Sunday 30th June

Oh my goodness, I have been a bit slack on the blog front, sorry to all! Great sadness that the aunt has had to go back to the UK, (although actually I think she was very relieved not to be nagged and ridiculed any more!) Seriously, we did have a fun week and I do so love her ( as do the hubby and children). Anyway that was Thursday and Friday's activities consisted mostly of cleaning/shopping/dog walks/circuit training and swimming (pool, not sea). In the evening we went down to the harbour for the remembrance service of the harbour bombing in 1940, where 11 islanders lost their lives and many more were injured, it was very moving listening to all the readers accounts of that evening, and where the reality of the impending war really did strike home.

Saturday saw me racing around a racquetball court (always getting beaten, thanks AB!) Then we had an absolutely superb wedding to attend. The bride looked beautiful, the weather was lovely and a really good time was had by everyone. It certainly was a very special day.

There will not be an update for a few days unless one of the children hack into my account (quite possible but unlikely) as we are off to the UK today and Wimbledon tomorrow- yippeeee!!!

It looks like the weather will be ok, and I am quite sure we will enjoy ourselves whatever, the fact that Laura Robson played such brilliant tennis yesterday means that we might even get to see her on Monday!

Thursday 27th June

A little video clip to enjoy.....

http://vimeo.com/m/69187447

Wednesday 26th June

It's been such a hectic few days, that there has been little time to write the blog....

The aunt has been whiling the time away filing her nails, reading the newspaper and generally getting under my feet.

We enjoyed a long dog walk around St Catherine's before I had to go to work, leaving of course the aforementioned aunt/daughter combination a list of chores..... 

Looking like a true 'grockle'

I do have to commend her though, as she did manage a swim in the sea at Anne Port, and stayed in for at least ten minutes!!!

The evening's entertainment consisted of tennis for both of us before I left for netball training, a good day all round.

Sunday 23rd June

Well we did it-  yesterday all three of us managed to walk 13 miles from la Fontaine to Le Braye. Started at 10am, and other than a  few short stops to remove wet weather gear etc we finished at 2.40pm. Needless to say Jessie was still bounding around at the finish and wasn't in anyway as weary as the rest of us!

The last stretch across St Ouen's beach was a bit of a struggle, especially with a force 5 head wind!

 We went out for supper last night at St Catherine's cafe and had some delicious Thai food, highly recommended (just take your own drink)

The aunt looks still looking a little dazed from the marathon walk!!

Despite the grey windy weather today we managed a dog walk on the beach this morning and then I fitted in my aerobic work-out for an hour, leaving a long 'job' list for daughter and aunt. Imagine my dismay then to return from my physical endeavors  and find not even half  the list completed!!! Honestly, anybody would think she is here for a holiday!!

Spent the afternoon with my lovely surrogate family, and a St Mary friend, the children enjoyed blowing bubbles and helping Jessie chase them!!

Friday 21st June

Summer Solstice, what, really? Does not feel like lovely midsummers day especially walking the dog in the drizzle this morning....

Dragged the 'aunt' to circuit training  (3 mile dog walk was just a warm up) at the Merton, followed by a swim.

We did finally get home for lunch by 2:30 and afforded ourselves a couple of hours break before the next dog walk, and then.........we popped by the tennis club for a set of tennis- and so ended the first day!

Meanwhile  the fireman had gone to work, the engineer was 'fixing' stuff, the politician had had his meetings during the morning and the cabin boy was off to town to 'do stuff'!

The three adults are mentally preparing for the 12 mile walk tomorrow, weather doesn't look brilliant, and strong winds forecast. We do  have a contingency plan though, the aunt has a sore calf muscle so if it all gets too much we will have to 'pull out' and look after her!!

Thursday 20th June

What a day, full of excitements and happiness!!

I have tickets for Wimbledon!!!!! Going on Monday 1st July, wooooppppppeeee!!!!

Secondly the mad aunt from the UK has arrived - a huge surprise for my daughter who had no idea she was coming, and promptly burst into tears!!!!

So, a long list of 'jobs' has been written, she can start tomorrow, I shall give her 12 hours grace......

Wednesday 19th. June

Well, tonight you have the pleasure of the happy politician contributing to the family blog....it's been a while....but hopefully I can get some braincells engaged enough to come up with something suitable.


