Once upon a time in a Uni town
That lies on the Menai Straits.
A clever young man and a beautiful girl
would sit up talking until very late.
They talked of their hobbies
Of climbing and swimming,
Of music and walking and things.
They talked for so long they soon fell
in love,
You know that feeling that makes your
heart sing?
And after they graduated with mortas
and gowns
And their tutors had given their
congratulations,
The boy did his PHD in a town far away.
And the beautiful girl? Well she went
with him!
Together they lived, they worked and
they played
Supporting and loving each other,
They even started a club where others
could come
To learn how to be a cool Ninja!
And then came the day that they flew
far a way
To a wedding in sunny New Zealand.
They climbed a volcano, where the boy
knelt on one knee
To ask, if she'd take him, as her
husband.
How happy we were when we all heard the
news,
Our family had suddenly become larger.
John and Debbie were thrilled, as was I
and her brother
I had a new son and they had a new
daughter.
It was with this poem, along with a few
flash cards of Lisa and Steve that I began my speech at their leaving
party two weeks ago. Eighteen of Steve's family had gathered together
for a meal at the local hotel and while we were waiting to be seated
I had been asked to say a few words.
Having begun at the beginning, I went
on to tell some more ….
Hopefully many of you have read
the story of Lisa and Steve's Wedding, in fact I am sure a
few of my readers were actually there but what you may not realise is the
significance of the date!!
The 13th day of the 7th
month in 2013.
Now my daughter has always been rather
good at maths, in fact she loves maths. Numbers are pictures to her
and she is especially fond of prime numbers. She was actually born on
the 13th of July so maybe her love of prime numbers
started there, who can tell.
Her husband Stephen, is also rather
good at maths, which I am sure you will all agree is a useful trait
for a theoretical quantum chemist.
So having returned from New Zealand she
and Steve decided to get married five months later on her birthday as
13 is a prime number and so is 7. I did point out that 2013 is not a
prime number - it is divisible not only by 1 and itself but also by 3
- but my daughter quickly countered that if you add up the dates of
her wedding 13, 7 and 2013 it equals 2033 which is a prime
number!!
She also got married at 11 am, yet
another prime number.
Did I mention she just loves prime numbers??
The highlight of the day took place
beneath the bows of an ancient Apple tree at the farm in Rhos on Wye.
Unfortunately during the storms in the winter of 2013, the Apple tree
which was incredibly old, was blown down.
My daughter was very sad
until I pointed out that the Apple tree had stood for years and years
waiting for the young boy who climbed in its bows to grow up and
choose a wife, just as his God father had done before him. The tree
was now happy to pass as it had witnessed their vows and its life was
now complete....
To honour the tree and the marriage of
Lisa and Steve I wrote another poem ….
The Apple tree …...
The Apple tree does not stand silent
As we hold hands beneath its bows,
It whispers, rustles, sways and settles
As we say aloud our vows.
The Apple tree is full of noise
As insect, bird and critters sing,
All are busy but all are watching
As you pass to me a wedding ring.
With this ring I will wed you,
Beneath the Apple tree,
The birds are our choir,
The tree is our witness,
As I twine myself with thee.
After the tree fell, it was chainsawed
into pieces but Lisa and Steve were able to save a few pieces. These
were then passed onto me and once it has dried sufficiently, ie in
the spring, and as I work in a Wood craft Shop, I plan to turn the
pieces into a baby chair so the tree can continue to be part of their
lives
That ending brought me nicely to the
next part of my speech …...
In August of this year Stephen and Lisa
announced the wonderful news that they were expecting a baby. The
first of the Next Generation, they then announced that they were
going to 'Boldly go where no one had gone before' – OK that may be
a bit dramatic but they were thinking of moving.
I was then asked what I wanted to be
called by the new arrival.
Now when we are born we are given a
name, we have no say in this, there is no consultation, there is no
choice! But when we become Grand Parents we ARE given a choice, a
choice with life changing repercussions. The name we choose for
ourselves with the arrival of our first grandchild is the name we
will then carry for the rest of our lives, for generations yet to
come. This is something pretty MAJOR!!!!
So I wrote a poem!....
Baby Story
My daughter will soon be a Mommy
Which turns Mommy into a Gran
But I feel too young to be called
Grandma
And they insist I cant stay Kerriann
So the search is on for a new name
For the soon new arrival to say
There is Nana or Nain or down south
they say Mamgy
I suppose Nanny is sort of OK
But I've never been one for conforming
I love the freedom of being a Hippy
Hippy Gran I shall be ..Wait! There is
my name
Drop the H she can just call me IPPY!!
I added for the record Debbie is going
to be Nana Debbie and John is Pappy John
And so I reached the end of my speech
….
The End of the Beginning
And so we gather here on this glorious
night
With feelings of both sadness and joy
For they are off to Singapore and
that's a long way away
No more phone calls for me when she's
bored
But we wish them the best
For this new stage of their lives
For we secretly wish we could do it
But fear not my dear friends, we'll
soon see them again
You do know we're all coming to visit!!
Smiles abounded, the couple in the
corner got up to go to their table (even though the waitress had
informed them twice that their table was ready) and we raised our
glasses to Lisa and Steve.
Now although that is a story in its own
right there was much more to follow!
