Stuff em I say!

Scenario

Me: " I am so sorry to have to cancel your appointment today, I have had to have my dog put down and I am too upset to treat, I hope you understand and can I offer you XYZ date as an alternative"

They: "Oh yes of course, no problem, sorry to hear that, that date will be fine"

Roll on Sunday and an email arrives.

Dear Stables Clinic

We have both thought about this and come to the conclusion that you have become unreliable and unprofessional and would like to cancel the appointments we have with you.

This is the second time you have cancelled and rearranged our appointments in recent months and we dont find it acceptable. We are sorry about the death of your dog but we really NEEDED this appointment.

Thank you for your understanding
Mr and Mrs Blah Blah

I normally would do the "professional thing" and not rise to such an email and let it float in the wind and allow Karma to do what it does.

However, I am 41, and at this age I find myself increasingly thinking, no, no I wont allow you to rebuff my hard earnt skills like that.

I will respond.

Dear Mr & Mrs Blah Blah

I am sorry to hear, after many years treating you both, that you now deem me to be unreliable and unprofessional.

However, if cancelling you for caring for my sprained wrist and mourning for my beloved pet is considered unprofessional, then yes, you are quite right.

I wish you all the best in your endeavours with another therapist more professional than me.

Kindest regards.............................................

Now then that response was unprofessional. I recognise that. However, I dont care and I will let that float on the wind...........

It's holiday time now, going to reboot and enjoy Mother Nature in all her glory. Joyous now, work is finished and relished a wonderful afternoon tea and cake with friends that fill my heart with warmth and my belly jiggle with laughter................those are the things that really matter xxx

STUFF EM I say, my bouyant husband said something else!!!

Never "Herm" of it!

No TV.

No internet.

Probably no mobile reception either.

Wonderful!

Welcome to Herm, our destination for the next week, post what will no doubt be, a crazy Take That party at Wembley Stadium.

Isn't she lovely? I like to think of Island's in the feminine, she's a beaut and the epitome of the phrase "all good things come in little packages".

Just one mile long and half a mild wide. Aahhh, how dinky and sweet!

Those of you who know me well enough are now starting to wonder if you know me at all. What no action packed, mad crazy activities fit for adrenalin junkies like me? No hairing around in the air, on  the ground, under it or sea bound? What the hell are you going to do Mrs T-J, cabin fever surely?

Nope, not one bit of it. Nope I assure you not one bit at all.

Yes I do love all that adrenalin junkie stuff because I like to challenge myself and experience as much as I can in my short time on this earth.

However, nothing enthralls me or makes my heart sing more than Mother Nature in all her unadulterated beauty and that is Herm, unspoilt, natural and techno free.

Well I say nothing enthralls me more, maybe I should have said just as much as the love of a good man, gorgeous friends and loyal fur babies, great food, fab wine........................ I am just a bon viveur people!

We are staying here, The White House Hotel, why choose this lovely place?

No choice it's the only hotel, how cute and adorable is that?

And should and I say a BIG should, need more than exploring the coast line, investigating rock pools, enthuse over the flora, fauna, birdlife and insects then I could always indulge in a bit of this!

However, I dont care if I dont. Holding my book in one hand and intermittently holding Hubsters hand and a cold Spritzer in the other and Mrs T-J is one happy lady.

Just a bit miffed I have been told I may need reading glasses soon, the stealthy "creepage" of age is totally unforgiving but I aint giving in yet.

Short and Sweet My Love

I need to have you by me

When my sight is filled

With some new wonder:

Your eyes gazing with mine

Requiring no words

Rapture of silence shared

A time of adjustment

Radish does miss his big brother. I feel I am a poor replacement for the old fella right now but I think there is an understanding and Radish and I know we will soon sort that out. We have turned to eachother for comfort and thats what families do.

The big fella always protected his puppy brother from a young age

Our walks have taken on a different beat. The gait is quicker, more ground is covered and the chance to discover terrain that the old fella would have found impossible is available to us.

Still protecting puppy even though pup has outgrown him!!

