Mature student life in Scotland | Scroll Down To View Posts |
Welcome to the world…, originally uploaded by Larelle_M_R.
Lilly Maree Dowdell. Born 10.28am, Australian Eastern Standard Time August 7th, 2009, weighing 7lb 10oz.That means her birth date will be 07/08/09!
Congratulations to Lisa and Adrian. I have a great niece!
culprits, originally uploaded by Larelle_M_R.
At around 8.45am on Thursday morning, I fell down the stairs. I could feel myself falling, but there was no way to stop the propulsion when it happened. I felt every little bump and mishap on the way down. I could also hear every second of Em’s “Oh, oooh, poor Teds!” commentary on the way down. When I finally got to the bottom, I was on my back and feeling quite trapped. Em was right above me, checking how I was which was making me feel a little claustrophobic. I could feel I’d hurt my knee and my elbow. I started crying – more from frustration and shock that it happened to me, rather than because I was feeling badly injured.
After a couple of minutes, I managed to get up.. My knee felt badly twisted, and when I sat down on the sofa, pain surged through my right knee area. I elevated my leg on a foot stool to try and stop it hurting so much, and took two ibuprofen tablets. My mum called shortly after to ask if I could arrange a grocery delivery for her online, as she was signing off (she was going to call back in an hour to do the shopping), I started to cry again. Obviously she was concerned and then I had to explain that I’d just falling down the stairs. Poor mum. I had her worried as hell when I started crying! I reassured her I was okay, apart from my knee. Shortly afterwards I needed the toilet, so had to try and stand (and negate the stairs again). I actually felt better standing up than I did when seated. I took that as a good sign. The stairs were okay to negate going up, but not so nice coming down. I took my time! But because I can’t lift my right leg up too much, it sort of makes coming back down the stairs more painful. My first nights sleep was quite painful. I couldn’t really get my leg in a good position. I normally sleep on my stomach or left side. I was kind of okay sleeping on my left side, but couldn’t sleep on my tummy – which REALLY pissed me off. I did try, but my leg really didn’t like being in that position, so I’d have to go back to be on my left side and it would KILL moving my leg! Last night my sleep was a bit more comfortable, even though I still couldn’t lay on my stomach. I used a pillow to help prop my leg up when on my back or on my left side. I haven’t got my leg so elevated today. I’ve also successfully negated having a shower as well, so that’s making me feel better. It might take maybe a week to 10 days to really recover, but I think my knee will without me needing any medical treatment. Small mercies…
Two little things that came to my attention today when I got my replacement Acer. The first one, FROM Acer’s guides…
Langkawi Airport 4, originally uploaded by Larelle_M_R.
I was making my way out to Australia for one of my extended trips home. Before arriving at KLIA (Kuala Lumpur International Airport in Malaysia), we had a short stop at Langkawi Airport.
Not all the passengers had to alight from the plane, we were only stopping about 90 minutes. Most chose to exercise their legs, but a few remained. As I alighted and made my way to the TINY terminal, I decided I might as well take a shot of the plane. I took two or three before quickly being approached by a security guard politely asking me not to take any more photos. I quickly obliged. I know how security in some Asian countries can be and I *didn’t* want to rock the boat. The terminal had one tiny little shop. I had no Malaysian money so I couldn’t buy anything, so I had to take just ONE more shot inside the terminal. I don’t know why really. It’s juvenile, but the name of these sweets made me giggle. Nips! In a bag! LOL
Chrissy046, originally uploaded by Larelle_M_R.
This is my favourite picture of Chrissy as a kitten. I think we’ve had her only a few days when this photo was taken. The photo would date around mid February 2000.
I’d been in the UK seven months. I missed my Oz cat, Tiger, like crazy and *SO* wanted to have a cat here. Obviously being in a rented property we were not meant to have pets. But I worked it all out and ‘gently’ persuaded Em to take a chance on us getting a kitten. Early in February (the 10th, to be exact), 2000 I was at the local laundrette doing some tumble drying. The local rag was there to read and so I looked in the classifieds section to see if there was anything under pets. To my joy there were some kittens listed for sale in the nearby town of Dunstable for £10 a pop. I had my mobile with me, so I called the number there and then. The lady said she had one female (Chrissy) left. I asked her to please keep her for me and I would pick her up that evening. That night we went over to Dunstable to collect Chris. She was sitting on the ladies lounge with her mum. There were 3 or 4 of her brothers all around in the loungeroom. They were all playing while she was sitting contently with her mum. I remember seeing her and falling instantly in love with her. She was gorgeous! We paid the £10, thanked the lady, and were on our way home with our new bundle of fluff. I was in raptures. And the rest, as they say, is history. Chrissy will be 10 on December 1st, 2009.The Cheslyn Close household is a gadget minefield at the moment. I’ve just taken possession of my first ever iPod yesterday. I am LOVING it. Don’t know WHY I ever went for the X-Fi in the first place, or persevered with it for SO long! Money, I suppose. It sort of dictated my decision.
But I’m not the only one in the house who’s got a new toy to play with. Em has also got a gadget to play with. I only ordered it on Monday night and it arrived this morning! It was meant to delivered next week, but arrived this morning. No complaints here! It’s an Internet radio. It’s a tinny, pink box, but it was VERY affordable for an Internet radio. At first it didn’t look like it was going to link to the ‘net, but with perseverance, Em got it connected. She’s still fiddling with it now. I’m not sure if it’s working or not at the moment. But it WAS working just before. We were listening in to Australian radio stations. Yep, it’s all up and running…
Click the image of the butterfly to see the whole album.
