Finished work early today as full of cold and have a thick head, plus had done all I could do today.

My friend G. is feeling a bit better, at least not suicidal. Hope she improves from hereon in.

Going to bed for a snooze before picking up littl'un, and then it's beer on the patio later. One of the many benefits of quitting nights is that I am able to appreciate the days when the sun deigns to shine on my patio in the afternoon.

Hoep you all had a great day.

Within an hour of returning from our wet holiday on Saturday I had a call from G, my friend with borderline personality disorder. In the week I was away she had been hospitalised three times for overdosing on her antidepressants. I knew about two of them but could not help anyway. This time she had taken so many that they had to resuscitate her and her heart rate had been up to 150. I went to visit and it was still 130 beats per minute. I think it frightened her but I was so mellow I had trouble talking with her.

She was discharged yesterday and seems to be ok but you can never tell.

I went back to work today with a headache. This was just one of three things I came home to, this being the worst. Still, got another holiday in a few weeks, this time to Devon via the REading Festival. My first big music festival. Me and hubs are going together as it is his fortieth birthday present. Straight after that it is Devon for a week of lolling about in the sunshine (I hope).

Hi all, I am back but notice quite a few of us are on holiday this week.

As some may recall I was away last weekend when the heavens opened and drowned Gloucestershire. I was on my way up to Shropshire for a storytelling fest and knew it would be muddy.http://www.festivalattheedge.org/index.php?id=2 When I got there I had to be towed onto site along with everyone else despite being in a landrover. It was raining. Seeing as I wa sthere for business with my friend we started putting up our shop over a sodden bit of ground and it still rained. We put up our tent as well as helping my inlaws and friends tent, and it continued to rain. The mud was already over my ankles.
Next day we opened the shop and sold some stuff despite the showers, some people hadn't even got this far. The waterpipes kept going off so the water supply was intermittent. By four pm we were closing and packing up as the next day had been cancelled. The field was a sea of mud.I got home at midnight caked in mud as was the insides and outside of the landrover.

Sunday as spent hosing it all down as the sun was out and all was well with the world..

Monday my husband and children loaded up the wagon again to go camping in Cumbria, guess what............it was a bit wet.

Despite this had a greeat time all weekend and week, really appreciating those moments between the torrential showers and spending a lot of time in tea rooms and coffee shops doing one of my favourite things, eating cake.

Off today to Festival at the Edge in shropshire. This time to sell stuff.

J is coming this year, she was on her Icelandic trek last year. She is bringing her daughter, I am taking mine. My in laws are also coming as well as N, one of my best friends and her sister. So this should really become a bit of a party. Just hope the rain holds off.

I come back on Sunday and then off again Monday camping in Cumbria. The weather looks like it might improve but husbnd has booked a place right next to Windermere. So have a good week or so everyone, I won't be round for a bit.

After my smug happy posts last week, when everyone else was having a crap time, I am back on the downward slope, hoping it doesn't last so long.

So Monday comes and T's girlfriend's, B's, dad wants to speak to Time. His girlfriend is the mother of his child and her parents are holding the baby to ransom, no one allowed to see it for various stupid reasons that have no logic.

T hasn't seen the baby for three months because of this and suddenly B's dad wants him and her to have him overnight once a week.
Great on the outside, we are all happy about the change of heart. But now we have a problem. T isn't allowed to have the baby in his house after 8pm, English Churches rules. So then it is me and J, T's gran who is putting up all three of them and carry the lot of them too and fro across the city. This puts pressure on us because we are away or working and though it seems mean, I am not sure it is going to work.

B's dad says he wants them to get used to looking after the baby so they will be ok when they move in together. They are not up to the job. T has learning difficulties and has trouble feeding himself. B is impatient and would rather someone else do the job thank you very much.Grinds teeth.

Shame because the Babe is lovely and gorgeous and at that squidgy stage.

Not asking for answers but needed a moan. That will teach me to be so smug )

Thoroughly enjoying life at the moment. Work and home life are good. I am so boringly happy that I have nothing to report.

Even the weather is good. )

Two more days to the weekend.

Reading group in Friday and BBQ on Sunday, hope the rain holds off for that.

Yes, I was fortunate enough to have had a fantastic weekend at St Donats near Cardiff with a good friend N. We attended a storytelling festival which is run every year there. Here is a link: http://www.beyondtheborder.com/
On Friday we left Derby at 3, we were supposed to leave at 12. We got there at 9 as we got caught in rush hour around Birmingham. We started putting up the tent and realised my friend had not got her tent pegs. We were saved by a kind person who gave us a bag of pegs and a few other people who gave us one or two each.
After that it was all fun.
This year the festival focused on the tribes peoples of the north. We experienced yoiking, songs about everything written without thought or planning.This by young man, Lawra Somby, who though singing in Sami moved my friend to tears with his passion. Inuit throat singing, and stories and singing from native indians Robert Seven Crows, Sharon shorty and Joseph Naytowhow.

Others on the bill we enjoyed were Micheal Harvey, a fantistic bilingual storyteller, Sheila Stewart, a real Scottish storyteller, now elederly,who tells stories her father told her. Here are some more http://www.beyondtheborder.com/performers.htm

I could go on. A festival like this makes the world feel like a really small place, and allows for people like me to meet people I would never meet by chance.

The venue is in and old school and the grounds include a jousting field and many smaller gardens. It overlooks the glittering sea and with the fantastic weather as we had at the weekend, it feels like heaven.

Interesting to note that the storytellers are getting reviews in places like the Guardian now.

Looking forward now to Festival at the Edge in two weeks time where I will be selling stuff but enjoying more fantastic storytelling: http://www.festivalattheedge.org/index.php?id=9

Fantastic IT department were able to find by lost XL spreadsheet, bless 'em. I was very happy at not having to repeat that work again.
My job at the moment is collating training records and a questionnaire about training on pain. We are going to be doing mandatory training for all staff soon. One and a half hours every three years. Not a lot but all we will be able to manage considering that there are only three of us and about a thousand people who will need that training. Plus all the other stuff we have to do.

Looking forward to the challenge though.

Last day before the weekend for me tomorrow. Can't wait.

Sooooo glad that he has ben released. I often thought of him and hoped he was well. Saddened when that video was released last month that he was held but at least he was still alive.

This is not what I said today when I accidentally deleted spreadsheet on training needs today. It represents a LOT of work which I have put in in the last few weeks at work. I then Accidentally deleted it again. this is all due to tiredness not helped by the half bottle of wine I had last night.

So next week I start again if IT can't find it for me.

Otherwise a good week so far, just hoping for less rain over the weekend as I head off for the Beyond the Border storytelling event in Wales over the weekend.