Visit to Ambala, India Trip August 2017

Visit to Ambala Part 1

We were nearing the end of our holiday when I finally decided we were going to visit Ambala, the town where I had lived and been brought up. I lived in Ambala from when I was two and I remember going to nursery and kindergarten with my Ayah. We lived a short walk from the Convent School where I went. Then we left here, lived in Shimla and Chandigarh and eventually came back when I was 7 and stayed till I was nearly 12. I came to the UK in September 1969. I went to the Convent School - very posh - and then Air Force School Number 2, both of which were English medium schools.

I had been hemming and hawing, whether to stay for a night but decided we would do a day trip and use the other day to go to Agra and see the Taj Mahal, a decision I ended up regretting. We booked tickets on an early train to Ambala, with my cousin's help. We could only book a single as it was some sort of holiday and all the return seats were all booked. We would have to take a chance and see if we could walk on or get a ticket on a bus on the way back.

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Jain's - Milkshakes at weekends

My school until I was 10

Woohoo. Looks like we are moving house soon. Was a tense few days waiting for confirmation bt now all the references have gone through and my current Estate Agent was really helpful. Mind you, she may just want to get rid of me... 🤣🤣🤣Apparently, our prospective landlords rang her up as well, apart from the referencing agency. They also rang up Hari's employer. We thought, at first, that it was somebody trying a scam, having acquired our details somehow from Homelet or the new Letting Agency. Now, we need to get organised and start packing. That's gonna be fun. We have so much stuff. Might be able to get rid of some. Have to check whether the washing machine is okay. My friend wants me to get rid of the fridge and the freezer but they work fine. Also, I don't have the money to buy new stuff. Going to be hard enough to pay for the move.

On another note, this week, last year, Adam was off to his Year 11 Prom and two years ago, Tara was heading for Nepal. Where has the time gone?

The Next Adventure Begins

Adam and I are off to India.

After thinking carefully, I decided to make the most of what little I have left and have a break in India, with the kids.Unfortunately, Hari will be working and Tara is on placement so it will be just Adam and me. We will be visiting Kochi, Chandigarh, Shimla, Amritsar, Mumbai and Delhi. From Delhi, I would like to visit the Taj Mahal and Ambala (where I grew up), but we might run out of time. We have had the vaccinations, got the visas, booked our flights and are setting off tomorrow evening, flying out on Wednesday 12 July.

This should be exciting. I have never been to Mumbai and Kochi.  I am actually really looking forward to the trip as I haven't been in India for donkey's years. Bit nervous too. Will my Punjabi / Hindi cope with the trip, seeing how little practice I get? I am gonna pretend Adam is the young lord and master and I am his interpreter.... especially when we go haggling. 😁😁😁

Hopefully, I can keep blogging through the holiday and keep you updated with our adventures. Bye for now!

Leeds Music Festival 2014

Good things about Leeds Music Festival

Festival Angels Tent – Free tea and coffee, the people
Having a day to look round the Park
Bands like the Imagine Dragons, Jake Bugg, Papa Roche, Paramore, Arctic Monkeys, Blink182
Macklemore and Ryan Lewis were fantastic
Milton Jones and Felicity Ward were very funny in the Alternative tent
Clean toilets on the first day
Better fresh water facility near camp, didn't get flooded at all
Friendly people
The atmosphere
Not getting the s—ts
Tara setting up the tent
The weather
Finding a stall that did cashback for nothing
An undiscovered Toilet Block – very few people went there, so it was always nice and clean
Adam finding 30 beer beakers on the ground – worth £3 when we took them to the beer tent


Bad things about Leeds Music Festival

Having to pay for Adam
Being greeted by a begging monk as soon as my car stopped
Leaving the BBQ bucket behind
Parking a mile away from our campsite and having to carry everything
Thoughtless, drunken arseholes, and a couple of racists
Someone putting a tent on our guy ropes
Mostly horrible, expensive food
Horrible toilets on Monday
The commercialism
No mud fights
The phone line not working in the supermarket tent
Ppl wanting to charge £2.50 for cashback. The ATMs did as well.
Yeuchy Portaloos in the main arena
Noone to banter with after the music
Tara getting the _____ though she didn't eat meat

Funniest Moments

Incinerated sausages and bacon on improvised BBQ
Adam telling me I was posting too much on FB
Lots of men lifting their shirts when the camera was on them
Adam being chatted up while I was talking to a friend in the Festival Angels' tent
Macklemore saying “I can't understand what the fuck you are saying....” as the the crowd chanted “You are You are You are 't Leeds”
Chanting “Yorkshire” during the Arctic Monkeys' performance

Leeds Music Festival

Good things about Leeds Music Festival

Adam being allowed in free

Helpful staff

The people around the campsite

Sitting round the campfire

The walk to the main arena on the first day

Bands like the Lumineers, Imagine Dragons, Jake Bugg, Green Day, Alt-J, Bastille, Biffy Clyrow
Biffy Clyrow's show

Cleaner toilets

Roast Pork baguettes
People not giving a shit about the rain
The atmosphere

Bad things about Leeds Music Festival

Being greeted by a begging monk as soon as my car stopped
Parking a mile away from our campsite and having to carry everything

The 3 afternoons and nights of rain

Muddy swamp

The walk to and from the arena every other day.......

Listening to the Lumineers playing Stubborn Love

The lead singer of Green Day

Eminem

Thoughtless, drunken arseholes, Bullies, A few racists

Mostly horrible food - and getting the s__ts

Horrible toilets on Sunday - Adam refused to take a picture....

