Looking Forward

2023 is here! Finally it looks like life is returning to normal, at least here in the UK. We’re finally back to travelling and staying in hotels! First it wasn’t permitted, then even when we were allowed, we were strangely hesitant, it all seemed so hard. We had got lazy, it became far too easy not to bother!

In November, we even went to a 40th Birthday party! Our first proper event in ages. Quite strange, but so lovely to see friends and family in a social setting again, having fun, a bit of dancing (Scottish Ceilidh). Even stranger coming home after 11pm… Thanks to the Scottish government, as an over 60, I can travel anywhere in Scotland on the bus for free! I live in Edinburgh, the party was in Aberdeen, (150 miles), so my husband and I booked tickets on the inter-city bus. If we drive, the journey takes 2 and a half hours, the bus only takes 3 hours, so a no-brainer, especially as petrol is about £1.75 a litre at the minute. The party was in the city centre, within walking distance of where we were staying, we didn’t need our car while we were there, so the saving on fuel more than paid for the hotel breakfast, a treat in itself…. The party was held in one of Aberdeen University old buildings, a stunning location… Here is the entrance of King’s College Chapel, that we went through to get to the Elphinstone Hall, where the party was being held. A fantastic building in its own right, unfortunately, I omitted to take a photograph!

Also in November, we also made a short trip to Northern Ireland, land of my birth, which still holds a huge attachment for me. We met up with what few family I still have there, and as several of them are in their late 80’s, I thought it better that I make the trip while they are all in good health. Here’s hoping they remain that way, for some time to come. Somewhere up on the right is the house I grew up in, sadly now totally swamped by new developments, where before there used to just be sandhills!

Portrush Lifeboat is centre frame. My Dad served on the Portrush Lifeboat for more than 25 years. The RNLI is a UK/Irish charity dedicated to saving lives at sea. Every crew member is a volunteer. It is not government funded, but if ever a boat you are on is in difficulty anywhere in the UK/Ireland coastline, then it is generally an RNLI boat that will come to your aid.

Our trip to London to see my older son got cancelled in April, due to us all getting Covid, co-incidentally at the same time, but we were able to hold get a voucher for the train tickets, so our trip to London was rescheduled, ‘for free’. So in just four weeks, we travelled by plane, train and bus. Having spent rather a long time not even allowed to cross the Edinburgh city boundary, this is such a luxury. I don’t think I will ever take it totally for granted again. However, we have booked another trip to see our lovely grandchildren for February/ April 2023. Can’t wait!

I am trying to get myself back into blogging, but I have forgotten a few basics – Reply to comments…. One of the comments from Mrs ETT asked for a few pictures of my metalwork. I’m still making stuff, but often very bad about taking pictures of it. However here are a couple of pictures of my recent work.

This was my ‘end of summer’ project. To give you an idea of size, each piece is about 1cm square, hand cut, and enamelled (3 coats per square), which as you can guess has taken some time & patience, but I was quite pleased with the effect…. The complete panel including the board is 40cm.

And this was a wee birthday present I made for the Aberdeen trip. (I forgot to take a picture of the finished piece against the wall!)

Meanwhile I have been busy trying to make a wee ‘herd of elephants’ for a friend. One for each of her grandchildren. She has given me quite a bit of scrap silver to use, so effectively they are recycled. These are definitely ‘work in progress’. At the minute, I have been unable to get the Propane canister to do more silver casting, for over a month, so the project is on hold temporarily. (LPG is at a premium in UK, certainly in Edinburgh. I wonder how much the price will have increased the next time I buy it??)

We’re still enjoying our wee bit of ‘green energy’ when the sun is shining and our panels are producing ‘free electricity’. (Define free – it will be at least 10 years before they payback the original cost!). When possible, I have started to use the washing machine/ dishwasher etc, when the panels are working hard… I have taken to looking at the weather forecast before deciding whether I put a washing on. However, given I live in Scotland, and it is December, I would be a tad smelly, if I only washed when the sun shines! So I am reconciled about paying for the electricity on grey days!

We had a couple of weeks in December, where it was freezing day and night. We are fortunate enough to get milk delivered in glass bottles, so this sight one morning, brought back many memories as a child in primary school, where on cold mornings we used to have to put the milk crates in front of the radiators to thaw before we could drink them at morning break!

It was very nearly the end of this blog this week. (again!) A reader very kindly told me that he was getting pop-ups when he opened my site. Total frustration. Unfortunately the lovely people who look after my site are both ill, so I decided to try and find out what was happening myself. Now, I have an IT background, so hard can it be?! I ran a scan, found a few problems. Fixed them, and was just left with one, which meant changing the Config file. After a couple of emails to my sons (1 in NZ, the other in London), we all agreed the changes that needed to be made. Fingers crossed, it will be OK for a while. However, given this is totally self funded, if it starts costing a lot to maintain – it’s getting wiped!

Every day is a learning day! Here’s to a great 2023 for everyone.