Wednesday 14th September (added later)
Ian's Rootbeer Delivery
Ian had enjoyed drinking American rootbeer since they used to sell it
in McDonalds'. He would lament that they never sold it any more. It is
possible to buy "American-style" rootbeer in a well-known British supermarket,
but not of a standard that Ian is happy with. And so he placed an order
with www.americansoda.co.uk
for 48 cans of proper A&W brand American rootbeer. This parcel was
delivered at 11.56 a.m. on Tuesday 13th September. It was found dropped
over our back gate, still intact - only one can was damaged. Such a crying
shame that Ian never got to drink his rootbeer. We said we should save
it for a special occasion.
Thursday 15th September 2005 (added later)
Birthday Reminder
Ian has the last laugh on us (again). On a Birthday reminder website
that I got all my family and friends to fill in, they sent me a reminder
to tell me it was Ian's birthday. And his age? Ian had filled it in as
106
years old! (You should also see what he has put for his profile on
Friends Reunited. Warning - it's not for the faint-hearted).
Friday 16th September 2005
Ian's Birthday
This day was Ian's 37th Birthday. Mandy (Ian's sister) and my Dad stayed at our house. Our friends Tim and Kirsty, who had been providing us with "meals on wheels" all week to make sure we ate properly, invited us to join them at their house, since had Ian still been with us, no doubt that is what we would have been doing anyway. We made a toast "to Ian" with his rootbeer, and this evening was doubtless full of many memories of Ian.
I have remembered one of them - not last year but the year before (2003), Ian made a New Year's Resolution, to "Be nice to his wife". He kept this up all year, we never had one single argument during the year!
Friday 16th September 2005
"My wife, Julie!"
Ian always referred to me as "my wife, Julie!" We always laughed about
this, after all, how many wives did he have, that he had to clarify the
statement by using my name as well!
Saturday 17th September 2005
"RIP OFF" Insurance Co
I went out to my car to fetch a CD. There, on the dashboard, was still an envelope that Ian had said a few days earlier, "Haven't you posted my letter yet?" I had not realised he expected ME to post it, not himself. So as I had not been in my car all week, there it still was. It was like a message from beyond, and I couldn't help smiling when I found it. You see, Ian quite liked returning certain unsuspecting companies' mail, sometimes shredded, sometimes intact, in their own reply paid envelopes. When he would shred the contents, I would say to him, "What is the point of doing that? They don't know WHO that is from!" He would reply that it made him feel better, as they still had to pay for the postage. This particular envelope that I found in my car, I can tell the contents are NOT shredded. I have not opened it, but on the outside it is addressed to an Insurance Company beside which Ian has written the words, "RIP OFF". I am sure the piece of paper inside probably contains a load of abuse! I think this is an offer from the shop where we bought our fridge, about a year ago, offering us to pay to extend our guarantee. Ian thinks these types of guarantees are a RIP OFF.
Saturday 17th September 2005 (added later)
Sunflowers
On my computer, I have a program that runs in the background and puts
photos on the desktop and also runs a screensaver. You can go online and
download up to five photos each day for free from Webshots.
On this day I went on my computer to send some emails, and the photo on
the desktop was a beautiful field full of sunflowers with one huge sunflower
facing forward in the centre of the shot. This was spooky, because that
morning we had been discussing what Ian's favourite flowers were, and we
had come to the conclusion that one of his favourites at least, were sunflowers.
Sunday 18th September 2005
Brian the Snail
A few weeks ago, Ian was admiring the collectable garden ornaments of
characters from "The Magic Roundabout" down at B&Q. He liked Dougal
the best, closely followed by Brian the Snail. At the time I suggested
we buy Dougal between us, and said I would buy him Brian for his birthday
in a few weeks time. I never got to buy Brian for him, but our friends
Tim and Kirsty turned up today with a gift for me and Ian, they had bought
Brian the Snail for our garden after all.
