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F1

Last weekend brought our second trip to the British Grand Prix at Silverstone. A wonderful, exciting but crowded day, it was a sell out with 168,000 there on a dry, very warm day…… Last year we had lightning and torrential rain storms……. So walking around in shorts and a T-shirt made a nice change.

Slightly limited photos this year due to my inner Muppet. I did bring my best camera, unfortunately I didn’t bring its battery…. that stayed back in Yorkshire, happily charging in the wall socket. Once again the iPhone came to the rescue.

But I do need to discuss something very weird, very strange, kind of unnerving. The WEATHER. Yorkshire is a wet and windy place. It rains, in winter it really rains, in summer it really rains. We get lots of clouds, clouds permanently live here. But for the last couple of weeks it’s been hot and dry. NO RAIN. And then you get this weather forecast.

Yes it’s getting cooler but where on earth are the clouds. This can’t be, this is Yorkshire. Two days ago I went to buy a watering can. Yes a watering can. My poor plants need water and I have never really needed to water before…. I usually live under clouds in Yorkshire, they do my watering for me. As I walked out with my brand new sparkling green watering can, I bumped into a neighbour, and quoting her exact words….

“… hope you have left me one, I’m off to buy my first ever watering can. This is what it must be like to have proper summers …..”

Posted on by bereavedandbeingasingleparent · 26 Comments

53000

If results go his way and he feels ready, then September might see Hawklad start University. Hopefully in person rather than online. I so hope he can, hopefully the start of building friendships and a life outside of the home.

But here’s a scary fact.

Currently the average student leaves an English University with a debt of £53000. England has some of the highest student loan debts in the world.

£53000……

This is at the same time that prices are spiralling upwards, property costs are eye wateringly high and the jobs market is starting to collapse. More older people are staying in work way longer to pay rising living costs and to help out their younger family members. AI is starting to destroy the jobs market, remove the jobs that were once open to the younger generation. All this means that the younger jobs market is rapidly contracting.

£53000 student debt for limited job prospects and an uncertain future.

As a handful of global billionaires become trillionaires, just how many of the ridiculously rich and national governments are actively thinking about the future for this and future younger generations.

Maybe they are waiting to ask the next version of the AI models for an answer.

Posted on by bereavedandbeingasingleparent · 21 Comments

Well that was close….

Finally had a trip to see the local Rugby League team. Perennial game underdogs and lower league residents, but this year, they are in The Super League. We chose an ‘easy game’ against a truly massive club, a team who have won the world club challenge cup 5 times. In contrast the local club has basically never won anything apart from maybe a couple of best half time pie contests.

Can you guess from the big screen, which team is the perennial underdogs and which one are the 5 times world champions.

Yep, the local team got properly hammered…. At one stage it was going to be a record breaking loss. One hopeful local supporter kept shouting ‘BELIEVE, we can still win this….”

Whisper it, York must have listened to him, they had a mini late fight back. Given another 3 days, they might have even won. 😂😂😂

Posted on by bereavedandbeingasingleparent · 32 Comments

Peak District

A rare UK sunny day, so off we ventured to the Peak District. For a walk around the Ladybower Reservoir. It’s a big old piece of water, takes hours to walk around it.

It took 8 years to construct it and then 2 years to fill it to a depth of just over 40 metres. When it was filled, two beautiful villages were sadly, no more.

During WWII, RAF bombers practiced here with bouncing bombs for future raids on German Dams, as seen in the old Dambusters Movie.

The Reservoir also features two massive plug holes, that control the level of water and power huge hydroelectric generators.

If you ever get the chance, it’s a great place to visit and walk. But sadly NO Swimming allowed.

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Guests

An almost orderly queue, patiently waiting for some attention. If ever Cows were going to be domestic pets, these would be the ones.

The Gate definitely stopped us from being followed back home. Not sure we would have enough biscuits for our new guests.