However, we miss that old fella on our walks, bringing up the rear and taking time out to have a good old sniff. "Slow down you young 'uns, appreciate the little things will you? You know the little things are really the big things" his expression would plea.

Too right Sparks, a simple pleasure and joy for him was taking in the sweet scent of the grass still heavy with the morning dew, how he loved to bury his nose deep in the blades.

Still we both know, Sparks would want us to get on with it, life goes on, appreciate those little things. He led by exuberant example and so we are going to follow it. On today's walk we had a brilliant stick throwing session.

and of course.........a stream to cool off.

It will take us a while old boy, but in your memory we will do our level best to inject as much fun, frolics and frippery as we can. And I know you would approve.
Forever a winner Chez T-J, I give you our beautiful Sparky, Best Veteran 2010 xxx

It's a massacre!

The dog walk started out well enough. I am blessed enough to live in a place with beautiful rolling fields close by. They are full of wheat at present.

Quite a sight and the hedgerows are teeming with meadow flowers and elderflower, wild honeysuckle, blackberry, cow parsley and glorious poppies to name just a few.

It is a delight and I revel in the lush swathes of flora in all its viscous shades of green and all its delicate scents. A haven for birds and a playground for butterflies, insects and bees.

However as I hung a left at the top of the second field, my eyes became wider and wider and an uncomfortable churning began to fill my chest cavity.

................... only a total maniac could have done it. A complete massacre. Radish was also most bemused, he knows every twist, turn and undulation of the path we walk everyday.

He kept looking back at me as if to say, "what the hell Mummy?"

What the hell indeed. The hedgerows have been cleared, why they needed to be I do not know. The exisitng path was perfectly adequate but I digress. IF there was any purposeful or logical reason to do this then WHY such butchery?

Where is the care and respect for these wonderful trees that have resided over these fields for decades if not centuries? Why have they been literally torn apart and strewn with such ferocious bellicosity? Many of these trees will now die and that breaks my heart,

As I plodded yards and yards through the debris, my heart became heavier and heavier. Around me were burning funeral pires of healthy trees, wonderful sloe and blackberry bushes and god knows how many fledgling birds nests were destroyed.

Please Mother Nature be quick to reclaim as much of your territory as you can!

I know you bear horrendous scars now, but I wont abandon you because you dont look pretty anymore, instead Radders and I will walk your path with soothing footsteps everyday, business as usual because thats what stoicism does.

A RETURN TO JOVIALITY AND JOLLINESS IS IMMINENT XXX

The Longest and Saddest Day

There is only one problem with having a fur-baby; they just dont live long enough.

At 8am this day, I said night night sleep tight to my Sparky boy. He had been such a brave soldier battling kidney failure for the past 6 months. He had outlived the vets estimations and I know why, he loved us and he wanted to be with us. He especially loved his Radish.

But last night he had a massive stroke which took all his left side. Hubster is in Belgium, I am so glad he didnt have to see his boy like that. I stayed up all night with him and drank two glasses of red wine, I dont even like red wine!

Our big fella

Sparky's favourite position taken Christmas 2009

The vet came and just as if he knew, Sparky assumed his favourite position, on his back with his paws in the air. "Hold on,  I am going to get myself nice and comfy" was his message. Somehow, he found the strength to do it, because he was ready, I wasn't, I never will be.

Radish also knew. He gave him a goodbye sniff.

Night, night our sweet, strong, loving boy. Mummy, Daddy and Radders will love you always.

Reunited with your Lucy girl at the Rainbow Bridge

Our beautiful Lou-Lou

BEYOND THE RAINBOW

As much as I loved the life we had and all the times we played,
I was so very tired and knew my time on earth would fade

I saw a wondrous image then of a place that's trouble-free
Where all of us can meet again to spend eternity.
I saw the most beautiful Rainbow, an on the other side
Were meadows rich and beautiful - lush and green and wide
And running through the meadows as far as the eye could see
Were animals of every sort as healthy as could be
My own tired, failing body was fresh and healed and new
And I wanted to go run with them, but I had something left to do
I needed to reach out to you, to tell you I'm alright
That this place is truly wonderful, then a bright glow pierced the night
"Twas the glow of many candles, shining bright and strong and bold
And I knew then that it held your love in it's brilliant shades of gold.
For although we may not be together in the way we used to be
We are still connected by a cord no one can see
So whenever you need to find me, we're never far apart
If you look beyond the Rainbow and listen with your heart

Dear Dad

Dear Dad,

Sporting my sunglasses

A very, very clever and intelligent man. Practically gifted as well as having a brain as sharp as a pin. Your carpentry skills were incredible and all self taught. You could literally make anything.

