Lovely Things in Little Ole UK

Here I am back in Bognor Regis after being in Hastings, where I have been looking after my mum.
I have been in the UK for two weeks now & it is a real mix of being so lovely to be with family & missing home. The only consolation for me is it's been raining loads at home so haha I am no worse off weather wise (for the moment!).
Mum is doing really well but is very weak & a little confused, not worrying confused just from being weak & having people in all the time. My mum is very very independent & very very stubborn! Thank God that she is otherwise she would have been gone from us many a year ago!!!! She is soooo strong, everyone says so, even the nurses & carers. There is a group of carers that come in twice a day. They are supposed to be there to help her, wash, cook, dress whatever she needs but she does it all herself so I have got them to do her excersizes with her as this was not working out between us! So far so good :-)
I have never worked so hard since having small children :-) My daughter says she does that every day, & yes she does, as did I for donkeys years with three under three at one point, but that my dears was yonks ago & I am now living a life of old Reilly in the countryside with a dishwasher. My last two weeks has been one of constant washing up, cooking, shopping, fetching, medicating & I am knackered ;-D My mum deserves it though & I am only back here because my brother is over from Oz & with her for a couple of weeks. We had a couple of days together & he will be bringing mum & my niece Casey to Bognor for a couple of days before he goes back. We went to lunch together to Cosmo Mmmmm eat as much as you like Cantonese. I LURVE the chilli prawns & had a plateful with some sesame prawn toast ;-) He then draged me all round Hastings looking for paint which had we turned round & gone in the opposite direction we would have seen a place Argh! LOL It was fun though.
Terry (My bro) bought me some Ugg's over, proper Uggs not the rubbish labelled ones that are inferior, they are a load of pooh, but the proper thick sheep skin waterproof non smelling hot or cold weather boots that Ozzi's wear. I have a pair that have seen me through 4 winters in Bulgaria & are still fantastic but a little big. Anyway these are a size smaller but when we looked at them they must be children's as the leg width is minute even a size 0 woman could not get her skinny little pin in it :-(((( Disappointment number one!   Disappointment number two, the Smart phone my son gave me is broken :-((((( The slot where the sim goes in. For some reason it will stay in if put in the wrong way round but then obviously then it won't work so I will try to find someone to mend it, if its even possible?

I am really struggling with carpal tunnel in my wrists, its particularly bad again at the moment, due to constant use, lifting, carrying, washing & drying up 20 times a day (no mum won't have a dish washer). I am a bit worried as to how I will manage the cases on the way home!
In Hastings there are millions of Sea Gulls, they adopt houses & soft touches like my mum feed them & their young. I have to say I love them they have personalities & are real characters. If we don't put their food out on time they come & knock on the kitchen door & tell me off when I take it out!!! They have been known to throw plants around & pull them apart when they get annoyed lol!

The one by the pond is fake lol

Just waiting!

LOL ;-D

Even at the train station they came to me? Do you think they tell each other hahaha No one else had a Gull stand infront of them just staring doodoo doodoo ;-)

There is also a large Fox that comes by for food at night. One evening when mum was calling the cat in it was there we stood with the door open & it was just a couple of feet away. It just sat down looked at us & waited for us to shut the door! I loved that but worry that they are too used to humans, these urban foxes & need us to feed them, it was a beauty though!

I have found a huge difference here. England is soooo crowded with people. I never realised until this trip, I guess its because I have been away for so long that now I see it & feel it I can tell you! People everywhere traffic & cars everywhere. You can also see everyone has money, although they probably don't think or feel they have. This is a country with money, even the poorly off have "things" are well fed & have homes with all the "Necessities" . Before I get a barrage of abuse I am not talking of the minority of people who are on the streets for one reason or another, we have many more of these unfortunates in Bulgaria as do other countries, so please before you start don't Ta :-))) Most people don't realise they have things others will never have & it is an eye opener to me. Shopping in England is a mighty different experience than at home.

Today I had a wonderful day out with Claire, just us like in the "old days". We had an amazing lunch at Cafe Rough, there would have been no better prawns & muscles in the finest restaurants truly scrumptious & my steak was great with a stupendous garlic sauce & French beans Mmmmmm, I was so full there was no room for a pud.

After, we had a browse around all the little independent shops full of pretty things, I unfortunately have no money to buy said pretty things, but it sort of made me want to live here again, I miss shopping!!!!!  Loved people watching as I walked along through the little cobbled side streets, loving Chichester.
I am fortunate that where I live in Bulgaria there are very old cobbled streets & little shops full of things (things girlie's love) but they are not such good quality, not so cheap & not so pretty. I have adapted but it is still nice to see I just wish.........

How out of it am I ????? My daughter bought me a new phone & my niece sent me a sim card which unfortunately did not work :-( So I got a pre loaded 3 sim put on !£15 which gives me an amazing 300 mins 3000 text' & as much data as I can download in a month, only I couldn't get it to work when I tried to text Nige! After a quietly annoyed call to India it turns out all I purchased was for use only in UK! I now have to put credit on so I can text Nige. I am soooo out of the loop & I no likey!!!!!

Loving my family time in England............