It looks like the weather will be dominating the discussion again over this coming weekend. Saturday sees us old folk taking part in the Governor's Walk....15 miles from La Fontaine on the North Coast via the devil's Hole - Greve - Gronez - l'Etacq and the Five Mile Road to Le Braye. The forecast is basically pants.....windy, cool etc. etc........and then comes Sunday, when I am supposed to be taking kayakers to Sark for the day. If Saturday looks breeezy than Sunday looks a whole lot worse. The cahnces of getting the boat out of the harbour look very slight. That means I should have a chance to attend the celebrations at St. Martin's Catholic Church on Sunday morning.....and then visit my neighbour where there is a Rose Show (whatever that is......maybe it's a show of roses).. The forecast for next week looks calmer......so that's really great......I don't know how one types sarcastically, but I am trying really hard......

The news has just finished on the TV and the Loto numbers have been announced.....someone has just won £2m apparently.....so that's nice for them.....maybe they'd like to pick up my garage bill for the month?

Other news from around the house is that the Cottage renovation is proceeding.....although I did have to have "words" with the builder this morning. We had decided last week how we wanted the bathroom set out....with a "P" shaped bath to make showering easier. The builder had measured it all up and, because the bath came with a large curved glass door, had had to move the bath back a foot so the door could open without smashing a hole in the ceiling....as we're very close to the angles of the rafters. Anyway....moving the bath meant that the toilet was going to be situated in what only can be described as a cupboard with about 4 foot of head room......there was no doubt that anyone trying to use the loo would probably need a crash helmet to save smacking their head on the ceiling when they stood up. It wasn't going to happen basically....and I told them so.....move the wall back to where we had it originally, and we'll change the bath for a "normal" shaped one. Then we had the "but I've put this wall together with a nail gun" story.....I think that was builder's speak for "it's going to be really difficult to take down and I don't want to do it". There was a gentle reminder about who was paying and who was doing.....Hopefully the wall will be moved in the morning.

Jobs for tomorrow (other than the day job, obviously) include trying to get some eggs from Happy Hens and a visit to the Iron Stores, which is (according to my plumber) the best place for choice and service for sanitaryware. Let's hope they do better then the last place we bought a bathroom from.....where their promise of three week delivery ended up as a wait of over six months for the last part to arrive.

Japan are about to take on Italy at football on the TV....time for me to head for bed and get some sleep....I'm not that desperate that I need to watch this!

Tuesday 18th June

Lovely day, dog walking, and Zumba class this morning, work and dog walk along cliff paths this afternoon.

Myself and a friend from the Gynae Cancer support and VP from Macmillan were invited to Government house to collect a cheque from the Jersey Lions Club this evening.

Saw lots of people I knew and really enjoyed it, thanks ladies!!

Monday 17th June

An update on yesterdays sad event, it was one of those times when you wish you could have done more but there was nothing you really could do.

Steve and Bex were driving east towards Gorey and saw up ahead a motorbike slow down and stop, whereupon the lady pillion on the back slid off and crumpled to the floor.

They immediately stopped and ran over to offer assistance as did another lady who also witnessed it. The rider ( a gentleman in his early 70's ) had felt his wife loosen her grip and slowed the bike down just as she passed out, and subsequently fell off the bike into the road.

Steve called for an ambulance before trying to reassure the husband and his wife, who although conscious was unable to speak, the lady who had also stopped was brilliant and talked to the patient whilst waiting for the emergency services to arrive. The symptoms she was displaying looked like she had, unfortunately had a stroke.

Either way it was very sad for everyone, the paramedics were fantastic and quickly took charge, Steve said he told the gentleman that he must go in the ambulance with his wife, whilst he rode the bike back to the campsite where they were staying. Bex followed in the car to pick him up.

We are going to phone the hospital tomorrow to see if there is any news, it was pretty distressing being in the middle of such a tragic event, and we all hope that the lady is able to make a full recovery.

Sunday 16th June

Happy Father's Day to all those lovely dads out there, and a special one to my dad who passed away over 24years ago.

I was going to leave the blogging to hubby tonight as it's him really who had to deal with a very distressing incident this afternoon, but he is very tired now after his Ecrihous trip and has gone to bed.

