April 27, 2023

Kitting yourself out for the Boot Fair Season

Yes gals and guys the boot sale season is nearly upon us so i thought i would check out the latest must have kit, so that we are prepared for the coming season.  The first tool of trade that everyone should own is some kind of portable transport to carry all of your purchases back to the car in.

I am always on the look out for a nice design, but they are always so boring! At the moment I have a red and white Ikea one and that will do for now, but when that dies a death I am going to upcycle my mums old sholley trolley like the one above!

I did recycle a trolley years ago...have a look at it here

Bags

You will also need a hands free bag and this one above from Accessorize is a really good idea, as it will stop theives from going down your bag - another alternative is a good old cross body bag featured below...

One thing to remember is...don't go too posh with your bag, you are going to the bootfair, not to see the Queen! so by all means wear a nice bag, but a plain one, not a designer all singing all dancing one!...if you do, you will get targeted by the pick pockets (and there are alot of them at the bootfairs these days!) and also the price of the item that you wish to purchase cheaply will be hiked up too! (the stall holder will think you can afford it!)

A nice bootfair outfit for colder mornings

Clothing

Remember that loose clothing is best...your comfiest jeans or joggers, a vest and a jumper for those cold dewy mornings and always be prepared for rain, so a waterproof lightweight jacket is also a good idea...You don't have to over dress or wear full make-up, you are going out into the fresh air at some silly o'clock time in the morning so just put some nivea and spend the little bit of time that you have making a flask of coffee to take with you.

Also a good idea is to not wear very bold colours that makes you stand out from the crowd,  because if people can see where you are and they like what you buy they will follow you around. So dressing in bright colours at the Boofair is the one exception where I would advise you not too!

Footwear

I have ruined so many shoes in the past so my advice here is to wear wellington boots! Now I know this is not possible in the summer months, but when it is, wear them.  For the warmer weather, wear an old pair of comfy sandles, remember you will be walking a long way and there is nothing worse that having sore feet and still wanting to check out those bargains.

Other Stuff to Remember

These are the other things that I like to keep in the car when I go back to unload...

Snacks & a Flask of Coffee or Cold Drinks

Burger bars can be so expensive (I would rather spend my pennies on the bargains to be had)

Tissues, Wet Wipes and Lip Balm

These might be best kept in your bag too!...Especially if a trip to the disgusting toilet is called for!

Bubble Wrap and Newspaper

Perfect to wrap your delicates up in so that they don't get broken

And that's about it! I hope I have covered everything here for you and given you some good advice along the way!

Have you got any good ideas that you would like to share here...If so I would love to hear from you.

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February 21, 2023

Our Cruise to Norway on the Aurora Part 2

Our Cruise to Norway on the Aurora Part 2 continues

…with arriving in Alta, our next stop!  There wasn’t much to do there really for us as no trips had been booked, again too expensive and no wheelchair access available.  If we had booked the trip a year in advance we would of probably sorted something out for this area as its the most northern destination in the whole of the world! with lots of wonderful scenery and the best place to see the Northern Lights apparently…we had already seen them and taken photo’s but a better picture would have been nice, with a wheelchair trip to see the wonderful scenery but alas not this time.  So with all that in mind! what is a couple supposed to do???

Hit the shops!? and boy did we hit the shops! (we always have an excuse to go shopping lol!)  It became a bit of a laugh with our friends; how much stuff we used to find to buy, but the Nordic people are so stylish and we just couldn’t help ourselves lol!  As it was November all their Christmas Decorations had been put out, so it really got us in the mood!

Norway is very expensive so we bought wisely…there was a few discounted goods here and there and because everything was to our taste we were spoilt for choice and some items just seemed very reasonable,  so a few more items were purchased, by this time we had found a trolley to wheel our purchases around the shopping center lol! (How common! lol!) and it was really hot in there and of course we were kitted out for minus 20 something!  so all of our coats and jumpers were thrown into the trolley as well…lol! we did look a sight! But we were shopping and having fun…so it was a win win!

When we did venture outside, we saw this amazing spectacle…The Northern Lights Cathedral…isn’t it breathtaking! It was quite icy here and I had to be careful where I was walking.  Usually it would have been much colder and covered in thick snow, but global warming and all that has hit everywhere, including the most northern part of the world! which makes you think doesn’t it!

