Phoenix from the Flames...

After last week’s working alongside David, this was Ed’s first morning on his own getting Alan up, showered and ready for school, and it went like clockwork.  What a team they are.

And what a difference for David to just be able to get up, dressed and go to work.  I got a text from him at 8.20 to say he was at his desk.  Given that he has a commute of an hour, that’s not bad going!  Of course I keep telling him that now that he’s in earlier he’ll be coming home earlier, because I know how easy it would be to fill that extra time with work.  Nope, not allowing that!  

I’ve had a fairly productive day too.  Went to meet a woman called Sandra in the village I grew up in to discuss the photos of mine they want to use for a charity calendar to raise funds for a community Christmas tree.  She is an amazing lady who has set up and runs all sort of community initiatives in the village and it blew my socks off to hear first- hand about how much community spirit there is.  Not that I should be surprised at that as it always was a close knit community but it just makes me so proud to know that my wee village is prospering under the watchful eyes of some very dedicated locals, the majority of them volunteers.

As I’ve mentioned before, the village is undergoing a massive re-generation and over the years I have been taking photos of the work and the surrounding area.  I’ve blipped about it a few times

Here
Here
Here
Here

Sandra wants to use a few of the photos she’s seen on my Facebook and as I said to her today, they might be ok for FB but the majority of them are just snapshots (and mostly taken from a moving car!  Not me driving I hasten to add) but I’m not sure they’re good enough to print.  She’s keen though so I have given her a few but promised I will got back down this weekend at some point and take some proper photos that hopefully I feel will be good enough for the calendar.

The village has the most beautiful Parish Church and I would love to photograph inside it so Sandra’s going to try and organise that.   That would just be wonderful as I have many happy childhood memories of the place.

I had planned to take a pile of photos today, but Sandra and I blethered for so long,  I only had about half an hour spare before I had to head home, so I went straight to where my childhood home once stood to see how the building of the new houses is coming along.  

Wow, they are really going up fast and I am over the moon to see how fantastic they look.   I also smiled to myself when I saw that this time round the planners had the sense to have the fronts of the houses facing the hills.  That is the view of my childhood and I hope the new residents get as much pleasure from it as I did.