💋🍾This is it …50things in my 50th year 💃

Here it’s is 2018… for me a realisation smacks me in the face … shit this is it …..this year I am 50… FIFTY …what the fuck ..me …nah I feel so much younger …however there are tell tale signs that this age thing is creeping up on me ….aside the grey hair ..there are a few lines appearing …from laughter I think..& I cant see without my glasses to read anything grrrrr😂…mostly thou it’s my memory combined with medication and age I swear I don’t know who I am or what I am doing half the time .

We had a fab Christmas with the brother being head chef we were served a feast … now I have to tell you how hilarious 🤣 it was listening to brother and Mumma Bear … he arrived at Mum & Dads house armed with gifts, gin, Christmas cake & a roll of parcel tape ….. this was to put down in between the kitchen and dining area ( it’s open plan) and no one was allowed to cross over the tape 😂😂…this reminded me of working for a oil drilling company back in the day ..Mac if your reading this ….where the rigs had portakabins on them …one section was for Directional Drillers …the top shots …the big boys ..and the other section was for the Mud-loggers…. the DD’s as they were called used to put a line of hazardous warning tape along the centre of the cabin and the ML’s were not under any circumstances allowed to cross the line !……. we had a very entertaining day watching each other dare to put a foot across the line !….it all went without a hitch … well apart from the fact there was no bread sauce as apparently brother does not like it … wtf … it’s the best part of Christmas dinner… I was devastated am over it now !. My sister-in-law has a wicked sense of humour there was a lot of laughter 😂…. my nephew is in the Army & I had the most gorgeous photograph of him in his uniform #veryproudaunty …. now Mr Lover Lover is sadistic & likes running up hills & offered to take nephew running whilst he was over to keep his fitness up ….. poor lad was exhausted and on his knees when he got back ….he was mighty glad to get back to Newcastle where it’s a bit flatter !…..I had the most lovely afternoon with my adorable niece & we watched Mary Poppins & ate chocolate 💕.

I am not a huge fan of New Year’s Eve and we had decided that we should take daughter skiing for the first time …as I really hankered over whizzing down the slopes with her ⛷… Mr Lover Lover skis …and I do mean skis…. extreme in his younger days ..ski mountaineering ( wtf??!!….no lift?) climbing mountains and skiing down…the horror of climbing a mountain with skis and boots … no thanks … I even hate carrying my skis to the slopes 😂….so we left for France 🇫🇷 on the 29/12 …arrived to extreme weather …pouring rain ☔️….😩… the resort Alpe D’Huez was like a lake water was pouring down the roads …thankfully only lasted a day & it snowed . Daughter went to ski school by the end of the week she was sking better than me ! No surprise there ! ……the rep in the hotel came up to us on the second day asking if we had lost anything …nooooo we all replied …you sure she said …yeah we chorused ….hmmmmm she said with a grin and handed daughter her passport 😱😱😱…. she had left it on transfer bus …lucky is a understatement. We had a great week two days of extreme weather slopes actually closed one day 😦 …. ate the most delicious tartiflette …if you have never had it and like cheese ..have some it’s Devine 🙂 ….met some great people who we played two games with …Who’s in the bag & Dobble … hilarious and great entertainment…ordered them from Amazon as soon as home ! ….daughter in true style managed to blag invite clubbing with the reps on New Year’s Eve ! She also had getting extra wine to our table nailed 😉…. advantages of taking daughter away .

#1 out of 50

We headed home …daughter packed up & back to school to do some serious studying ….house was quiet again 😦 but I had anticipated this and ordered Alexa Dot for bedroom which I just love 😂…..I love barking orders at her !! …I managed to squeeze my treatment in feeling quite rubbish …picked up some cough cold thing felt lousy and actually had a few days in bed before packing for the next trip … packing & feeling crap is not good …trying to muster up the energy was even harder ! ….managed it thou & headed off back to Manchester airport for what I can only describe as a once in a lifetime adventure…..with as I unpacked the other end 5 bobble hats …what the hell.?….

Now this will count as a few things towards my #50 things in my 50th year ….we had booked this trip over a year ago …it was a cruise but not as I imagined a cruise as it was on a ship which transported cargo/cars/foot passengers it sailed from the bottom of Norway Bergen past the arctic circle ⭕️ & to Kirkenes 13k from the Russian Boarder … which incidentally is open to Norwegian’s and vice versa so they can come and go between with a limit on how far they go.

