Summertime...and the Crepeys are easy

[motherinferior]

With much love to BD.

(We are going to county cork btw in frugal manner.)

Ensconced in house rather near motorway

Colly - yes they are the Elena Farrante ones.

BD thinking of you

Herbs - ignore, ignore - my otherwise lovely dsis told me she thought my taking (much financially needed) job had directly contributed to ddad's giving up and dying
Poly - I'll message you not sure can be helpful but is a wonderful area
Lalsy - what where why no email?? V good luck.

Addle (again). email?

MI, have a brilliant time.

MrsS, words fail me.

BD, for today.

Herbs, has something happened to make you feel a bit bereft like tat or was it the complete ghastliness of yesterday?

Interview - not clear what it is and may well come to nothing. Freelance (what I am), vague and patchy skill set required (what I have). It is - loosely - heritage - mixture of research, writing (history/funding) and talking to people as far as I can tell, in an area about which know little. Willr ead up more. So, don't think suit (have never worn one), think smart casual will do. But what? I have the linen dress I linked to a while back but my legs are a mass of scratches and pink blotchy sunburn. Have a pair of linen trousers but they are quite loose and casual.

Am home, not delighted to be so, to put it mildly.

I don't think it's TOTM, as far as I can tell. Frankly, who knows these days. Just sheer ghastliness I think.

And re Addle sis. I don't think any of the Well Meaning Friends have had to juggle the triumverate of job, small child and elderly parents.

m.youtube.com/watch?v=q4LHvL3TVik

Am beyond shattered....

BD, that is quite lovely and has made me shed a few tears. It's a great tribute to your DM and family. Take care of yourself over the next couple of days and now take time to grieve. Many hugs.

Oh BD, that's so lovely. Did you make the film?
Particularly moving were your parents' wedding photos - such a handsome and eager look to them! Also the ones of your mum with an array of different dogs which she clearly loved and was adored by... (and with her dos of course!).
Hope you're ok in all the circs lovely. X

That's lovely BD, really lovely.

Made me weep too. But a really touching tribute. I feel like I knew her.

BD - that is lovely - such a difficult time for you though. Try to get a good rest. .

Herbsthat was a shitty day. Nothing to add to the brilliant words of wisdom of the others about the 'well meaning friend'.

Here am ensconced in sunny Cambridge. Lots of hen parties so am hoping none are near us in the hotel!

Glad the mini MU went well. Mrs S - mine would have got too hungry and sorted food.

I have something in my eye, BD.

Wish I'd known your Mum - she looks so lovely & such fun.

An amazing tribute.

Oh BD i am sobbing. Your lovely mum.
I love the picture of her in the polka dot skirt looking fresh-faced and a bit shy.
Be your own best friend for the next few days and go easy on yourself.

Am home too Lalsy, and can't say Im much impressed either. Have put on electric blanket ffs. Still the cat is alive ( ) and so are the plants. No escape attempts by goats reported, Also good. Still , 20 degrees colder here, as predicted.

Am raging for you Herbs. Just furious.
The 'well meaning , but lacking in imagination' friend needs to look elsewhere to fill up her life. Hope the email does the trick. shame about friends not being there for u Herbs. Its an empty feeling Im familiar with unfortunately. I Know that everyone is juggling too though, and hope you get a call back soon.

MI how are things in The Wild West?

Beautiful photos, beautiful memories, BD. Several fine ones of you in there too. Hope it was as comforting and sustaining as it could be.

Herbs, hope you've had a restorative day.

DD's show was terrific and she seems to have made lots of friends, they could hardly tear themselves away afterwards. Luckily her cousin and his gf are coming to stay tomorrow so that will console her. Hope they'll also talk to her about universities and how to go about choosing. Think she needs a little encouragement and confidence-building.

Prospect of visitors has spurred me to make another big push on DM's room, so they can stay in it. DH helped & we're making real progress but there's still a faint lavendery scent of her in there.

I'm also preparing for appraisal MrsS but then on Friday we head to Cornwall for 2 weeks, so making self-catering type lists in my head as well.

BD, so pleased it went well. I will watch the tribute when we are back in our blingy hotel which will hopefully be better for streaming.

Herbs, the email sounds a good idea. If she doesn't take the hint then, you will have to be more blunt about your other responsibilities. I hope someone was/is available to help you drown your sorrows

MI, sounds like the PIL caravan on a site near near Newport Pagnell services

Auriga, glad your DDs show went well - was it singing or a theatre production? I think they are all a bit overawed by the whole uni application thing. DD is currently saying that the uni her bf is hoping to get into for Sep will be her first choice, with my old one as her insurance (got the lowest grades needed!) despite the fact that she LOVED my old uni and the course and hasn't even been to visit the other yet and I think she wI'll find the other students too "Jack Wills" for her liking

In hol news, Halong Bay trip was good, despite it been rather cloudy. The food was good, the rooms were good and the visits were good, particlary the one to some huge caves which were stunning. But none of us had our phones on us to take pics

Now waiting an hour for a minibus to take us on a the hair-raising 4 hour ride back to our blingy hotel in Hanoi.