Everything you decided to turn your hand to, you stubbornly mastered to the point of perfection. You were single minded and totally focused when it came to learning new things, you were so enthused and passionate and nothing would get in your way.

That in a way was a big frustration, you were so stubbornly determined to do what you wanted to do that sometimes you lost perspective for the things that really mattered. Sadly something you later regretted, you told me. I spent all my 40 years before you passed, trying to get your attention.

You had very strong views and opinions and loved nothing more than a hearty debate, you were like a terrier with a lure, you would not let go until you felt your view had been sufficiently heard or even better, swayed us to your point of view. You always fought for what you believed was right, always.

You didnt like the French did you? Bloody cowards you would declare with a raised, empahtic fist. Remember how you reacted when I opted to do a French degree and worse of all live there?

Beneath all of this though, you were just a little boy, craving love and attention, you could hold court like no other and the most brilliant story teller. If ever asked how old you were, you would say "I'm 9 years old". We never questioned it, not once in all your 71 years. You loved to fly kites, build airfix models, climb trees, go rockpooling, scrump apples and watch newts and tadpoles in a pond for hours.

Dad flying kites as 9 yr old me looks on.

Dad and Pauline building sandcastles.

If you were not immersed up to your neck in a new project, then sharing time with you, like climbing trees, was nothing less than magical. You werent my Dad then, you were my best mate, you had to beat me to the top, the thought that either of us could fall and injure ourselves never came into question. When you shared your time like this, there was no-one better to hang out with.

Christmas was when all us kids had 100% of you Dad. As one of 6 boys you were born into a poor working class family, times were hard and treats were sparse for you and you were always determined to better yourself.

All said,  Dad you created a magical Christmas every year, making up for the ones you didnt have and once again becoming one of the excited kids like us. More excited than us! You always pulled out the stops and I still vouch that you made the best Christmas dinner in the world and I do miss it.

So Dad I raise a toast to  you today, "good girl get it down yer neck, do yer good!" I hear you say.  I may have persistently sought your approval, acknowledgement and affection all my life but I learnt to stop being disappointed. You couldnt help it.

You were a young child of the universe and there just wasnt enough time in the day for you to pack in all you wanted to do, see, feel, hear and taste. 71 was a terribly young age to lose you, you werent ready and we wanted you to get to Alaska and scuba dive in the Red Sea but at least you did your life time biggy, the Grand Canyon.

........but you will have many lives to come yet Dad and so you have to hold back some of that excitement for the future.

Love Debbie (aka Ratbag)

Jet Lag!

Blogging with jet lag is not pleasant. In fact doing anything at all with jet lag is proper horrid. Wide awake when I should be sleeping, dog tired when I have to get up.

Lurching from room to room lethargically in a kind of hungover state is pretty much how it is.

The Mother arrives tomorrow, what was I thinking?  Hoping she will be gentle with me and not wish to run around every garden centre and stop at every coffee shop within a 50 mile radius.

Little hope.

The reason for the lag?

A 4 day hop to the Bahamas, The One and Only Ocean Club.

The last James Bond film, with Daniel Craig was filmed there - cool.

Wayne Rooney and family recently stayed there - not cool.

But if there was one thing that makes the lag all worthwhile, then it's this.

An experience that ticked all the boxes and one I will never forget................again, again, again!!

Another dream come true!

In the airport lounge.

1 orange juice
1 bacon roll
1 portion of orange and grapefruit segments
1 coffee

Feeling so virtuous!!

