Well...It's been a while so I better get typing!

Well....here we are once again, and once again the time between posts has been so much longer than I would have liked, and had planned for. But sometimes things happen that cause the best of plans to go astray! 

In fact as I type I realised that this post has been sat waiting to be finished since late July!! So I think we need to get this done!!

Since retiring our focus on life has changed and the direction in which we find ourselves going has emerged organically over the last few months. I have always said that being retired gives you the opportunity to do what you want, when you want, where you want, if you want and with the people you want! This approach has enabled us to tackle life differently to all those years when work, inevitably, was the constant, and by default, the driving force behind how our lives played out.

But this retired way of life has taken a little time to adjust to, and being able to live in the moment rather than conforming to day to day demands has been interesting, especially as I am someone who likes (and has a need) to be organised and have everything planned out.

Simon often refers to us as Peter Pan and Wendy...he is Peter wanting to fly and explore in all directions while I am Wendy always wanting to keep us safe and calm. But together we compliment each other; Simon will push me outside of my comfort zone and I will temper his desire to fly too high and in that way we find our way through this crazy thing called life.

So just what has life dealt us these past few months? Well at times it has all been a bit of a whirlwind! 

We have been able to get out and about with our fellow Star Wars cosplayers as part of The East Midlands Garrison. Devoting time for this at weekends is now much easier as we no longer have to juggle work and free time. We have also been able to get involved with special troops during the working week. In July we were able to support a local charity called Ducklings at the children's school within Nottingham Queens Medical Centre hospital. We have also taken part in our local comic con in Nottingham, Emcon; both during the event and helping with their promotion leading up to it. We were also able to get out to a special cinema troop which celebrated the 20th anniversary of The Phantom Menace, along with some smaller events along the way and at each event we helped raise money for The East Midland Garrison's chosen charity of Pasic.

Promoting Emcon in Nottingham - May 4th 2024

Cineworld Sheffield - The Phantom Menace 20th Anniversary

Simon’s extensive, four decade, career in video games has opened up the world of retro gaming with invitations to take part in various events. We had a lovely weekend at the Nottingham Video Games Expo where Simon not only spoke at the event but he was able to share some of his original game design documents along with selling some of his game related art. He was even able to produce a piece of canvas art live throughout the event. He has also worked with a local college to share his experiences of working within the industry with their students and is looking forward to more collaborations in the future.

Nottingham Video Games Expo - art in progress

Nottingham Video Games Expo - completed art

Earlier in the year Simon had used his knowledge of electronics to help a friend with their university project. They were completing their final year in costume design and needed help with the programming of LED lights in their Neuromancer inspired outfits. After attaining a first they had one last thing to complete; a catwalk show and we were invited to attend. It was a great evening filled with friends, laughter and too much Chinese food. 

My favourite band, White Lies, we're out and about with some special gigs playing two of their albums in full; Ritual and Big TV. We were able to make one of their gigs in Manchester and got to experience Big TV in its entirety. As this album features one of my all time favourite songs, First Time Caller, I was very happy and excited to be able to hear it live! And as a bonus we had a great couple of days in Manchester too!

White Lies at Gorilla, Manchester - July 2024

There have been lots of opportunities for catching up with family and friends. We've had movie nights, a dark arts craft fair, a retro computer museum evening and multiple cinema trips. There was a weekend visit to Bournemouth to see Molly and Dan to help celebrate Mollys birthday. They then came to see us a couple of months later which resulted in a trip to a local Ninja Warrior centre...I was the official photographer for the day and let everyone else throw themselves around!

An earlier trip to Amsterdam in April had opened up an opportunity for Simon which resulted in another visit, at very short notice, in early August. And that visit resulted in an art commission for Simon in which he had 3 weeks to create 6 paintings for a fashion show!

August also saw us make a trip to London to meet a new friend for lunch while Simon spent every spare minute drawing to ensure that his commission work would be completed on time. 

Grabbing every spare minute to draw - sat on the train home from London

We also made it to the Droid Builders UK event where Simon was able to show off a couple of his own builds!

