SYbil

20:43:42 o'clock BST
Feeling Happy

Good Evening friends,

Tonight I decided that I would take you with me to the Bristol International Balloon Festival !!  well actually let you see some of the photographs that I took when my neighbour Peter and I went to the festival.  It is somewhere I have always wanted to go but although this was the 30th. year of the balloon festival I had never made it but this year Peter did the booking for the car in a special car park for disabled so that we could be nearer to the action....It was still some way away however my trusty battery wheelchair coped with all the grass and hills etc.  we left home around 11.15am. and eventually arrived at the Ashton Court Park where the festival takes place we only took about 4 wrong roads to get there !!!  We found our designated paking spot and were soon joining the throngs of people.  I don't quite know what I had expected but it was certainly not the sight before my eyes.  As well as 100's of balloons... literally...there were trade stands, food stalls of every description one could eat anything from Chinese, japanese, italian, spanish, british, you name it I am sure it could have been found...We made our way to the main arena to see what was what and to stop for the first of our "picnics" then it  was on around this vast arena to look for the best vantage point to enjoy all that went on throughout the afternoon.  we found a good spot on a rise and settled down for the afternoon.....having stopped for a cuppa on the way and  to watch some children on a bouncy castle thing...there were loads and loads of side shows and a whole section of fair ground rides....Throughout the afternoon we were well entertained, first with a man who flew with a large trail of coloured flags flying from his foot he did arobics with them making wonderful patterns in the sky it was stunning..The Avon Fire brigade did a display whilst their hot air balloon flew above them....( I have tried to edit the pictures with their captions but for some reason they refuse to co operate )  We had men dropping out of low flying aircraft and one excitment was when one of the men proposed to the girl who was comentating on the display...she said YES !!!   There should have been a fancy shape lift off however as often happens the wind was in the wrong direction and would have flown the balloons towards Bristol Airport so that would not have been very safe ! so we had to make do with a ground display you will see some of the wonderful shapes that take to the sky around here.  The final dispaly at 9.30pm was the Night Glow...this was when many many balloons were filled with air and their different colours glowed in the night this was all done to music it was an amazing sight and I hope one day to see it again.  Peter and I were very very lucky as except for a threat of rain at one point in the afternoon it was a dry day...Unfortunately the rest of the weekend was almost washed out with rain and winds...the ground was so boggy that the car parks had to be closed... A few things I found out was that there are some 7,000 hot air balloons operating in the USA and here in the UK there are 1,519 registered hot air balloons. considering the difference in our size that is quite a few flying over our skies...Many of the 1000s of balloons are actually designed and made in Bristol  by Cameron Balloons...we are fortunate here in Box that we often see balloons passing overhead and I was even more lucky than most in that a number of years ago my B.I.L. and I went up in a hot air balloon flying from Bath for about 30 miles...it was a wonderful experience we spoke about it so much that my dear Mother wanted to go as well and up she did go with my Sister Sarah for her 80th birthday !!

So there you are that's my write up for tonight.  I hope that you are all well and still enjoying what is left of summer.  Thank you to the many new readers that have left some lovely messages.

Till next time

LOVE ONE ANOTHER....and always tell everyone on every occasion.

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19:54:50 o'clock BST
Feeling Cheerful

Good Evening Friends,   I hope that I have some left after my long absence !! 

Life here in the small village of Box keeps jogging along in the slow lane and I think I have also got into the slow lane of life...maybe that should be the lazy lane where I am concerned !!!

Sinse we returned from our quick bttersweet visit to Scotland I have felt extreemly lethargic but now I feel that I must move on and get back to my old ways....

Last week Mary returned after her three weeks in Edinburgh and brought back my camera that I had left behind and so I am able to share with you just a few photographs of my friend Graham and Fiona's new little kitten called Tim he was just 8 weeks old and I completely fell in love with him he was so photogenic I must have taken dozens of photographs  anyway I will share some of them with you and hope that you enjoy them, Also I am including a few taken from Arthurs Seat in Edinbugrh.  What is Arthurs seat ??

Arthur's Seat and Salisbury Crags are natural rock formations situated in Holyrood Park. The park is probably the most astonishing urban park in the UK.

While Salisbury Crags are remains of glaciated rocks, Arthur's Seat is an extinct volcano and has been called by this name since the 15th century. Some say that the name comes from the legendary Arthur of Camelot while some say that the extinct volcano is probably named after a local hero that had nothing to do with King Arthur.

It only takes about one to two hours to climb to the top. The view from up there is tremendous. Not only do you get a view of Edinburgh's skyline but you can see all the way to the Bass Rock if you look to the East. You can clearly see the Pentland Hills if you look the other way. Behind the Pentlands is Penicuik where you can find the famous Edinburgh Crystal factory On a clear day you can see all the way to Stirling and the Forth bridges (Forth Road and Forth Rail bridge).

