My favourite holiday

 My favourite holiday is when my parents are with me. And I had the awesome opportunity of having them for a month from September to today. With my parents around it is a strange warmth. It is a mix of nostalgia and moving on. 

My father is the routine bound person who adheres to his schedule with passion. His meal times, his walks, his sports viewing , his news viewing  - every thing goes on with an  absolute accuracy of time. Being a bit out of his comfort zone in the UK and given his age he is a bit dependant on us for every need of his. It makes me feel sad for the cruelty time inflicts on us. But at the same time it also makes me feel happy to be able to take care of him in this reversed roles state.

My mom is also much weakened. Her legs annoy her and her stamina is lower. Still she's always there. Aggressively cleaning the dishes and loading the dishwasher, preparing meals with such love and always ready to make her oh so amazing tea. Today till they left the house she was doing one thing or the other - cooking, cleaning, making extra tea  and even offered to keep a cup for my sister and I to have later. Her love is something that is not of this world.

This year I was lucky to experience Durga Puja with them. I am not a religious person. But Puja has a certain vibe for me maybe because of the school holidays that were a part and parcel of it growing up. We went to see a couple of celebrations in Leeds. Though they were nothing compared to the pomp and show back home it was still joyful spending the time with papa mummy and experiencing the difference. Instead of the traditional prasad we ended up having pizzas since we were too tired to cook. The novelty of it just warmed my heart. 7 of us, 3 generations all wrapped in the warmth of love and companionship. It was just surreal.

But God had another surreal surprise in store for us. The Northern Lights! We had missed the first show on 10th of May. It was my sisters birthday in May on the night of the aurora sightings all over UK. We had missed it. But on 10th of October we were not to be fooled! We were lucky to view the spectacle from our house. It was amazing, splendid, unprecedented and exciting! I just can't thank God enough for letting me experience it with my parents.

I will only thank my good fortune and Almighty for having such lovely enriching experiences with my parents. I hope they enjoyed it too. We will hopefully host them soon again. We will hopefully make more memories together again. We will hopefully enjoy the warmth of each other's company again. Till then we will endure this separation and live through the emptiness. 

Summer!

 Tomorrow is the end of the best part of the year. The school summer holidays.

Parents dread the 6 week long break. But I just love love love it! August by itself is 'holiday season' with many people taking time off work. But the lack of school adds a special something for me.

First of all I get to turn off the morning alarm. It is a liberating move for me 🤣 The first couple of weeks of the school holidays I used to wake up as clock work at around 630 in the morning - the designated time for the school run. Slowly time began to slide. It became 7 then 730 till ultimately reaching the peak at 830! It was just pure bliss to crawl out of bed, grab the coffee and log in without bothering about uniforms, combing hair, checking school work and a million other things.

We had absolutely nothing planned since we never managed the time plus we had some other financial commitments. But the girls were fabulously engaged with each other. Before the holidays began we had made them make a routine of what they were going to do on a daily basis. But the first week we pampered them by letting them do lego and just chill. And like morning shows the day, the 3 days built the pattern 😝There was absolutely no adherence to any routine. Well, there was some flimsy routine if I can call that. The girls used to wake up at 830 which eventually slid to 1030! A lazy raucous breakfast followed by some reading, soem craft work. After which there was a dedicated screen time for 4 to 5 hours! As soon as K and I logged off around 5, it was dinner time followed by a 8k walk on most days. It was a time for us to connect and chat a lot as a family. I can't say enough about how much I  absolutely loved those walks.

K and I had some sporadic leaves  too. We took the girls out dining, shopping and the like. Again I must say it was super fun - be it shopping for books, lego, earrings or school stationery. We had a long pending desire to get a Nintendo Switch for the girls which we eventually did this summer. They both loved it and bonded so much over video games!The girls got super creative on one occasion and made 2 suspense movies using all the soft toys in the house. The movies and the screening of them to the whole house was the high point of the holidays for me.

During the holidays I thankfully did some prep work such as going through the clothes and ironing and mending them. As the last week began I had the best intentions to start going back to a more structured lifestyle. But then the devil on my shoulder said ' last week! Live a little!' And that's what I did! The wake up time nudged to 0845 making me scramble to log in at 9 on some days 😂 and the bedtime in turn botched to past midnight ( which was oh so adventurous for me 😝) The very best thing was a surprise. I was expecting Pumpki 's school to reopen on 2nd September. But a chance conversation with another mom made me aware that it was to be 3rd. ONE FULL EXTRA DAY!! WOO HOO!

School starts tomorrow. There are niggling issues. My Mil starts for India tonight which will leave a gaping absence especially for the kids who enjoyed with paati a lot. Pumpki has shoes not to her liking for day 1!  I need to goto office on Chiyaa's first day. Things will be all over the place but it will all become routine. Here is to looking forward to another lovely summer!