Droid Builders UK meet-up - Simon's creations - August 2024

Ethan finally completed on his first house at the end of July, almost a year after first seeing it! But as there was a fair amount of renovating required there was a lot of work to be done; quotes, planning, house sitting and more to squeeze in around our busy schedule and Ethan's work! In fact as I write the house has now been rewired, plastered, decorated, a new boiler fitted, a new bathroom installed, numerous deliveries have been managed and the kitchen and flooring are now being fitted! All very busy, and all very exciting for him. And I think Simon and I have become unofficial project managers!!

Ethan finally getting into his first home for the first time...now waiting for all the renovations to be completed!

And while all that was happening Simon received an invite to speak at an Amiga event in Spoleto, Italy. An invite with some of the expenses paid...well that was an opportunity we couldn't turn down! We also decided to make the most of the flights and extend our stay by a taking a few extra days in Rome. So as Simon was busy drawing away for his art commission I was busy organising flights, car parking and hotels.

Oh and as September rolled around we also had our second Disney cruise and this time we had the kids join us. And four days after we returned home we flew out to Italy for a week!

And breathe...I am hoping that as life calms down I will be able to find more time for blog writing which will mean I can share more about our recent travels to Amsterdam, Italy and of course our time on the Disney Dream. But for now I will stop and recharge my batteries!

Health & Wellbeing

What to talk about next?

Well, I've introduced myself and I've spoken about my love of all things Disney so I think the next logical subject will be to chat health and wellbeing.

Now I do have a couple of pages that talk about various aspects of my life with regard to eating well and looking after myself but I think it feels right to give a bit of an overview of where I started and where I am now.

For most, if not all of my life, I seem to have been in a constant battle with my weight. I was never really happy with the numbers on the scale or the image in the mirror looking back at me. I think I was pretty typical of most women craving the slim and sexy figure but never being able to obtain the image I had in my head. 

As we moved into the late 1980's my then fiance, Simon, was diagnosed with familial hypercholesterolaemia, a genetic condition leading to high cholesterol levels and was told to adopt a low fat diet as a matter of urgency. We dutifully did as we were told; we ate as low fat as we could, we embraced the plethora of low fat foods that appeared on the supermarket shelves, we abandoned eggs, cheese, full fat milk, yogurt and cream and we even became regular gym attendees! But I still battled with my weight and my figure. Two children later and things had not improved, and all the time we stuck religiously to the low fat diet and did as we were told by the powers that be.

And then in 2014 a couple of things happened. First we watched a couple of documentaries; 'Fat, Sick & Nearly Dead' and 'Fed Up'. They highlighted the perils of processed foods and sugar along with the strength and commitment of people who were prepared to put in the effort to getting themselves fit and healthy. Then a few weeks later a chance conversation with my daughters karate instructor introduced me to a locally run group called 'Get Real Fat Loss'; a 90 day challenge to lose weight. Now I have never bought into the whole weight-loss industry of clubs and meetings but this was different. It was run by a local guy, Jason, who wanted to give women the right information to set them up for a new way of eating and living. We were a small group of women who encouraged each other by way of a private Facebook group all guided by Jason who gave us personalised food plans along with some body weight exercises (see my page Getting Real for more details).

About two thirds of the way through the 90 days I had reached my target weight and by the end I had lost around two stone (28lbs) and dropped from a UK dress size of 12/14 down to an 8 (and sometimes even a 6!). Then, while on my 90 day journey, I read a book by Gary Taubes called 'Why We Get Fat and What to Do About it' which provided the science behind the nutritional changes I'd made. So what were those changes? At that time the major change I made was the number of carbohydrates in my life - no more potatoes, no more pasta, no more rice and no more bread. All those foods that I'd been told were good for me because they were 'low in fat' were in fact hijacking my insulin response and causing me to hold onto fat rather than burn it. (see my page Eating Well, Staying Healthy for more information).

Since then I have been able to stick with the low carb (or keto) approach to eating and as the years have moved on I have become more focused on eating real foods. I try to cook everything from scratch and limit the amount of processed, and especially the ultra processed foods, in my diet. The approach is that if something has more than five ingredients or contains things that wouldn't appear in a standard kitchen cupboard then I will not buy it. There is a great book by Chris van Tulleken called Ultra Processed People and I would urge everyone to read it and understand just what the so-called 'food' in the lovely packaging on our supermarket shelves actually is!

