Lack of news...

Not much has been going on in Heather's world recently. I'm still crazily filling in books for the job centre to prove I am looking for a job while they don't pay me at all. I wish I'd attended the class on how to play the system as I'm rather fed up that I have to drag poor Mikey into the Job Centre every other Tuesday to sit with the unemployed masses. Apparently I don't appear in any jobless figures as I don't get paid any benefits! I'm sure if I hadn't been born here I'd have got benefits coming out of my ears.

This week Mikey charmed another lady who really looked as though she would rather be anywhere than say waiting for her advisor. I noticed quickly that she had a hearing aid so I just made sure I looked at her when I spoke and her lip reading was fantastic, unfortunately the advisor she saw was far more interested in her computer screen (which I assume told her that her client was deaf ) and just yelled loudly at her. I know I get  annoyed at the way the deaf are treated as my grandmother was deaf, and I adored her. I suppose growing up with someone who has a 'disabilty' you automatically slip back into old habits. My grandmother never let it stop her, when my parents arranged for a new colour tv to be delivered to her flat with cefax so she could read subtitles she flatly refused to use them as they were too distracting! She was also a massive snooker fan - I never quite worked out how or why with her old black and white tv.

I'm not sure why I've been thinking about her so much recently, she died over 20 years ago but recently she has been in my thoughts an awful lot. I would have loved her to meet Mikey, she was one of the few people I felt comfortable talking to during my teens, I even wrote letters to her as she lived in Yorkshire and didn't have a phone. I've realised while I was upstairs sorting Mikey out, today would have been her birthday. I just hope Mikey will have the sort of relationship with his Nanny as I had with mine.

My Parents are currently cruising round my favourite place in the world, Norway. And today they are in Olden with a brilliantly sunny and hot day - pretty much the same as it was in 2009 when we renewed our wedding vows on the bridge thanks to the Captain, at least I can remember that day unlike the day in 2002 which is sort of broken up in my memory.  I will admit that I don't remember all of the evening as we got through a fair amount of champagne...not enough to stop me feeling very embarrassed on the ships version of Mr & Mrs (Which we were supposed to win) but we did end up with another bottle of bubbly, plus another bottle was sent to our cabin by some friends from our table at dinner.

This was us on the flying bridge with the captain after we'd done our vows. I was still upright which wasn't so easy a few hours later!! But the scenery in Olden is amazing - I was pleased the Captain chose there for us. Mum and Dad are on a much bigger ship, there isn't much space there to turn ships around and they are so big they have filled the whole quay, a Thompson ship which is also there is having to tender it's passengers ashore! Thankfully we were the only ship there in 2009.