Doesn't time...

...flyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy.

It seems like ages since I posted anything (okay...it is ages - don't rub it in, lol). Life has been busy, busy, busy and full of a number of 'firsts'.

On Friday 3 August I went to Newmarket with DH. His sports & social club at work had arranged a small trip to attend "Newmarket Nights". I was informed that this consisted of a number of races followed by a concert.

Never been horse racing and never been to a live concert so...two firsts, yeh!

We arrived by coach just before 5pm and the weather was fantastic, warm, sunny, brilliant summer's evening. Our party had passes for the Premier Enclosure so we had been told to dress appropriately (no jeans, no shorts, no shirts without collars etc, etc) everyone looked very smart...a bit like I would imagine a Royal garden party to be. Although crowded it wasn't uncomfortably so.

Then came the serious business of picking some horses. DH had the bright idea of phoning his Dad who has had a keen interest in 'the horses' all his life - East Ender, born & bred. For the five races he gave us one or two names per race and give him his due, nearly all finished in the first three :o)...unfortunately, not being experienced in such things we had only placed bets 'to win' so we only had one success all evening :o(. Never mind, it was fun and the atmosphere was great.

The concert started just before 9pm - Jools Holland & Lulu and a number of other artists that regularly perform with Mr Holland.

We had a really great evening and I would certainly recommend it to others (you might want to consider taking a picnic with you though...the one down-side was the time we waited for some food; over an hour & half for something that didn't involve any cooking ###???).

On Tuesday 7 August I attended a funeral service for a colleague. Although he had been very ill last year he had returned to work earlier this year and everyone thought things were okay. It wasn't to be and he sadly passed away in the early hours of Sunday 5 Aug. As his family were mostly in Ireland it was arranged that the body would be flown there for a funeral on the Friday. However, the family felt that something should be done here for all his friends and colleagues.

The church was packed, standing room only, which can only go to show the regard everyone felt for this person. At a time when intolerance of other faiths and cultures seems to be on the increase it was lovely to see there were folk of all colours, creeds, and faiths but the only concern was to bid a well liked person a fond farewell. A sad occasion but a heart-warming one.

What no-one knew was that the family had arranged a 'Wake' at at our friend's local - another first for me (never been to a wake before). It was lovely chatting to folk and sharing memories of our departed friend.

Wed 8th to Sun 12th, time has just flown by and I didn't get a chance to participate in the "Hold the Front page - Summer Fun" cybercrop on UK Scrappers so I just printed off the instructions for the various projects that took my eye. Some really lovely LOs and ideas. Last night at Diane's we all chatted about the cybercrop and got stuck into some enthusiastic scrapping - very productive evening...

Wed 15 Aug, DH is off to Turkey with his Dad tonight for 10 days so I will have the house to myself...wayhey!!! I feel a serious bout of scrapping and cardmaking coming on..............