The bodyweight exercises that I started back in 2014 have now evolved into a weights workout three times a week. Around 2018 I had joined a local gym with Simon and both our kids but when the 'lockdowns' happened in 2020 we decided to convert our garage into a home gym and it has been one of the best decisions ever. We have enough equipment for us to workout effectively and are still able to use the garage as a garage! It also means 'getting to the gym' is easy and quick and we have no excuse for not getting out there and getting a workout done.

Then a couple of years ago I decided to step away from my job of 18 years as a pre-school manager and I entered the world of retirement. Being at home enabled me to spend more time being active; daily walks became the norm and gym sessions didn't feel quite so onerous. I was also able to spend more time 'on me' and began to incorporate cold showers, Wim Hof breathing and meditation into my daily life. 

Last year Simon decided to set himself a challenge to lower his body fat percentage. As part of a routine check-in with our doctor we were introduced to a set of scales that recorded not just our weight but our BMI, body fat percentage, muscle percentage, visceral fat percentage and our RM calories (resting metabolic number of calories). And while all our figures were great Simon wondered whether he could get his body fat under 10%. With an upcoming cruise (Disney of course) as incentive he found a personal trainer to try and help him achieve his goal. So with a focus on getting enough protein in our diet and increasing our daily step count to around 14,000 Simon hit (and has maintained) his goal and along the way I also managed to reduce my body fat much to my surprise. 

Late last year we took the decision to invest in an infrared sauna after a home improvement project gave us the extra space we needed. A daily sauna has now become part of our lives; thirty minutes a day to relax, meditate and absorb the benefits of heat exposure.

And as we rolled into the new year Simon joined me in this retirement malarkey so we now have the time to pursue those things in life that have had to take a back seat during our working life. We have the time to devote to our own wellbeing, to concentrate on our diet and exercise, to spend quality time together, to kick start travelling more than we have been previously able, to enjoy spending time with our Star Wars cosplay family as well as numerous projects that we now have the time and the head space to take on.

And that is where you find me now...enjoying life with my soul mate and best friend by my side, in the best physical shape of my life and looking forward to each and every day and the possibilities that lay ahead.

Disney you say...

So how did my love (some may call it obsession) of Disney come about?

When I think back Disney has always just 'been there' in my life. I remember as a child growing up in the UK we would watch 'Disney Time' a movie clip compilation show that would appear on the TV at special times of the year. 

I have a vague memory of one of my very first trips to the cinema being to watch 'Bedknobs and Broomsticks', although I can't be sure this was during its initial cinematic release as I would have only been about 4 years old. But growing up in the 1970's and 1980's Disney was simply a part of the pop culture we were exposed to.

I very recently re-discovered an album that I still own to this day and which was probably bought for me as a child, it's dated 1975.

Then in November of 1990 during a trip to London we made a point of visiting the then brand new Disney Store on Regent Street; it had only opened that month and was the first Disney Store outside of the US. I have this photo of me wearing the Mickey ears that we had bought. I remember them being of a very hard, shiny plastic and that they dug into my head so hard it meant wearing them for anymore than a few minutes just wasn't doable! Oh how times, and ears, have changed!

Then in 1991 Simon and I made our first trip to Orlando, Florida which was kind of by accident. We had originally intended to go on vacation with my parents who were planning a trip to Austria but I'd gotten the dates mixed up and had booked the wrong weeks off from work. It was also the time of the Gulf war and the rumours were that flights to the US were 'going cheap' so we decided to take advantage and book a Florida vacation. However, when we came to make the booking we soon found out that the rumours of cheap flights were just that, rumours! But as we had chosen where we wanted to go we decided to book the vacation anyway staying in a hotel on International Drive.

On 30th July 1991 we made our way to the Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World for the very first time and stepping onto Main Street USA I just knew I was 'home'.

Taken 30th July 1991, waiting for the fireworks.

Since then there have been numerous trips to Walt Disney World and Disneyland Paris, one trip to Disneyland, one Disney cruise and Simon has been lucky enough during work trips to visit Tokyo Disney Resort. I have lots of books and memorabilia, handbags, clothes and just the odd one or two Disney themed tattoos! Oh and I co-host a Disney theme parks podcast with my very good friend Michelle, called the Disney Dream Girls.