So now you know.(.Holyrood Park is also where Hollyrood House is and that is where the Queen stays on her visits to the Capital of Scotland usually at the beginning of July and she can occasionally be seen walking her dogs there in the early morning)

I am glad to say that the few days we spent in Scotland was a period when we actually had lovely summer days it was even quite warm !!

This weekend here in the UK is the last long weekend holiday for the people who work in offices, some shops etc. until  the Christmas holiday, so the roads will be busy it is also the last week of the School Summer holiday. Unfortunately the weather has really been quite poor for the childrens holidays it is such a shame as I am sure when they go back, our late sumer may arrive !!!  Thankfully the forecast for the weekend is that it should be dry and perhaps even sunny hip hip hooray.  Till next time

 

Whatever the weather friends please never forget to

LOVE ONE ANOTHER   (and tell everyone at any oppertunity).

 

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19:37:37 o'clock BST
Feeling Cheerful
Hearing Amazing Grace sung by a choir on TV


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21:58:45 o'clock BST
Feeling Cheerful


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09:14:09 o'clock BST
Feeling Chillin'

   Good morning Friends,

Just calling in to share with you some of the photographs as a follow up from my last entry..I had meant to include them then...but somehow thought I had lost them...but no they were there when I looked properly.

Glad that you all had a good laugh.

Love one Another

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19:06:44 o'clock BST
Feeling Chillin'

Good evening friends,

I do hope that you have all had ..or are having..a great July 4th.  wonder what you have all be up to. I will wait and see with anticipation !

I was thinking what I could write about, and Mary and I were sitting reminising about our holidays as we were going through some photographs, and as I thought you might enjoy a funny story I've decided to tell it as it happend..

 I have a story that is all to true...Mary and I on one of our visits to New Zealand took a helicopter ride over the Frans Joseph Glacier We flew over and around the highest mountain in NZ. Mount Cook it was a truly awesome sight. On our way back over tha Glacier  the pilot asked if we would like to land...(there were two other people in the helicopter with us) we all said yes..when it landed they jumped out first..then me....WELL I had somehow or other thought that as a helicopter could land it must be hard ice...it wasn't...I sunk up to my knees...no bother ? I tried to lift leg out of the snow...leg got stuck...so there I was hanging on to the 'copter door calling HELP can someone please come and get my leg back on !!! this was momentarily met by blank looks, then gales of laughter as I explained that it was my artificail leg that was stuck like suction !! They had to come back hang on to me, and grab the leg out the hole...the shoe remained there...it had to be recovered the snow emptied out of it and then shoved back on !!!! LOL Thankfully all this happened before Mary had had time to even move from her seat, and so she was just a witness to it all and indeed could not have helped much anyway as she was helpless with laughter !!  I can assure you I was the talk of the coach once we got back...it went round like wildfire....don't think anyone had realised I was a bit legless at times !!!!! So there is my funny tale to bring a smile for you to enjoy at the end of what I hope will have been a memorable July 4th.

Love one Another...

 

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21:21:49 o'clock BST
Feeling Grateful

Wishing all my friends in

America a lovely happy fun filled day on 4th July.

God Bless you all.

 

Love one Another.

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20:25:30 o'clock BST
Feeling Determined

 

Jacqueline Sybil Williams Kennedy 1961-2008

 

 

AGood Evening Friends.

Before I begin tonight’s journal I would just like to tell you how comforting you’re many comments and emails have been to me over the past devastating days. As you know we are a very strong family whose support and love we probably take for granted. What we hadn’t fully realised was how much the strengh of the fellowship of the special circle of friends we are so fortunate to have would uphold us all in this time of great sorrow.    A young friend wrote, “Grief is happiness running backwards. It hurts so much because the happiness was so good” and the current pain is worth having for the joy that Jacqueline brought us.  The family will go on. Not ever quite the same.but heartened by the memories and love you have shared with us.  Thank you.

 

As you can imagine writing a journal has been far from my mind these last couple of weeks but I suppose life must go on and a friend has been asking me to start writing again.   It would be too hard to write about the last two weeks so I got to thinking what I could write about and decided that perhaps I hadn’t told you a little about the area surrounding where I live in this lovely area of Wiltshire.  So come on a short stroll with me to CORSHAM a small market town some 4 miles along the road from us here in BOX.