Imber - you darling

 As I had mentioned in an older post, we tried to foster a puppy for Guide Dogs. It was a unique experience, but we failed in doing it for the full duration. Our puppy advisor suggested that we should try to foster an older pup. We were very apprehensive that we would be successful in raising or fostering puppies.

A few days later she came up with the need for someone to look after their puppy for a week. It was a 8 month old male called Imber. We had doubts but then we thought, this might be our chance to have a different experience. So we went ahead with the opportunity.

We visited Imber with his carer before he was to come over. His carer Jonny informed us that Imber was the most chilled out puppy one would ever come across. He was a big, happy Labrador Retriever who just filled our  hearts with joy.

Imber came to us on a Sunday morning. For some time he searched around for Jonny. He was a bit on guard, walking around the house and following people - especially K. We called over Papa, Mummy and my sis who are all tremendous dog lovers to meet up with Imber. When they came over, the house was quite busy. Imber was happy and friendly with all of us. But he was still a bit fazed at his new surroundings. He was unsure of how to behave and what looked to us, not too keen to let his guard down. When people moved, he moved. When everyone sat down, he sat down as well. We thought he was going to tire himself with absolutely no rest throughout the whole day. It seemed like he did indeed for around 9 in the evening he started dozing off. He went off to his crate and was fast asleep by 2130.

The next day was a working day. But K had decided to take .25 days off for the entire week. We were not going to do the same mistake as with Lucky which was to try to manage work and a puppy at the same time. Being able to finish early allowed K to give undivided attention to the puppy. K did most of the caring tasks for the puppy - the feeding, the toilet tasks, the walk. Though we accompanied him, K was the main care giver. This made Imber bond supremely with K. The very sight of K used to make Imber's tail go round and round like the wings of a helicopter :) It was so cute and crazy.

The girls fussed over Imber like anything. They were always around him, playing with him, combing him. There was one time when Imber came over and fell asleep on Chiyaa's lap! It was just the most adorable thing ever. By day 3 he was getting way more comfortable and confident with all of us. He started to be naughty and try to chase and steal shoes. Day 4 he even went to the extent of sitting all smug on the sofa. 

Imber was becoming such a lovely part of our life. It was amazing going on those brisk walks with him thrice a day. We took him to a park where he ran around. We were still scared to let him off the lease, but he loved chasing the kids around while on the lease - making us run in the process. He loved playing fetch. Giving him treats and getting those tiny licks from him was just precious.

The day Imber was to be picked up, felt quite emotional. We took him for a 45 minutes walk around our neighborhood. When Jonny came over, Imber went crazy with joy. He literally ran all over the house giddy with excitement. We had to let Imber go, but it was an immensely enriching and warm experience for us.

We took some time to recover, but we felt had done a much better job and way more justice to Imber. We were more confident and also relaxed, which helped us all have a wonderful time. 

The rest of 'day' trip

 When the announcement came that someone had been hit on the tracks because of a signal failure, there was a collective groan from all the passengers. These things take a lot of time. The entire scene is cordoned and there is intensive examination that takes place. At 1930, 2 hours from home, with the charge in our phones dying, we hoped for a quick resolution.

Thats when I got a call from my sister. She said their 2015 train has been cancelled. I told, yeah must be because of the accident cos the entire route seems locked down. She was a bit frazzled by this. She had my mom and dad on her hands and them being  elderly she was very concerned about their welfare. I sitting in a train was not going to be of much help. She spoke to the station staff who confirmed that there was no guarantee that trains would run that night. 

My sis panicked and started searching alternative routes to get home. She called me and we discussed that most routes might be a bit tedious to use and might be eventually blocked - cos this seemed to be a pretty bit incident. The best call would be to book a hotel and stay the night. The train tickets were anyways valid for any future travel to Leeds. She searched through a lot of hotels, most coming back with no vacancies since people who were facing cancellations were booking out. Finally after nearly 45 minutes around 2030 she informed me that she had managed to find a hotel near the station and they would head there.

Phew! that was one crisis averted! 

Pumpki was getting a bit anxious and restless since it had been over an hour. We tried to pacify her as much as possible and distract her by playing some games. K had a friend who lived nearly an hours drive away. He started checking with him, if it would be ok for us to get to his house. His friend was more than welcome. He also offered to drive and pick us up! But I felt it would be asking too much since it would be around 2230 by the time he would get to us and would take another hour to get back home - nearly mid night. With the next day being a working day for his friend, I didnt think it would be fair to make him take the trip.