So yes Disney plays a big part in my life and I think it always will. 

There is something in the ethos of Walt Disney and the company that he created that draws you in. But it is still hard to explain what it is exactly that drives this love of all things Disney and the indiscernible magic that it creates. It's in the story telling, the attention to detail, the characters, the customer service, the ability to leave the real world behind for a little while and for everyone no matter what age or background to enjoy something together. 

Some will look at Disney and the theme parks and assume it's 'just for kids' but it is so much more than that. And to use a quote attributed to Walt himself from the opening of Disneyland in 1955, and then immortalised in plaques at both Disneyland and the Magic Kingdom...'here you leave today and enter the world of yesterday, tomorrow and fantasy'...oh and remember 'adults are only kids grown up anyways'!

What to write...

What to write about...where do I begin?

After such a long hiatus from writing this blog I wonder if it's time I reintroduced myself? After all the person I was in 2012 when I started the blog is different from the person sitting here at the keyboard today...if only by the fact that I'm twelve years older, two stone (28 pounds) lighter and I'd like to say wiser, but who knows!

So here goes...

Hi...my name is Jayne. I find myself just entering the second half of my 50's and am very blessed to be retired, married to my best friend of nearly 39 years, we have a couple of amazing grown-up kids and somewhere along the way I developed a love of Disney.

It was that love of Disney that initially gave me the idea to write a blog, I wanted to share that love along with the knowledge and experiences that I'd gathered over the years. I also wanted to share my Disney daydreaming as I looked forward to, and planned for, my Disney vacations. But as the years rolled on and circumstances changed so did the topics that I decided to write about.

Disney will always be apart of who I am and something I will always want to write about but there are now other topics that I am passionate about that I would like to share. The transition from a working mum to a retiree. My personal health and well being journey that started in 2014 and is still ever evolving. A love of Star Wars that has grown and evolved through cosplay adventures and a new family of friends. A sense of discovering who this new retired version of me could be and what interests and adventures are out there that I have not yet even thought of!

I am extremely fortunate that in the last couple of months my partner in crime, my husband Simon, has joined me in this retirement malarkey and we are navigating this change to our lives together. We are beginning to make plans for the year (and years) ahead and are looking to make the most of the time that we have in front of us. It is taking a little getting used to but one that we are thoroughly enjoying.

We have a few travel plans booked, some cosplay events for this year are beginning to get scheduled, I have a weekly podcast that I co-host called the Disney Dream Girls and Simon has numerous art and prop making projects on the go. And within all of that we try to keep ourselves as fit and as active as possible so that we can continue to enjoy the time we have, for as long as we can and in the best shape that we can be so that life can be lived to its fullest.

So let's see where this journey is going to take us!

It's Been a While...

Well...it's been more than a while since my fingers graced the keyboard to write a blog post (almost a year in fact) and I have no excuses. Although I'm sure I could come up with a few if pressed!

And even this blog post was initially started months ago, and several times over...I kept adding to it on occasion and then...well....yeah!

Like I said no excuses but I definitely need to figure out what I want to do with this blog and how I see it moving forward. 

When I started this blog way back in 2012 (wow that surprised me!) it was to chat about my love of Disney and going to the parks with a little bit of everyday life thrown in for good measure. Over the years I've spoken about various Disney vacations, my love of Christmas, tattoos, Star Wars and my approach to healthy living. Some years I've generated lots of posts and then others not so much.

Then we encountered the pandemic...as this was an unprecedented (a much overused word at the time!) event I decided to document the whole kerfuffle. I started on Thursday 19th March 2020 and documented every day up until the 29th August 2022...an astounding 893 days! It started as a way to record the events of early 2020 and rolled into an online diary as the world that we knew suddenly became very different and took an inordinate amount of time to get back to anything like the 'normal' we knew before! But at 893 days I decided that the world was as 'normal' as it was ever likely to get and I simply needed a break from daily posting.

By the time we approached Christmas of 2022 I was missing the 'diary' that I'd inadvertently created and started to keep an old fashioned, personal diary, albeit using the power of Google Docs. There was no way I was going to be completely old fashioned and handwrite it as I know how bad my writing has become over the years! And pretty much every day since 19th December 2022 I have documented my daily life...but this time just for me.

