Last day at Bright

Well the day came and I said my goodbyes to the company that has been my second home for nearly a year. Aaah... It was a lovely day really, i had lunch at the pub next door with a group of the girls, and David who joined us, and then they cornered me at the end of the day and gave me some chocolates, a BEAUTIFUL bunch of flowers and my very own leaving book and card. It was great! Thanks guys...

Pues llego el ultimo dia en Bright, y dije mi ultima adios a los companeros y a la oficina que ha llegado a ser mi segunda base durante casi un ano. Pues era un dia muy bonito, inesperadamente. Fuimos a un bar del lado a tomar una bebida y comer un sandwich, eramos seis de las chicas y el senor David, que tiene 74 anos y es nuestro caballero!
Al final del dia, me sorprendieron con un ramo de flores, una caja de chocolates (la cual esta ya media comida!) y una targeta. Tambien me dieron un libro de despedida, es tradicional dar uno a cualquier empleado que deja la compania y es precioso. Cada persona pone un recado acompanado con dibujos, poemas, o burlas, la mayoria encontrados por el internet. Es una buena memoria de mi tiempo alli. Gracias chicos!

Cara, Associate Director, calm under pressure.









Michelle, Consumer PR queen








Ruthie, buddie and poet








David, the gent, likes his cornish pasties








Ritch, music mad








Rowena, new girl
Amanda, bride to be
Leona, mountain climber






Ruth Nolan, bless her!









Claire and her new phone











Katharine and Amanda, fun loving chics








Ian, the Director, running away from the camera, the wimp!













Honey and Nicky, Bright's stars of administration - we would be in trouble without them!

Last weekend

We went out to Luke's 30th birthday party. It was a great chance to meet up with university friends and it was a very good shindig! We were in Revolution bar in Broad St, they'd hired the bar upstairs. We saw James and Philippa, Leon, Amy and Luke, Tony, Zoe and all the girls who'd lived next to Alex on the Pershore Rd. It was a fun night!
Evidence? This is me and Pads after getting home from the night!














So the next day, Sunday, was all about recovery! We invited Nathan Laura and Emma over to thank them for last week's meal and Alex cooked a delicious toad in the hole. Yum! We played with Emma, beautiful girl! She only started crawling a few weeks ago and she's already standing up! clever thing!

Christian Aid Week

Last weekend was such a busy one that I haven't had a chance to write about it until now. There are a couple of photos but I'll add them later.

On Saturday there was an Annual General Meeting for the Friends Restoration group. They ran through the historical discoveries made at the sites, some future plans and the progress made so far, such as the approved planning permission. The project will cost £4.7million and it'll be amazing when it's finished. The voted in the newly nominated council members and then they raised a proposal to add an extra non-executive member to the council: me! The move was approved and I was voted in. Rather embarrasingly Rob made me stand up and say hello! It was noted that my presence also lowered the average age by about 20 years! Anyway, it was an interesting meeting.


Then I moved on the the Saracen's head for the Christian Aid celebrations. My parents had come over to see what it was all about and it was lovely to spend the time together being busy and entertained! Mum and I took part in a singing workshop, led by a lovely soprano from Birmingham Conservatoire called Alice Wratten. She has a delicious voice, so when she's rich and famous, remember you heard about her here first! She gives singing lessons and I'm thinking of having a go, she's Jess's teacher and as well as being loads of fun she made me look at singing with fresh eyes and kept the lesson light and easy.

We had cake and tea at the coffee shop, then listened to a band, then the evening's entertainments began. A speaker from Christian Aid came and gave 3 entertaining and short talks about the work of the charity Christian aid. His name was Pete, I forget his surname.

I read 2 peoms by Cuban poet Nancy Morejon, Pogolotti and Black woman, in Spanish and English. I was assured by mum that while I don't write spanish that well I do read it ok, phew!

Jess and Karen also read poems and Rob led some singing and a poem, then me Jess and Alice got up to sing an impromtu version of the Jewish folksong we'd learned at the workshop:

"Shalom, shalom, may be peace be with you
Through all your days
Through all your days
May peace be with you, shalom, shalom."

Finally there was an absolutely fantastic band on, who'd supported Oxfam and G8 and the like. Katlama is great! The guitarrist lead Gary Williams (pictured) was to die for, their songs are fantastic, if you ever get a chance to see them, go!!! They are very colourful but because it was dark mu photos don't show them in full colour, but I downloaded the picture of Gary from the internet to give you an idea...!













