Grandma P's Ramblings Through Life

Normal life has continued this week, as I post photographs of the wedding weekend.
Yesterday involved a blood test for me, food shopping and athletics - where we felt so cold!
It also involved meeting with an adviser at our bank - who I think is actually being helpful.
We will return to get our finances (meagre finaces really) in order.
Today has involved shopping (at the Ford car boot sale), a blood test for Bill and an athletics meeting on TV.
It has also involved breakfast in Littlehampton, parcel wrapping and posting, and trying to clear away things I bought this morning.
The weather felt not quite right - I quickly become very content in hot weather. And the hot weather has gone.
It wasn't actually cold today - indeed I felt the air was quite oppressive.
I have felt quite down and so sleepy.
Tomorrow we will got to Dorking - I have sold the lovely 1960s table that you might recall from earlier photographs.
I will take another one in.
This will be on our way to see French Julie. She has agreed to be driven to the pub at the end of her road for lunch. I hope she actually agrees to it when we arrive, for I know that if she gets out of the house she will find much more confidence and positivity about her future.
Scroll down now to savour some delights of Tewkesbury where we based last weekend.

Last weekend we were based in Tewkesbury - a lovely abbey town in Gloucestershire.
The river Avon joins the river Severn just south of the town.
We enjoyed a short walk beside the river before attending a family wedding.


Poppies in the front gardens of riverside cottages.


























































































The 11th century abbey is beautiful and full of history.

But something felt wrong to me.....money grabbing.
I am fully aware that all old buildings, including religious buildings need money to keep them maintained.
I had put a donation in their collecting box as we entered.
But the first thing you see when you enter the abbey is a machine....a machine to accept your credit card.
I felt uncomfortable with that.

After I had taken my photo, I was approached and told that I could obtain a permit to take photographs....at a cost.

Never mind, there are many photos on the internet.
I presume the photographer who took the next superb shot had a permit.










The photographer also had some splendid equipment to be able to include entire windows and the fantastic decorated ceiling.


Street scene, including The Royal Hop Pole Hotel.
We visited it twice.
On the morning of the wedding we called in for toasted tea cakes (4) and  drinks. £3.14! Good value eh?
It is a Wetherspoon's establishment.





What a wonderful old building.

The following morning we met up with others and enjoyed breakfast in the garden, by the river.

















Lots of  alleyways in Tewkesbury.
we walked through Lilley's Alley to get back to the abbey.

Is that it then? Is summer over?
This evening we have been at the Brighton track and felt cold - very cold.
We watched as sea mist flowed over the top of the hill, falling down upon the sports arena.
We had dressed as if summer would go on for ever.
Bill got away for a minute and brought blankets from the car.
It was quite a prestigious meeting, with electric timekeeping. I began by recording the times on my watch and the electric times, so that I could at some point work out how well I had done.
But as the evening progressed, and we all sort of lost the will to care, I regret I gave it all up.
There were some top class races. One of our timekeepers watched the creme de la creme of 800 metre runners from this region with great interest. Would anybody beat his ground record for the distance?
That record stands for another year.
Chris Carter ran in both the Tokyo and Mexico Olympics.
And with my normal bedtime hour passed, that will be all for now.
I must sort out some warmer clothes to wear to Ford and Littlehampton tomorrow.

More wedding pictures!
Today I shall show my extended family having fun on that beautiful day.
It is a complicated family - but the complications cause no bother. We are as one, however tenuous the link.
They are posted in no special order, just as they appeared on my camera.
I wish I had been a bit more diligent because there are gaps. But I was not there when formal group photos were taken.
I won't name anybody...if you know them, then there is no point and if you don't it is pointless too.








That's my man!
He is happy to find a pretty girl to talk to.































She said that she never comes out well in photos.
I promised she would look good in mine....and I know I have succeeded.
Hope she thinks so too.



























Younger ones, and the not so young, ran races for a while on the lawn.




















Fortunately somebody had a great selection of hats in the car.
It was very hot.


The groom's mother plays fire engines.

Strange effect because the hat was navy blue and not transparent.











Time for the wedding breakfast - a superb three course meal.


Here she is looking really attractive again.































That's my man again in conversation with a lovely lady who had been the childminder for the bride some 25 years ago.














The little ones take to the floor before the bride and groom dance the first dance.



















Lovely young one.























Older ones indulge in  a bit of rock and roll.


































Then they stop and joyfully laugh.



Most people went out to the garden again to enjoy  the views and the sunset.

This is me - Grandma P.

