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Berkshire is our oyster

It's Thursday again. I've just turned my phone over - so I don't get disturbed - and I'm looking out onto my garden. It's pretty wet. Again. It seems to be raining non-stop at the moment. But I'm here, on the dining room table and it's quiet. The girls' highchairs are either side of me and I miss them but I'm also glad to have this time of calm. Oscar is out buying wood for our wood store and the buggy park we're building. Our house constantly evolves to make it better when living with children. The paddling pool is all folding in a heap on the patio and I've barely even had the time to register it...whoops.

Anyway, this week, I've been focusing on selling tickets for the Parent Village Christmas shindig at the local Gin Bar. After dropping off June with Nanny and Bampy this morning, I tried to stop at a local honesty cafe but it's only open at the weekends so my idyllic, picturesque place to do some writing was replaced with a feeling of wanting to be at home. This time of year is always the most wonderful or the hardest for people. That comforting feeling of home is always cosy when you've got a protected little haven somewhere. This year has taught me that people in our community are not that lucky. My friend from the Parent Village has shown so much strength to me. She always smiles and is so polite, yet she has moved away from her hometown because of the Ukranian war and now needs friends in her new adopted town. This year has been about meeting people I never thought I would get to meet. 

Personally, it's been a year of such change within me. My experiences have made me softer, more understanding, but I've still got lots to work on. Oscar and I are going out for lunch today because the girls are away, and we rarely get any time just him and me anymore. 

Netball last night was great but I came back to June struggling to go back to sleep after waking. She is soothed instantly with me. Maybe I'll just focus on Lacrosse for now and get back into netball when the girls are a bit bigger. 

That was a bit of a diversion away from the current situation but it feels so good to write my thoughts down as and when they appear. It feels like I'm unloading all the rubbish in my mind so that I am clear to have a brighter day. Maybe this is how runners feel when they say that it 'clears their mind' when they go for a jog. All I get when I go for a jog are wheezing lungs.

So, when on the phone to Oscar today - whilst I drove past the honesty cafe and realised I couldn't go in and write this - he mentioned that we should go for lunch. I said I don't mind where. Berkshire is our oyster. It's all we need. Well, apart from when we go to Wales on a mini break soon but the majority of our time, I love where I live. The support we've created throughout lockdown and during the early days of being scared, worried parents (still am now, tbh) has been invaluable. 

However, I've been searching for Italy holidays. Last year, it was Sicily. I still have the villa website I found saved in my phone but the pool wasn't gated and I just couldn't quite justify the expense...so we did Devon for two weeks instead. I've found a website called baby boltholes; about places abroad with plenty of things to do with children. I've found a few places and now deciding how and when to make the big jump with a foreign holiday. Olive is the perfect age but June is absolutely wild. Next summer will be perfect. I'm so glad we waited until we were ready. The pressure to take kids away abroad is big but I'm happy to admit that we just haven't been ready and it just hasn't been worth the hassle. Our UK trips have been lovely and memories of Olive running forwards and backwards to the sea with a bucket to fill up could have been on any beach and it didn't matter where we were, as long as the three of us were all there with her. I'm hoping we can visit my Aunty Sue and her childern up in the Lake District soon - that is a dream and it's just slightly too far in the car at the mo but we'll get there.

Sticking on the countryside theme, I'm thinking of getting some work experience on a farm. It's always been a passion of mine and I'd love to be more involved in the organic side of living. To be continued...

Got to go - we're off out to lunch! Wooohoooo!

As with most my posts, I never really know where I'll end up but today - I had a title and cor, am I lucky to feel all cosy in Berkshire today.

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