Today we have returned from our holiday, there is so much to tell about our Greek adventure that I shall wait until tomorrow.
Today I want to speak about Ian. Ian had his second paper published last week and today Steve and I listened to a recording of an interview on the world service science programme in which Ian was interviewed. Wow, aren't we proud parents. Today Ian tells me he has been to London to join in a protest against the government in Burma! Wow,Wow, doubly proud.

The day has come, well nearly, were going up to the airport today and flying out to Preveza in Greece early tomorrow morning. Today I was awake at 7.ooam , its now heading to 11.00. I have hoovered out the car and taken it to the car wash, Steve would be quite happy for us to travel in a dirty car, but as Sandy and Paul are coming with us I thought otherwise!! I have filled up the petrol tank and finally I visited my Mother as she will have her 77th birthday when we are away, she was very pleased with the flowers that I took her. Jonathan my nephew will visit his Grandmother on her birthday.
Cheerio for a couple of weeks.

Yesterday was my last working day for a couple of weeks. This holiday has been a long time coming, but then that's our choice as we really like to take our break at the end of the summer.
Last night as I was packing some more things into my new holdall when I noticed a split in the bag. It was a new bag and although not costly it was really annoying to find that its not fit for purpose. Today Steve is going to dash out to return the bag and get another one to replace it. Meanwhile all of the things I am taking away are spread across the floor of our small bedroom, so I'm not as ready as I would like to be.
Our holiday euros have just arrived by 'special delivery'! they were supposed to be delivered by by 1.00pm, but were in fact delivered just before 2.00pm! The special delivery turned out to be the usual post delivery by postman on his bike, I though at least it would be someone in a van like 'Pats'. I had an appointment with Charlotte for a pedicure this morning at 11, so Steve had to come home from work to sit in and wait for that delivery. I'm really pleased with my pink toenails, I'm sure they will look even nicer with a tan.
Tonight we are going to eat at the sailing club, as usual were not very impressed with menu,but have decided to go as its really nice to meet up with our friends and nice not to have to cook.
Well I must telephone Ian and Matt and have a chat before we go.

Water, water every where, in fact flowing out of the kitchen cupboard and all over the floor. the pipe to the outlet for the washing machine had worked its way off and the rinse water was emptying into the cupboard. It was a real pain as I had so much planned and I had to spend a lot of time clearing the food out of the cupboard, baling out and washing the kitchen floor. Oh well best made plans. It was then a trip to have my eyebrows etc waxed, so I'm now nearly ready for my holiday. One more day at work for me.

Today is the 11th September and the 50th birthday of a very special friend. Happy Birthday Janis. I hope you enjoy your celebrations. I have known Jan since we were 4 year olds. We started primary school together and when Janis and her family moved to Pirbright our friendship continued. Its seems inconceivable that Janis has reached her half century and I won't be far behind!

Its been another glorious day today, a work one for me, a couple of visits and a busy clinic. An enjoyable day, but I am counting the work days until our holiday. I'm beginning to get excited about sailing in the Ionian islands. Will I enjoy sailing for a whole fortnight. Will the Captain and his First Mate fall out if too many orders are given? I had been looking in the local book shop for a copy of 'Captain Corelli's Mandolin with no luck. Our local library is closed, so I thought I'd have to wait until i came back. But when i went into the staff room there was a copy on the shelf!

Thankfully today I was feeling a lot better than I did yesterday. However I had a slow start and headed over to Annie's for 10.00am. Our plan for the day was to go to Botley road cemetery to look at the Bailey's grave's. Our paternal grandmother was a Bailey and we have traced her family to Middlebridge Street in Romsey.There are many Bailey's to be found and with a plan from the council we orientated our way round. We found the grave of Marcianna, who we know came to Romsey from Gibraltar to marry a Sea Captain. Its unlikely that she is a relative, I think perhaps the unmarked graves of Bailey's that we found are far more likely to be our descendants. As I suppose would be expected, it was a quiet and peaceful place.
Having eaten very frugally yesterday, by lunchtime I was famished. We went at Christo's recommendation to the 'Casa Bodega' a Mediterranean restaurant in what had formally been a public house. We had a delicious lunch in the garden with the River Test running through it. The lunch menu was varied and it was so hard to choose which of the dishes to try. For the main course Annie and I both chose the fishcakes which were scrumptious.
Our day together ended with a quick trip to Waitrose.
As planned on the way home, I called in at M&S and Sainsbury's to pick up the last few things I need for my holiday at the end of the week.

Last night we had a very nice evening with Maggie and Cameron, we ate very tasty Indian food that they had prepared for us. I drove home as I hadn't had any alcohol. Unfortunately I spent most of the night in the bathroom. In no way do I blame our hosts. Today I had planned to be preparing for our holiday, last minute shopping and more packing. Instead I have spent the day between sofa and bed. Steve has been very busy throughout the day, has shopped and carried out some jobs in the house and garden. He did find some excuse to go over to the boathouse, but also he found time to call on my Mother as she needed her photo taken for her bus pass. Tomorrow I'm going over to Romsey to spend the day with Annie, we are going to the cemetery to find some of our ancestors!

This morning I took part in my last sailing lesson this year. For others they will continue until the end of September, but I will miss out as I will be on holiday from next Saturday.
This morning I was sailing with Paul and Brian who are both novices like me. We were being instructed by Stuart in his boat, known 'locally' as the QE2. This is because it is a very large dinghy and as Stuart had told us on many occaisions very hard to capsize. This morning's lesson we were practising jybing and tacking and the culmination was to be for us to sail a trianular course without our instructor present. The sailing was going very well indeed, Stu is a very calm patient teacher. we were all very happy in our boat, telling jokes and hearing of Paul's reason for growing his beard: he is playing the inn keeper in Tosaca's 'Fiddler On The Roof'. Brian and I had taken the helm and it was Paul's turn, he was doing well, but unfortunatly made a tactical error and in slow motion the boat capsized and we all ended up bobbing about in the water!

