she was just two years older than me but had been diagnosed with early onset Alzheimers about five years ago. It was lucky in a way that I'd planned on being in London on the day of the funeral anyway as I don't think I could have afforded the train fare down there if I'd needed to book a ticket at short notice - approximately £200 for a return ticket! Crazy!

We were staying in an apartment just a few minutes walk from the Tower of London so our first port of call once we'd unpacked was a visit to see the display of poppies at the Tower. For those of you who don't know about it, this is an art installation commemorating the British military victims of the First World War. The Tower of London moat is gradually being filled with 888,246 ceramic poppies, one for every life lost. The last poppy will be placed in the moat on 11th November, Armistice Day.



The following day we decided to walk part of the Thames Path, taking in some of the Tall Ships Festival on the way. I also got my first ever close-up view of the Thames Barrier! It seems incredible that the Barrier has been there for over 30 years and yet this was the first time I'd ever got a good look at it!



We decided to take the Thames Clipper back into Central London and as luck would have it our journey coincided exactly with the Tall Ships leaving Greenwich on their seaward journey - we ended up going right through the middle of them and it was stunning!



So, that was more or less my brief London trip. Next one to look forward to is CI5mas at the Great Northern Railway Tavern at the end of November - can't wait!

Oh, and there may be plans in the offing for substantially longer stay in the Smoke in the not-too-distant future. Too soon to say much more about it, but watch this space!

A little while ago I advertised some Man From UNCLE zines for sale on various LJ communities and Yahoo groups. I had a response from someone in the States who said she would like to buy three of the zines, so I packaged them up and trundled off to the Post Office to get a postage price. I wrote and told this person how much the zines plus postage would be and waited for a reply. And waited...

In the meantime another email arrived from someone in Canada who also wanted to buy the same three zines. I told her that I was waiting to hear from somebody else about them, but that I would let her know if they decided they didn't want them. "Fine," she replied. "If the zines don't sell I'll have them."

Back I went to the first person to tell her that I'd had another enquiry about the zines, so could she let me know if she wanted them or not. "Can you give me 24 hours to decide?" she replied. 24 hours passed... 48 hours passed...

Eventually an email arrived - "I've just realised that my car insurance is due this month so I can't afford the zines. Let the other person have them. If by chance they're still unsold in a month's time let me know and I'll definitely be able to buy them then."

I sent another email to the Canadian person and told her that the zines were hers. No reply. I never heard from her again.

After a month had passed I wrote again to the first person (the one in the US), told her that I still had the zines for sale and asked her if she was still interested in buying them. Not a dicky bird from her either.

So, after six weeks or so of emailing back and forth and carting zines to the Post Office, I'm no further forward. And I still have a boxload of Man From UNCLE zines that I need to offload...

*sigh*

When it was announced a little under two years ago that a new medal was going to be awarded to men who'd served in the Arctic Convoys during World War 2 I decided to apply on behalf of my Dad. Not that my Dad would ever actually see the medal as he died a long time ago, but he was immensely proud of his service in the Royal Navy and I knew that if he were still alive he would have been delighted to receive it.

It was probably about eighteen months ago that I sent in the application, accompanied by photocopies of my Dad's service record and other documents. The months went by without any sort of acknowledgement, but that didn't bother me as I knew that applications were being dealt with in strict order of importance - surviving veterans first, then widows, then next-of-kin (ie me). Then in October last year I received a letter asking for further documentation, so at least I knew that my application was finally being processed. After another six months or so I was beginning to wonder whether I should contact the Ministry of Defence and make enquiries (paranoid as usual about things being lost in the post!) but decided to leave until a year had passed since the last letter.

Then yesterday, out of the blue, the postman brought a recorded delivery package and there it was - my Dad's Arctic Star. I'm so chuffed.

Wow, can't believe my hols finished two weeks ago! Where did that time go?

I had a really nice holiday but on reflection it might have been a mistake to split ourselves between three different locations over a ten day period. It felt as though we were just starting to settle down when we had to move on again. Nevertheless, we did enjoy the break and it was good to visit somewhere new (the Malvern Hills) as well as the old favourites (Somerset and London).

( So, have some piccies... )

Here's wishing my good friend constant_muse
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So, what's been happening over the past month or so? Ummm, well...

( Updating - Moving House )
( Gadding About )
( Lewis )
( And now - Hols!! )