Christmas Lunch With the Ladies

December 16, 2009 — zandranna

imageI was very kindly invited to join 5 other ladies for a Christmas lunch in a Local Tearoom this Sunday just gone. I thought this was jolly nice of them as I have only lived here for about 6 weeks and no one really knows much about me.

We all met down in the lobby at midday ready for the short walk to the top of the road to sit down for lunch at 12.30.

They had laid out our table beautifully, including crackers, favours and party blowers. As well as the linen and napkins designed for Christmas. The food was cooked and served perfectly, although as I like my vegetables cooked really well, the sprouts were a little under done for me, but a chef would have said they were perfect.

There were 4 courses and each presented as a 5 star hotel would have done. Considering it’s only a small local establishment they did very well.

I had Melon to start with which was also served with a creatively designed strawberry, kiwi fruit and some other foreign tiny fruit that I didn’t recognise.

Because we had gone out especially for a Christmas lunch I stuck with the traditional Christmas dinner with Christmas pudding and custard after. Then rather than finish with cheese and biscuits I opted for a hot mince pie.

Although I had already met all of the ladies over the weeks that I have been here, I am embarrassed to say that I had, and have, totally forgotten one of the ladies names. I sat there wracking my brains to remember. Shame on me.

The company was good and the conversation never faltered which made it a very comfortable meal for me. It could just have easily been a disaster, from my point of view, being that I didn’t know any of them hardly at all.

All in all, I am really pleased I accepted the invitation.

Posted in Activities, Daily Doings. Tags: . 8 Comments »

Busy, Busy, Busy

April 25, 2009 — zandranna

This week has been a really strange one as I have been pottering back and forth between home, my Nieces and my Daughters. Not really knowing which house I will decide to sleep in each day until virtually the last minute.

My Sarah is moving on or around next weekend and of course there is a lot to do getting her all organised for that. On top of that she had to have a visit to the hospital for x-rays and MRI scans. This is for her knee. Many of us have hereditary “squidgy” knees, which cause us all problems in different degrees and Sarah in particular, but this present problem is because she has ripped/torn (whatever) her cartilage. She had the tests last night and is booked in for the op on the first knee on the 18th May, so she will be off of work for a couple of weeks after.

We went back to our signing classes last Wednesday, the first after the Easter hols, and I swear my brain had been emptied at some point during the previous 2 weeks. I could remember nothing of what I have learnt and couldn’t retain anything new we were covering that day.

But……………… Whilst staying with Beverley her next door neighbour, Pippa, popped in for a cup of tea. Now Pippa is deaf and is coming to the end of her 2nd year of signing, as I am coming to the end of my 1st year. She stayed for a late breakfast with us and her and I managed to get some serious signing in while Beverley pottered out the kitchen.

After signing with Pippa for almost 2 hours I was thrilled to realise that I actually know far more than I gave myself credit for. On top of that Pippa has invited me to go visit her next Wednesday morning for a couple of hours for another signing session. My class will be on the Wednesday evening so I should be nice and hyped up with a busy brain for that class and not the soggy slug I was for last week’s group.

I really need to sort out getting a place for the “Pre Level 2″ course which runs through the summer for 8 weeks. Although it’s not a requirement for continuing into level 2, I feel that it’s very important to keep ones hand in, so to speak, through the long summer break before level 2 starts in September. It also prepares us for the different way of teaching for level 2.

With level 2 there is no talking, or as little actual talking as possible. It will be all signing. During the first year we have concentrated building up a vocabulary and the short sentences needed to scrape through in order to communicate with the deaf. I suppose one could liken it to having a holiday language. Level 2 is all about far more in depth communication. At the end of level 2 one is qualified to teach level 1 and to also work professionally with the deaf. For the majority of people this is as far as they go with learning the language as Level 3 is more for training as interpreters and for teaching Level 2.

At this point I will of course be doing Level 2 but wont decide on Level 3 until far nearer the time as that will depend on finances and location of where the course will be held. As fewer people go onto Level 3 it isn’t always possible to find a class in ones own area as the amount of classes held around the country are less. But we shall see.

On a side note. my smoking, or lack thereof, is coming along nicely. I am now down to 6 cigarettes a day leading up to a quit day of May 1st. Fingers crossed that works out for me and I am finally able to kick old Nic O’Tine in the butt. If you wish to have a read of my Smoking Blog then please make your way to http://kick-the-habit.u.yuku.com/blog/view

Posted in Activities, Family. Tags: , . 5 Comments »

British Sign Language Test (102)

April 1, 2009 — zandranna

I have just arrived back after taking my 2nd of 3 sign language tests that I must take this year. I have to say that it was pretty horrific.

As with the other test it was in front of a video and the video is then sent off to the examiners. It will be several weeks before we get the results back.

The 3 subjects we were allowed to choose from were.

The weather
About where we live
And about our hobbies and interests

I chose hobbies and interests. I am so angry with myself as I know I signed at least 50% lower than the standard I am capable of . It’s not hard to make a pigs ear of it when one is so nervous as we all were. It doesn’t matter how much one practices and studies, it only counts what one can show on the day, and I showed pretty poorly I think. George (Tutor) told me afterwards that I wasn’t to worry, that I had certainly passed. Obviously he can’t know by how much but at least I am confident that I have managed to get through another exam that will allow me to take a 2nd year.