Strolling along the picturesque High Street of Corsham with its historic buildings and peacocks strutting by, it is difficult to believe that Britain could have been governed from here in the event of an all out nuclear war.  Not far from the charming buildings that line each side of the street, but from a quarry one hundred feet below the Wiltshire countryside. Here a radiation proof bunker was installed some 40 years ago. Inside a replica of Whitehall had been built with a main street running through and every ministerial department represented.  For many years the government denied its existence although local people had been working on its construction. But have now admitted it after questions in the freedom of Information Act.  There is nothing there now except for a telephone exchange. Everything else has been taken out. Many local people bought some of the office equipment etc. still wrapped in its original wrappings. Now that is what lies below Corsham…what would you find in the town?  Remarkably for such a small place Corsham has a large number of historical and architecturally interesting buildings, almost standing cheek by cheek with each other. The high street itself looks like an architectural museum. The elegant Methuen Arms Hotel with it’s impressive portico stands proudly at one end (it was here that the Duke of Edinburgh played skittles while stationed nearby during the war) Reminders of the cloth industry can be seen further along the street in the 17th century weavers cottages. They were home to Flemish weavers who fled persecution and brought their skills to Wiltshire. Nearby is the 17th cent. Hungerford Almshouses and Schoolroom. The latter that doubled as a chapel still has the original desk and the master’s chair built into the pulpit.  The town’s piece de resistance has to be the beautiful Corsham Court, a stately home just of the high street. The house built on the site of the Saxon Royal Manor and based on Elizabethan designs from 1582. The Methuen family has owned it since 1745. Corsham Court has a grand collection of Old Masters as well as Georgian furniture and porcelain. The court’ exquisite gardens, built under Capability Brown, have there own unusual attraction not least being a muster of beautiful peacocks. There are about 20 of them and they often wander freely down the high street. The traffic comes to a halt. They are a well-known feature.    Soon I will have a wander down the high street with the camera and try to capture some of these lovely buildings to share with you.

Goodnight.  And don’t ever forget to

LOVE ONE ANOTHER

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06:34:27 o'clock BST
Feeling Distraught

Today I heard news that no one ever wants to hear. My beloved God daughter/niece who was just my darling daughter.(.my Sarah and John gave her to me at a few days old and said...here she is, she wll be ever as much yours as ours)...and she has been ever since and oh my heart just breaks...has died very suddenly she Jacqueline was only 47. Please those of you who have faith pray that the family and I cope in the days ahead. I will go first thing in the morning with my dearest sister and brother in law to see what we can do. Jacqueline's husband is an invalid so will need care as well. Thank you.

Love one another..............and TELL everone you do at every opportunity.

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18:22:49 o'clock BST
Feeling Cheerful

Good Evening Friends,

Well Mary and I are back from our 5 days in North Wales.  We had a lovely time although the weather was not exactly summer like ! what with March Gales and April showers..read that as rain !!..and even June sunshine....  I have tried to put captions on the photographs as that makes them more interesting however although I have tried twice they have not appeared on the journal grrrrrrrr.... They were all taken in and around Llandudno which is a delightful seaside town. Nice and flat with a wonderful promanade and pier. No trouble getting around with the wheelchair. The hotel was excellent and the company were all very friendly.  The first photo you see is of the seagull trying to get our attention at the bedroom widow, the first night's wild sunset followed by some of Conwy Castle, then we saw this lady who was deciding if she should go in for a swim...in a glale !! mad she was  but she seemed to enjoy it Mary and I were watching from our bedroom window !! Next two I love as to me it is a typical English seaside display !! we will not be thwarted !!! From picture 19 we are over on the island of Anglesey. The first place we stopped at is the town with the longest name in the UK.  I dare any of you to pronounce it..LLANFAIRPWLLGWYNGYLLGOGERYCHWRYNDROBWILLLLANTYSILIOGOGOGOCH !!!

translated it means St.Mary's church in the hollow of white hazel near a rapid whirlpool and teh church of St Tysilio near teh red cave....it is usually shortened to Llanfair P.G.  !!! from there we went on to Beaumaris which is dominated by Beaumaris Castle which dates back to the reign of Edward the 1st, Last of the massive Edwardian fortresses of the 13th century, also in the town was what is supposed to be the oldest house in Britian..the black and white house.  The pictures end with some more of the lovely sunsets on Llandudno bay.(the last three have somehow or other got out of order !!)

Anyway there you have it another 5 days in Sybil and Mary's life...

Yesterday morning Sarah John and I went to look at cars..now that was quite exciting. Poor John had had a car accident week before..not his fault and no injuries thank goodness however the Ins. people have written off hiscar so a new one was in order. He wanted a small car as it would be more economical both for petrol and insurance. We saw a real lovely one a Fiat Panda in blue only 12,000 miles and 2 years old so once the ins cover comes through he will be proudly driving around once more.  Last night we went for a wee walk/trundle round the village and took some quite nice photographs that I will share with you next time. 

I hope that you are all well and have had just as good a time as we have.

LOVE ONE ANOTHER.. 

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