Inside the cathedral – By Andreas Haldorsen

The average day in Alta during November has 6.1 hours of daylight, with sunrise at 9:01 AM and sunset at 3:07 PM.

Back on the Ship again, going through security with all of our shopping bags was quite a saga! I don’t think the ships crew had met anyone like us before…most people got on with one bag of shopping or none at all!…we had quite a few bags of shopping plus snacks plus a few hundred litres of water lol!…they charge for water to take back to your room on the ship! what a cheek!  apparently you can drink the tap water from the bathroom, but with my constitution I didn’t want to try it!

We were now on board for a few days sailing…we were going all the way back through the Fjords and past Tromso and to arrive at Stavanger which is a city in southwestern Norway and used to be the capital City many moons ago.

We had a lovely time again, eating, drinking, being entertained, playing quizzes, going to shows etc…Freddy and I wore our masks as much as we could, obviously we couldn’t when we were eating in the restaurants but we were careful and always used hand sanitizer, most people were not being careful this time…they were when we went to Amsterdam, but not on this trip…I think a lot of people now think that COVID19 is over, but we have to be careful because we are vulnerable.

We sailed into Stavanger early evening to a vision of white houses, it was such a cool place and made you feel like you wanted to live in one of them.  The place looked magical and we were excited to see what this town was going to be like the next day!

The morning arrived and it was pouring with rain but when has the rain ever stopped us…we’re British remember!  We were docked in port (picture below) so it was just a stroll into town.  We dived in and out of shops to get dry and the cheapest thing I could find (coz i forgot our brolly!) was a couple of plastic poncho’s…for about £3.00 each! cheap for Norway! I quickly put one on Freddy and the other around his wheelchair, we didn’t want it ‘shortening out’ by getting wet…if his wheels don’t work then we are stuck!

‘Broken Column’ (2003) by Antony Gormley (b. 1950) is Stavanger Art Museum’s largest work of art. It consists of 23 identical rusty steel sculptures mounted outdoors and indoors in public and private places in the city. The 1,95-metre-tall sculptures are based on a cast of the artist’s own body. 

As soon as we walked around to this part of the dock, we instantly wanted our pictures taken with this Antony Gormley Statue.  It was nice that we could be so close to this wonderful piece of art, unlike back at home in the Turner Gallery, Margate!  When we visited there, It’s built in such a way that you can only view the Gormley Statue in the Sea if you are standing! which is pretty Pants! if you are in a wheelchair! still that’s a whole other story!

This town…well I could definitely live here…Its so clean, with lovely helpful people and lots of lovely shops!

There was lots of things to tempt us, but everything was soooo expensive…it was nice to look and I took lots of pictures of all the delights…Then we got a bit lost and started to walk back to where we started only to bump into our friends Chris and Mark…Chris informed us that she had found a charity shop in a department store..I don’t know how they found it!  they were trying to get out of the rain apparently! Personally I think they had Top Secret Intelligence! lol!…anyways they told us where to go, and to make sure we got there and find it, they walked with us and pointed across the street to the doorway!

We walked in and travelled up 3 floors in the lift, at this point I thought…were they joking!? only to arrive on the 3rd floor to find this…It was like all our birthdays had come at once lol!

There was such an array of beautiful homewares and all so stylish, apparently it had only been open a few days so all the best things were still there!  I could of bought so much more, the furniture was beautiful and everything was so cheap.  There was also a separate shop which just sold Christmas decor and decorations…we bought quite a few of those as you probably read about over HERE

The Childrens section (above)

The blue and white china section (above)

And in true Happy House Tradition we bought the whole shop! lol! Well nearly!…You can imagine what the ships crew said about us can’t you!  getting on board with twice as many bags as last time didn’t go down too well!  we were the talk of the town once again…Our friend Chris and Mark was very good and only bought a couple of bits…but us on the other hand! well need I say more!

