Focussed!!

Ice cream needs concentration to minimise the amount you will end up wearing!!

Had a great day with Alison , Max & Annie. We went to Maldon for lunch on an old sailing barge and the kids had time to play in the sand pit. Max was having “one of those rare days” (thank goodness they are rare) when his behaviour swung from being a well behaved 5yr old to a stroppy teenager!!! Fortunately the good behaviour was when we were out and the other was at home.

Annie was quiet, a touch of keep your head down, mum is having enough trouble with one, she doesn’t need me to add to the equation!! Lucy was very good and only pinched one of Annie’s to hide at the bottom of the garden!!

Home and a quick change out of the clothes bearing dog hairs, ice cream, baked beans, sand and whatever…..into a clean set!! Out to visit a neighbour who had invited a few of the ladies for pre-Easter cocktails!! A chance for a catch up on the news!!

I stayed on after the others had left to update her on details of our recent NZ holiday. She was in a hotel in Cathedral Square in Christchurch on the day of the Feb 2011 earthquake. We had spoken briefly about her experiences before we went away, but we talked through things in more detail tonight. She couldn’t express too strongly the gratitude she feels to all the people who helped her and other people involved. She was amazed at the speed at which things were dealt with, the first class organisation of all aspects of the situation and the kindness of all the people she came in contact.

The only negative comment was about the British Embassy in Wellington, where they wanted payment for a photograph for her replacement passport!! Difficult when all you have are the clothes on your back!! Her cases and all her property were eventually returned to her in the UK, nothing was missing.

She is planning to revisit NZ next year to have a sense of closure. We have agreed that I will sort out my photographs from the 2006, 2008 and the recent visits, for us to look through, so that she has some idea of the situation in advance.

What a day!!!