On a good note though, George has asked both Sarah and myself if we would volunteer to go into the infants and junior schools to start teaching the babes. To give them a fun grounding in sign and to get their interest. At some point the government is going to give the schools funding for this on an official basis, but at the moment it is only the deaf organisation here in Dorset that is trying to give it a kick start and to prove it’s worth it by attempting to rally up some volunteers and then to persuade individual schools to allow it.

I would love to do this, even if it is only for a day or so a week. It would then make it all worth while to have decided to learn the language in the first place. I am the only one in our class that is actually learning it just for fun. All the others are either doing it for their present job or for the hope of a better job in the future.

I am so pleased today’s test is now over and done with. I have beaten myself up over my stupid mistakes that I know I have made, I now have a cup of tea in front of me and a ciggie and am once again calm.

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Let’s Play Catch Up

March 8, 2009 — zandranna

I haven’t had time to sit and write a blog for a few days. I’ve had plenty of thoughts of bits I could have written about but never did get around to sitting down and blogging them. Maybe that was for the best as this blog is getting decidedly grumpy. So much so that I thought about changing it’s name to Grumpy Old Woman, lol.

But now while I sit here with my very late breakfast of marmite toast and a cup of tea, and before I go jump in the shower and start my day for real (well it is Sunday after all) I thought I would play a little catch up.

Life as usual is treating me good. Today the sun is shining, albeit still quite cold, and I am feeling very content with myself.

The main thing on my mind at the moment is working hard to get through my next test (102) for my sign language on 1st April. I am starting to think in sign now though. Now, that doesn’t mean that as I think I see the signs, it means that I am thinking in the order of sign. Sentences are not formed in the same order as the spoken word and this is one of the hardest things to learn to do naturally. Learning the individual signs is easy, but getting them in the right order is extremely difficult. Here comes an example.

The spoken word:- Last year I went on holiday to Cornwall with a friend. We stayed in a tent. The weather was gorgeous.

Signing:- Last year holiday me where – There ( gesture to a spot in front of you) – name what – C-o-r-n-w-a-l-l (finger spelt). Me go with who – friend (gesture friend standing beside you). Stayed where – tent. Weather what – beautiful.

Now if one doesn’t get all the words in the right order one loses points on the test. Highest mark 40 – Pass at 20 points. On top of that we have no idea until 15 mins before the test what we are going to converse about.

If you are interested enough to want to see what stage I am at now with my signing then please do go watch these videos that our tutor has made for us to help us practice. http://zandranna.yuku.com/topic/709

But as I say, I am starting to think in sign, and in actual fact sometimes now I have to stop myself typing bits of posts in sign. For instance, instead of “I”, I notice I often go to type “me”. So perhaps I am coming along nicely with it all sinking subconsciously into my head.

I have also been busy settling in the caravan again after spending the Jan and Feb between my Daughter’s and Niece’s homes. I had given the caravan a good spring clean after Christmas so I needed to just tart up the outside and get rid of all the winter muck that collects. Algae had formed badly on the decking and as I haven’t got a pressure hose it was, and still, is a case of doing it bit by bit on my hands and knees with a scrubbing brush. I managed to get half of it done a few days ago and then had to stop as it hasn’t stopped peeing down. Today is a nice day so I will be out there later again with scrubbing brush in hand, detergent and bleach. Now me is thinking perhaps I should have my shower after scrubbing the decking.

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I Passed the 101 for Sign Language

February 1, 2009 — zandranna

This is just a quicky to let all that were interested, know that I received a letter yesterday from the Education Department to say I had passed my first Sign Language test with top marks.

The highest score one could get was 18 and that’s exactly what I got. Both my Daughter Sarah and GG Daughter Aimee also got the highest marks.

I would have been very disappointed if I had even dropped by one mark.

The next test, 102, will be during the second week of March. I have no hopes of getting top marks with that one as it is going to be so much harder. With that one there is a possibility of getting 40 marks but 20 will be a pass.

Now I just need to get stuck in and practice, practice, practice.

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Sign Language Test 101

December 10, 2008 — zandranna

I had my first Sign Language test this evening. It’s called the 101 because in the first year we have 3 tests. The 102 will be in end February/beginning of March and the 103 in May. Then we will break up for the Summer.

I am rather scared that not continuing it during the summer break I will forget all that I have learned but………

This evening for the test there arrived a representative from the Dorset Education Authority to over see that the tests were being carried out correctly. She mentioned that she was thinking of organising summer classes if there were enough of us interested in it.

I don’t know if this will cost extra or will come in with the original cost of paying for the whole year. I would imagine it will cost more actually.

I was very nervous before the test. It’s done in front of a video camera so the examiner can look over it and check each step to make sure we could understand what was being said to us and that we correctly signed back during the conversation. For that is all the test is. A few minutes conversation with our tutor.