 

I loved it in Stavanger…this is some of the Graffitti we saw…

Then it was back on board again ready to sail home…

This trip to Norway was amazing and I want to thank my Mum for treating us to it.  I also want to thank the lovely people we met on board, they really helped to make our holiday special…will we go back to Norway?  I don’t know because we always like to go somewhere different, each time we go away.  I would definitely like to go back to Stavanger though…so perhaps one-day, if we win the Lottery! x

Bye for now x

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February 08, 2023

Our Cruise to Norway on the Aurora

Our Cruise to Norway on the Aurora was just the best holiday that we have had in a long time!...we had already been on a demi run to Amsterdam to see how cruising would work for us, so we knew that the ship was very wheelchair friendly!  It was also our 35th Wedding Anniversary Present from my Mum...Isn't she wonderful!  She knows what a tough time we have had of it over the years and decided to treat us!   So being very clever with our budget, we set about finding bargain clothes and accessories for this rather glitzy cruise!  We trawled Charity shops and Boot Sales for bargain pieces as I had nothing really glitzy...I have dresses but nothing sequinny!  It was quite fun actually and I had a big trying on session a few days before the cruise with Rosie telling me what suited me and what didn't!  Of course I took far too many clothes with me!  But then don't we all!

On the second night there was a fancy dress Halloween Party and we really went to town!  Freddy decorated his wheelchair with Poundshop accessories and wore half price 'Day of the Dead' clothes and accessories from our outlet center in Chatham...lot's of bargains over there!  I wore my Voodoo Vixen dress that I have had for years now!  Ever since I was nominated in the first ever Amara Blog awards...Do you remember?  Voodoo Vixen was kind enough to gift me this beautiful dress especially for the occassion!

I really dressed it up with Halloween accessories and the skeletal body part Freddy purchased for 50p from a Charity shop, it was actually part of a kids top, so I cut the T-shirt material away and fastened it with safety pins to the front of my dress!  My hair was my own off course lol!...we did look good together and lots of people commented how brilliant we looked...thing is we couldn't eat in the 'Posh' dining room, so we had to eat in the canteen and not as many people as we thought had made the effort either!...There was a fancy dress parade in the Carmen Bar and oh I did feel rather shy! but I held Freddy's hand and we all paraded around together, there was about 50 of us that took part and we knew they was all from our clan because we had all dressed up and had made the effort!

As luck would have it Freddy won first prize! Yay!  and here he is showing off his bottle of red wine and a P & O Keyring lol! Mind how they go with the Prize ay! lol! but it was the taking part that counted!  we had a brilliant time that night!

That night as we sailed along the Fjords, I slept with the curtains and one eye open, hoping to see the Northern Lights...I could see a grey type shape and thought it had a tinge of green to it and shot up with my phone and took this lovely picture...a bit blurry but still blooming lovely...

As we sailed and had fun eating, drinking and partying, we finally arrived in Andalsnes...

And How Breathtaking the view was from our balcony...

As we booked only 6 weeks before the Cruise set sail for Norway, we weren't able to get on any tours (they were soooo expensive in the first place!) So we just had a walk around the town...there was a cable car ride, which was about £120 for the two of us...if I had of done my homework about this place, I might have paid that, but at the time and as the town was quite small, we just decided to have a scout about...

This is us trying to do a selfie lol! This was the best in about 30 pictures! we are not cut out for selfies...but we did have a laugh trying!

This is the view of our ship and the Harbour and Mountain range...

This is one of my favourite pictures of Freddy...he looks like a Fisherman doesn't he!

I'd fallen in Love with those Primark coloured soled boots and when I went back to buy them, they didn't even have them in stock in Chatham!  (I had seen them in Southampton when we went on the Amsterdam Cruise and had hesistated!) so luckily I was able to pick up a pair in TK Maxx for £18.00, they matched my lagenlook top perfectly and I wore pink accessories to match my Orla Kiely, Chrimbo Pressie, Bag...

We had a lovely day there, but there wasn't a lot to do, so by 3pm we were back on the ship having a late lunch and then back to our room where we had an afternoon nap...yes were getting old lol!

We then had a few days sailing...going along the Fjords was breathtaking...lots of sites and mountain ranges to look at...by this time Freddy had enrolled himself into a Bridge Class and I would sit in the Library reading...I can't tell you what books as these days I can't concentrate on one in particular, but I loved sitting there looking out to sea, or sitting on the promenade wrapped up warm...We met some lovely people on the ship that we met up with for drinks and musical quizes during the day and would often meet up for a show and drinks in the evening...they really did help to make this cruise a special one...