It was around 2100  (around 1.5 hours since the incident). The driver announced that there was no positive sign of train moving forward. He said people who could make their way via various means to their intended destinations were welcome to do that. The doors of the compartments from which it was safe to get down had been opened. People started talking and discussing various options. Those who lived in London, started trickling out and making their way back home. There was a lady with young daughters sitting next to us. I started chatting with them to find their thoughts. She said she felt it was much safer being in the train, because definitely some arrangement would be made. They will not let a bunch of trains lie on a track over night because services needed to be resumed atleast for the next day. The arrangements made by the train company might take time, but they would definitely be there. I totally agreed with this, and convinced K that instead of making our way back to London or to his friends house ( depending on God knows which rail service), it was much better to sit in the train. 

At 2200 the driver announced that there had been a signal for the train to move! There were wide cheers from the train. It seemed like the best news a group of people had heard in a long time! 15 minutes later, the driver announced that the train would be moving back to London!!!! Whatttt!! Passengers were requested to make some arrangement of staying the night. That was a proper anti climax😖

Everyone got on the phones! I checked a few hotel sites and most of the places were getting booked out or charging extortionate rates. I rang my sister and asked if she could check if there was a room available. She went to the reception and managed to book the very last room available for the 4 of us!! Some close call! Not only that, they had also given us a late checkout. Which meant we could sleep in a bit late to recover from all the drama 😀

Finally at 2230, 3 hours since the halt, the train started moving! We reached London King's Cross station at around 2245. At the station one the rail employee was making an announcement to keep the hotel invoice to make a compensation claim. And people who had not managed to make an accommodation would be given taxis - fully reimbursed by the train. That seemed such a generous gesture by the train company.

We took a cab and finally reached the hotel at 2315. It was a happy reunion with Papa, Mummy and my sis. We had such plans for a day trip and it ended up being so much more. But God was watching over us all through the way and we were so grateful to Him to have eventually ironed it all out.

Just a day trip

 The kids' summer holidays are on in full swing. We have not planned much this time because of various work and home commitments. Also being a Guide Dogs puppy raiser needed our availability. So it was more to be a one day at a time thing. 

Papa is an avid botanist who harboured the interest to visit The Kew gardens in London. We planned a trip to visit the gardens. My sis, Mummy and Papa went a day prior to the visit. K, the kids and I were to make a day trip. Our onward train was at 0715 and we were to return at 1910. A quick and easy day trip - what could go wrong?

Well it seems like a lot. 😉

The day before our journey we got a message in the evening that our train had been cancelled. We had the option to take any train either before or after the slated time. We thought we would take the one before at 0645. It would be an even earlier start, but probably we could avoid much of the crowd which would probably decide to come later. We woke up at the unearthly hour of 0530 to start. As predicted by K, the train was quite sparsely populated. We managed to get some real good shut eye. We reached London at 0855 and as usual were hit by the vibrancy of the place 😀

We made our way to the gardens. It was a sweltering 29 degrees. As a result Chiyaa who has an Eczema condition was having a bad flare up. She kept getting annoyed as her skin irritated her. It was not turning out to be her day😔 We had to keep applying a lotion on her. Seeing her in such difficulty made us all worried and anxious. It was getting quite exhausting for all of us to walk through the garden as well. The place is not a small park, it is 300 acres full of plants from all over the world kept in various climate controlled set ups. Some of the greenhouses were quite difficult to go through because of the immense heat. 30-35 degrees seemed unbearably hot. But we persevered. We managed to cover quite a bit. It was very exhausting but enriching experience. We learned oh so much! A little bit of cloud cover could have made life so much easier, but we can only hope.

1600 we decided to make our way back to London King's Cross to get our train back to Leeds. We bagged some dinner and got on our 1910 train. My sis and parents had the train at 2015, an hour after us. We said goodbyes and got on the train. 10 minutes into the journey the train stopped! 

The driver informed us that someone had been hit by a train along the route, hence we would be stalled for some time! This had been quite a day. But just when we thought we were 2 hours away from the comfort of our homes, we had this! The rest of the story needs another post 😉

Lucky to have you

 Lucky - the puppy was to board with us for 2 weeks. When the guide puppies are raised they are boarded in many different homes. This gives the puppies a chance to interact with a wide variety of people because they could be matched with any person in the future. Before boarding Lucky's raiser Alison decided to bring her over to our house so that we could have a feel of her. When Lucky came to our house she was hyper, she was manic with excitement. She ran around, climbed on us, went exploring and was just crazy all over the place. We were just as excited to have her. We couldnt wait for her to come and stay for the 2 weeks at our home.

