Stephen Hawking and Lucy Hawking (by sarah)

We really enjoyed this talk though in hind sight we wished we had perhapse taken the cubs and scouts as it was about the childrens book they've writen together - although it was for children even Alaric learnt something new (or rather understands something more now - namely how stuff Can escape blackwholes). Lucy is a very good and engaging talker too which was cool.

I have to say I didn't enjoy this as much as the Pratchett talk but I think this was due to two things - firstly the theatre was freezing and due to verious happenings I had upset my pelvis again so it was aching fourciously. I was actually shivering! Secondly when Stephen Hawking was talking I had a bit of a problem understanding - now I think most people would not have had this problem as it is due to the fact that as a small child around the point where you really start to get the hang of spoken language, I was almost completely deaf and had to have several operations to sort it out. (ok look it was server glue ear and I had several lots of gromets put in but I had other stuff done at the same time so was put under full anaesthetic). This means that I really struggly understanding people if I can't see their lips move, if I can't see that then all I get is a jumble of noise with just the odd word coming out distinctly.

Of course Stephen Hawking talks with a synthacizer so I had no lips to read (I used Als monical whilst Lucy was talking). Would would have been good for me would have been the transcript up on the great big display screen they had in there. I know that public talks can be hard to write down in a corherrent form normally but that restriction does not apply here. Obviously I do not expet things to be altered for just the small fraction of the population that has these kinds of problems but it did ruin the talk for me a bit.

Everything is normal (by alaric)

I'm back in Cranham after another week away. I came back late on Friday, and the first thing we did Saturday morning was go and pick the van up from Holbrook Garage, where it had been in for some minor repairs: the reversing lights had stopped working, the right headlight was being intermittent (sidelight and full beam mode worked OK, but when set to dip, it was merely sidelight-bright, but sometimes it worked OK), and the coolant temperature gauge only ever read above 'very cold' when we were sat in a creeping traffic jam in bright sunlight for a few hours.

All niggling little things that I had wanted fixed for a long time, and had had brief attempts to fix myself, but now we have some money coming in, fixing niggling little problems like that is on the cards once more (before they become expensive problems).

The van was ready and waiting for me, and the first thing we noticed as Sarah and I set off down the M5 for a day out was that the temperature gauge did indeed rise until it gratifyingly pointed to "Normal":

It's nice to know you're normal.

Anyway, we proceeded to visit Bristol for lunch and a walk about, then headed over to explore Weston Super Mare and see the seaside (even though it's not really the sea per se, it's the Severn Estuary), before making our way back home.

Then on Sunday we took Jean out. We tried to go to Bristol Zoo, but all the car parks were full, which lead us to suspect it would not be a pleasant time to visit, so instead we walked around Bristol again with her.

We came across a green square, where some air cadets where dismantling a glider and putting it in its trailer, while some army cadets were taking down a portable climbing wall. I presume there had been some kind of event on, which we had missed, but Jean was entranced by the glider. She demanded to go and see it, shouting "Plane! Plane!". Afterwards, we saw some people doing acrobatic leaps in the square, and Jean tried to copy them, which was rather cutely comical, too.

We had a relaxing weekend, since we'd both had a hard week beforehand (I worked all day and spent most of my evenings in a data centre fixing things!), and we have a hard week ahead of us.

Which I am now starting... with a bad cold. Sigh...

Jean’s Autum Joy (by sarah)

Jean loves autum as soon as the leaves started falling she was collecting them up carefully - one of each type and giving them to me to sto in the pushchairs basket! Then there was the fun of kicking the leaves, picking up handfuls of them and watching them twerl about in the wind and then to her emmense joy there were conkers!

'Corcon! Corcon!' she cries as she collects one for each person physically there with her. She loves putting them in pockets and gets destressed when she drops them into irretivablity!

She also likes kuggles! Which she calls for mostly when she wants to be carried somewhere. But the little outstretched arms and pleas of 'Cuggle! Mummy Cuggle!' are very endering - she will also kiss 'ouchies' on other people and stroke your arm in an endering manor (reguardless of how bruised the area of ouchy is!).

Other cute things that she's doing at the moment are singing along to the childrens rhymes and songs - so for The Wheels on the Bus we get disjointed doot doot for the horn beeping with the hand action of the whipers going followed by 'all day...' somehow she misses the long off the end!