So where does that leave this blog?

I think I want to start posting more often and post about those 'things' that are important to me, as was the original intention. 

Back in October 2020 I hit a bit of a hurdle with my writing and at the time I drafted a blog post that I never published...here's some of what I wrote back then when we were still in the midst of the 'pandemic'...

'My decision to write was purely a selfish one; to record what was happening in my life, how the world events were affecting me and those close to me as well as from time to time chance for me to vent and express my own opinions as to what was happening and the why and the wherefore. I also like writing and it was something that I had wanted to do more of for quite a while and so 'keeping a diary' was a good excuse for me to stretch my writing muscles.

Like I said this wasn't started for any specific reason, it wasn't started to find fame or fortune or to find recognition. It was for me, by me and if anyone else wanted to read them then that was fine and if they liked what they were reading then that was a bonus.

But recently my confidence in writing took a bit of a knock...I lost my writing mojo so to speak. My writing was questioned and no doubt my writing about it being questioned will also get questioned but I am not going to let any other opinions out there stop me from doing what I want and writing about what I want, that is personal to me in a forum that I have chosen to write in.

I have been told that the manor in which I write reveals more about me than I reveal in person...does it? I don't know, I can't possibly know because I am not aware that the person I appear to be in person is any different to the person that is writing this. I will admit to not being the most talkative person and that sharing some things can be a challenge for me and so perhaps writing it down, without judgement or interruption, is easier for me.

I have been told that the manor in which I write is opinionated and aggressive; two words that I would never have associated with myself. Yes I have opinions on a variety of subjects but that is not the same as being opinionated, the definition of which is 'characterised by conceited assertiveness and dogmatism'. I like to think that I can recognise that everyone has their own views of the world and while I will always try to impart whatever knowledge I may have I know that there will always be disagreements and different thought processes and that is fine. I have always said that I will not foster my views on others providing they do the same with me. We have to accept that we will not all think the same and that is fine, it's what makes us all individuals, after all it would be no fun if we were all the same. I strive to accept that I will not always be right, that I am open to information that may change my understanding and therefore my opinion. We have to accept that change will happen, it may not be always what we want but it will happen and we need to find a way to embrace and accept it to be able to move on and change and adapt ourselves.

Aggressive; now I don't wish to sound conceited but I have never thought myself to be an aggressive person, in fact I have been accused in the past of being too laid back. I may be passionate about things that I hold dear and if my passion has been interpreted as being aggressive then I can only apologise. There may have been times over the last 220 plus days that I have attempted to express my frustrations or anger at situations, often situations that are too big for me to have any impact on or any control over and again being aggressive was never my intention.'

...so yeah that was October 2020 and if I am honest I think this has stayed with me for longer than I'd realised. I think it stopped me from always being as open and as honest as I wanted to be. It had me censoring myself and worrying about what others would think as opposed to just writing whatever I wanted.

So whilst keeping my 'pandemic diary' for 893 days was certainly an achievement and recorded a time that I could never have imagined we would experience, I do wonder how much of what I wrote was just for recordings sake rather than completely from the heart?

Moving forward I think I will endeavour to get my writing mojo flowing again, to be able to write from my heart and be open and honest and most importantly to write because I want to and because it means something to me.

Yes I will write about Disney, yes I will write about Star Wars, yes I will write about good eating and if you want to read along then great I'll be happy to have you here but if it's not for you then that's fine too.

As we used to say back in the day when we had just a handful of TV channels 'if you don't like what's on either change the channel or switch off the telly; no-one is making you watch it'. I think the same applies here, have a read and if you like it hang around but if not then simply move along. 

Let's see where this takes us...I just have to figure out what to write about first!

Overdue Blog Post - Part Three!

Wow, so I finally have the time and space to get writing again and find myself approaching the end of March having not written anything since early January - whoops!

Luckily for me I have been keeping a diary of sorts and so have a pretty good idea of what I've been up to but am wondering how best to either summarise or move on from my last post. Which I think means this will be more of an overview and perhaps there will be separate posts focusing on some of the happenings over the last few months.