Our next stop was Tromso

Years ago we took our kids to Lapland and had a blooming fun time doing all the things that you could possibly want to do in the snow...Husky Sledding rides, Reindeer sledding and Snowmobile rides, so luckily we had already done that kind of thing...that was all crossed off our list so we wanted to do something different...

We had tried booking some trips for here onboard the ship, but there was no wheelchair accessible trips available !!!!!  I know sickening isn't it!  We wanted to book, to go on the Cable Cars, up the side of the mountains, so we decided to go it alone!...you can do that peeps...the excursions are so expensive, a couple of hundred pounds each and although I didn't have a clue on how we was going to get there...we had to try...

We were able to get a wheelchair accessible minibus the the town centre and once everyone got off we asked the Driver if he knew how we could get to the cable car excursion...he tried explaining, but it was difficult to understand, so in the end he took us there...he was such a lovely guy, it wasn't far in the minibus but would of took a long time for me to walk and I don't think I would of had the energy!

Once we arrived, we thanked him and treated him, I always believe in treating people that help you out...this guy didn't have to drive us all the way there, so we gave him £20.00 nothing in comparison to the money that we have saved compared to the hundreds of pounds that P & O was going to charge us!  The cable car was all set up for wheelchair users, you just had to go around the back and there was a platform for us to wait where the next car along picked us up allowing us to get on first and picked up the other folk after...the view above is a piccy of our trip up there...(by the way the tickets for the cable car worked out at about £30 each...still so much cheaper than the P & O excursion!

We made it up there...all on our own!  Grand total of £80...for the both of us! Here are the pictures to prove it lol!

I hate heights but the views were amazing...

My face mask is helping to keep my face warm!

Freddy showing off...and so proud of us that we had made it to the top of the mountains on our own! Go Us!

The journey back to Tromso town centre was pretty stress free as well...We got a bus back!  Yes their buses are all kitted up for wheelchairs, which is cool because it makes you feel as normal as normal can be!  Norway is totally kitted up for accessibility everywhere...its such a cool place to visit.  The bus took us through the suburbs and past the Artic Cathedral all the way to the town center and no charge! how about that!

We arrived back to town in one piece and hit the shops, having our pictures taken with a few trolls along the way...

As soon as nightfall hit, we decided to get the minibus back to the ship...the journey was a trip in itself...only to travel back through the underground road tunnels and roundabouts...have a watch HERE Tom explains it so well

Back on board the ship for more food and entertainment as we sail away for a few days...and on our way to Alta

Im going to continue this post in another article...so see you soon...

To be Continued…

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December 11, 2022

A Happy Holiday Cruise to Amsterdam

A Happy Holiday Cruise to Amsterdam...

After what happened last year with Freddy's health and also finding out that a few of our friends had passed away unexpectedly we decided that you have got to live for today rather than wait until tomorrow...so we decided to bite the bullet and go on holiday. A few years ago we ventured to Center Parcs for a week and that was very Disabled/wheelchair friendly, Freddy was able to get into the swimming pool with the help of a pool guy and waterproof wheelchair. So we wanted something like that but abroad! Sounds so easy doesn't it! but when you are travelling with a Disability and you need a wheelchair, you don't really have a lot of options unless you want to spend a hell of a lot of money! And that we haven't got!...we needed something on a budget. So we started looking in brochures but we just went round and round in circles.

Eventually we ended up in Cruise territory! We have been on them before, when the kids were little and Freddy was walking, but could it be the answer for us now? We joined the P & O FaceBook group and Fred asked lots of questions and we thought rather than waste a lot more time, to just bite the bullett and book a mini cruise, like a little taster menu to see if it would be okay for us...we booked online through Iglu Cruises and was able to get the last inside Disabled Accessible cabin on The Aurora, Destined for Amsterdam, What a RESULT!

Check it out above! We couldn't believe how roomy it was..apart from the open shut kamikarzee remote control door from hell! that either locked you inside the cabin or outside without you're consent lol! It was fanbloomingtastic!