'Helpful' staff who knew f – all about the site or camping
The commercialism

Funniest Moments

Talking to s drunken stallholder trying to get me to buy stuff
Jordan wanting us to come and get him
Jordan trying to teach Adam the paradiddle.....
Adam seeing boobs on the big screen............
Putting on the Smurf onesie
Jordan putting on the chimp onesie
Joe putting on the diamonds
Nick with his beige suit...... after he lost his shoes
Drinking all the bottle of mead which was meant to be shared
Geoff talking to the mad Welsh woman
Everbody being fascinated by the 'dwarf' female with the big........ personality

Holidays with kids......

I just filled in a job application form yesterday for an online tutoring agency, got interviewed nd had the references taken up. Hopefully will get a few hours a week tutoring online. £20 an hour - not brilliant but it's work and money so can't sniff at it. If I can get 15 hours a week that will put me on working tax credits which might help. Nothing from agencies but not really expecting anything as schools are off.

Have the kids full time at the moment for three weeks. Been on a long walk round Hest Bank which we all enjoyed including the three dogs, especially the lunch at the cafe afterwards.

Tara And me in Lancaster

Adam, thinking about eating pigeons?

The dogs at Hest Bank.

Wandered round Lancaster and did some shopping at ASDA / Walmart; such attractive - not! - people there. Mind you they probably think the same of us. I remember the first time we went to ASDA was when we lived in Croydon - late 80s - and my sister came to visit. They used to do a £1 breakfast available all day. We were totally amazed and talking about it in the cafeteria, saying it was a good deal for people when they needed somewhere to go to if they didn't have a job etc....... Think we embarrassed a couple of guys near us; they gave us dirty looks as they left!  Chilled at home a lot - too lazy / too broke to do much. Kids getting up t 1 pm doesn't actually help with going out. Got a lot of gardening done. The weeds have been decimated. We can see the beds..... lol.

Watched Chelsea play Hull at the pub - and tried hard not to fall asleep after 30 minutes. It was sooooo boring. God, I hope Mourinho does not bring his old style back, much as I like having him back. Not sure it's a particularly good idea him coming back a second time. Coming back does not seem to be a positive move for many managers. Keep wondering how long before Uncle Roman gets pissed off and fires him. Sorry, I obviously meant - before they part company through mutual agreement...... Kids had fun at the pub, just messing around with their phones and taking silly pictures. Talking about football to a Liverpool supporter.

Celebrated Hari's birthday at Pizza Hut with Robert. Kids had a mad time Talked a lot. Made rude jokes...... Adam tried to act mature. "Can we please stop telling Uranus jokes..../" Spoiled it  bit a few minutes later by asking Robert when he came back from the toilet> "Did you have fun with Uranus....?!"

Started packing for Leeds. Wish I hadn't left it till the last minute. Think I left half the gear at M's place. Oh well..... Just have to cope. Hope it doesn't rain. We are gonna try to cook one meal and eat out for one meal. Have an alcohol stove. Loads of snacky things and easy cook stuff. Not looking forward to the loos or the showers. Was almost tempted to get a ready set tent with hot showers and security etc but they charge £320..... :(

Would like to go somewhere after we get back... See what I can afford. Camping in Garstang?

Jill's getting old. Seemed very infirm the other day, perked up yesterday and was bouncing around. Still, she is very shaky, almost blind and a deaf. Can't be long..... :( Not looking forward to it. We have had her for 16 years almost. Hari, then 4, named her after his baby sitter and Tara was nearly one when she came. Kids want a replacement but .......

Update on my life......

I thought I would do an update about life so far since my last bog about family related stuff.

Melissa and I are officially divorced. She married Charles, who was a family friend. He had had a stroke a few months earlier. He died a few weeks later, leaving her a house and money. His daughter Lauren set up a memorial thing for him. http://www.justgiving.com/remember/28179/Charles-Brocki ... if you feel like giving.

Hari is in his second year at Aberystwyth University, enjoying life - a bit too much, if his results are anything to go by... Seems to be heading for a lower second at best.

Tara has had a tough time but she is improving and coping better now. She is just about to finish her GCSEs, which should be a mixture from A* - C, nothing spectacular. That's fine. A levels next. She's off to Germany for a week or ten days, staying with friends. She seems to have a facility with languages. Wonder who she gets that from then?

Adam has had a good first year at QES. Got into a few scrapes but basically seems to have settled in well and is enjoying it. He played for Craven Wanderers' U-12 football team.

I haven't got a job yet. I have applied for 12 or 15 teaching jobs, 5 or 6 teaching agencies ( see post about them) but no luck. Nothing for proofreading or tutoring either. No response even for minor things. I am too old and well qualified.

I am doing voluntary work at the Looking Well. Thinking about doing stuff at the Library.

Might have some marking to do - MA assignments. Also, doing some work with my sister.

The JobCentre / Benefits people are giving me a hard time, claiming I have savings. Lol. Then in the next breath, they say I may have used them up for expenses. When I tried to reason, they told me, in varying tones and volumes (like that would make a difference) "We must be vigilant". I was accused of delaying sending in financial stuff, which I had already sent in twice and been visited by a Compliance Officer to check it out, cos I was hiding something... The Housing Benefit people don't want to hear I have more than one child I need to house. "You only get child benefit for one..."

Anyway, I need a job soon.

Met a really nice woman but she lives in the US... I like doing things the easy way obviously.

Sometimes I feel really angry about everything. Then I kind of think I love my kids and I should be grateful for that. I am still in a better place than a lot of other people.  It will get better. I will get a job soon. :)