I've been too quiet for too long and I'm so glad to be back! I owe a lot of people an email at least and I will be catching up with everyone soon - promise!
Basically, there are 2 members of the family that are moving house, and both are elderly and need help. Well, Anne isn't so old really, but she does need help, and Grandma is suddenly much older and frailer than she used to be. That shouldn't be a surprise really because Grandma is 93! They're both moving to Brightlingsea, which is a town near us. It's an estuary town, which means it's on the water but it's not quite the sea. They've both stayed with us a lot (and by "us" I mean Mum and Dad but I've been over there too) and in between visits I've been absolutely exhausted! Still, everything's going well and with luck they will both have moved by the end of May. I'll keep you posted.
In addition, I've had an unused shower room converted into a smurf room. It's only just been finished and I'm still in the process of moving the smurfs in. I will be posting pictures soon. It's really good to give them their own room at last although some things will remain in the dining room which has now been renamed the hobby room!
I had a nasty shock at the weekend when I came home late at night to find water pouring through the dining room ceiling! Fortunately it missed all the important things and the damage was minimal! An upstairs toilet had been leaking quietly for months (I don't use that bathroom much) and the cistern had suddenly broken! It must have been a manufacturing flaw because it's the 2nd cistern I've had to replace this year! It's all cleared up now and the ceiling is drying out so after a lick of paint you won't know it happened at all. I was very lucky really though because it missed all the smurf stuff and other hobby things and only some books got a bit wet. The books are drying out nicely and there was nothing there that was valuable.
My apologies again for just disappearing. Sometimes you don't know what's round the corner and these moves have been decided upon quite quickly. Sometimes everything just happens at once! I have missed you all though!