Delia Smith I am not!

Mental note to self ....

When switching on the oven (in particular one that is not your own) remember to take out the grill pan handles:




Oh well - instead of normal handles they are now paddles - unique, designer ones. I told Adrian I couldn't cook! Now he's learned the hard way!

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Truly Scrumptious....

Seriously, all I want to say is if you have never seen this show at the theatre or indeed the film then SEE IT!!!! A group of us from work went to see it last night and it was fab! The car was amazing! The show had everything a show should have - I loved it. I sang along to almost all the songs (I should be on the stage really!).

SEE IT. SEE IT. SEE IT. SEE IT.

What a fabulous night out.

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Let's Go Fly A Kite ...

So Adrian and I have decided that once a week we will have a proper "date" where we'll make an effort to do something a wee bit different for just the two of us. The first one was to La Dolce Vita - a beautiful little italian bistro in Hamble. We went on a Wednesday night which is live entertainment night and a man was there playing on his classical guitar all these wonderfully romantic songs - it was so perfect it nearly made me cry (nearly - but I didn't!)

So last week (friday) we decided that our date was going to be down at Southsea Seafront (which is a special place for us) and we would fly the kite that I bought him the other week. Adrian of course was going on about him being a scout and doing the kite flying thing when he was a boy - you know, like men do. I just recalled the time when me and my family flew our kite on Dartmoor and I managed to aim the kite so it did a nosedive right on Richard's head (very very very funny to watch him being chased by this kite!)

Anyway, here's me flying the kite:

What absolute skill!

And here's him flying the kite:
Up ....


Up ....


Up ....


and down it comes ....


Adrian "oh stuff it - I'm too old for this!"


So then as the loving and encouraging girlfriend I am, I got alongside him and we flew the kite together - aaawwwww!


We then had some chips, sat in our little "Darby and Joan" shelter on the seafront and it was all a happy ending.


Stick around for the next adventures of the Adrian and Clare dates! We're going to Port Solent this week but I don't think we'll be sailing a boat.

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A Whistle Stop Tour of my Weekend ....

Well last weekend I had my friends Jane and Ross come down for the weekend. It was really good to see them. we did lots!

Friday we visited the Historic Dockyard in the morning and got wet! Stupid rain! Then we went to Gunwharf, had lunch and then met up with Adrian so we could go up the Spinnaker tower. I love the tower because the views are brilliant. The Spinnaker tower was built to celebrate the milenium but wasn't actually opened until 2005 and on it's opening the mayor and guy who was in charge of it being built got stuck in the glass lift! ha ha! I don't think the glass lift has properly worked since! Anyway, it's still cool to go up and one of my special places to go.




There's a glass floor right at the top - you can walk over it. The men were being a bit wooselike:


So we went to Petersfield to lead the kid's club and then had a chinese at Adrian's - what a nice evening.

Saturday - God wet - stupid rain! However, we weren't going to let the the rain rain on our parade so we went to Beaulieu. It's got a Transport museum and we saw Chitty Chitty Bang Bang! Wow!

And loads of other cool and old cars. Beaulieu would be a lovely place to go to for the day if the weather was nice. Next time I go I'm going to fix the weather.

At night we went to see Shrek 3. It was ok. Not as funny as the first but it was fine.

So Sunday, I went to Poole and finally did the meeting. My opening line was that I was so eager to be there that I came two weeks running (having come last week as well). It was lovely to be there - I love Poole, it's a cool corps. The kids stuff is fab.

Poor Jane and Ross had to deal with a lot of faff in the airport as they were flying back to Glasgow and there was all the problems up there due to the terrorist attack at the airport. However, they didn't seem to get back too late.

Meanwhile, I met up with the Poole lot at Moors Valley country park. I wore my wellies and splashed in all the puddles - it was wicked fun!!! We had a wellies club see:


So tonight, Adrian and I are going to Southsea Seafront to fly the kite and have a poke of chips. Am excited!

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Isn't he just beautiful?

Thing are going well and I am a very blessed lady - I don't even care who knows it!

