Frustrating two days

The last two days have been sooo frustrating.

Yesterday I was ready to scream. Ten wasted hours driving to and sitting at a station waiting for two witnesses to turn up. But they didn't.

The first because he couldn't be bothered, To turn up or to ring me to cancel. Even though I asked him to as I was so busy, so I could then offer the slot to someone else. But that didn't bother him.

The second who asked me to ring him with confirmation of the start time, so I did. Twice. But he decided he didn't want to take the calls because they showed 'private number' calling. Then didn't turn up at the aranged time. So I phoned him to find out why. And got told off because I was supposed to ring him - huh?? His comment 'Oh was that you ringing me?' So he said he would be there in 1/2 hour but two hours later he still hadn't showed. Or phoned me.

What a complete and utter waste of my time. And worse, two other jobs could have been done instead. Two other people could have had the chance to put together a composite of their attacker. But no, because two witnesses were too selfish and inconsiderate and totally happy to waste police time. And we are constantly slated by the public and media for not providing a good service!

Then today. Nine hours to get a composite because my lovely witness could not speak, or hear, or read, or write. Never been to school, only a very basic knowledge of sign language. This was probably the hardest job I have done. The witness was brilliant, as was my interpreter and video controller. Everyone so patient. But at the end of the day, how do you get past the hurdle of someone who has no concept of nationality? No concept of age? And this was just the beginning. But she kept on trying, working hard all that time, so hopefully we have something that might just work. Might just identify her attacker. I hope so. If there is any justice to be had.

I was just too tired to even think of scrapbooking tonight. Well I thought of it but I didn't do anything. Maybe tomorrow. Or the weekend. It is the Ickenham Crop on Sunday and I am so looking forward to a relaxing day. Catching up with friends and maybe even a page or two! Maybe....

On a happier note. My baby is coming home tomorrow! It has been a long two weeks without her around but she will be back home by 9.30pm tomorrow and I can't wait! She has spent the last week on work experience at Tameside Hospital under a Consultant who sounds lovely. Happy to include her in ward rounds. Direct questions at her as well as the junior doctors there. Ask her opinion and listen to her answers. Explain what he is looking for when seeing patients in his clinics. Ask her to 'diagnose' symptons. OK, she won't know but she has listened to his previous descriptions and has felt confident enough to offer an opinion. What a lovely guy to make her feel valued in that way. Suggestions on what to research in the medical library, to compliment what she has seen. All to give her an edge over other applicants if she is offered interviews when she eventually applies to the various Universities.

So far we are looking at Manchester, Liverpool, Brighton, Bristol, Keele, Nottingham and possibly Aberdeen. We have a busy few weeks ahead of us with visits!

Odney

Sam and her family had gone down to Odney near Cookham for a few days; staying at the beautiful John Lewis premises set in stunning parkland. I've been a few times before and Sam invited me over for lunch today. We sat outside alongside the river to eat, then headed over to the mini golf and then the open air swimming pool. Although it was a gorgeous day, Sam and I felt it would be really noble of us to let Ian supervise the children and we laid out in the sun with coffee and just caught up with all the gossip!

This is the beautiful main building with it's fabulous flower beds and hanging baskets....



Some of the many flowers on display....







And the old brick walled gardens.

Canal Walk

My dad came over for the day, so after a couple of hours working in the garden whilst Roy and my dad waited for Lewis Hamilton to win the Hungarian Grand Prix we drove over to Rickmansworth for a walk down the canal. It was a beautiful day, probably the hottest so far of the year and it was just perfect for a few hours strolling along the towpath towards Watford (not that we got that far!), looking at the boats, swans and countryside.





I loved how some of the boats were really rusting up; the texture of the flaking paint and rough ropes tied around the cleats.







Along the towpath the blackberries and elderberries were just starting to ripen; in particular the blackberries were every shade from green, through to red, through to black. They tasted quite bitter still.





I hoped to see dragonflies amongst the plants and reeds at the waters edge but nothing, just a few bees collecting nectar. However there were a couple of swans with two cygnets, still with their grey feathers.



After a mile or so, we cut off through some footpaths that took us out in the town centre and made our way back to the pub at the entrance to the Aquadrome for a quick drink. It was then about time to go back and start the barby and just chill out in the garden.

Scrapping today

After doing some jobs (not all...the weather was far too nice today!) I got down to some scrapbooking. Why is it when it is for me, the design comes easily, yet if it is for SI I struggle. Anyway these two pages are using the fab Rouge de Garance papers which I keep getting from Banana Frog and never using! I just love their bright colours and that mix of colour and black and white. I added a few letter stickers and buttons but basically it is all RdeG.



This is Holly aged four, having a blast on the Quad Bikes at the Harrow Show back in the summer of 1994.



And this is Holly and her adorable little nephew Jack on his 1st birthday. All his family travelled from far and wide (even the US and Spain) to be there for the occasion. Holly just adores him and I think he feels the same way too, judging by the way his face lights up when he sees her.

Emma

I took some photos of the little girl next door today. I was keeping an eye on Emma as she played in the garden whilst Dave and Laura were busy fitting their new kitchen. It seemed to good an opportunity to miss so I snapped away as she played. These were some of my favourites!

Handing me some leaves...





Big eyes...





Nothing tastes better than a thumb!

Summer has come back!

It is a beautiful morning, the sun is shining, the skies are blue, the washing is on and in a minute I am going to cut the grass! We seem to have waited so long for warm weather and it has finally returned and on a weekend as well.

Lat night we had a barbeque and Laura, Dave, Andrew and Emma came round. It was an impromptu one so no fancy food but it just felt good to be able to sit outside and eat. I think our last barbeque was for my brother and family when they stopped on their way from Boston to Kenya.

I plan to do some scrapbooking today, I need to think of magazine assignments as we are into the next issue now. I also want to do some for Banana Frog as I ordered some gorgeous Rouge De Garance papers from Bev a couple of weeks ago and just haven't had time to use them.

These are a couple of pages I have done for Bev since she started her blog. Not very productive :(




And a couple of pages I did for myself.

Banana Frog Challenge

Does anyone fancy winning a Banana Frog gift voucher and having their work featured on the blog? In that case you really need to check out Banana Frog's latest challenge - here. Tricia has used the 'Build A Bloom' stamps to create a number of fabulous projects, including cards, a layout and a mini album. All you have to do is use the same stamps to create your own project and submit it by midnight 12th August. The winner will be announced on the 15th