Catterick Races (and Darlo) 16th Dec 2014

What better way to spend a bright, but cold December day in North Yorkshire than at Catterick Racecourse! We got there just after A.P.McCoy who had been held up in traffic on the M1 and missed his first race. We took note! He would be wound up and raring to go. We were right, he ended up having 3 winners that day.

We were conveniently just too late to be charged for entry so we already considered ourselves in profit...

..then walked round the course to a shed like structure for a cup of tea..

..and saw Husb's "fancy" (!!) promptly win him £18

£18 Iconic Rose

£12 Junius Brutus

 When Junius Brutus won me £12 we felt like we were really quids in.

I'm not sure I would describe Catterick as a "Course with Character" but we had a brilliant couple of hours there with a winner each and some great excitement when in the last race, the horse we backed a)to win and b)to be second,  FELL! It didn't just fall, it fell AT THE LAST. We were about to be well in profit, till it hit the deck. 

For the record, Catterick was formally a major army post, created by the Romans in 47AD as a supply station for the legions on Hadrian's wall, and called 

CATARACT-ONIUM 

The REAL reason why we went racing at Catterick though, was to visit Pixen and Bells in their new flat (very tidy-what happened?) 

and naturally this included pub grub at the local.

Slowboat 2014

 I'm losing count of how many Christmas parties we've had at the Slowboat, but they seem to be getting better every time we go. I had several texts to say the food was the best yet, and Cookie never fails to fill the dance floor. My ode wasn't particularly funny but it went down well because plenty of people got a mention. Topics incuded weight loss (20 stone!) marathon and half marathon running, getting engaged, and an 8th baby. Everyone looked lovely. What a great night.

Kath and Laura

We know who these are...

Helen,Celine,Yv,Wendy,Lyn,Denise,Annie,Kate,Linz

Lianne,Hal,Lucy

Emma,Anne

Becky's spinners

Andrew,Kelly

Donna's gym buddies

The TRISH table

Dave,Emily,Matthew and Martin entertaining themselves

The The-Buses

Claire having a hug

SueK, Dale

Phil and Andy. adorable.

Exercise.

Petra,Britta

Margaret,Christine

Spinning instructors

Spinning tattoo

More exercise

Ali and mini Ali

Party organisers woopwoop! Thankyou, Nick and Francis :)

Denise and Linz having a hug

Pixen with Alana

Year of the EYE, well...May-Dec 2014

"ALI-ON-ROIDS"

At last, after hundreds of hours at the eye clinic and nearly eight months of steroids I have finally been discharged. YIPPEE!

And all this malarkey was because I rode my bike without wearing sunglasses.

As I was whizzing along the cycle path one way, nasty beastly insect was whizzing the other way, and it flew straight into my left eye. giving me 4 scratches on the cornea and setting off various viruses in my optic nerve, LEAVING ME BLIND in one eye.

Does this look awful enough?

People were so kind. I had a few lifts to keep fit. 

Flowers arrived from San Francisco-

 they included irises  ;)

Lindsey brought fruitcake, Lyn gave me a Galapagos tee and Helen wrote me a letter with BIG writing.

But I wasn't stopping my classes. Aqua was slightly trickier, as I had to keep the steroids IN while keeping the Northgate Nasties OUT, so I went for the pirate look. 

(I DID stop swimming though which has given my ankle a chance to recover)

With one pupil way bigger than the other, I looked a bit dodgy.

In the summer 'Mummy's little helper' drove me to cricket and poured the players' teas.

I couldn't be trusted with a pot of boiling water.

Look after your eyes, everyone. I cannot TELL you how much you are inconvenienced with half your sight. Driving, reading, writing, texing,  colouring, sewing, wood burning,  blogging,  swimming,  cycling....it ALL went to pot. I'm so thankful to have both eyes working again.

I'm now collecting stamps for the RNIB and Guide Dogs for the Blind.