The voyage was a astronomy voyage ….I have always loved the stars ⭐️ but I now have a whole new interest in them !…on the voyage we had a Dr John Mason who was the onboard astrologist and a man passionate about space & more importantly the Northen Lights we had daily lectures and Dr Mason spent every night ..all night on deck 6 or 9 watching for any auroral display & my god we were not disappointed….every evening after dinner we headed up in freezing temperatures to see if we could catch a glimpse ….I could not last long out there …freezing sea spray , high winds even though I was wearing …helly long johns, Rohan winter trousers with paramo waterproof trousers on top…winter socks, boots , four top layers with a knee length puffa coat ..hat, buff & 2 pairs of gloves …. I could barely fucking walk up to deck 9 😂🚢🌌….but I did and as we neared the north we had a evening of the most spectacular Northen Lights ❤️….. I feel so privileged..a) to have seen them b) to have been caught up in the most incredible enthusiasm by Dr Mason ….he really is quite incredible…..if you go make sure it’s when he’s on board ….there is nothing he does not know about Northen lights ! . These are his pictures from Ms Trollfjord whilst we on board ❤️🙌🏻.

Hurtigruten We were scheduled to stop at 38 ports some quick stops dropping off cargo / passengers it’s a life line to the people living in these places ….the ship blows its horns entering & leaving every port a lovely magical welcoming sound ….it was truly magical …every bit took my breath away especially-18 degrees …. now I feel the cold going up on deck in the evening with howling winds ..hands sticking with ice to deck rails was cold … but it’s a funny one …you have to layer up big time … for me …long johns & thermal top , fleece lined trousers, fleece top, paramo over trousers , arctic socks with snow boots , another fleece top, long puffa coat, 2 x gloves, 1 x fleece buff & a bobble hat …..now try walking from deck 6 to deck 9 up stairs like a beached whale …it was bloody ridiculous I waddled in a hurry some nights…. realising most things on back to front 😂🙌🏻…then it’s out for a bit star gazing ..being so cocky as I now knew where to find the North Star ⭐️..Orion’s belt, 7 sisters, the plough and caseopa and clock the Northen lights …then before hypothermia set in rocked myself back down the decks peeling off layers on the way as I was over heating 😂🚢….there were lots of fun times aboard this ship & we fortunate to have had great company B & H…. we ate delicious food and drank stashed scotch & wine ….half a pint of beer was £8.50😱😱…we had hip flasks weighed off and in pockets at all times …can’t quite understand how we had huge bar tabs at the end of the voyage …thank fuck Mr Lover Lover had given his credit card on check in as it was automatically charged to same card 😂😱🙌🏻high five sista ,!.

Thank god yet again WiFi on board didn’t skip a beat and I was in constant touch with kids , daughter up to her eyes in mocks , son up to his eyes in watermelons 🍉😂…I know I go on about it but I have to be in contact with them all the time much to their annoyance ❤️.

I filled a lifelong dream of husky sledding in Kirkenes … it was just heaven… the musher was just so lovely with the dogs they got lots of cuddles …use of few command words we were off flying across a frozen fjord…the silence was was struck me the most you could have heard a pin drop …breathtaking …if you get a chance do it …it’s incredible ❤️

It’s back home … to a hectic weekend of happiness….picking daughter up from school quickly getting changed and heading out to a fellow member of the “50” club birthday ..great to catch up with everyone and have a few gins which didn’t cost the price of a small flat ! …. was sensible ish as we were heading off to another birthday celebration in Manchester on Saturday staying over at dear friends …with another ‘Doha’ bestie coming from B’ham too …26 years of friendship and it’s honestly like yesterday …how easily we slip into opening a bottle of champers and laughing about old times …10 of us went out for dinner …we got asked to be quiet 🤐….so left back to party at friends house …. this is how it went …. music blasting, I change out of dress & heels into pj’s … all dancing in kitchen ….fab… hostess birthday girl bailed at 1am …. we carry on …and on….3.30am decide I’ve had enough and it’s bedtime …..😂….fast forward few hours get up….oh god I can’t … I can’t move …my head, my stomach …it’s not good …who the HELL gave me port after champers|red wine …. ugh it’s vile I feel so ill…& blame everyone else ….thank god Mr Lover Lover is driving home later on …we laugh 🤭 it’s always me when we see these friends 😂… made it home just and have had no alcohol since ! Fab time as always …cheers till next time this year is looking good ….cariad mawr 💋…. pass me a cuppa Tea ….xxx