Greetings from the Marriott Hotel in San Fran. I can't hope to catch up with all the crepey goings-on, but I did just watch that lovely tribute to your lovely DM, BD. Huge hugs from across the Atlantic.

Our holiday is still going swimmingly (hence so little time spent on MN....). We are just back from a night-time tour of Alcatraz (very atmospheric and spooky, but b**y freezing on that boat), and have been hopping on and off trams and buses to explore all corners of the city. Rather too much time has been spent in the tacky vortex of Fisherman's Wharf (like a waterfront Leicester Square), but the DCs enjoyed it. The hotel here is quite posh, definitely one of the more "corporate" ones on our itinerary; after I made a big foot-stamping fuss about the pool being closed they gave us all complimentary breakfast....then contacted me personally to say that they'd decided to open the pool for the weekend after all.

We had a super-relaxing three days in Pismo Beach (thumbs up to Rudy for recommending the hotel), doing very little apart from swimming, eating and chilling, although the weather was a bit "off" for the last day. Then up to Hearst Castle (still stunning), then Carmel (far too pleased with itself) and Monterey (meh). The Pacific Coast Highway, though Big Sur and all the dramatic coastline was shrouded in smoke and cloud from the wildfires, which we could see from the highway, and San Fran is of course always foggy in August, so we're hoping the weather picks up again when we go inland. The LA suntans are fading, FFS! We're off to the mountains for a few days (including another Rudy-recommendation), then back to LA in a week's time to fly home.

I have done far too much shopping, and eaten ridiculous amounts of utterly unhealthy food. And I don't care. It's 11.30pm, and I am eating Oreos. I'm not sure which will attract the biggest Excess Baggage charge - me or my suitcase. After the first couple of days, when everyone was snappy, stressed and tired, we are all getting along really well. DS (in particular) has relaxed and become a much more amiable human being, and rediscovered his family. All three DCs are playing far too much Pokemon Go for my liking, though. Hey ho.

Thank you all - the video was all dp's hard work - he was a star yesterday. I stayed home last night - not that I was much use - absolutely knackered. I will head home today at some point. Dbro is off tomorrow so will keep any eye on dad.

CV - San Fran sounds lovely. I have just awoken and can have been undisturbed by hen parties. Amazingly quiet for a full hotel.

Off to walk to Grantchester meadows today.

Oh BD, what a lovely tribute, sniffing here. Try to rest now, and let the emotions wash over you.

CV, your hol sounds amazing - I want to do it! You are wise to go now, before dc older and it gets impossible to get away for that long.

Uni - getting bit worried about ds too. He has nearly read one short book (albeit dense) all summer, not looked at a course website or given it any thought AFAIK. Tilly, she doesn't have to rank them now tho, does she - much water under the bridge before next spring? And she may go to offer-holder days I guess? I suspect if ds applies this year, he may just bung down another three he has heard of that are in a decent sized place, as well as the two he has visited. He wants to do something like history, so it is hard to make sense of the course differences as they are all massive, lots of choice.

That is so great about dd's show, Auriga.

BD thank you for sharing this very personal and special memory with us. I hope you're doing ok after what must have been a big day for you all X

Great that the hols are going so well CV, tilly addle. Welcome home cremo and MI apart for the motor way, what's the place like?

Good luck for the interview lalsy and and lovely to hear about DDs concert auriga and forthcoming trip to Cornwall.

hatty how long are you in the uk for?

monty how is it going in Yorkshire?

Have I caught up?

Nice day yesterday seeing a stonking good show with a meal after en famille with remarkably little bickering. DS seems to be being nice to DD for once. I wonder what's got in to him?

Today I have the PILs coming done for the day. I am already tired thinking about it.

I've just packed MIL off... The silence is deafening

BD, just watched the lovely video - looks like she was a very loving mum to both her children and her dogs DH looked at me funny as I got a bit emosh with the music too.
CV your hol sounds fab. I am trying to persuade DH that we should go there next summer. I have been DESPERATE to go to San Fran since i saw it o a ttavel or something programme years ago.What is the weather like?

Lalsy, I agree, theres no major rush. And hopefully by the time she (hopefully!) gets offers, she'll know how the land lies with bf and whether she seriously wants to go to the same one as him.

We are back at our blingtastic hotel in the same rooms! I managed to read on my Kindle for most of the journey so it passed quite quickly and stopped me from looking out the window at near-death situations, though the bit driving through flooded, but chaotically busy roads at 50 MPH was somewhat worrying!
I sm reading The Beach by Alex Garland which is set in Thailand so quite appropriate!

Beachy

We liked San Fran, too, but for our last couple of trips (and this one) we have just had an overnight stop before we travelled up to Santa Rosa. We have been there in April, DSis in August, and the weather was foggy for both of us. I am glad to hear that you have enjoyed yourselves, CV - where is your next stop?

Auriga, your DD's musical ability sounds tremendous. Well done to her.

BD, how are you doing?

I am busy half cleaning the house before our visitor arrives tomorrow. Last thing I heard was that Virgin thinks there will be no changes to train services on Friday - not sure I believe them, tbh. DH has offered to drive her to Wetherby if one of her sons can do the other half of the journey.