Away From "Home"

Arundel Castle, Arundel, West Sussex, England

Well here I am in a dull, windy, bleak & rainy UK.

I haven't set foot in England for two & a half years. It's funny how even though everything in Bulgaria is so different, & coming back here is stepping forward into the 2st century, even though its a different world, one I have rejected, it's the roots of who I am.

I am that little "cockney" girl who hates cities & tall buildings, hates the rush & ignorance of London life, even though I was born & bred to it. Hates the money, money , money attitude you need to live a good life here & the struggle people have even though they work, work, work. 

But I love the coast! I am very fortunate that both the areas I have family in are coastal, bonus lol. 

I raised my children in Bognor Regis, a sleepy seaside country town on the West Sussex coast, dahn sahf. I thank God we (Myself & my Ex) moved there as one of my daughters & my son are bringing up my granddaughters there, & for a child it's an idyllic life. I am surprised how much I miss Bognor still.
It has been 12 years since I lived here & I had a wonderful life in some ways & a nightmare in others (adult stuff) but always loved the place. Its perfect for me as it is not built up or towney, has the seaside, a bit of shopping, countryside & lots of history. Bognor Regis is also near a lot of getaway places that people pay to go on holiday to & Chichester is just up the road for good shopping, if you don't mind putting up with the snobbery for a day! 
I have only spent two days here but already it feels like home! 


It's wonderful to be in a normal house, with no dust, flat walls, a proper kitchen with proper good quality items, flat floors & cleanness lol I miss those things & I know I do I just didn't realise how much. 
Don't get me wrong I love my life in Bulgaria, what my home will one day be but getting there is proving to be a mission. Good job I am not a snob & I am willing to put up with stuff cause after over 3 years it does get a bit gutty! 
My daughter & partner live in a gorgeous house in one of the 5 villages, that are part of Bognor, Set in the country with the sandy beach a spit away across the road. 

We have been out to Arundel castle on a wild & windy damp day but it was great, after all we are British & just get on with it "stiff upper lip" & all that. 

Family

After all if we didn't then living in England you would get to do nothing hahaha. 

My first cream tea!

We had a cream tea which was on my list of to do's (scratch that one off) & then we went out to a country pub for a good old surf & turf (steak & prawns) second on my list of to do's, so I am a happy bunny.  I miss the old English pub eateries, good ones not the Beefeater-ies but old taverns that have the original feel about them. 
They would go so well in Bulgaria (well with not so much English-ness about them) with their old beams wood floors & could just imagine Rasputin-ian running through with his sword raised hahaha. There is a pub in Veliko Turnovo that is similar with walls full of old "stuff" dressers with an eclectic mix of old tea pots violins cups & "stuff" everywhere, uneven floors old wooden tables & chairs miss matched, yep it feels great & is completely Bulgarian, it fits right!
You can probably tell I love history & everything historic. Living in places that have this about their character fits right with me & my soul searches them out, like to like.  Hence living in the Veliko Turnovo region & deep in the countryside of Bulgaria, its real & true.


I have for the first time met my granddaughter Chloe & what a little gem she is, a darling always laughing & running around very busy ;-) I am honoured as she is very fussy with people & doesn't take easily to them, she has a tendancy to cry at them & be very suspicious, so you can imagine I was all prepared for this & thinking I hope to get a kiss before I go back to Bulgaria!
Well Chloe was not a bit scared of me, which was a great start & after a while she sat between me & my daughter Claire stroking my arm surreptitiously while I wasn't looking, & let me stroke her back, surreptitiously off course  ;-) By the time she had to go home I had a big kisses, a cuddle & bye byes, she even said Nanoo. Very happy Nanna. I think it helps that she is in love with her Aunty Claire & we sound the same & look similar. Chloe has the Reedman features so she has the same look as her Dad, her Aunty, her cousins & her Nanna. Chloe also has the look of her mum so its very strange but she can look completely different at times, she has her mums family eyes & shape mouth. How lovely is that to take after both parents so much!
I have had a lovely time with Hope, my eldest granddaughter (I have 3 granddaughters) & hope to see Molly very soon but as she lives in Bristol this has to be organised & I guess I will only get to see her for a couple of days :-((( Can't wait!!!


Yesterday saw the first family sunday roast around the dinning table for years, some faces were missing, some  faces were  new, but family all the same, lovely & yes I did the cooking in a real kitchen with a REAL cooker oh I was loving it!!!!!
My son gave me his old phone which is 9 years younger than the one I have now! I don't know how to use it & my sim doesn't work in it but I am well happy, I just have to get a new sim for me to use when I am here & I will be well away ;-))))) Yeay 21st century here I come, well for a bit


Off to Hastings today to look after my mum. Mum has just had a knee replacement & at almost 88 this is no mean feat! I will be with mum for a couple of weeks till my brother comes across from Australia for 17 days then I will come back to Bognor for two weeks to spend more family time (won't be so hectic) & catch up with a couple of really good friends, can't wait!!!!! I think me & Claire are also going up Lahndan tahn to Harrods for afternoon tea, ooh lala, well I am a Londoner so what do you expect????? a kebab on the corner, oooooh nooooo that my dears is not me at all ;-) yucky greasy food, well I could maybe have a shish before I go back "home"