A beautiful day, I was busy this morning, washing, ironing and house cleaning. Steve and I should have been on our balloon ride, but true to form it was cancelled and yes again for the weather. At 10.30pm yesterday a message was on the company's answerphone telling us that the flight would be cancelled as it was due to be 'misty' in the Meon Valley! I'm just begining to wonder if this company are bona fide and have any flights taken pace this year!

I spent an hour this afternon sitting on the beach reading a book before going to the hairdressers. it was glorious in the sunshine.

Today's news that Kate McCann has been declared a suspect in the dissapearance of her daughter is very hard to comprehend. I don't believe that she or her husband had anything to do with Madeleine's kidnap. Lets hope that this nightmare for the family is soon ended.

How privileged I am to do a job that I love. Today I met the parents of an adorable eighteen month old. This little boy was bight, active, had a large vocabulary and having temper tantrums! 9o% of the time he was the most adorable little fellow! When I left it was good to feel that his parents were reassured that they have a 'normal' little boy. How I wished that somebody had been there to do the same for me. This little guy reminded me so much of Ian at that age and yes there were tears along the way, but I'm certain this family will be as proud of their son as I am of mine.
I'm waiting to find out if tomorrow morning were to get up at 5.00am to have the long awaited balloon flight. Its over a year since we won the trip and hopefully it will be lucky 7th time.
This weekend we need to be getting ourselves sorted for going on holiday, already I can feel the time evaporating. We have had invitations out for meals for the next three evenings, I'm not complaining, life is full.
On Monday I'm going with Annie to the cemetery to look for the graves of some Bailey ancestors, I'm not sure what or whom we will find, its quite a common name, how will we know if they are our Grandmothers family. Now I'm watching Natasha Kaplinsky as she traces her ancestors in 'Who do you think you are, then it will be an early night in perpetration for tomorrows adventure.

Gosh, this is becoming a habit, though shortly there will be a gap of more than two weeks in my blog. I have had a very "bitty" day. I agreed to work a half day to cover a clinic in Gosport, though in order to attend rainbows, my half day started at 11.30. This morning I had a dental appointment which proved to be painless, I don't need any treatment but it has been advised I see the hygienist for a polish. I have made the appointment, though its not until early October. I have entered it into my calender. It doesn't seem very long ago that I was able to operate without a diary, now I have to make a note of absolutely everything that I have to do!
It was the first rainbow meeting of the term and all the little girls were very excited to be back, telling of their holidays and their new teachers at school. Next month a 'sleepover' has been arranged. I'm sure that the name is a euphemism as I can't imagine the rainbows getting much sleep. As the holder of a first aid certificate I have been asked to help out. Why am I doing it: because Adrianne asked me and because I had a wonderful time being a Brownie. The highlight of the year was pack holiday, a whole week away sleeping on a a camp bed at Colbury memorial hall. My six was the 'Pixie's' and Mrs Snook was Brown Owl of the 3rd Drayton pack. The only negative thing i can remember was that I was a very clumsy child and never mastered walking across the church hall on flowerpots, which meant I was unable to 'fly' up to Guide and had to walk instead.
This evening I'm going to telephone both sons and finish reading my book.

Its 6.00pm after a day at work. A very busy clinic, enjoyable though, dispensing advice and making a fuss of lots of little ones. A last visit in the afternoon was close to the surgery so I was able to walk there in the sunshine and after I made my way back along the seafront and stopped at the Bluebird Cafe and bought myself an ice cream. Tonight I have no plans, Steve has had to go back to work, so dinner has been put on hold, well not really because I haven't even started it yet and I'm only planning easy pasta. If its good for Nigella, then its good enough for me.
Tomorrow I am working a half day which is unusual for a Wednesday. It will start with a trip to the dentist and finish with the first Rainbow meeting of the school year.

September has arrived all too soon, it signals the end of summer. Most people will say it was a terrible one, due to the weather. Well it did rain excessively, but there were some very nice days. For me it was a lovely summer. Work continued well, part time as it is, allowing me time for other things. Meetings with friends and family.
In August a year past since I first met my sister Annie. Its been an incredible year, with lots of time spent getting to know each other. As in most families that have been separated there have been many issues to work through. I am very happy to have a sister in my life with whom I can have a relationship. I know that our father, had he been alive would have been very pleased as well. Its not all Rosie, as sadly not everyone feels the same way.
This is the summer that I eventually faced my fear of the water and learned to sail. I hear Janis say "but you were a sea ranger". That is true and as a teenager most Friday evenings and Sunday afternoons I could be found at Whale Island rowing a boat or in a canoe. Occasionally we sailed, but even then I found it quite terrifying. I have thoroughly enjoyed the course and recognise that I have a lot left to learn, so next summer I will enrol on the next course.
Summer is not quite over and in less than two weeks, along with our friends, Sandy and Paul we will be heading out to Greece for a sailing holiday. This time it will be big boat sailing and Steve and I will have our own boat to sail and live on. Fortunately Steve has experience of sailing bigger boats and I have every faith in him. I'm looking forward to a relaxing time as we sail the Ionian islands, a different port each night, evenings spent in different tavernas.
The men from Virgin media, have just left having repaired and hopefully mended the cable which keeps us in communication. We have intermittently been without there three services since the Gardener who was turning our front garden into an 'easy maintenance' one, cut through the cable!
As they have gone, I'm now free to do other things, I think it will be a walk along the beach.