Woaw woaw = row row your boat which she will play with 'My Bear' on her own 🙂

Rouw Rouw = Round and round the garden - this rhyme actully goes:

Round and Round the garden like a teddy bear (you run your index finger around the palm of her hand) One step, two step (your fingers walk up the arm) And tickly under there! (you tickle either under the arm or on the kneck)

Jean will do this rhyme to you though it goes (with actions bar the tickling which she doesnt yet get how to do - thank goodness!):

Rouw, rouw Bear Stair! giggle

This is really endering as is the fact she puts everything to bed carefully tucking in her beaker with an enverlope etc... 🙂

They Lied (by sarah)

You may recall that a while ago Mum had a breast cancer scare as she had found a lump but they did a mamogram and said it was all fine - well the lump got bigger but stopped hurting her and she started to loose weight so she went back.

They did another scan and found several lumps so the did a biopsy - I hadn't realised that this was a bit more invasive than the ones I had done via endoscapy etc... She got the results on Friday - they were positive.

She is going to have an operation to remove the lumps and the lymph glands under her arms and just to be on the safe side they are giving her a bone marrow scan and checking her liver and stuff to check that the cancer is only isolated in the breast and hasn't gone wandering off anywhere else.

At this stage we are hopeful that it is only in the breast and can be delt with via the operation, so avoiding all that unpleasantness of radio- and chemo- therapy.

Mum is a bit shocked as no one else in the family has ever had breast cancer before but as I have repeatedly pointed out to her she was on Hormone Replacement Therapy or HRT for a very long time - as in like coming up to two decades! And one of the side effects can be breast cancer 🙁 As soon as the first lump was found they took her off of the drug and the cancer is in a very early stage so its not all doom and gloom!

Her and Dad are staying with me this week whilst Alaric is in London then she is off for the chop!

Of course she managed to panic me something rotten as she decided she didnt want to tell me over the phone mean while I was trying to get hold of her to find out the results of the biopsy - now the last time someone dissappeared on me like that it was my friend Amber and she had been rushed straight in for intensive chemo as the luekemia had been so bad.

Terry Pratchett (by sarah)

Finially after living in Chelt for over two years we got to go to the Litrature festivial - first year we had no way of getting there and no one to look after jean and I was still shaky on the crutches, last year we just didnt have any spare cash to spend on the ticketsbut this year we got to go!

And yesturday we say Terry Pratchett being interviewed by some woman from a litrature programme on the radio. He was quiet frankly brilliant - I didnt expect that, I thought he would just be an oldish man being interviewed but he was sooooooo funny and he feely does have my dads scense of humour 🙂 He is also quick witted and sounds like Mr Hedgehog when he was telling me bed time stories! (ok well dads good at accents and there used to be a hedgehog and badger and pigeon and fruit bat etc.... who would tell me stories and stuff).

Anyway I was glad to here that he is writing something other than a discworld noval and said himself the same things me and Alaric had said about the novals becoming a bit samey but people wanting the familiarity etc... I think that it must be a great reflief to go and do something different that isnt tied in to all the previous stuff, reduce the pressure of whats expected etc...

What I was sad to hear though is that he had suffered a little stroke - he hadn't even known he said and the only difference he detected was that he can no longer tie a tie and that he has certian adverts stuck in his head - he then proceeded to lighten the mood again by singing some of the jingles! Again he can actually sing which was cool.

Today we are off to see Stephen Hawking and his duaghter which should be fun though Al has already been to various things with Hawking I havent so I'm really excited! Unfortunatly I hadn't noticed that Tom Reynolds was going to be doing a slot and therefore didnt factor him in which is a shame as we'd have quiet liked to have seen him - oh well :/

However me and Al have had everyone we tell about who we are seeing at the festivial laugh at us! I think that there is a certian expectation when you say you are going to the Cheltenham Litrature Festivial that it will be all arty and high brow. This angers me slightly as surely writing is about communication and if artistic - expression - the same people who would not dare be seen listerning to Pratchett as its not proper litrature will praise Shakespeare and the like, forgetting or ignoring the origins and history of the very subject they are being so 'knowledgable' about.