On Thursday I was downstairs photocopying stuff and came back up to my desk to find these:


No particular reason - just because! How lovely is that and how lovely is he?

I am very blessed!

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What a Numpty!

Yes I'm a complete and utter numpty! It's official. Last Sunday I left home at 9am to travel to Poole to do the morning meeting which was the YP celebration. I'm in the process of getting all my stuff out of the car when Mandy comes up to me and says "Clare, you've got the wrong Sunday - it's next week you're meant to be coming!" I did question a number of times if she was joking and then when I finally accepted that she wasn't I had a right strop and threw my stuff into the boot of the car exclaiming "Oh you've got to be joking!" So feeling very foolish, I went into the hall, had a cup of coffee and had a chat with a few people and then made an escape - there was no way I was staying around - how embarrassing! So I wondered what I should do next. Here I was dolled up in my uniform with my army hairstyle. I could have gone back to my own corps, knowing their time keeping the meeting would have only just started. But I decided I would worship the Lord by spending time with my family and went to see Auntie Anne instead as she only lives about 20mins from Poole. It was nice to see her and she made a lovely lunch.

Whilst I am annoyed with myself somewhat, I realised that in all my travelling around for this job doing various things in three and half years this is the first time I've ever got the details wrong and I am so very grateful it wasn't the other way round: to not turn up when they were expecting me. I am also a person who likes to learn from experience and draw out the lessons or the positives from it. It could well be that someone this Sunday may need to especially hear what God has to say that couldn't have been there last week. It also meant that I was able to have a lovely sunday with my Auntie.

Of course people have found this very funny (I guess whilst they're making fun of me, they can't be making fun of anyone else!) and they think it's because I'm in love. Can I just clarify that I did put this date in my diary months ago!!!! A long time before all of this other dreamy stuff happened! Having said that, this week I have missed an appointment with the plumber, got confused about what day I'm meant to be meeting Liz, turned up to do a club with half of my resources missing!

What is that all about?!?!?!

Anyway, I've got my opening line for the tomorrow's meeting all planned. If you can't beat them, join them - so I'll let them have a good laugh at me. I can handle it!

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Twitty Twoo!

Well, what can I say.... what an eventful week i have had! You will never guess.... I have been romanced this week! yes romanced! I can hardly believe it myself. His name is Adrian and .... wait for it... he's my boss!! Oh my word! It's all very crazy really.

We've been good friends since he came into this job but I guess the friendship has blossomed over the past 15 months what with working together and having long conversation after work in the office when everyone else has left and I guess it all came to point last week where the relationship changed gear.

So, on Tuesday we spent the day in London together. We went to Covent Garden where we had lunch in a small cafe outside the opera house and could hear the music which was really beautiful. Then we walked around some of the famous sites in London. We walked through St James Park, had an ice cream and sat on a bench opposite the pond. It was so lovely because even though London was very busy - it felt so relaxed as we wandered around, chatting and it felt like we were the only people in the city that day.

In the evening we went to see Mary Poppins at the theatre. Adrian ordered drinks for during the interval and we drank them on the terrace outside. He was such a gentleman and made me feel so special.

What a wonderful day.

On saturday we spent the day at Longleat. We went on Safari, the boat, the railway, the house, the butterfly farm, the secret garden and the maze (that was funny - it said that it was a big maze which could take between 30-60 mins but only took us 10 mins to find the middle). Adrian brought afternoon tea in his rucksack: a flask of earl grey tea, strawberries and muffins. Again, such a gentleman.

Another wonderful day.

It's kind of weird knowing that I am to use an old phrase "stepping out" with my boss and I guess it's going to take a while to get used to that.

What's so lovely is the reaction from people when they hear about it. Most people say that they are not surprised but very excited and delighted and that's really confirming. Lesley in our office is telling everyone because she's so excited! She even told the sandwich lady yesterday!

Adrian is a really lovely, godly, caring, encouraging and supportive man. He is such a gentleman and really looks out for me. We both believe that this is a gift from God and that it is an answer to prayer - it's not like we've rushed into it! And so we're going to make the most of it and enjoy it. I'm really looking forward to seeing how this progresses.

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