I have never been good with tests. I go to pieces. I can’t even take a typing test and yet I am a very good, fast typist.

I am sure I have passed I just don’t know by how much until next week.

I wish they gave us our part of the video after they have marked it as I would love to post it on here just so as you could all see me look stupid, lol.

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A Test in 3 Weeks

November 20, 2008 — zandranna

Wow, only 3 weeks away from my first British Sign Language test. We have a total of 3 tests during the first year.

The first test covers as follows

  • How to meet and greet someone, asking how they are and telling them how you are.
  • How ask for someones name and give yours.
  • Discuss the weather, now, today, yesterday, maybe tomorrow, next week, etc, etc.
  • Discuss journeys, where you were going, how long it took, how you traveled, was the journey good or bad.
  • Ask and give directions in the minutest of detail.
  • Finger spelling.

In the last 6 weeks we have probably had to learn approximately 300 words and phrases.

Now we have 2 weeks to get it off pat ready for our test on the following week.

It’s all hard work but such fun. I am so glad I signed up for it.

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Making Friends

October 22, 2008 — zandranna

Well, I’m making a good start on rule 6 of “Things to do now that you’re retired“, Making friends.

In actual fact I am killing two birds with one stone, or maybe even three when one comes to think of it.

Getting out and about
Learning a new language
Making friends

For many years now my family have been my sole companionship. I haven’t had friends for absolutely yonks. By taking up learning British Sign Language I am getting out one evening a week, learning a new language and also making friends.

The friendships started coming into it’s own this week. Having had four lessons now, one of the women organised a practice evening for several of us for tonight at her house before our fifth lesson tomorrow evening.

It was very enjoyable. Not only are we, hopefully, going to learn a lot quicker but we are also going to get to know each other better, which is great as we will be spending the next year together in the same class and for those of us that go on to stage two will also be together the following year.

My Daughter, who you will know, if you have been keeping up with my blog, is also learning BSL, voluteered me to hold the next practice evening at mine, (don’t you just love daughers).

That should be fun getting everyone in my caravan.

Now I’m just looking forward to my tomorrow’s lesson.

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Maybe Getting a New Cycle

October 20, 2008 — zandranna

I’m not sure yet whether to spend money on a new cycle.

I have my electric tricycle but I only use that for toodling back and forth visiting the family and for shopping. When visiting the family it’s so easy just to put my little dog in his basket on the back and he can come everywhere with me. For shopping it means that I can fill up the dog’s basket, the basket on the front and if I am going to get quite a bit with an extra napsack on my back I can carry a full weeks shopping.

The downside is that charging it is a pain in the rear as I have nowhere to charge it under cover which means that the weather always has to be dry for the charging time. Being as how here in the UK we get a lot of rain it’s a pain dodging in and out to get a full charge up and sometimes it isn’t possible so I have to then make a phone call to either my Daughter or Niece to come over and get me.

There are times when I have just wanted to make a quick trip into town to pick something up, the library or a bank run and have no charge in the battery. So I am now wondering if I should treat myself to a two wheeler for those quick trips out to those places where I can nip out without the dog.

A couple of others in the family have said that it would be fun for us all to go on bike rides in the lovely country we have and my tricycle isn’t really suitable for that either.

Now my problem is that I am shocking for thinking something is a good idea, buying it, then having wasted my money because I don’t use it more than once in a blue moon.

My question to me is, will I use a second bike or will it sit around doing nothing for the forseable future??

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19 Days Until I Retire

October 13, 2008 — zandranna

Only 19 short days until I officially retire, so a little update.

So far I haven’t really done a lot towards changing my life, changing bad habits and setting a general healthy trend to take me into my new life as it should be.

One of the things I promised myself was that I would no longer be a smoker on my Birthday. To tell the truth I’m not sure if I would say I am still a smoker or not. I am still smoking the E/Cigarette which is simply a nicotine replacement but surely if I am not actually smoking cigarettes then I am a good way into keeping my promise to myself.

I am now into my 4th week of British Sign Language which I am very much enjoying. I like the challenge of learning something new after all this time, I like the people I am sharing the class with and I also very much enjoy getting out one evening a week to somewhere different.

I haven’t done anything towards regular exercise. I did start going swimming every other day in the pool on the site here but that didn’t last long and I can’t see myself wandering down to the pool in the mornings now the winter is on its way. I am sure not making more use of the pool is going to be something I regret when I move out of this caravan and into a house, which I know at some point I will.

The Wiifit still sits idly by and I haven’t touched it for months now. Perhaps that is something that is going to prove a waste of money.

My cycle I rode over to Sarah’s on the other day and parked it up in her garage as I know I wont be using that in the winter. I didn’t use it last winter so I am sure I wont this.

Basically I am still sitting far too much on the comp when I am not out and about with Sarah. This really must stop.

Regarding my pension – When I claimed it the other week, via telephone, I was told a letter would be sent sometime this month, and before my retirement day, confirming how much my pension would be. I haven’t received a letter up to this point.

Posted in Activities, Financies, Health, Ramblings. 2 Comments »
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