Plus I need to figure out a way to get back into writing more often...perhaps I need to go back to my diary type posts that I did over the preceding couple of years...something to think about!

But let's get back to the job at hand and try and summarise what's been happening of late.

So, where were we...ah yes Christmas! This year (or should that be last year?) was different to our usual routine of years gone by. This was the first Christmas since my dad had passed and that meant the first Christmas for Simon and I without any of our parents and while that brought about its own set of emotions it also meant that we had only ourselves to please. Which meant we were able to mix things up a little!

Molly and Dan were spending Christmas at their home, having spent the previous year with us, so we decided to travel down to see them instead. This resulted in us making the journey to Bournemouth on Boxing Day (the day after Christmas Day) for a few days before returning to celebrate the New Year at home.

I'd realised as we approached Christmas that ordinarily after having the big Christmas Day meal we would make use of any leftover food on Boxing Day...but as we wouldn't be home on Boxing Day this meant a change of plan. As Ethan's birthday is on Christmas Eve we decided to have our big Christmas dinner for his birthday instead and then make Christmas Day a very relaxed affair with presents and leftover food, which worked out beautifully. It was so nice to be able to enjoy the unwrapping of presents and have a very chilled out day as opposed to the usual slaving away in the kitchen! Plus because there was only the three of us it meant that cooking on Christmas Eve wasn't the big ordeal that it would have been compared to previous years. Oh and of course birthday celebrations in this house meant it was Mickey waffle time!

We had a lovely few days in Bournemouth even though the weather was rather soggy. We were able to exchange presents, enjoy some lovely meals, do lots of walking interspersed with coffees and even a little ice skating. Although on this occasion Simon decided to forgo the skating as it was very, very wet and joined me and Ethan in watching Molls and Dan enjoy themselves on the ice.

On the 29th December we travelled home with Molls and Dan making the journey as well so that we had a few days with all of us at home. We were able to make use of the outdoor skating rink in Nottingham that this year had an elevated 'skate path'...

Nottingham's Skate Path, above the Christmas market

...and when I saw 'we' I do of course mean Molls, Dan and Simon. I watched from afar and then went off in search of coffee and a little retail therapy. We saw the New Year in as a family with an array of board games and a lovely 'big' meal on New Years Day.

But by January 3rd the house was very quiet; Molls and Dan had gone back home to Bournemouth and Ethan was back at work. That left Simon and I with a couple of days to get the house back to 'normal' as we embarked on the horrible task of taking down and putting away of all the Christmas decorations; I love all my Christmas 'stuff' and hate having to put it all away. It actually took us about three days to put everything away with the majority being done by yours truly once Simon returned to work.

Well with Christmas and New Year done lets move onto January.

We started to get back into our routine of early morning (and rather chilly) walks followed by our Wim Hof breathing and a little meditation. Cold showers have now become the 'norm' for both Simon and I and these have continued regardless of what we have been up to. Unfortunately after getting back into our stride with the morning walks we had to take a little bit of a break as I suffer with chilblains on my left foot and once aggravated it becomes uncomfortable to walk on for extended periods and only gets worse if my feet get cold. So with a spell of very chilly weather we took a bit of a break from our walks.

Through January I was dealing with the sale of my dads house as we had signed all the necessary paperwork just before Christmas and it was now a case of working with solicitors to get everything done as speedily as possible.

We also started making some headway with our Jedi robes ready for Star Wars Celebration at Easter. And of course when I say 'we' I actually mean Simon, and his focus was on making some leather pouches for our belts to house our mobile phones. He also mastered the technique of metal casting by using pewter to make the buckles for our belts. 

For my part I had to order some different trousers as the fit on the pair I'd originally ordered was a little snug. And then there was an awful lot of research into the correct material to order for the outer cloak...something that was of the right dark brown colour and that was also of a heavy, wool like material. Suffice to say I think I went cross eyed looking at all the different options out there.

By the end of January we had found a local dressmaker that was willing (and excited) to help us with the technical aspect of putting the tunic/tabard section of the robes together. But I think I will go into more detail about our Jedi robes in a separate post!

We tried to get out for our morning walks again when the weather eased but no sooner than we had got back into the routine the weather turned rather cold again so we resigned ourselves to just get out as and when we could.

