One word? When seven would do…

One of those conversations…

You know, it’s funny. My whole life I have had two places where I would love to live and they could not be more contrasting. I base both these ambitions on romantic ideals, carved from a life of watching on TV / film or reading about the places in books and a very small amount of time spent in them in holiday circumstances. They are North Wales and New York 🙂

New York was always the place I dreamed of going to from being a small girl, I don’t know what the original attraction was but I guess the words of New York, New York probably sum it up. Stuff just happens there – yes this is probably the result of watching too many films based in New York on Christmas Eve where the hero and the lady finally sort out all their differences and live happily ever after with the backdrop of the the Empire State Building and ice skating at the Rockerfeller Center in misty lighting twinkling with fairy lights, but a visit there when I was pregnant with Davies and our whole lives were at that ‘don’t know what’s gonna happen next but it’ll be exciting and life changing’ phase only served to enhance the dream.

North Wales, well it’s where my Dad grew up. His father’s family were from there although his mother was from London and we went there a fair bit when I was small. Ady and I went on our first couple of holidays together there too, a couple of times with my parents coming along and while we lived in Manchester it was a very regualar Sunday day trip out for us – we have many pictures of the kids standing in places where me and my brother are standing in old photos and my Dad would no doubt have stood as a boy if only we had pictures of those times. It feels like home due to the family history and the initials of my Dad carved on so many tree trunks, bridges and so on – Ady and I even looked round the house he grew up in once as it happened to be for sale on one of our visits there. Our son is named with my maiden name, which is the very Welsh surname of my Dad and it just feels right that although Dad moved away and has made his home here in Sussex we should go back there and bring our children ‘home’.

So New York, but of a pipe dream I guess, maybe more of a one day, if we win the lottery we’ll get an apartment there, and someday we’ll take the kids there too so they can experience that ‘everywhere you look seems like a cardboard cut out film set it is so familiar yet so unfamiliar’ feeling and see if it still has such a strong pull to me. And of course if ever a situation arose which had even a glimmer of a move there in the pipeline then yes, we’d grab it with both hands. North Wales on the other hand would seem quite strong possibility. Need to check house prices out but I imagine they are still a fair bit cheaper than here in the South East. In theory Ady’s job is pretty mobile – if all goes to plan and he becomes the important bloke in the company it would seem he is destined to next year then it would not be a big deal at all for him to be based in North Wales – infact being pretty near to Manchester and Liverpool could even prove a plus. Me and the kids can settle anywhere – the whole Manchester jaunt proved that to me, and being HE can only serve to make you even more flexible, mobile and excited about as opposed to scared of change. Family – yeah we’d miss ’em, but they visited us before and they’d visit us again – we don’t rely on them for childcare or anything so although it’s nice to be close to them it’s a luxury as opposed to a necessity – besides, Dad always seems quite nostalgic about the place – they might just move with us 🙂

So it’s all in the future and it’s all still totally unresearched and unplanned, but it is a definite possibility…. watch this space!

The rest of the day? Well all pretty industrious really, I feel almost smug 🙂 I have finished all my shopping totally, Ady is getting the last thing on my list tomorrow. All the cards are written and posted and routes sorted to deliver the rest, I have a couple more gifts to post which I will do on Monday, the kids have been really well stimulated and learnt loads – Davies was making a real effort to actually read in bed tonight – must get out those Bob Books tomorrow and strike while he wants to learn, I cleaned out the fish bowl, I cooked a nutritious and delicious meal for dinner (beef stew and the kids helped which was very educational as we talked abour what the veg were, the colours, counting and I talked about the fraction side of chopping them into pieces) and it’s Friday tomorrow 🙂

I have sent out flyers for our new Home Ed group starting in January, sent out emails and had a couple of interested replies, been emailing with the Science museum who are looking to work with HE folk (if anyone is interested in speaking to them too let me know and I’ll send you the contact email address – they are looking at doing workshops and so on specifically for Home Edders) and have said they would come and do a session at the group, so I feel that is sorted for now.

I have failed miserably in doing any work which I might get paid for – must must must get my arse in gear over that one tomorrow.

When Ady got home tonight we all walked round the postbox in the dark and did a couple of small detours to look at other people’s Christmas lights which the kids loved – must do that again over the weekend.

The kids are both on the mend – I have even had to holler like a mad fishwife at them a couple of times today, but hey, that’s the pattern of our life, we wouldn’t feel like us if I wasn’t yelling at them a couple of times a day 🙂

The next three days look pretty manic – tomorrow we have soft play planned in the morning, Rachel, E and A in the afternoon, Saturday we are delivering local cards in the morning, town for lunch then the panto and Sunday card delivering a bit further afield with a visit to Chris and Julie in the middle… so as for getting those Christmas biscuits and snowspray done I might be delegating that to the cats 🙂 Really will sort out the work for Miranda though – it’s awful that I have put making glittery cards for people over making some money!