After a lot of Homework...

We found out that P & O was the best company to go with if you were disabled and because we loveAmsterdam anyway, we thought we might as well give it a try and what a joy it was preparing for a holiday again, it's part of the fun isn't it and of course to try and do it all on a budget, well that was right up my street! I love finding bargains (don't we all!)...I love the buying but not so much the ironing and the packing! And boy did I take too much! Yes of course I did even though it was only for 4 nights!...Also this trip worked out a little cheaper than a 4 night holiday to Center Parks! But this Cruise was full Board! (Alcoholic drinks not included Hic!)

[Above]
This was us leaving the port of Southampton destined for Amsterdam, sitting out on the deck watching the sites go by was lovely...I love that about cruising, you can just be doing your own thing, getting on with different activities on the ship and next minute you have arrived at another destination...it just seems the perfect way to travel for me!

The wonderful food on board really makes it special too, no self catering here! Thing is you can get used to all this and we found out that some people live on board and just float around to different destinations all year...How lovely! That's life isn't it!

Kitted out for Disabled People

The ship was really kitted out for Disabled (Super Humans) People and the staff made it their priority to ask if you needed any help when you might have needed it, at the self service dining area etc! Freddy was able to get into the pool via a chair hoist (pictured below)...It was quite a spectacle for everyone actually and that's how we made so many friends, because people would approach us and say 'I saw you using the hoist to get into the pool! How was it?' There were quite a few wheelchair users on the ship and the people we met all told him how brave he was to use it! and that they felt too embarrassed to use it themselves! Which is a shame because they would have all had a great time together there!

We didn't end up going on our happy cruise to Amsterdam in the end because there was Port Works apparently, so to waste a bit of time we had another 'At Sea' day which was quite funny because apparently we sailed around The Isle of Wight twice! but on a plus side we all got £50 each 'on board spend' to soften the blow...We were okay about this, as we were going for the ships experience anyway and had already been to Amsterdam quite a few times before when we used to buy jewellery for our shop that we owned many moons ago inRochester High Street!

We stopped off in Blankenberge

We did however stop off inBlankenberge, Belgium, which was a chance to take in some different scenery and visit a shop or two or three or four! This was a lovely little shopping area which was on the coast, but it was so windy and on the trail of trying to find an Antique Shop (Fred's Idea!) we ended up separated, windswept and somehow...Goodness knows how! Freddy ended up on the beach and stuck in the sand! [Rolling eye face lol!] Don't ask! Luckily he was rescued to safety by some people that were on our ship! and we were able to find each other again Phew! That was a lucky escape to what could have been a complete and utter dIsAsTeR!

We had such a good time, there were plenty of things to do on the ship that kept us entertained and the evenings were excellent too...shows to see which were kitted out so that Freddy and I could sit together. Live music and quizzes to be attended, craft sessions and talks... Well the entertainment on board was brilliant.

We met a couple from Newcastle called Robbie and Linda, Robbie is also a wheelchair user and we all had so much in common. We had been through similar experiences, we really did hit it off and all got along so well. They really did help make ourholiday so special...And it's funny isn't it how fate plays a part in why you are meant to meet certain people, but when we were talking, we found out that their Wedding Anniversary was on the same day as ours...10th October, we had been married for 35 years and they had been married for 33 years! It's such a small world isn't it!

When we got home, we enjoyed our mini break to Amsterdam so much lol! That we decided to book another Cruise, this time to Norway and the Fjords as my Mum and Freddy's Mum and Dad said that they would pay for it, for our 35th Wedding Anniversary. How lucky are we!

We have already been on that cruise and I will blog about it as soon as I can, but just know that we had afabulous time cruising on board The Aurora and have found it to be the perfect way to travel, for us...

We plan to save up and go again in the New Year, we were thinking of Canada? There is a cruise that takes in New York and Canada...wouldn't that be blooming fantastic! but we have got to price it out as it seems too expensive for us at the moment...but whatever we do, we will definitely be going on a cruise somewhere, even if we try to get to Amsterdam again!

Did you manage to get away this year?

Where did you manage to go?

Bye for now my lovelies…

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