Simon and Nikki's wedding.
A beautiful day.
Some photos were taken up on the hill whilst we all drank Pimms, or elderflower or just lots of water. It was a very hot day.
I presume there were the normal group photos taken too - with the families of the bride and groom.
These photos are as I saw their day. I have many more photos, very informal ones and portraits of Nikki and lots of people at the wedding.
But for now, I give you Simon and Nikki's wedding day.

Apologies to wedding goers.....I haven't any pictures for tonight.
Some are done, but I feel like getting to bed pretty soon.
We have been in the shop today.
We have had the usual assortment of people in - fun trying to find a birthday present for the boss of a young man. The boss likes wine and smoking and items with much grandeur and ornamentation. Such items were a bit outside the normal world of our young man. We got very close, but the silver bottle coasters were outside his financial reach.
Other people have brought things in for us to buy - mostly without success.
Iris succeeded. We haven't seen her for a couple of weeks; she has been at her daughter's, who has severe arthritis. Iris has been building fences and moving piles of compost about and generally getting daughter's garden into shape. Iris is impressive....she is 85.And she makes the most delicious cream meringues....she bought half a dozen in for us today.
Takings for Bill and me haven't been too bad.
I will post the next batch  of wedding photos in the morning.
Well, OK....just one for now.
Let's get this one over and done with!
My brother took this one - he has done rather better than me at getting photos sorted.
So, thank you Roger for sharing lots, so far.

I can't begin to describe the last 3 days in any detail - well, not this evening.
We are tired.
My nephew's wedding was quite wonderful on a very hot and sunny day.
We have shared the occasion with many family people and some friends of  Simon who we have met on occasions through the years. And we have got to know some of Nikki's family and friends too.
It was a day full of love and beauty.
It was a day of just  a bit too much wine and too much eating.....but hey! It was a celebration!
This morning we went for breakfast with.....are they friends or are they family?
We were with my brother's wife's sister and her family. I guess if the family tree was drawn very widely we would all appear on it.
But it is good really that all my family can be counted as friends.
We have explored Tewkesbury, where we stayed on Saturday night.
I have lots of photos to sort of course.
That won't be done until Tuesday at the earliest.
Except I have 3 for you now. I don't know if these are the best - just ones I picked out.
Though, I hope you will agree that my sunset picture can never be ignored.


The happy couple during the afternoon.
































During the evening.

This is a morning of getting organised for a weekend away, which includes a family wedding.
Why, oh why do we not get organised in advance of events?
Oh dear, we don't even know if we have sent a wedding present yet! Definitely don't have a wedding card.
It is the wedding of our nephew and his bride, in lovely Worcestershire.
This afternoon we will join my brother and his wife in readiness for the big day.
The weather forecast is fantastic - much sunshine and warmth.
We return home on Sunday.

Now, to Strangers on the Shore - no, not the Acker Bilk clarinet record of long ago, though it still sounds good.
These are pictures I took yesterday of strangers at Littlehampton.
I love doing it, and the pictures have been well received by those who have seen them already.
I thought people would just think I was crazy for taking pictures of strangers, but they seemed to understand the fun of people watching (we all do it). Then as I work on the pictures I seem to invent stories about my "victims" - some could become characters in a novel; except that I don't write novels.

The first three were taken as we ate our breakfast in the riverside cafe. There is a low wall beside the river at that point where people sit and chat or eat.....fish and chips and  ice creams.


I felt sad for these two. I felt they were the sort not to feel they have much control on life.
Why oh why did they choose to sit right by the huge litter bin?










That ice cream was rather big for the toddler.
It was dripping - hence the tissue in Mum's hand.



















Enjoying the sunshine and the view....and the chips.




















On weekdays men gather at the Oyster Pond to sail their model yachts and have a gentle time.



















A bit of glamour by the river.
A. told me that the word "glamour" has origins in medieval witch craft.


















Taking the boat out to sea.















Not quite asleep, but lost in thought.




















I decided that these two would be meeting a couple of others for lunch, but were early.
So, they sat for a while in the sunshine.
The woman in the foreground was anxiously playing with the tails of her bolero.
Why? What traumas are in life for her?
















Nice looking woman, with a gentle face.
She was strolling with two men.
Could there be an intrigue here?
I doubt it, probably her husband and his brother.
















Jaunty eh?
Red braces, purple shirt.
The colours suggest to me that he is loving life.



















"If you say so"

A life time of being together has taught her not to bother to argue with him.













"He told me to wait here"

We saw the owner come back for him, so no worries.

















No people in the picture - but somebody put the beach umbrella up.




















The reading today is......

It's a book by somebody, who some deem to be a bit of a religious crank.


















Just asleep or sleeping it off?

I was fascinated that the hand stayed in that position.










And now a true Strangers on the Shore picture which J sent from Thailand today.