A very happy birthday to us!

Ann

Ann Robinson, the Austwick one, has a lot to be praised for! Boundary Mills is a great example because as you can see Andy, Ray and Joan had a shopping experience yesterday after their early arrival from Berkshire! Brilliant and the boot was full to overflowing, although yours truly did make a wee contribution!

A very happy birthday with lots of good wishes from dear friends and my loved one, plus flowers and gifts which made the day! Our down South visitors loved Boundary Mills so such that they presented me with a fabulous canteen of cutlery as Mrs Bucket would say, "top of the range".

Kitchen is becoming a little bit of a challenge as the tiling was getting on and looking great, but the adhesive from Focus Store did not set the floor tiles and certainly was not fit for purpose so the builder had to take them all up again, wash the adhesive off, which was not a problem thus indicating the crap it is, and start all over again with "professional" stuff! Will be interested to hear what the store say today when we visit Skipton.

A reflective 60 year old

I think Gladys said it all in her song:

I've had my share,
Of life's ups and downs,
but fates been kind,
the downs have been few,
I guess you could say,
I've been lucky,
Or I guess you could say,
That it's all because of you.
If anyone, should ever write, my life story,
for whatever reason there might be,
you'd be there,
between each line of pain and glory,
cos your the best thing that ever happened to me,
Oh your the best thing that ever happened to me.
There have been times,
when times were hard,
but always somehow I made it, I made it through,
But for every moment that I've been hurtin',
there's been a moment, that I've spent.....
Oh just loving you,
If anyone should ever write my life story,
for whatever, for whatever reason there might be,
you'd be there, between each line of pain and glory,
Cos your the best thing that ever happened to me,
Oh your the best thing that ever happened to me,
don't you know, your the best thing....
Oh that ever happened,
to me.

So really as I do reflect on being 60 yes it's about personal achievements and those I inherited on my life journey and those I met and many I said goodbye to but most of all it is about those I have dear and near to me and not personal possessions, fame or even infamy! Today will be a celebration and I will be raising my glass to 60 years of life! Long may it be so, although our neighbour Elaine (97 years young) told us yesterday that after reaching 60 the years just roll by! Did like to say that 60 is the new age 40.

In recovery

After really intensive medical care for my burns, mainly with "Flamazine" and sterile dressings but also the specialist care from Town Head Health Centre in Settle, the main burn to my wrist is healing really well and they reckon that I will mot need skin grafting but will have scaring that will fade. So really good news here for a change.

Looking forward to Frank arriving on Tuesday, collecting him from Settle train station at 17:56!

Ann and George have been great support as well as true friends who have phoned and emailed me! The last couple of weeks have been scary but thankfully the "flash backs" have dome and I'm getting restful sleep!

Well Ray hits the big 60 today! I'm not far behind him on Thursday. Frank and I are going to Austwick Hall for dinner to celebrate the arrival of my bus pass with Ray, Joan and Andy arriving early on Friday for the celebratory weekend! It promises to be a great way of hitting the "third age" or as I look on it today's 40! Shame Robin from down under cannot be here but we can do it all again in 2012!

Ann drove me to Colne in Thursday as I was in need of a break and retail therapy! "boundary Mill" mainly store outlets, was great so on the list for next weekend. Convinced myself that a good spend was what I needed and my did I have a good spend!

Kitchen wise still waiting for the two cupboard doors that were missing and for the tiler to come in a couple of weeks and then George to paper! Phew what a marathon! Still has not put us off having the bathroom upgraded!

Kitchen Destroyed!

Derek & Steve with Mark and Paul from Scotia Joinery have begun the long awaited revamp of the kitchen! As I have said to make omelette's you need to break eggs and after spending hours taking cupboards apart there sledge-hammer techniques seems to be getting there!
Health wise I'm attending the local surgery and been fortunate to have a care nurse that specialised in burns when she was stationed in the Falklands! "Flamazine" is applied with strict instructions about keeping the burn site wound clean and sterile. Back there on Monday so some self care over the weekend!

Resting!

Today by the date is the first anniversary for my mother's death. A moment in time that represents a year of re-configuration and the expectation for changes that will not be before us. As I said at the time we would not make any of the important decisions until this time, so they are very much in my mind today.

Ironically yesterday I attended the funeral of a local villager, Jim Pye, who after a long cancer related illness left his wife and family. Austwick church is such a peaceful place, if you discount the people - well some of them - and look beyond the obvious and it was a good tribute by the family to someone they loved very much. As i said on the attendance card, "remember those past and fight like hell for the living".

Invited around to have a bottle or two of wine with Ann and George, who have been real friends to me especially when I have been on my own doing silly things! Yes the infamous garden fire took revenge and I am sporting a second degree burn on the right wrist and first degree burns elsewhere! The resin from the trees acted as an accelerator and spurted out covering me to the extent all my clothes had to be discarded very quickly and I rushed into a cold shower! Thankfully I managed some self care and the former first aid training has come it to it's own! I have been very lucky it very easily could have been a real trauma! One way of making a hairy chest smooth as a baby's bum!

So gardening of this type on hold as I'm going to be careful not to get any infection into the burns. Going into Skipton to pay the double glazing firm again, for a small pain of glass needing to be replaced before the kitchen installation next weekend! At last it's actually going to happen!

Question of Human Right

There are three critical ­questions surrounding the release of Megrahi:
1: Was it right for the justice secretary to give compassionate release to Megrahi? Yes, he made the right call for the right reasons. But it should not have been in his gift to do so. Allowing a politician to be the final decision maker over the liberty or detention of any individual is a serious weakness in the system. An independent and impartial tribunal or court would be far better placed to consider the evidence and make a transparent ruling.
2: Have the human rights of the victims, their families and Megrahi been recognised and respected over the past two decades? No. The relatives of the 270 people who lost their lives are entitled to an independent and effective investigation into the circumstances of the tragedy - the state has a duty to investigate the circumstances and prosecute alleged perpetrators. Here is where the unfulfilled rights of the families meet the unfilled rights of Megrahi. Compassionate release wasn't recognition of his "human rights"; it was due process under Scottish law.
3: The idea of an inquiry has been raised. An inquiry would only fulfil the rights of the families and Megrahi if it was independent and impartial from the UK government and had sufficient scope and powers.
At the very least, the concerns highlighted by the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission should be revisited. Political influence over decisions on detentions should also be scrutinised, and the UK government opposition to releasing crucial documents should be dropped. The key lesson is that the human rights of all parties need to be at the centre of the legal process and decision making if the public interest is to be served, and if justice is to be done and be seen to be done.Professor Alan Miller, chair of the Scottish Human Rights Commission

In Memoriam -29.08.08

It is, as I have said in the "in memoriam" for the "Craven Herald", amazing that 12 months have gone by since mum's passing! We have done a lot to help come to terms with a gap missing in my life. As for sure life does go and re-configured but nevertheless, it goes on without those we have lost. Ironically the local "fellowship" group linked with the church have asked me to give them a talk about some of the work I have done and still do with I suspect "loss and attachment" being the selected discussion in February!

The "family plot" have been marked by the quartz stone with an brass plaque engraved which reads:

In Memoriam

Alexander Deary -12.01.1925 – 20.04.1994
Amy Dobson Deary – 18.06.1926 – 29.08.2008
Sarah Robertina Hall – 26.02.1906 – 16.01.1999

R.I.P

Elaine and Maggie our near neighbours bought four bushes for the area which in a short time will look really beautiful!