Next day Alex made us the best fried brekkie ever, with all the trimmings before going over to Nathan and Laura's. We played with Emma most of the day and relaxed, it was lovely. Then Laura served us a roast beef sunday lunch. She'd made her own yorkshire puds and they had risen loads! And we had 3 each!!! Yum!
Really cool. Then me and Laura stayed behind while the boys went back to ours to play playstation and after an hour we followed, taking a lengthy scenic route along the canals so that Emma could see the ducks! It was a good long walk, bit out of puff by the end!

Last update, I have a new picture of Ruth and Phil's baby. I can reveal it is a boy!

The mystery blogger...unmasked!

Stop press!Stop press!Stop press!Stop press!Stop press!Stop press!Stop press!Stop press!

Well! Hot off the press, I'd like to present the mystery blogger. The mystery blogger wasn't some mysterious spy who flikered through the pages of my blog, taunting me with clues, it wasn't a stranger, or a scary person, or the bad guy out of Scooby Doo.

It was....

Ta da!
Unmasked finally!
He revealed himself to be my uncle Ramon!
I'm so glad it was you!
I was beginning to think I'd need to call in that new special crime squad...!

Pues el hombre misterioso del blog, finalmente esta revelado...

Es mi tiet Ramon!!!
Phew! Gracias a dios que eres tu, tiet!
Ha ha!

An afternoon off

I'd booked the afternoon off on Thursday for an interview and decided to leave it as a holiday as I didn't need to go to the interview any more... So I came home and let the cat out and set to work on the garden. There's a trench down the side that needs sorting out, it's been filled with cement and sand and bricks from when they built the extension and it's something we just never got around to sorting out. So I made headway and added to the pile that Alex had created the day before on his day off. I worked away in the sunshine and got covered in sand and clay, and I decided at about 5pm to take the rubbish out to the front as they'd collect it the next morning. Because it was a very windless day, hot and calm, I didn't put the latch on and pulled the door to behind me to stop the cat going out the front. Pads however had other ideas. She has learned to nose open the door and must have been trying out this new technique when she pushed the door shut.

I was locked out!

The little girls and boys on the close were watching and followed me around the back as I tried vaguely to climb the fence. I was wearing flip flops and there was no way I was going to get over. The children had other ideas...

"No you do it like this, see? Paige, Paige, pass me that pole over there!"
As the 8 year old deftly hung over my back fence she assured me she'd helped the last man who lived here break in too! His wife had locked him out once, I knew this from some other neighbours. She unhooked the back gate, jumped down and let me in!

So I made all 4 of them orange squashes, we chatted, they played around and showed off and I distracted them by teaching them words in Spanish. In the end they left with lists of words, arguing over who could have what... "no Paige you can't have that word, that's MINE!"

And I promised them they'd have their moment of fame on my blog in return for their help, so here they are the Ashbury Covert 'possie'















Paige, the one in pink trying to look well-behaved, is nine and lives next door with her mum Sharon and older brother and sister. They are all lovely kids, really sweet. And they like Pads too, which means I always have people out in the close looking out for her! The other three are eight, seven and six and are two sisters and the little brother. The live on our close and they are best of friends. They've grown up together, the four children and they tend to invite every other kid on the close into their group, including it seems the children of the family who lived here before me. They used to have a paddling pool and they'd all Jump around flooding my garden. It's taken the lawn over a year to recover but never mind!

Yesterday Paige waved and ran over. She said:
"Gemma, I can remember some words! Naranha, pina and limo, and gracias and si!!!"
So Proud...!

Jueves terminaba el trabajo a la 1 d ela tarde por que lo habia organizado medio dia vacacion para una entrevista. Ya que no necesitaba la entrevista me fui a casa y hice mi trabajo en el jardin. Estaba cubierta con polvo y arena y tierra cuando decidi llevar la bolsa de basura al frente de la casa, pero olvide de asegurar que la puerta no podia cerrar bien y quede cerrado afuerra de la casa sin poder entrar otra vez. Que desastre!

Afortunadamente habia las chicas y chocos vecinos vigilando como siempre, e interesados, me preguntaban si me podian ayudar. Segundos mas tarde tenia una chica de ocho anos escalando la cerca de mi jardin, liberando el gancho con un palo largo, y saltando al otro lado para degarme entrar! Claro, tenia que darles las gracias, y les di gotas de jugo de naranja, y les entreteno con clases de espanol. Les explico algunas palabras y parece ser que han recordado algo ya que la mas grande, mi vecina Paige, me dijo ayer
"Gemma! recuerdo unas palabras! Naranha, pina and limo, and gracias and si!!!"
Que orgullo..!