In the UK, at the age of 18, any additional mental health, social and educational support has a habit of being abruptly withdrawn. After Hawklad reached 18, he was only left with some Educational support that would last until he left College. Now that remaining support has ended.

We’ve known that time was coming but when the official letter arrived, it was still a bit of an eye opener, I was kinda expecting a bit more. Maybe some questions about how Hawklad was doing, how he was feeling. Maybe a final review meeting. Maybe a final action plan. Maybe a transition contact point for a year or two at least. Maybe a list of potential help avenues, what to do if things don’t go well.

What Hawklad received was a brief letter saying all support had now ended, wishing him well on his next steps, whatever that might be. That was it. Nothing else.

A few weeks later I was taking to someone in the village whose Granddaughter had just received the same letter. The Granddaughter had been receiving support for years and then suddenly it was terminated when she reached 18 (even though she still really needed the help). She got the dreaded brief letter basically just saying GOOD-LUCK FOR THE FUTURE….

As one Psychologist told me years back, the UK system assumes that when you reach 18, you have either been suddenly FIXED or you have to FIX yourself on your OWN. It’s much cheaper that way….

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Treasure hunt…

Proper Summer Weather..

Before the rain set in, the garden called. But before I started, it was the Strimmer Treasure Hunt. I wonder just how many do this at some stage. A break in the weather, you get out the Strimmer and then you remember…..

I didn’t order a new bag of blades..

No blades, so the Strimmer Treasure Hunt begins. You search every corner of the shed and garden. And then, BINGO…. It’s Jackpot…… One previously enjoyed blade hiding in the undergrowth.

The gardening can now begin.

Posted on by bereavedandbeingasingleparent · 36 Comments

Summer

Hot Summer lasted 2 days in Yorkshire…..

We headed to the coast on NOT one of those 2 days. Brave Souls still taking on the NOT so tropical North Sea.

Huge queues for the hot drinks, no takers for the ice cream. Perfect day for a stroll along the promenade.

A good place to recharge and forget the torture of A-Level exams, now it’s a waiting game until grades get published in August. The frustration is that two years of study, come down to exams scheduled over a couple of weeks. A couple of weeks that just happened to coincide with Hawklad battling a really heavy cold and rasping chesty cough. Just how many have to sit exams when they are not feeling well. Also not helped by the dreaded exam clash. Two exams scheduled at the same time, so feeling like crap, you sit one exam, then get a few minute break and then you dive straight into a second exam. But exams are the best way to assesses ability, that’s what we are told, so it must be true.

Posted on by bereavedandbeingasingleparent · 32 Comments

Bees….

The village has its own population of bees, they help make the most wonderful honey. It’s amazing how those little chaps can get the honey into those jars…..

Every year apparently the Village Bee community splits into two groups. Well this year, one group has gone wondering. Having a temporary residence right next to the lane we walk the mad dog every day. The couple who are the official beekeepers, have provided a temporary home for them. Fenced it off, the Bees are very docile, but don’t want dogs sticking their curious noses too close.

It’s not a great photo, but there are lots of them to make honey….

Soon the Beekeepers are going to try to encourage this lot to move to a new palatial home, in the old graveyard.

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Old and New

This is a traditional village graveyard. Small, quiet, attended by sheep and very very old. Apparently there are graves here from the 14th century. It’s hard to confirm as many of the stones have had to survive way too many hard Yorkshire winters, the names and dates are lost in time now. Many graves are unmarked or missing stones.

Time moves on, newer graves are still added here, but the graveyard is filling up. The free ground left for new graves is only the size of a small garden now.

So New Graveyards are being opened up…..

The New Ones around here are still very beautiful, set in beautiful moors countryside. But they are in many ways, VERY different. Neat lines, immaculately well kept grass, symmetrical, concrete paths, tarmac roads.

I was running past one of these new sites recently and I had to stop, yes I had to chuckle. This new Graveyard had a new sign on the Main Entrance Gates.

“One Way System in force in this Graveyard.”

Oh the irony…….