Complete clauses which provide a personal challenge
Clause 2 Write a poem on a subject of your choice.
Not a poem but a nursery song for my two year old son. Tune Frere Jacque
My name's Alex
My name's Alex
Who are you
Who are you
This is how you spell my name
This is how you spell my name
A L E X
A L E X
Also wrote this about the BOGUK in the hope that he would appear and pass some badges
On a website for UK Guiding
A creature called BOGUK is hiding
He will hibertnate
And make us wait
For over our badge work he's presiding
When the BOGUK finally appears
He'll give us all three cheers
"Have a glass of wine
Your badge work is fine"
Then for the summer he disappears
Clause 4 Write about an incident that had an impact on your life..
Could write about the obvious, starting work, getting married/having children but I won't. The only other incident that had a huge impact on my life was changing schools when I was 13, however I don't feel that I can write about this.
Clause 5 Write a story suitable for a child under 8
I wrote this for my two year old son, if I get round to it I may even illustrating it.
When Alex grows up he wants to be a fireman. Driving a shiny red engine and climbing ladders to fight fires.
When Alex grows up he wants to drive an ambulance. Sirens screaming lights flashing as he zooms along.
When Alex grows up he wants to be a policeman. Helping people and driving his police car fast with its blue lights flashing.
When Alex grows up he wants to be steeplejack. Climbing ladders and felling chimneys just like Fred on the television.
When Alex grows up he wants to be a train driver. Driving diesels and steam trains along the railway tracks from station to station.
When Alex grows up he wants to be a builder. Making things with screwdrivers, saws, drills and hammers.
When Alex grows up he wants to be a racing driver. Driving cars fast around the racing circuit and coming first.
When Alex grows up he wants to be a pilot. Flying planes high in the sky taking people on their holidays.
When Alex grows up he wants to be a bus driver. Driving a big double decker bus taking people to the town, the station and the seaside.
Most of all when Alex grows up he wants to be happy.
Clause 8 Write about a holiday or travelling experience.
3rd - 17th June 2005-05-05
This is the first time we have spent a holiday all together, my parents (Peter and Lucille), Mark (brother), in-laws (Roy and Doris), David (husband), Alex (son, aged 2 ½) and myself. One reason we are all going together is to celebrate the golden wedding anniversary of Roy and Doris on 4th June, my parent celebrate their 41st wedding anniversary on the 6th of June. We all stayed in a cottage in North Yorkshire big enough to accommodate us all, there were four bedrooms, two en suite, a bathroom a lounge dinning room kitchen with dinning area a further lounge and a snooker room. Alex loved the snooker room and would be there at every opportunity starting with at around 05:30 each morning, mostly with Grandad Peter. The cottage was set in large grounds, the downside being the sheep, well not the sheep but the mess they left behind, usually all round the car and on the way to bins. Alex was off the opinion that the sheep should either use the toilet or wear nappies! The cottage was a Friday to Friday let which meant that we were able to travel outside the peek travelling times. On the journey north Mark travelled in our car his main task was to entertain Alex this worked well. We stopped for lunch in Ashby de la Zouch and then again at Thirsk for supplies. Our total journey time was around four and a half hours not bad considering we drove up from South Wales. My parents had to travel from Bristol via Luton as they had to taking my 97 year old Grandmother to stay with my Uncle.
Roy and Doris didn't travel up until the Saturday as Roy didn't fancy travelling on the M1 on a Friday. On the Saturday we spent the morning exploring the local area before taking visiting the Wendslydale railway for a ride on Thomas. At least David and Alex enjoyed it I fell asleep.
Sunday was a miserable day but we had pre arranged to go out to a hotel in Ripon for a celebration lunch. The hotel was very nice and we all had an enjoyable Sunday lunch was had by all.
On the Monday we went of in two groups, my parents and brother spent the day in Ripon whilst Roy, Doris, David, Alex and I visited Roy's brother John and his wife Carol who live in Wilberfoss we spent the day there and were joined in the evening by their daughter Hilary, her husband and their three children.
Tuesday saw my parents leave us for a few days as they were going to Southport for a conference. The rest of us just mooched around some of the local villages having had a long drive the previous day and a one planned for the following day. We found a lovely coffee shop in Leyburn for lunch to which we would return before the end of the holiday. In the afternoon we went over to Aisgarth falls which were very picturesque. We had afternoon tea in the tea rooms were there was a stuffed fox (road kill) which you were able to touch. I expected its coat to be quite wirey and coarse when in fact it was silky.
Wednesday was a glorious day and we went off to York to make the most of it before Ascot came to York and the traffic was too heavy. Alex, David, Roy and Mark went to the Railway museum while Doris and I wandered round the shops. Alex was in heaven didn't know which way to turn first.
Thursday saw the best weather of the entire fortnight. We ate breakfast in the garden, not often you can do that in the UK at seven in the morning. We spent the day at Fountains Abbey. The NT restaurant there was excellent, they did half portions for children not a sausage nugget or chip in sight. In the afternoon we wandered round the estate and had a pleasant time. Thursday evening saw my parents return, Alex now had his snooker partner back.
Friday David, Alex, Mark and I went on the North York Moors railway while Alex's Grandparents went of in search of an antiques fare. We took a ride on 'big Henry' from Pickering to Grosmont where we had lunch in a café that David and I initially found many years previously and have been back to a few times since. After lunch we took a ride back on the steam train and Alex spent along time looking in the gift shop at Pickering.
Saturday we all visited the caverns at Stump Cross in Nidderdale. The men and Alex all went underground and to Alex's amusement all had to wear hard hats and they frequently bumped their heads even my dad who is only five foot five. David who is six foot five ended up quite a bad back from all the stooping. We had lunch nearby at Pateley Bridge We then went to the park to play. Alex was fascinated by the roundabout. We drove back through Harrogate and had a wander through a very impressive park which was close to some friends of Roy and Doris used to live. In the evening my dad had to return to Bristol as he had to collect his mother from his brother's house in Luton.