As we moved through January I was focused on getting more things removed from my dads house in readiness for the sale going through, along with the subsequent organising of Ebay sales. And my involvement with pre-school continued as we looked at the ongoing finances as well as a potential change in charitable status; so lots of research and a fair few meetings over numerous cups of coffee.

Ethan is still trying to find himself a house and we managed a viewing of one, but it was not quite what he was after,  and he had another couple of viewings cancelled at the last minute. First time buyer houses seem to go rather quickly once they get on the market - oh well just got to keep on looking.

And I think that covers January, so I will stop here and get writing the next post!

Overdue Blog Post - Part Two!

So we pick up this blog post from the middle of November 2022 and something we had not done since the early Summer.

Every few months we venture into Nottingham to spend an afternoon drawing; life drawing to be precise. Our friend, and burlesque performer, Scarlett Daggers runs an event called Dr Sketchy's that takes place above a pub in Nottingham and is aimed at artists of all levels. And because Scarlett is a burlesque performer the models are always from the world of burlesque and cabaret and we are even treated to a performance from one of the models.

Suffice to say Simon is able to produce some wonderful art work using his digital drawing tablet while I on the other hand stick to paper and pencil!

A couple of my attempts

There are even prizes handed out and Simon was lucky enough to get picked for one of his drawings...

Simon with fellow 'winners' and Scarlett Daggers

I, on the other hand, was just happy to produce something that didn't look too bad!!

The last week in November took on a decidedly Christmas theme as it was time to get prepped for a weekend of decorating. So prior to that happening there was a lot of organising and cleaning through that needed to be done. 

Molly and Dan visited for that last weekend as I was not allowed to decorate without Molly being home! So we started late on Friday afternoon and by the end of Saturday we had everything in place, both inside and out. Which considering we had three trees indoors to assemble and decorate, numerous ornaments to place around the house, swags to hang and then two gardens to illuminate I don't think we did too bad.

One of my three Christmas trees...this one is ALL Disney!!

And even R2D2 got in the act with Simon having 3D printed a special Santa hat for him!!

My forward planning for the outdoor Christmas lights proved to be very helpful and everything seemed to go very smoothly and relatively easy. And I even have a remote control for some of my lights! I had a couple of outdoor light sets that didn't have a self timer which would have meant me going outside each night to switch them on so Simon introduced me to remote switches for plugs. Wow, what a simple and very satisfying product; not only can I switch my outdoor lights on from the comfort of indoors I can also switch on tree lights that are plugged into hard to get to sockets. Best buy ever!

It was then time for another week off work for Simon as he needed to make sure he used all of his holiday allowance before the end of the year. We had a day out shopping at Meadowhall, Sheffield with the aim of getting a little Christmas shopping done. So although no Christmas presents were bought we did come away with some new boots for Ethan (introduced him to the world of Dr Martens!) and some more Christmas lights for my garden and this time they were Mickey shaped ones!

We then enjoyed a couple of nights away and this time we ventured over to Birmingham. Again we thought we would be able to get some Christmas shopping done but alas we came home empty handed...suffice to say all our shopping has been completed online instead!

But Birmingham had a lovely, and extensive, German Christmas Market which was great to walk through. We had a couple of nice meals out, we walked lots and consequently had lots of stops for coffee and chat.

Back home and with our shopping focus being online I took advantage of a price reduction and bought my first ever Disney Spirit Jersey...now these are a big thing with Disney fans and whilst there have been some lovely designs over the years that have tempted me they are not the cheapest purchase. But I couldn't resist this one as it combined my love of Disney and Christmas and at a price I was happy to pay!

And while I was shopping I couldn't resist picking up this decoration just for Simon!!

Because every Christmas tree needs a dancing stormtrooper!!

And now we were into December and the season of chocolate...high cocoa and high quality chocolate of course...

Hotel Chocolat Advent Calendar

And as we moved into December the weather decided to acknowledge the season and turned rather frosty and cold. After a couple of early morning walks in freezing temperatures with very icy pavements we decided that staying home in the warmth with a hot coffee was the better and safer option. Although we still maintained our routine of cold showers, Wim Hof breathing and meditating.