So in order to get the facts straight and explain in full detail the various comings and goings of the Luce family, I will leave this blog until tomorrow!

Friday/Saturday 14th/15th June

Friday 14^th June

Still very much in my large bubble of happiness at my news this week, my next appointment will be in September, but I’m not worrying about that now!

Another week seems to have flown by in the Luce household, the most aged amongst us has had his usual frenetic pace of meetings upon meetings, off early and back late. All of these compounded with ‘boating’ issues (the mooring chain needs replacing as it fell apart –fortunately whilst trying to tie up the boat and not while the boat was on it) and our on-going building mishaps.

The eldest son has started spending slightly longer awake during daylight hours, so to see him up before 11am is a real ‘treat’. As well as doing his ‘proper job’ (whatever that is) he seems to be spending an inordinate amount of time playing around with Dan’s website  www.ItsRainingSideways.com and on top of which we find out last night when he casually let slip into the conversation that he too blogs! The difference being that whilst this blog is about trivia his is informative and primarily on how to go about building a website….. I knew that an eight year old boy who takes encyclopaedias to read in bed rather than fiction stories was always going to do something a little different!!

The fireman has been on tractor driving duties this week, but back on days now fighting fires and ‘saving lives’, he is also now afflicted with the same sore throat and cold that the youngest son has had this week.

The’ Man from Atlantis’ is to coin a phrase ‘burning the candle at both ends’, trying to be a salty sea dog during the day (weather  permitting) and catch up with his friends at night. The few remaining student slackers have all returned from far and wide to have the’ summer off’ before they seek gainful employment……supposedly !

We (hubby and I) are out this evening with a large group of friends to ‘Town’, sadly not to walk down the Red Carpet and shake hands with Superman (although we may hang out down the waterfront like groupies to catch a glimpse) but to enjoy a meal with friends. 

P.s I am leaving the Just giving page open a while in case folks who didn’t get a chance to sponsor me in the race for life still can….its www.raceforlifesponsorme.org/teamjillyluce

This was supposed to be posted last night….whoops!!

Thursday 13th June

ALL CLEAR SCAN!!!!

No evidence of any metastatic disease!!!! In other words no evil Cancer cells floating around my blood stream!!

To say I'm on cloud nine is an understatement.......

Happy Days!

Tuesday 11th June

Another bright sunny day in Jersey......... OK for all those UK/overseas folk it is raining and windy !!

Met two young lads on cliff paths in St John yesterday, they had just walked up a vertical cut/through path at Les Platons and looked slightly puffed. it transpires that they had started off from St Ouen and were trying to cover all the cliff paths in Jersey......I pointed out the ice-cream van was up in the car park and with that news they swiftly headed off in that direction!!

A view from Les Platons

Today was sports day for the Pre Prep, and I had the unenviable task of being on the finish line and sorting out the 'placings'. Luckily with me being a 'rookie' at this task they let me be in charge of 1st placings- as it's the easiest, third is definitely the hardest!! Either way it was a very stressful afternoon, and under the spotlight of the parents eagle-eyed stare! (and one or two teachers Mr MW!!)

Back at home later today I set off to take the dog for a walk, but got waylaid by son no 2.....

Jack and I thought we would have a little reccy to see how the building work was progressing, so we went in and had scout around, he climbed the step ladder to view upstairs calling me to take a look. He said he would 'head' the ladder, which is fireman speak for 'hold', so up I go. As I (confidently for an old woman) neared the top he duly let go, which would have been fine except my foot caught the top bar and although i had safely cleared it, the ladder did a huge wobble and very nearly toppled over. This would have left  us stranded upstairs (a whole new meaning to Jack and Jill up the hill) and Jessie wandering about below us.......
Jack said we would have been fine as Jessie would have done a 'Lassie'!!! I said it would have been fine as Jack being so tall could have swung down from the ceiling...... fortunately we didn't need to resort to either plan!

Hospital appointment tomorrow, joint clinic with my doc and consultant to see the results of the CT scan etc, I'd like to say I'm sure everything will be fine but I can't quite believe it, there always seems to be a nasty surprise when you least expect it, still I have been encouraged by lots of people who were complimentary about the article in the paper and wish me well.

