Going for gold

 How delightful to spend some time in Geneva with Tim and his family and to be able to take all the Scouseland kids as well.

There is a fair sized crew now and it made an ideal opportunity for a family football match the first morning we were there. Unfortunately I and SWMBO were confined to barracks, so we were on VAR duty, but in a hard fought game Sofia cracked in a 10 yarder to clinch the game. Soon to be Emma's husband, Nick, showed his skills have not deserted him, and JB excelled in goal. Luckily VAR was not called on so I was not the subject of any decision debate in the restaurant later.

Tuesday saw us take a trip to Annecy on the lake of the same name, where we wandered round a very French town and took a boat trip around the lake, which was a bit fresh I have to say. Dinner was in a restaurant at the base of the Jura skiing complex but as the resort is fairly low lying, there was no opportunity for Winter sports.

Our final trip took us to Lausanne and specifically to the Olympic Museum. What a wonderful experience that is. In the gardens surrounding the exhibition complex are artworks and olympic icons, like the current high jump and pole vault bars, together with a four lane 100m track over which the kids took on the adults

Inside were exhibits going back to the original meeting in Paris in 1908, every Olympic torch was there and costumes and equipment showing how times have changed. Usain Bolt had his shirt there, and Jessie Owen and Michael Johnson had donated their running shoes.

In one of the cinema presentations was the image of Mohammed Ali lighting the flame in Atlanta in 1996, an event which SWMBO and I witnessed in a bar in downtown Buckhead. It is a moment which still sends goose bumps down my arms.

ELO

 Just noted I used Electric Ladyland earier so new title added!!

To try to do our bit for global warming I have just purchased SWMBO an electric car. it is another Corsa which she was very hppy with after eventually being persuaded to have  new one. It matches her driving profile perfectly. She does mostly short journey's and with a range of about 200 miles, range fear is unlikely to be a problem. It has sat nav facilities and hands free options for the phone so that is all additional peace of mind.

We have installed a home charger so it is very cheap to run at the moment as we are fortunate still to have a fixed deal well into 2023. Tesco were running a free charging service up until 1st November but that is now a payment facility which is a pity as we were getting a free 35 miles every time we shopped. Wirral council have some lamp post facilities but none really fit our travel template.

On a recent trip down South we did a check of service station charging options in case we ever need to go far afield in it. The service stations really only have two or three charging points and people were telling us they waited up to 40 minutes for a spare bay. There is a twelve station power farm in Banbury so thatm would be one good option to bear in mind.

We had all six grand children in one place during half term so it was good to get the Swiss branch into London, and we did Hampton Court Palace and a few other things. It was almost three years since we were in Geneva the last time we saw them.

Traffic was heavy on the way home and my sat nav was not giving me traffic information. It turns out that as the car is now three years old, I need to pay an annual fee for such information. Hey ho, they do say BMW where even the steering wheel is extra!

Tempus Fugit

Goodness me, this time last week I was boarding an aircraft for Geneva to visit our oldest son, Tim and the two Swiss based grandchildren. This was nothing new for SWMBO and I, but on this occasion we were joined by their 4 cousins and Tim's siblings, Emma, Becky and Kieran. Jon and Hannah made up the travelling party.

The few days we were there went well. Ice skating and ice hockey training were the order of the day on the Saturday, followed by a mass meal in the restaurant in the village. We are becoming regulars there if going in consecutive December's counts as regular!!
Sunday we went off to Montreaux, home of the jazz festival, with the hope of taking the mountain train to Santa at about 2000 metres.
Sadly the high winds and blizzard conditions meant we were confined to the lake side and made do with the Christmas market and 'santa on a zip wire' Everybody did have   a good time though and collapsed exhausted into bed.

Monday was an alternative Santa day. We went to his village outside Geneva and saw the 'bad' Santa house of Krampus complete with naughty children list, confiscated mobile phones and horrid vegetable soup.W e then went to Santa's workshop and saw the elves dining room, the toy workshop and decoration making production line before tip toeing through his bedroom as the big man with the beard was asleep before his big day ahead. The kids took this as read and it was a wonderful approach by the theme park as it saved a long cold queue for a gift and present, and nobody could say it was all a fake!!

It was then off to another restaurant in Geneva for a celebration of Emma's birthday before a train ride to the airport and back home to Scouseland. It really was a good few days but it did leave SWMBO a bit behind schedule in the Christmas prep stakes.

Christmas Day did go with a swing though. 14 adults and 6 kids for dinner and all very well behaved. Loads of presents were opened and given we only do limited presi's for the adults, we still haven't got the kids mix right. Boxing Day saw wall to wall footie on the TV to keep the lads quiet before it was off down the road for the big family party. Our turn to host it next year!! Everybody was in bed by midnight and the last of the stragglers have now left. I have done a tip run and normal service will soon be restored.