Have swerved the champagne bar so far, but for how long?

8.50am is a tad early but it's never stopped me before. 

Perhaps if himself does then herself will too, it's usually how it goes. If not, definitely on the plane.

I hear the weather is atrocious in the Bahamas. Que sera, sera.

We are going to swim with Dolphins.

Now I don't really like animals performing for humans, no I don't like it at all, in fact it saddens me as I love to see them wild and free. However, here I am making an exception. Why?

1. These dolphins do not perform tricks, they are not being trained in any way to do so and never will be.

2. They are all rescues from Hurricane Katrina, lost and separated from their families, they have been brought together to form a new pod of their own.

They are extremely happy I am told and forever grateful for the human compassion metred out to them in their time of need. They love to play in the water with us.

So on that basis, and that basis only. I am fulfilling a dream.

I will cry and be ridiculously emotional but thats the nature of Mrs T-J.

The day I became Mrs T-J

Fifteen years ago today, 8th June 1996 I said goodbye to Miss Deborah Ann Cottam and became Mrs Gareth Tamblyn-Jones.

It was a scorching day in flaming June and I was just 26, Gareth was 32. Our Guests drank vats and vats of Champagne to the shock of the wedding co-ordinator.

 I drank tea! Well, yes, that has certainly changed but I still love tea.

It was a very traditional service, however we learnt our vows and made them to eachother without any prompting from the vicar, just more heartfelt and special somehow.

The Service: St Mary's Church, Hay on Wye

Arrival of the Bride: Wagner' Bridal March from Lohengrin

(No doubt the height of naff now, but I always dreamed of walking up the aisle to this as a little girl)

Hymns : Praise my Soul the King of Heaven

Lord of all Hopefulness, Lord of all Joy

Jerusalem (our fave!)

Guide me O thou great Redeemer

(in memory of Gareth's Grandad, who he adored and died shortly before we wed)

Exit of the Bride & Groom: Wedding March from a Midsummer Night's Dream

Reception: The Swan at Hay Hotel

Our path has not been a smooth one by any means over the years and we have endured and  survived the ultimate test but if you asked me now what the secret to our survival is?
I would say laughter, you have to keep your sense of humour always, be gentle and kind with eachother's feelings and never stop seeking out the fun in all you do. Most of all be friends, great friends, that laugh and laugh and laugh and laugh a bit more.

The 179th!

Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's roses!

Aren't they just lovely?

This morning the Hubster was out early messing around with a white ball and a metal stick once more, I headed off to the garden centre to spend my Derby winnings. Took all of 30 seconds!

Then me, Hubster and Radders headed off up to the 179th Rutland County Show, we walked the main part there, very good idea, we moved quicker than the cars queuing for miles to get in.

First public event the Radders had been to. Little chap was a bit bewildered and spent the first hour clinging to Mummy with his tail between his legs.

I actually enjoyed being in the protective Mummy role, my little lad needed me and when you're a mummy being needed and knowing you can and you do comfort, is the best feeling in the world.

He soon got into his stride and enjoyed a bit of people watching, or was that eye candy Radders?

We had a lot of fun mingling, browsing and watching the events on show.

Lurchers, Ferrets & Falcons

Horses, Cattle, Sheep & Goats

Royal Artillery Motorcycle Display

Cottesmore Hounds

Vintage & Classic Cars

Leicester Tigers Skill & Fun

and

150 retail, produce & craft stalls!

Hilarious, the Jack Russel is whooping the Greyhound!

Grubs up for Sam, Nobby and Susie!

The Cottesmore Hunt and Hounds

 

Look but dont touch Hubster!

We won, Sparkling Pineapple & Lemongrass Cocktail 4% volume! We brought it home only to submit it again one day into a tombola of the kind we won it from, no doubt. However, all for a brilliant cause.

Our county motto is Multum im Parvo, "much in little". For the smallest county of England, Rutland certainly packs a lot into little. Quite proud to say I live here today and everyday.

Well done Rutland, it was a great day and the weather was kind................at last!

A l'annee prochain