First
of all, a very Happy Mother's
Day to all those wonderful mothers out there
of my friends, and to those friends who are mothers. We
all know know much you are loved, and I wish to join in
adding that love to you from me.
This past week was one building to anticipation for Saturday
for a number of us here at Corries.
However, more on that later! It was also a week busy with
doctors' appointments for me.
Monday morning, the carpet fitters arrived, and they got
the new carpet in and fitted and were gone before lunch.
After work, Drew and Lil Sutton again helped to get all
the furniture back in and sorted. I started doing some unpacking,
but I tired out, had cereal for dinner, and went to bed!
On Tuesday I was, as normal, at Northern
College of Acupuncture for my twice monthly
treatment, and all continues to improve in my neck and my
back. I'm glad of that, as are they! I do feel so much better
after being "needled" by them! Home afterwards,
and more unpacking and settling of things.
Wednesday I met Peter Gibson and Teri Rhodes at the Rose
and Crown for lunch, and Peter had some
news for us! He'd given notice at work, and he'd acquired
a solicitor (law practice). He couldn't elaborate on anything,
as there are still things to be worked out, but we were
so very happy for him, and you could see just how happy
he was, and good on him!! Teri also had good news to share,
as her new job is going well, and the best of all, her mother
had been back to the doctor for her check-up, and she'd
received the all clear! Hooray! Finally, everything was
alsol back in place by this evening, and I even got pictures,
etc. hung on the walls again. Back to normal........, well,
sort of!
Thursday morning I was at Jorvik
Medical Practice for a routine check-up
and to get my prescription refills. That all went well,
and they were happy with my progress in the weight-loss,
lowered blood pressure, etc., as am I. I went back to work,
and then left again at 3:30 to go to York
Hospital for my 6-month check-up by the
dermatologist for melanomas. Hooray! She'd been following
one in particular, and she said it was smaller, there are
no new ones, and my skin is looking better!!! That was very
good news!!
Rosie Fluin, Cathrine Brown
and Angela Nyhan had invited me to go for a couple of pints
after work and to sit in the beer garden at the Five
Lions. It was such a lovely day, and having
all my work at home done, I did! We had a couple and just
enjoyed sitting by the river and the nice weather. We had
hardly left, when it began to rain, but we missed it, and
that's a good thing!
Friday was a busy day, and everyone was so excited! Over
30 of us were heading to Glasgow
the next day, for the Tennent's
Scottish Cup Finals. Bruce Corrie had booked a luxury
bus for us to journey there, and plans were being made by
everyone about people bringing things to eat, drink, etc.
Towards the end of the day, an email came round saying there
would be chips, drinks, etc. on the bus, and we would be
on our way the next day!
At 7am on Saturday, Lil and Drew appeared at my door for
coffee. We had a good visit, then made our way to the coach.
So many were already there! Besides those of us from Corries,
friends Paul Cain and Rachel Addison, Karen Whiteley, Mike
Kendall and Dean Freegard joined us. We set off at 7:30am,
and it wasn't long before sandwiches, cookies, etc. were
out and being passed around. About 10:30 or so we arrived
in Gretna,
the home of weddings. Divorced people may marry here, and
you need to have been a "resident" of Gretna for
3 days only! We went to the Gretna
Football Club's grounds and saw the Corries
stand, looked around, then back on the bus and on to Glasgow,
about 1 1/2 hours. What a good time, and the scenery was
so lovely. The weather had been bleak and rainy when we
left York, but the farther north we went, the brighter it
got.
By the time we arrived in
Glasgow, the sun was shining brilliantly and the white fluffy
clouds were definitely in evidence. On the trip, Bruce had
distributed rosettes, scarves, foam hands and flags, all
bearing the Gretna logo. He'd already given us our tickets,
which happened to be in the lower tier in great location!
He'd had the Glasgow office of Corries
lay on a buffet lunch with all drink free. We sure had a
good time! Then, it was time to make the trek to Hampden
Park, the National Stadium. A number decided to walk
the 2 miles, but Rachael Longhorn, Simon Gallantree and
I took a taxi, and in 5 minutes were were at the entrance
to the park. We went in and took our seats, and what an
atmosphere! Flags, hands and scarves waving, in the black
and white of Gretna and the maroon and grey of Hearts,
the opposing team. Gretna was the overwhelming underdog,
being only the third second division team since World War
II to have made it to the finals, and the first since 1982!!
We cheered, yelled, booed, jumped and hugged when we scored,
at at the end of normal play the score was tied, 1-1. Thirty
minutes of overtime play did not change the result, and
so it came down to penalty kicks. Hearts came away victorious
4-2 in those kicks, but Gretna had won a place in the heart
of everyone there, and most definitely those of us from
York. Karen Whiteley was beating on the large drum, we all
were crying, clapping and cheering, as "our" team
was presented their second place medals. As we journedy
back to our bus, Hearts fans we passed congratulated us
on a game well-played, saying things like "tough luck",
"ya did proud", etc. Little did they know that
in that group was a Texan just as proud as any other Gretna
fan of the job well done by the scrappy team. We journeyed
back to Gretna for a bathroom break and a few pints at a
local pub before heading on back home, arriving around 11:30pm.
Tired, but happy, we all remarked on how we'd had a most
wonderful, enjoyable and thoroughly entertaining day outing!
Today I slept late, did a few errands around the flat, just
got things in order. Now, I'm going to make dinner and just
relax some more!
Hope all goes well for all of you, and again HAPPY
MOTHER'S DAY!!!!!
Love,