Sunday David's back began to play up after all the stooping in the caves he had also managed to catch a cold and spent most of the morning in bed and the afternoon laying on the floor. We decided that we would spend the day at the cottage doing very little. We visited Tesco at Catterick Garrison and cooked a roast lunch in the cottage. There was plenty of gammon left for later in the week.
On the Monday we visited Whitby, the day was very overcast. We managed a walk to the beach and along the promenade before the rain set in. We visited a fish and chip shop that we had visited twice before. It was so popular (maybe because of the rain) that we had to queue and we needed a table for seven. After lunch we had a wander round Whitby despite some very heavy rain. We returned to the cottage via Goathland where we stopped for afternoon tea.
Tuesday saw us of to Darlington to visit the railway museum not any where as impressive as the one in York however it was trains which is very important to Alex. After visiting the museum we had lunch in the town before having a look round the centre and returning home. My dad returned to the cottage after settling his mother back home. This evening we ordered pizzas from the aptly named 'All Pizza's Great and Small'.
Wednesday we visited Knaresborough we went the to the railway station where we saw people dressed in the most inappropriate clothes on their way to Ascot at York. The weather was miserable we managed to stay until lunch time after which we visited the model village at Leyburn where you can control the cars boats etc. After afternoon tea in the tea shop we returned home.
Thursday was our final day in Yorkshire, as we all had long drives the following day we decided not to go far and ended up in Ripon, the weather was truly miserable. After lunch we abandoned the day and returned home. At one point when the pushchair was empty it nearly blew away in the wind. In the evening we finished the gammon, bought some chips and I fried 12 eggs and managed to get them ready all at the same time! The evening was spent packing and clearing the cottage.
On Friday we returned home to South Wales again via Ashby de la Zouch after a very enjoyable holiday. The following day the floods hit Yorkshire and many of the places we visited were under water. If anyone is interested in the cottage we stayed in it can be view on this link:- http://www.english-country-cottages.co.uk/uce/ecc?lang=en&view=details&action=referenceSearch¤cy=26&cottageRef=IHG
Clause 9 Write a "letter to the editor" about a topic which concerns or interests you.
I submitted the following to the cross stitcher magazine. As yet it has not been published may be it never will.
I thought it was about time I showed the cross stitch sampler that I made for my wedding. David and I were married on 28th March 1997. The sampler shows our various hobbies and interests some of which are shared. I enjoy cross stitch, knitting, dancing and Guiding, my husband enjoys, football, crosswords, trains and cycling. We both like cricket, reading, scrabble and card games. Each motif has written the place name of some where we have had a holiday or weekend break above below or beside it. The motifs have mostly been taken from books by Jo Verso, though one or two I designed myself. The crossword was taken from a paper on the day of our engagement, 1st January 1997.
Clause 15 Write a formal document, such as a business proposal.
Have written procedural documents for work. We have to write procedures in such away that any one could pick them up and do the appropriate job. The procedures has to be very idiot proof.
Clause 21. Write a review of a year, this could be a personal one of your life (e.g. 'Christmas Letter' to send to all the friends you didn't manage to keep in contact with during the year), or a more formal one on behalf of a group (e.g. annual report).
David, Alex and Hazel have enjoyed good health apart from the odd cold. Alex also suffered from a bout of tonsillitis.
David is still working for Capgemini on the Corus account travelling most days to the Corus site at Port Talbot or the Capgemini offices at Swansea though three or four times a month he has to go further a field.
Outside of work David is still trying to catalogue all his 4,000 plus railway slides and put the better pictures on his web site. He is also still attending step aerobics and pilates classes on Thursday evenings
Hazel is also still working part time (Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday) for Capgemini on one of their other clients on the electronic purchasing side though there have been a number of redundancies on the DCS side of the business which affects Hazel. At the time of writing we are sure as we can be that he job won't be affected.
Outside of work Hazel is still running her Brownie pack something she has done for over twenty years the pack was 60 years old this year. We marked the milestone with a party and designed a badge for the celebration. At the weekends Hazel can still be found teaching ballet and tap to children from 2½ to mid teens. More recently Hazel has also been helping out at a ladies tap class. At the end of November Hazel took her Grade VI ballet exam, her last ballet exam was over thirteen years ago. Grades VI - VIII had not been thought of when Hazel completed all her exams up to and including Advanced
Alex was three in August and is now in the pre-school group at Nursery will move on to school next August his first day being the 29th when he will be four and four days! During this year he has learned to use the potty and toilet his vocabulary has increased and he now speaks very fluently. Alex still enjoys playing with his cars, trains and diggers and likes to help with cooking.
This year we have had a conservatory added to the back of the lounge. The job took over four months to complete. At one point we wondered if it would ever be completed, Alex now uses it as a road/race track for all his cars and buses. Our next project is to tidy up and replace the patio, though this is a job for next year as is sorting out the hedge in the front garden which seems to be dying off. As it is now winter we are tackling the decorating and have repainted the dinning room, lounge and kitchen.
This year we went of holiday to Yorkshire with both set of parents and my Hazel's brother Mark. Mark last went on holiday in 1984, I think he enjoyed himself and hopefully he will take a break next year. We have also spent a couple of long weekends with David's parents. David and Alex will see them once more before Christmas and are planning to take the train to get to London, a taxi from Paddington to Waterloo and then take another train out to Walton.
This year we will be spending Christmas with Hazel's parents in Bristol and have invited both sets of parents over for a meal on New Years day.