A beautiful butterfly in the butterfly house at Wild Britain. It was formerly known as Bedford Butterfly Park, but it wasn’t just butterflies!
Em and I took a visit there on August 31st, 2004. I remember it being a nice sunny day, but it wasn’t overly warm for a late summer’s day. But the butterfly house was stifling! What is it about flutties and humid conditions?
It was lovely seeing all exotic kinds of flutties. And there was a petting zoo there with pigs, goats, bunnies and other small animals.
One of my favourite sights of that day was seeing all the owl butterflies having a feast on the rotting fruit left out for them to gorge on. There were about 6 of them on the feeder.
I do love butterflies. It really *IS* an amazing aspect of nature that just a few months, even a few WEEKS earlier, a lovely butterfly would have been in a chrysalis, and before that would have been a caterpillar munching away on your cabbage leaves. They really are something to behold. I can’t believe there are people that are scared of them!
There are other photos from the day to view. You can see them by clicking the butterfly photo.
birchengrove001, originally uploaded by Larelle_M_R.
I have only lived in three houses in all my life. This was the second. After living for 28 years in my mum’s house, I moved to the UK to be with Em on July 21st, 1999.
We lived here until August 2003 when we moved on to Cheslyn Close. Birchen Grove was a lovely place to live. It was a long street (hence we were number 193 – and that wasn’t the end of the street!) and was very busy. Most of the houses were maisonettes, so there were cars parked ALL THE WAY down the street. Em’s parents Mozzy and Gilly only lived two streets away, so were within walking distance of our house. We lived close to Stopsley village which was also within walking distance, as was Luton town centre. We certainly felt more involved in the community there. Wigmore (the area of Luton we live in now) is quite a way from town, so you tend to feel more remote and segregated. We knew our neighbours at Birchen Grove. In the houses opposite lived Mark (we didn’t know him so well) and Harry. Harry lived in the downstairs maisonette. He was quite old, but was still very sprightly. His son would visit regularly, and they’d take day trips, go out to eat, see theatre shows. They even went to the Edinburgh military tattoo one year together! Below us we had a real crackpot when we first moved in. Didn’t even know his name. Didn’t WANT to know! He was an alcoholic and would verbally abuse himself – and sometimes would seemingly be physically violent to himself. We had some sleepless nights while he lived below us. After about 6 months though, he moved out and the maisonette was bought by Eddie. He was a young, single guy. Quite a hippy type, but despite his age was quite a quiet neighbour and was good to have living below us. Across the road from us was Ted, or Super Ted as we sometimes referred to him (not to his face). He was ALWAYS on the go, gardening, mowing lawns, putting the bins out each week, feeding the stray cats. I think he was quite frugal too, for at night, even in the dead of winter, he would appear to sit in total darkness. He never had a light on at night. And most nights it appeared he didn’t even watch telly. The house itself had its pluses and minuses. It was near the end of the road, so it wasn’t quite so busy at our end. We could peer at the posh houses opposite on Sunset Drive and wonder how on earth the people there afforded their mortgages. Some of their garages were bigger than our maisonette! The rooms were of good size – minus the kitchen which was a box! Well, a rectangle to be precise. But a very small rectangle. It was also quite cold in winter and warm in summer. The coldness was due to having old Economy 7 heating (brick block heaters that heat up overnight and are off during the day). We used to have to have additional heating during the winter months. We also had only secondary double glazed windows (removable second panes of windows), so there was a constant problem of condensation. But overall, we loved living there and still miss it sometimes.
Cockington Green, originally uploaded by Larelle_M_R.
I thought that when there’s not much doing and I’m looking for a topic to post on my blog, I’d pick a photo from Flickr (where this particular post is being written from) and talk about. Give a background behind the photo. What happened on the day, etc.
This photo was taken in April 2002 (can’t remember the specific date). Em and I had returned to Australia for a holiday. I’d been very ill leading up to our departure but I wasn’t going to be put off from going home. I had been diagnosed with a chest infection by my doctor here in the UK. Once in Australia, I got progressively worse. I’d have coughing fits and wouldn’t be able to breathe. We’d been in Oz about 3 or 4 days when I had a coughing fit in my mum’s kitchen. I couldn’t breathe and then lost consciousness and passed out on her floor. When I came round it was apparent I needed to go to the doctors again. I saw my mums doctor and he diagnosed Whooping Cough. It was confirmed with a blood test. I was given strong anti-biotics and was given asthma medication to help my breathing. Towards the end of our stay, even though I was by no means 100% better, we decided to have a few days in Canberra and to take mum with us. On our last day in Canberra we decided to go to Cockington Green, a model village based on a village in the UK called Cockington, near Torquay in Devon. The picture is of myself and my mum leaving the entrance to the model village. I’m carrying a souvenir mug in the plastic bag. Mum is to the left of me. It was a lovely little place and it was akin to being able to take my mum on a tour of England. It was really nice. If anyone reading the post has any plans of visiting Canberra, I highly recommend going to Cockington Green.
Knackered, Hot Chris 1
Originally uploaded by Larelle_M_R
As you know we are level three heatwave alert in the UK at the moment. This afternoon the temperature reached 30 degrees Celsius. Chrissy was splayed out on the bed in a mix of what looked like joy and lethargy.
Em took this shot around 6pm this evening.