 Nearly forgot , click the link to see Steve and the winning cricket team!!!

 http://jerseyguernseycricket2013.blogspot.fr/

Sunday 9th June

London was GOOD fun, had a few laughs, got lost a few times, walked our feet off, shopped till we dropped, hung out with young people……Saw the show Matilda, that was BRILLIANT, the kids were so talented, not a spare seat in the theatre and a standing ovation at the end.

In the taxi from airport to apartment!

 

 

The amazing scenery in Matilda

 

 

 

 

 

 

 We had breakfast at Selfridges and were so impressed treated the youngsters to Afternoon tea there as well, one savoury and and one sweet options.

An update on the Cricket, Jersey beat Guernsey first time in six years I believe, and the old man scored a credible17 runs. 

The 'Aga' man came to service the aga whilst I was away, fortunately Bex was on the ball and found all the paperwork and even more fortunate discovered we were under guarantee as there were a number of things wrong....including the top oven belting out a whopping 240degrees as well as fan issues etc. So that's why the cakes keep burning (perfect excuse).

Wonder how the half marathon folks got on today.... bit windy although good if it's behind you I suppose!

.

Wednesday 5th, June

Tonight, to start with, you have the "Geoffrey Boycott of the family" blogging...that is, the politician who has been out this evening practicing his cricket in readiness for the Inter Island States Members Cricket Match on Friday. After last years rather disappointing performance (especially by yours truly) it is time to get ready to bring the trophy back home where it belongs.....

Last year in Guernsey I was brought on to bowl the last over of the game...when the opposition didn't need very many to win....and after stating very clearly that I wasn't a bowler. Of course, you can guess the rest...they won easily....I wasn't impressed...especially with the so called expert who had totally miscalculated the number of overs left, and (much more importantly) the number of bowlers who were still allowed to bowel (you are only allowed 5 overs each). It wasn't the highlight of my year, especially after being pretty useless with the bat earlier in the day.....and batting was supposed to be the stronger part of my game. This year I am determined to do better, as we all are, and hence the practice session this evening.

We will be playing at the Farmers Field in St. Martin starting at 10 on Friday if our reader fancies coming along to support. Those others playing include Senators Farnham, Maclean, Routier and Le Marquand....Constables Gallichan, Le Troquer and Pallett...and Deputies Vallois (yes, Tracey...who can really throw well) Southern, Baker and Luce.....and hopefully a couple of others. Anyway, we had 10 for our training session this evening....so that shows how determined we are.

It's unlikely that there will be a blog on Friday evening....her ladyship is having an evening in London with a good friend....and that means moi having to get her to the airport for 6ish Friday morning....then there's the cricket match (starting with breakfast at 9!!) and then in the evening I have the Enterprise Awards to attend (on my own). I've found out this evening that I have no less than Kate Silverton (of BBC newsreading fame) on my table.....I'm sure that really it's me on her table.....anyway....I'll have to be on best behavior....it's a shame that Jilly can't be there, especially as I was told (rather unkindly) that it was her they really wanted to invite and NOT me!!

I then am supposed to be following all that with a charter to the Ecrehous on Saturday morning....however, as I type, I have to report that the wind forecast for Saturday is not looking favourable..... maybe I'll get lie in.

Just so as you all know what else is happening this evening....Jill is at badminton ...Bex is out at a Young Farmers Committee meeting....Jack is recovering from a hard day at the Fire Station....Tom is recovering from having his Birthday yesterday....and Daniel hasn't been seen since he left to go to town this morning to "do some work on the Seafaris RIB". For all we know he may well have gone to the Minquiers this morning and he may well still be there?????.....maybe he's just out with his mates???

That's about it for this evening I guess.....I need to get to bed in order to try to rest my tired muscles....it's a long time since I did any type of training, and if I'm not careful I won't be anywhere near recovered enough for Friday's BIG game.....watch out for an exclusive match summary sometime on Saturday......and then a write up from the London trip sometime on Sunday!!

Monday 3rd June

Huge thank you to all the kind responses Steve and I have had from the JEP article this evening. I really hope that the article will help any other ladies and their families in similar situations.

After writing the blog last night I thought I'd just have an orange before retiring to bed, however I somehow managed to lodge a piece in my throat, and with no-one in the kitchen to offer any assistance, I staggered up the stairs wheezing and coughing,to be greeted by an alarmed daughter telling me to breathe through my nose, and my husband ready to offer the Heindrick maneuver!