That said, we are off to a Thai Twixtmas meal later and meeting up with our good friend Marion so no early nights of lie in opportunities for a few days.

So Happy New Year to all my readers and here's to 2020, the year of the visionaries, geddit!?!

Don't just book it...

So disappointed to see the demise of Thomas Cook, a travel firm we have used on numerous occasions for holidays, flights and corporate hospitality. We have been in Mauritius when a holiday firm has gone bust and we saw first hand the stress it put their clients under, both from the point of view of their holidays being cut short, how they would get home, and the actions the hotel owner took to protect his outstanding payment schedule.

None of that is pleasant, and it was only by chance that we had not booked a pre-Christmas mega group to take the ankle biters to Lapland for a special trip. Thomas Cook were favourites to be our carrier, but we were still trying to sort out dates with the four families involved.

Instead we have booked everybody to go to Geneva to see number 1 son and family so EasyJet just got 15 return flights they might not have been expecting. Geneva is great from Liverpool as there are flights most days in the Summer with extra ones during the main skiing season.

We have a few other sorties planned with a first trip to 'off the record Dick's new abode in Middle , Little, Upper or Lower Wallop near Andover shortly then a major BMW golf event in St Andrews followed by golf and spa in Gleneagles. We will return home yearning for sunnier climes I suspect but they might have to wait until next year as our property sales process has stalled once more so funds need to be rationed.

That said, we are geared up for the mega Euro Lottery tomorrow. What would I do with €200m

Water babies

SWMBO and I have just returned from Geneva where we visited number one son, his partner and our two overseas grandchildren. We took number one grand daughter,Ava, with us, and nearly came back without her!!

More on that later. We were royally looked after in the food and drink department, and reciprocated with a few meals out. Tim has recently lost his job which is making things a bit tough financially, although he is around to look after the children during their Summer holidays. Hopefully he will get something sorted come September time.

As the driver and ideas man, he enabled the children to swim each day we were there, once at a large sports complex with multiple pools and slides, once on lake Geneva and today in a tributary of the river Rhone.That last one was a bit taiters though.

We had lunch in a local pizzeria before we left and Ava ate most of her pizza by hand. When she went through the security scanner at the airport it picked up suspicious substances on her which led to suitcase searches and other checks which quite upset her. Clearly she has had an airport incident previously to sow a certain nervousness about security checks in her mind. I wonder what it was though?

We were also asked in Geneva and Liverpool to produce backup information about our relationship as she is a Harris and SWMBO is a Collins. Mum is a Smith but had given us an indemnity letter which did the trick both times.

Sofia and Alexander are both into skate boarding now so Ava had a go at that which should bode well for snowboarding in the Winter.

Keep that casualty bed free!

Family time

Quite mixed emotions over the last few days in the Weathers household. Last weekend SWMBO and I took number one grandchild, Ava, to visit her cousin, Sofia, in Switzerland where number one son and partner have recently moved to.

There was no snow which was  a shame, but the girls went skating, something Ava had never done before, and they thoroughly enjoyed that. Grandad tried his best but was pretty second rate really!!

We had a fine time at the Geneva Christmas market, and a very enjoyable meal in the local village restaurant. We all tried frogs legs and some excellent Swiss wine, before going up a cable car the next day, over the border in France. Again weather conditions were against us, so there was no sign of Mont Blanc above the clouds. Everybody had a good time and we returned home in good spirits to get ready for Christmas.

That, though, was when things turned. Last Monday my mother rang to say she was unwell, dizzy and a bit disoriented, so we had to ring the paramedics. We kept her out of hospital only because SWMBO was prepared to do the night shift and sleep on the sofa in her apartment. The next day after we had left she phoned to say she had had a fall so the paramedics were called again.

This time we took her to our home but it became evident we could not provide the care and support she needed over a 24 hour period. Through one of SWMBO's friends we were able to book mum into a nursing home for two weeks restbite to see if she could regain enough confidence to go self sufficient again. I was shocked how quickly she degenerated after having the fall. The first spell of dizziness was as  a result of her taking the incorrect amount of medication but she is now confused and vulnerable.

I saw her today and she seems to be resigned to some time away from home, it will be difficult when we need to tell her it will be more permanent if she cannot fend for herself. An old peoples home is her worst nightmare, and I had always promised I would not let her go to one, but two days trying to care for her showed us it was impossible either at her flat or in our home.

We are hoping she can join us for Christmas Day, but, if not, at least she will not be alone, she is getting three meals a day, has the company of the staff and can choose whether to join in the activities which the care home arrange for them.

It's not the build-up to Christmas we had anticipated but we will make the best job of it we can, as the challenges of young and old all have to be catered for. Talking of catering, I feel a mince pie coming on, ho! ho! ho!