Top news!

I am very excited to hear thatI have a third pregnant friend! My lovely buddy Alisa who I lived with in Sevilla, is expecting a baby with her fiancee Craig and I'm chuffed to bits for them. So expect lots more baby news! What with Hannah and Ruth already getting bigger bumps, I'm expecting life to be awash with baby news over the next few months, and that's not forgetting the ever gorgeous Jack and Emma! Unfortunately Alisa lives in America so I really am going to have to follow this story in virtual reality, but hey, thank goodness for the internet!

Secondly, and I'm exceedingly proud of this, after handing in my notice and accepting the job at Lantra, I was offered an even better position at BioCare which I am very excited about. It is a long term position, and it's walking distance from my house which is good news for everybody! Pads is going to be happy as she'll get a morning run probably! Keep your fingers crossed for me please!

Tengo mas noticias de bebes! Mi amiga buena Alisa, quien conoci en Sevilla cuando compartimos un piso durante seis meses excellentes, esta embarazada. Ella es mi tercera amiga esperando un bebe, asi que esperad muchas mas noticias de bebes! Y esto no cuenta con las historias de mis queridos Jack y Emma. Tristemente Alisa es Americana y vive alli, asi que tendre que seguir su historia con muchos emails, gracias a dios por el internet y los blogs, no?

Mi segunda noticia tambien me da mucha alegria. Despues de la oferta de un puesto de trabajo con Lantra, tambien recibi una oferta de trabajo en una compania casi al lado de mi casa! Se llama BioCare y es un puesto dentro del departamento de marketing. Ademas de darme mas dinerillo me da la oportunidad de caminar al trabajo, algo que no he podido hacer desde que trabaje en la peluquerria cuando tenia 15 anitos! Deseame suerte por favor!

Embarrassing pics!

On Wednesday Jess organised a special Candlelit church evening called Your House, there were activities in each corner and one of them was me singing! There was an alternative therapist offering hand massages, and the scouts were invited and they generally ran around, there were cakes and drinks available to encourage people to mingle and chat, a prayer corner, and we all shared communiion at the end around a big table, breaking bread and sharing wine like it was done originally.

Seeing as I sing there most weeks and she'd also invited a photographer from the parish newsletter, I thought I'd let you see a few of the pictures.

Jess and Rob joined in for the last of three songs, Amazing Grace.






















Aqui hay unas fotos de mi cantando en la iglesia, donde suelo cantar la mayoria de semanas. Ayudando para la tercera cancion estan Rob y Jess, mis amigos.

May Day

Today was 1st May and so we all had a bank holiday. Nathan has recently acquired his dad's car and it's much nicer than his old banger, so he offered to drive us all to the Malvern Hills, in Worcestershire, for some May day fun.

With me Laura and Emma in the back of his new Rover, and Alex and Nathan palacially stretched out in the front, Nathan drove us out through the gorgeous Worcestershire countryside. We weren't sure what was going to be on but there's always something happening on May day so it was just a question of finding somewhere picturesque with Morris dancers!

Upton Upon Severn was holding its Riverside Folk Festival and it was a lovely day. We sat by the river next to The Plough pub and let Emma crawl around on the grass while some very oddly dressed morris dancers jingle-jangled away. Emma really did giggle at the sight of them and you can imagine some of Nathan and Alex's comments! Emma also had a good day for meeting animals. She managed to get a tiny bit closer to Pads before squealing today, and then the family on the grass next to us introduced her to their golden retriever, Herbie. He was gorgeous and she was fascinated!









There was an eclectic mix of people, comprising big and burly bikers, re-enactment bods, folk people and cultural types. There was everything on sale from tye die tops, to pixie ear tips (£4 each!!!) to pancakes (I had a banana and chocolate one, yum, I couldn't resist!) to accordians!

There was a marina and lots boats passing by on the river, a swell of people, a market and quite a few bands and morris dancer groups.









It was a beautiful day!









Nos pasamos el dia celebrando el primer de Mayo, que en inglaterra es un dia de vacacion. Es tradicional ir a ver bailarines de Morris, normalmente se visten raramente pero adonde fuimos era una festival de folklore y habia unos grupos de bailarines vestido estupendamente raro - figense en la foto de bailarines vestidos en rosa!!! Emma se reia como una loca!