Happy New year of the Snake

Shame on me . . .  I didn't blog since a week.

Well as I was saying to Jen last night, it was easier at the 365+1 time, because we had a word a day and I " kind of had to " blog everyday !

Things are going well here. My app prototype review went well too, so I was really pleased, though if I was hoping for some time off, I can keep on hoping , LOL as I now need to implement all suggestions I got and go from prototype to real .

At the same time, if it wasn't enough, I enrolled mid of January in a programming class at Stanford University in the States via Video. It's absolutely fantastic stuff, but keeping me busy too because it's kind of live and we (they are hundreds of students worldwide who do that) need to keep up with the pace, do our homework and so. Hopefully it's only until April 2013.

By the way, a very Happy Chinese New Year of the Snake. You belong to the Chinese Sign Snake if you were born starting with last Sunday or if you basically are 12, 24, 36, 48, 60, 72, 84 or 96. It's a bit more precise than that with the months, but if you are interested, send me your date of birth and I'll tell you what you are.

I am a Monkey and that really complements my Gemini " mad and silly side ". Lucky me.

We spent the week-end in Wales to celebrate this new year with my Father in Law and Brother in Law. We had taken Sophie with us from Southampton and picked up David in Bath on the way. It was nice to be all together.
We went to a Chinese restaurant, full of . . .  Chinese, yes, but there were a couple of Europeans too and mixed families as ours. We had a really nice time.

It started snowing heavily an hour ago. They announced it only for tonight but I trusted my gut feel this morning and I went to Asda early to be ready for the week. Glad that I did. Dennis will be leaving in a couple of hours, I hope highways will be clear by then.



Let's reflect- February : Impossible

I had a long think about it and I guess I know what I am going to talk about. The funny thing is you would recon that because I choose the word, I already know what to do, well
I don't , LOL. There are even a couple of words to come later in the year that leave me pretty . . .  let's say thoughtful !

So, about my story related to impossible : I will tell over the next 5 days and leave myself the week-end to try and make a page for my book. 

It all started middle of July 2011. We had worked like idiots in the previous months
( seems to be an habit of ours ) and we were in urgent need of a relaxing break, so we had decided to go and spend a couple of days in Wales. There was a Bed and Breakfast we used for a night the year before and we decided to go back there as they were accepting dogs. We had booked 5 nights and asked for a room downstairs as it was a bit difficult last time to cope with the stairs and the girls.

On the night before our departure, the B&B called and said very sorry, but there had been a mix-up and we only could get a room upstairs. We were very upset, but it was either accepting or not having our long needed break, so we said OK. Remember when I say I am always surrounded by fate and coincidence . . . 

This is where we arrived on July 31st, close to Bridgend in Wales : A nice small B&B, run by a couple.

The weather wasn't fantastic everyday but even with rain, we had daily long walks on the beach. The place is so beautiful and we were all having the time of our life

Twice a day the girls were swimming so we needed to wash them and dry them and after that, everybody was tired.

We had a great time and on the last day, we met my father in law, for a small picnic.

On August 5th, it was time to go back home. We packed everything and Dennis started loading the car whilst I was waiting with the girls upstairs. On the last trip, I took them with me, left the key at the reception upstairs and made my way to join Dennis at the car.

There was a lady at the top of the stairs and she didn't seem to know exactly where she wanted to go. The upstairs landing was really small so I had to go around her and get both dogs on leads to follow me.

When I reached the top of the staircase, may be I will remember one day what happened, but I felt myself plunging head first in the stairs. People say when you have an accident it all goes to slow motion and it's very true.

I remember I knew I was going to die, or at least break my neck and finish in a wheelchair. I tried to hang on to to the columns at bottom of the rail but I couldn't catch them, I remember wondering if I was dragging the girls with me and if I was going to kill them too, wondering how Dennis could cope alone with the girls and his frequent trips. I remember screaming from deep in my throat, like animals do.

Dennis was in the parking, packing the car. He later said he heard me screaming but he thought it was coming from stupid kids and it was so loud he was wondering why parents were not keeping an eye on them. I am not sure, to this day, that I forgave him for that, LOL.

Then I was laying down, at the bottom of the stairs. I remember feeling stupid so I quickly sat. I didn't feel any pain. On my right, Bubbles was still at the top of the stairs, Rhea was in the middle of the stairs and they were both looking at me, quite strangely. They didn't have their leads on, what I couldn't understand. I was still holding on to one, that had almost twisted one of my fingers. Then a lady came from the kitchen. I remember hearing a big pan being dropped before my landing, then other guests came, then Dennis arrived and he asked me what I was doing on the floor ( didn't quite forgive him either for that question ).

Then I started noticing that all my left side had been burned by the sliding on the carpet and I was bleeding from my chin to my ankle, my trousers were ripped, the photo camera in my pocket was damaged and step by step I started feeling the pain everywhere. They sat me down on a chair and gave me some water and a coffee. The only thing I wanted to do was to leave and go back home. I was like on drugs, I didn't want to go to the hospital because we had the girls and I didn't want to leave them in the car for hours so Dennis agreed to drive back down because I wouldn't have it any other way. If I had to do it again, I would think twice. The drive down was horrendous due to the vibrations of the car.

In the evening back home, I went to see my GP. I had several broken ribs, a torn shoulder and a couple of damaged fingers I couldn't move, but nothing that couldn't eventually repair. She said there was nothing to do especially with the ribs, so I could go to hospital and hear the same or go back home and rest with a lot of pain killers. So we chose option 2.

So here I am, I haven't killed myself,  I am not going to be paralyzed and I haven't hurt the girls.

You would think everything will be OK from now on ? Well . . .

'til tomorrow, take care everybody, xxx