While Lisa and Steve packed their bags
and flew off to Singapore three days later, I climbed aboard Lady
Sage and headed up to Scotland to see my Sister. I left Chester later
than I had initially planned on Sunday November 23rd,
(In the past week I had driven from Machynlleth to
Southampton on November 16th, Southampton to Chester then to
Machynlleth on the 17th, Machynlleth back to Southampton
on the 18th and then back up to Chester on the 19th! I
then drove to Machynlleth to pick up Lady Sage on the 20th
and was back up in Chester for the leaving meal on the 22nd!!!!
- I do enjoy driving lol )
By tea time on the 23rd I
crossed the Scottish border and turned left off the motorway. In the
darkness I discovered a sign for Merkland Cross and turned right.
Over the motorway and up a short hill I came to a small turning space
and there I settled for the night.
In the distance the lights of the
motorway glimmered and gleamed. High above the stars twinkled and in
the distance bright red lights lit up hidden towers. I slept well
that night and all was well.
The next morning I consulted the map
and planned my route. The Border lands looked good, winding roads and
mountains with a few possible night stops along the way. I finished
breakfast and was soon rolling along the back roads to Lockerbie.
From Lockerbie I headed into the
mountains, past hidden Buddhist retreats and huge sheep.
Acres of forest land lay all around me,
opening out from time to time to expose huge ranges of hills.
Three timber lorries had accumulated
behind me and as I was not in a rush I pulled over into a layby to
let them pass. The view was breathtaking so I stopped the engine to
get out.
Well I sort of stopped the engine. When
I tried to turn the engine off with the key nothing happened! The key
didn't turn and the engine didn't stop!! I tried again, shaking and
rattling the key in the barrel. The key would turn forwards but not
off!
I sat for a moment and thought. If it
turned forward to could restart the engine. If I could restart the
engine, I could stop it by stalling. I popped her into gear and
stalled her. For the next half hour I cooked lunch and had a stroll
around before, with a quick check of the map I got ready for the next
part of my trip. I turned the key and although the engine turned
over, Lady Sage refused to start. I tried again, Nothing. I reached
for my phone to ask Peter's advice only to find I had no phone
signal. No other cars had passed me during my lunch break, no one
knew where I was and no one was expecting me for two days! I drank a glass of
water and studied my options.
The lay by was on a very slight
backward slope. If I could push Lady Sage back I should be able to
reverse bump start her on the road way hill. I pushed until she began
to move and then jumped as quickly as I could into the driver seat
and pulled the wheel to aim me at the road. As the back wheels
reached it I began to straighten up but hadn't gauged the width of Lady Sage correctly and within a few feet we ground to a halt as the
back passenger wheel slipped into the shallow ditch that ran along
side the road. I got out to look.
The back wheel was definitely in the
ditch, we were also definitely on a backward slope. There was no
possible way I was going to be able to push Lady Sage out of the
ditch alone. I was also now on the road and not safe in a lay by so
camping for the night was no longer a safe option. There was still no phone signal and
no passing cars.
I admired the fir cones on a near by
tree and ate some chocolate – I always think better with chocolate!
I put Lady Sage into gear and turned
the key just to see what would happen. She lurched forward bumping
the back wheel half out of the ditch. I tried it again to see if I
could hop further out and this time we made it to the road. A third
try, I reasoned, should get me totally clear of the ditch and I just
might be back on track for that bump start that I had initially
planned.
I turned the key a third time and was
astounded when the engine roared into life!!!! We were alive and the
roads to Edinburgh were ours again!
I debated stopping again to see if Lady
Sage was fixed but decided to wait until I had phone signal and a
good slope ahead of me. We trundled through the mountains, admiring
the scenery but the hills had lost some of their attraction as I
checked from time to time for phone reception.
I found a good hill to try my recovery
experiment and stalled her Ladyship. The key still didn't turn, the
engine still didn't start. We bump started and travelled onto the
nearest garage, my wild camping was over for this trip!
At the first garage I found I was
informed everyone was at lunch, at the second I was told to join the
RAC and get towed home.
Luckily for me at the third garage I met the
most amazing man who after a wee bit of head scratching decided he
could 'fix' the problem. If we could just remove the steering barrel
I would be able (with a wee bit of coaching) to start the engine with
a screwdriver!
We removed the barrel …. “Well I
was na expecting that!” exclaimed my new best friend as the barrel
fell into two pieces in his hand and the engine stopped!
He put the pieces
together, turned them slightly and the engine fired up. Well at least
that bit worked. The only hic cup we had with our cunning hot wiring
plan was that as soon as you let go, the pieces fell apart and the
engine stopped.
I offered him a ride to the city if he would hold the
pieces together while we drove. He smiled and we began to think of a
new plan. Welding wouldn't allow the bits to turn, neither would
tape. I suggested elastic bands, but he thought they would vibrate too much. We
thought some more.
In the back of lady Sage is everything
a girl could possible need – everything a girl and her bus could
need! I fished out some wide knicker elastic, a safety pin and a
scissors and in the flash of a blade I made a loop for my engine
starting thingy ma gig to go into. My new best friend was a wee bit skeptical but as we maneuvered the bits in and turned them slightly
Lady Sage roared into life. We turned the bits again and she stopped.
On, Off, On, Off. We bumped the bits when she was on and she stayed
on, we bumped the bits when she was off and she stayed off.
My new best friend and I were ecstatic.
We both took some photos, he denied any responsibility, I agreed and we smiled. “I have ne
seen ye lassy, you was neva here!” he beamed as I offered up a
bottle of cider and a donation to the staff box!
Despite the incredible 'fixing' work
Lady Sage now sported, I decided, as I was only 10 miles from
Edinburgh, to go straight to my Sisters …. a day early.
To be continued …....
