No Washing Up For Me

There's nothing quite like slicing through you knuckle with a tin can and having your mum sit you down, whip out her big first aid kit and fix you up just like when you were a child.

The Holland Girls Hit London

On Thursday Mum and I got to go see our Mother's Day present to each other, the rather fabulous Fleet Foxes at the Hammersmith Apollo:

I got us seats in the balcony, so mum wouldn't have to stand all that time in the stalls.  It was good to see her get excited, the last concert she attended was Roy Orbison back in her single days.  (She was quite the concert fan in her youth, she got to see The Beatles and the Rolling Stones!)  Fleet Foxes were, of course, fantastic.  My favourite songs of the night were Battery Kinzie, Ragged Wood and Oliver James; which Robin sang with just his guitar.  Beautiful.  My favourite moment of the evening had to be when mum pulled out her binoculars 'To get a closer look at the boys!'

We stayed in a hotel by The Old Vic theatre (and wished we could have seen Richard III).  The next day was all ours so we did things that mum doesn't get to do when she's in London with dad.  We started off the day with a free ride on the London Eye...

...where we got see a pretty good view of my favourite city in the world:

Next up was a stroll to Westminter to see the Houses of Parliament and Big Ben:

Then Westminster Abbey:

Do you see the queue in this next photo?  That was about a fifth of the actual length of it, I guess a royal wedding will make tourists do crazy things like stand in line for hours:

Jay, this one's for you:

Up next was a visit to the V&A.  We didn't have enough time to see it all but we managed to see some wonderful paintings, stained glass, religious statues, jewellery, photography and tapestries.  My favourite sculpture was one of a mother and child:

We had a late lunch at a restaurant near Marble Arch:

Followed by a leisurely stroll barefoot through Hyde Park and a sit under some trees with an ice cream:

The only thing to do on a hot afternoon in London is to find a suitable water feature to dunk those tired feet in, the Princess Diana Memorial is the one for me:

It was fun to spend time with mum and treat her to some time away from being a carer for everyone else.  She's the best:

Mothers

I've been thinking a lot about mothers this last week with the run up to Mothering Sunday.  I know everyone thinks their mum is the best, but my mum (or mam, as she calls herself) really is! (Mum has also mastered the art of avoiding photos, I had to go back to 2004 to find one of her!): 

She is the most selfless person I know.  She thinks of others before herself, always serving and giving willingly of her time.  She will find a positive in any negative situation or person and is absolutely loyal and forgiving.  She is a hard worker and self sufficient.  She made us children feel safe when we were young and having to cope with our father's mental illness... she made up for his flaws through her patience and example.  She still brings me medicine when I'm ill and looks after me.  She's a strong lady, sure in her faith and love of God.  She is an angel in disguise.

Nana is of the same ilk.  Nana is made of tough stuff.  She is 91 and battling pneumonia at the moment.  The happiest childhood memories I have are of our day long train rides to stay with Nana in Carlisle for a couple of weeks in the summer holidays and half terms.  We would spend our time walking, going to parks and playing with our cousin Andrew.  Nana calls mum 'Our Ollie'.  I love that.  This is the last time I saw her, when Rosie was a baby:

It was a wonderful but sad visit. Nana's Alzheimer's disease was very noticeable and she had to go into residential care soon after she returned home.  I'm hoping Nana will be with us long enough for me take my children to visit her one more time.  I know she won't remember them, but they will remember meeting their Great Nanna who raised their Nanny Holland.  And what a fine job she did.