The day she came, it was super hot. She was settled on the floor and avoided the carpeted areas. She was all right with us and a bit curious to explore. But given the heat she went off to have a nap quite soon. We had been warned that since she was 4 months old, she was teething. She could have a witching hour from 6-8 in the evening when she could go a bit bitey and try to get a bit more aggressive. The plan was to try to take her on walks during that time so that she could settle down a bit. The first day, K took her on a walk with the girls. She was a bit uncontrollable and they did have a tough time in the 1 hour they were away. At night when we all settled down and K was with Lucky. She puked out all her food and then re-consumed it. It was a harrowing experience for K and he immediately called the helpline. They confirmed that this is quite normal behaviour with puppies! Some time later Lucky settled down and K could get his sleep too.

The next she woke up right at 6 and K was at her beck and call. He took her to the toilet, gave her breakfast and then a short walk around the neighbourhood. Since it was a warm day again, she was quite sleepy and inactive during the day. In the evening once the girls came back, she was hyper with them. She tried to - what looked to us - pounce on Chiyaa. I have been with dogs before so it looked like normal behaviour to me. But K and Chiyaa were quite shocked. We tried to keep her calmer by playing low intensity games. She retired eventually and she slept peacefully on night 2.

The continuous work was taking a strain on K. As with a baby there are a million things to be done with a puppy. Alongside a full day of work, it was quite strenuous. K pulled through the day. But in the evening it was a repeat of her aggressive behaviour. This time K got very nervous since he was very concerned about the safety of Chiyaa. K called up the helpline and asked for advice. Sensing his mental state, they recommended that it would be best if the puppy is removed from our house.

The next day our assigned puppy development contact came over and took Lucky to board her with someone else. Lucky went away in the car and left a gaping hole in the house. A lot of things reminded us of her - the shoes she had chewed on, the place in the garden where she used to go crazy, her smell. It was a long recovery for us, and for me in particular. It took me quite some time to get used to not having her. And it made us feel bad that we probably reacted hastily and incorrectly. But what was done was done. As a final closure we decided to visit Lucky at Alison's house after a few weeks. She was so much calmer and well behaved, it was such a pleasure to be with her. Lucky - it was amazing to have you with us. And hoping you have a splendid career as a guide dog. 

A step

 K hankers for a pet. They come up as regular discussions in our household. The girls are of course gung ho about a pet - any pet. But my stance is clear, the only permissible pet was a hen. It would be outside most of the time and Mother Nature willing would lay an egg. The girls were fine with that, but no chance that would fly with K 😅

So one day on the radio K heard an advert. It was from the charity Guide Dogs. They raise dogs, who would assist visually challenged or people who need assistance in being mobile. It is a quite a good charity making solid and positive changes in the lives of people. The charity was asking for volunteers, especially men with tattoos and beards to raise puppies. The idea was, puppies need to be exposed to a wide range of appearances early on so that they can acclimatise to their future life where they could be paired with any person. The cause was asking for people to raise puppies from the age of 14 weeks to 14 months -ish. Then the puppies would be taken for training and if they passed put forth to be matched with people needing a guide dog.

 K has both - tattoos and beard! He came home super excited. It was a very good cause. Most of the costs of the care aspect, food, insurance, etc would be covered by the charity. All they needed from us was the time to raise a puppy through 1 year. I agreed.

This set off a chain reaction. First K had to fill in a very detailed application. Next detailed pictures of the house, the car, the neighborhood so that they were aware what sort of environment the puppy was potentially going to be in. After that, he went on to the interview. During the interview, he was informed that since there was another adult (me) in the house, it might be a good idea if I was made a supplementary applicant as well. Else for insurance purposes I would not be allowed to do anything for the puppy, for instance take if for a walk if K wasnt around for some reason. My application was a bit lighter than K's. But he took all the pain. My interview was quite straight forward too.

Once done through the stage, we awaited the results 😊 We received an email that we had been through and all that was needed was for us was to come to the centre and walk a dog for them to see our dog-handling skills. At the centre we were made to walk a gorgeous 17 month old called Peter. We were both oohing and aahing at how adorable he was. After the walk, we both were given the green flag and were officially recruited as puppy raising volunteers. 

Our coordinator Helen took us through a few more details. She recommended that since we had not had pets before and were first time puppy raisers, it would be a good idea to board a puppy for a few days. Puppy raisers do need to go away be for vacation or work. In that duration, they need boarders who would be willing to keep the puppy for a short duration. We were more than happy to house a pup for some days to get a feel of what it was like. 

That set another ball rolling. K looked up and found a ton load of stuff that would be needed. They were minor details he really wanted to sort - a drinking bowl, a bottle to carry water for the puppy, a blanket and many such small stuff. He got some second hand, some required trips to the shops, but he set up the house in perfect order to host our boarding puppy - Lucky.