After a few minutes recovery I went back downstairs to be greeted by my eldest who had just arrived back saying wryly "that would be ironic, you beat Cancer then die of choking on a piece of orange"!!!

I am trying to update a new 'slide show' of photos, but having trouble, I'll get the IT girl onto it!!

Thought I would just look at this day last year post and share it with you.......

Sunday 3rd June

Sunday 3^rd June

A very mixed up day, sadly hubby’s uncle the lovely JC passed away last night and our sympathies go out to his Aunt and all his family. 

We had a very good church service this morning, everyone getting into the Jubilee spirit, and a busy congregation.

I slept much better last night the itchy face has calmed down, but feeling very tired so needed a sleep at lunchtime, before the festivities on the Village Green. It was lovely to see so many folks on the Green, and the incredible amount of organisation needed to cope with over 450 people. 

Huge problems with marquees blowing down, but in the true ‘British spirit’ a team of volunteers managed to ‘make do and mend’ just in time for the visit from the Bailiff and his wife.

Sons no 2 and 3 have gone off to France for a 6 day holiday (hope they have better weather than we are forecast) with 3 other friends. This will give me a chance to re stock the larder and catch up on household chores!

Son no 1 is 25 tomorrow now that does make me feel old……….

“Mothers, food, love and career are the four major guilt groups”        Cathy Guisewite

Sunday 2nd June

Sunday 2^nd June

No blog last night as out and about in the wilds of St Ouen, enjoying a lovely supper with good friends. Although it has to be said we were heard to utter on the way there, “Why do they live so far away”!! I’m sure we would see each other more often if they were 10minutes down the road…..still they do have beautiful sunsets out that way, on a par with our sunrises of course!

Driving into Grouville car park at 8.15am this morning I crossed paths with KH in her spanky new car driving out. She did stop and park up and joined in with my dog walk. She had been taking photos and supporting her husband in his ‘practice triathlon’, although she did confess to ‘missing’ the swim at 7:30am, I don’t blame her!

Had an excellent aerobic workout with the twins (sets you up for the week!)before heading down to the club for a couple of games of tennis. You would have thought that with all the practice I’m getting I would have mastered the basic serve and be able to participate in a short rally, but alas it wasn’t to be, I blame last night’s food/drink consumption! Anyway they say practice makes perfect so guess I need MORE practice!!!

Hubby has been down in his usual spot at the boat park; he has a regular table at the ‘Fisherman’s Rest’ café for lunch and is slowly but surely turning into the true old salty sea dog of St Helier. Today he has added to his general appearance of rugged and  weather-beaten charm with a rather attractive pinkie glow to the back of his legs, brought about by his kneeling to varnish the deck trim for the vast majority of the day, and leaving his calves exposed to the full wroth of the sun. My sympathies extended to reminding him how old he actually is, and how long he has lived in Jersey with the full knowledge of the strength of the sun…..

Meanwhile the mechanic keeps pushing one of his many vehicles into the middle of the yard, playing around with it for an hour and then abandoning it, causing many of us to curse him frequently as we can’t park. Fireman has spent most of his day tinkering with his unworthy sea vessel in the vain hope of actually getting it in the water and the engine started, which was actually accomplished………briefly. Not very clever all of your friends and you being out on your mooring (luckily not on the way to France) in a boat with no power. The mechanic was duly rung up, I think possibly ‘Man from Atlantis’ had also been called but as he was testing the water at le Braye it was a tad too far for a rescue. Super Tom hauled the spare dinghy off the roof of the car and motored out to pick up the sorry party of would be mariners. No doubt they all owe him big time, possibly a few ‘double decker health wreckers’ courtesy of The Hungry Man wouldn’t go amiss.

My youngest nieces birthday today, sweet sixteen, perfect weather for her party, and now she’s on study leave no school tomorrow!

I briefly visited our vegetable garden today, shame the wind is still North West as it makes it chilly, and does not encourage much growth with the pathetic few plants we’ve put out. The runner beans look like they may stay and fight, the courgettes are begging for sunshine and warmth, and the sweet peas have turned yellow and sickly, still, we can but try. 

The Internet seems to be behaving badly again tonight so let’s hope this does actually get posted……

Dan/Tom's new website www.Itsrainingsideways.com