Sunday 18th September 2005
Laminate flooring
While cleaning the laminate flooring in our recently completed kitchen, I was reminded of Ian's remarks the last time I did it, one week earlier. He asked why I kept on cleaning the kitchen floor, to which I replied, "if it gets done once a week at least, it is only a five minute job, and I like to see it looking clean." Bearing in mind Ian always said I never did any cleaning (well, he did most of it as he was my House-husband!), he then said, "well, if I had known you would be cleaning the floor this often, I would have put laminate flooring down ages ago!"
Monday 19th September 2005
Designing my signature
Today we had the sad task of visiting the registrar. The lady who saw us queried whether the "E" was in my signature, and I had to explain that Ian had designed my signature when we got married, suggesting I make the lower end of the "E" (for Elizabeth, my middle name) lead into the top of the "T" for Towle. Mandy, who went in with me, said, now I can be reminded of Ian whenever I sign my name...
Tuesday 20th September 2005
A red rose
Mandy, Damon, my Dad and I all went to visit Ian in the Chapel of Rest.
I bought some roses and as there were four roses, and four of us, we each
gave one to Ian.
I came home from Northampton to find a single, perfect red rose bud
just on the verge of opening, in our front garden, on a bush that hardly
ever has flowers on it. Mandy says that must be Ian, sending me a rose
for the one I had just given him.
Thursday 22nd September 2005
Driving in foreign countries
Wow, Ian and I sure did some amazing things together, when I think about it. In April this year, Ian and I took my Dad to Dortmund, Germany, to the biggest Model and Collector's Exhibition in Europe. However, my Dad had never been to a foreign country in his life before this, and so, one step at a time, he decided there was no way he was getting on an aeroplane as well as going abroad! And so Ian and I persuaded my Dad that he could go if I drove us to Dortmund. This is not as drastic as it sounds - we found out beforehand it was a distance of about 450 miles, and by the time you get to the other side of the English Channel, you have already done nearly 200 of them! And so we went on this big adventure, not only did we go there, but earlier that same week, Ian and I went on our own, on a visit to Berlin (we did fly there). We had an excellent time in both cities, but the drive to Dortmund was particularly interesting as we drove through France, Belgium, The Netherlands and then Germany. Ian used satellite navigation and it took us all the way to Dortmund easily. Shortly after we got back home, and I was back at work, a big bouquet of flowers turned up at work from my husband Ian, the words on the card said, "Thanks for the great adventure last weekend."
We also did the drive from Los Angeles to San Francisco, not once but
TWICE! That is a distance of about 400 miles there and 400 miles back,
up the Highway 5. Click Here if you want to read all about our American Adventures.
Wednesday 28th September 2005
Donny Osmond Concert
For Christmas 2004, Ian's present to me was two tickets to go and see Donny Osmond, live in concert, at the NEC Arena, Birmingham. I loved Donny Osmond when I was a little girl, so I had been really excited about this concert all year, and at Christmas, I could not believe I had to wait 9 months to get my present! Ian had never wanted to go to the concert himself, but he said you couldn't exactly give someone a gift of ONE concert ticket, could you, so he gave me the pair, but he had mentioned it to my good friend Kirsty, who had jumped at the chance to go with me. Now, I wondered what was the right thing to do, after what has happened, should I still go to the concert? But I could be sure that if Ian had his way, he would have insisted I still go, no way should I have wasted those tickets after he had paid good money for them, and so Kirsty and I did go, determined to try and enjoy the concert. Unfortunately, or maybe not, the first song that Donny sang as he came on, was a slow record, not a particularly sad song, but a slow one nonetheless, and so first me and then Kirsty too were overcome with emotion and were trying to find some tissues. Later, when I had composed myself, I said, I bet everyone around us was wondering, "What on earth is up with those two?" but Kirsty replied, "Little do they know." I just wish with all my heart I had been able to tell Ian how much I enjoyed the concert, and just how much those songs will always mean to us both.