We enjoyed a fabulous night out for my birthday (actually on my birthday) at La DeDa Cabaret in Derby. It was another fun filled night out with burlesque, comedy and cabaret and I even had 'Happy Birthday' sung to me by the audience.

Out, out!

The following morning we were out early with Ethan in tow to head out for a posh breakfast as part of my birthday celebrations. We have discovered a deli in Nottingham (Delilah Fine Foods) that does an amazing breakfast that suits our keto way of eating perfectly...the pancetta is to die for! I even picked up a few Christmas pressies from their array of food goodies on sale too.

Oh and I also did rather well on the present front with even my old team from pre-school surprising me with a rather appropriate Star Wars themed gift...

My birthday weekend also saw us take a trip up north to hook up with our very good friend, and my podcast co-host, Michelle. This was a chance for a catch-up as well as an exchange of Christmas presents. We decided to meet up at Meadowhall Shopping Centre as this is about half way between where we both live. 

The day started out a bit grey and foggy but as we ventured further north the weather conditions took a bit of a turn. It started with seeing reduced speed limit signs, along with signs warning of 'salt spreading ahead' and then everywhere turned wet which quickly turned into slush on the roads and before we knew it all but two lanes of the motorway were covered in snow! And that was all in the last five minutes of our journey. But we arrived safely and after a few hours spending time with Michelle (and shopping!) the weather improved and the roads were all clear for our return journey home.

But seeing Michelle did mean that we could surprise her with a very special Mickey Mouse figure...

Michelle & Mickey!

...all printed, assembled and painted in Snow White (Michelle's favourite princess) colours. Suffice to say Michelle was blown away with it. I will share more details in a later post to explain how this all came about!

And then the day ended rather strangely and unexpectedly. We arrived home to find a lady wandering along the road to our house...she looked lost and so we stopped to ask if she needed help finding somewhere. It turned out that the lady was homeless and on seeing us asked if we had a phone she could use as she needed to call the emergency services as she wanted to 'kill myself'. At that I quickly phoned through for her and we then spent the next few hours trying to get her the help that she needed.

Both the ambulance and police services were reluctant to help explaining that it wasn't a job for the police but for the ambulance and vice versa! They were both experiencing severe delays and could not give us an estimate of when someone would be able to get out to help the lady. So in the intervening time we found a bench and supplied her with hot cups of tea, biscuits and a blanket to keep her warm as well as talking with her to see if we could figure out what had happened and whether there was anyone that could help her.

It turned out that she was under the care of a local trust who support the homeless so we decided to try and sort the situation ourselves by calling them. As luck would have it the person that Simon spoke to was an old school friend which helped make everything that bit easier. Ultimately we ended up driving the lady to the local trust just a few miles away and cancelling the ambulance. The police did call us back when we were enroute to advise us of the same information that we'd already found out ourselves. We explained what we were doing and they expressed their gratitude. We can only hope that the lady herself has been able to get the help and support that she very evidently needed.

On a lighter note...I did manage to complete two suitably themed jigsaws during the lead up to Christmas...

As we moved towards Christmas we had another busy weekend that saw a night out for me with the pre-school ladies and a busy Sunday for Simon as he was a guest speaker at Nottingham Video Games Expo.

Simon has been asked numerous times over the years to speak at various video game events about his career but has always declined. He is always much more focused on what he is currently working on rather than looking back at what has been. But as this expo was so close to home he decided to give it a go and see whether or not it was something that he would like to do more of in the future.

And Simon being the organised and professional individual that he is had spent the preceding weeks producing a presentation that documented his career making video games that spans over 35 years!! Check out his website for more details of his extensive portfolio! www.simonphipps.com

Simon in full flow delivering his presentation

Signing autographs for fans!!

I think it probably surprised us both at just how interested people were in all aspects of his career and we spent a lovely couple of hours chatting and reminiscing. So will Simon be taking part in more of these type events in the future? Who knows...I think it will all depend on where, when and the time involved. But as least Simon now has this experience to refer back to and will be in a better position to make decisions around any future requests.

And this brings us to the last full week before Christmas. Ethan's last day at work was the 16th, as he'd got left over holiday to use up, while Simon had to wait until the 21st...and it is from there where I think the next post will pick up!

xx