It’s Monday evening, I’ve had seven hours sleep in 3 days and feel pretty exhausted. Tomorrow we pack our sea-freight and Wednesday our boxes head off across the ocean and we will be reunited in a couple of weeks…

This past week I have been saying good-bye to friends. It’s been tough… I realize how much I will miss the friendships I have built. The recent parting hugs have been the sweetest I have known.

Last night, I went to Mo’s Diner, in Western Shore with the Friends of Oak Island Society past and present including the island investors/treasure hunter’s who were currently all over from the United States…17 of us including spouses, all in all.

I didn’t eat 1940’s.. I just couldn’t face eating fries/chips (I’ve eaten a lot of those these past few weeks for convenience and quite frankly I am craving to return to decent, slow prepared meals) so I chose Lebanese Tabbouleh (I prefer Lebanese as it is made predominately with large quantities of Italian Parsley which is a great blood purifier)… here is a recipe http://www.mamaslebanesekitchen.com/salads/authentic-lebanese-tabbouleh-salad-recipe/

And then the sweetest thing… I was given cards and gifts… such wonderful treasures to take back with me to the UK. Hat, t-shirt, some local history books and the most beautiful acorn and oak leaf necklace from Amos Pewter..

Advice from a tree

“Stand up tall and proud
Sink your roots into the earth
Be content with your natural beauty
Go out on a limb
Drink plenty of water
Remember your roots
Enjoy the view..”

And then the evening was over and I had to say good-bye to people I had worked with and become friends with for many years… it’s hard doing that. You always realize during the hugs how much you will miss them.

A promise was made at that moment, by the Michigan Group to facilitate my return to Canada when their current endeavors are successful… Rick Lagina and I pinky shook on it so that’s good enough for me… more than good enough. It’s hope…

Thank you … C xxxxxxxxxxx

Sharing from Facebook…

On this day in History, 12 June 1942, a young Jewish girl living in Amsterdam receives a diary on her thirteenth birthday. The diary would later become one of the most famous diaries ever written. “The Diary of Anne Frank”.

Her parents gave her a diary with a red checked cover, her favorite present. “I hope I will be able to confide everything to you, as I have never been able to confide in anyone, and I hope you will be a great source of comfort and support”, Anne wrote in her diary the same day. Today marks what would have been Anne Frank’s 84th birthday.

A month after receiving the diary, she and her family went into hiding from the Nazis in rooms behind her father’s office. For two years, the Franks and four other families hid, fed and cared for by Gentile friends. The families were discovered by the Gestapo, which had been tipped off, in 1944. The Franks were taken to Auschwitz, where Anne’s mother died. Friends in Amsterdam searched the rooms and found Anne’s diary hidden away.

Anne and her sister were transferred to another camp, Bergen-Belsen, where Anne died of typhus a month before the war ended.

Anne’s father survived Auschwitz and published Anne’s diary in 1947 as The Diary of a Young Girl. The book has been translated into more than 60 languages.

Thank you for visiting the blog and writing and I send my apologies..

I’m totally and utterly overwhelmed with everything at the moment, emotionally, practically….just everything. I was in hospital all day yesterday with my eldest Hobbit who’s body is literally shutting down with the stress of having to leave not only Canada but her husband too (I won’t talk anymore about their situation as it’s not fair on them). The medical staff wanted to know our story and were not happy.

I have a house to finish clearing up and hand over but other things have had to take priority.

I’ve started to try and sell off some things and making a start on packing some personal items to transport to the UK via Sea-Freight. Not much, 3 boxes each of personal items, several small boxes of DVD’s and an old sea chest and a long clock my ex-husband made me out of pallet wood nevertheless door to port to port to door costs well over $2000

I’m venting, I know, I’m sorry..

On a good note we have been blessed with some wonderful online (and soon to be in person) friends who have now taken possession of our rental house in Nottingham and now have the keys and have really helped me out. It would have been impossible to do this without them and I simply have to shower them with wine and hugs when I see them!

Finally the irony…kinda

It seems the perfect job for me was placed in my virtual lap the other day here in Nova Scotia.(of course I can’t apply or do it as I’m not Canadian) It wouldn’t be right to say too much but it involved working with an NS publishing company and heading/driving their digital department. An opportunity to be there almost at grass roots and watch something grow (I’d be in heaven).

Life sometimes likes to kick you in the guts on your way out!

But despite everything that has happened in our lives this past year, I do remain optimistic for the future… YES it will be difficult, YES we will struggle but I have my health and my family and my friends.

There remains a big wide world out there to be discovered..

C xxx

I’ll be doing an update post real soon… I’m reading, just not enough time to be writing. I’m wanting to get the old house all cleared and cleaned and handed back over early next week so that’s where I am most days right now…

The move is looming and I’m basically living off big salads, baked potatoes, kidney beans, toast and porridge oats… I take a big bowl of kidney bean salad with me everywhere!

I’ve relented once or twice and had chips (fries) but have now said NO.

I’m loving reading the comments…. died and gone to heaven with all the talk of food and frugality!!!!

C xxxxx

I’m not saying it’s a solution but I do believe it’s a well worn shoe firmly planted in the right direction..

Living on a budget is no stranger to my family and I. We’ve pretty much lived on little or no income (and no government assistance) since the autumn of 2012, unsure where our next penny would come in. If it hadn’t been for a little financial help from my brother and some thoughtful friends and family, I truly don’t know how we would have got through.

And now we’ve sold our house off (very cheaply) and I’ve paid back my brother and we’ve paid our utility debts, 6 months rent for our new life in the UK and I’ve enough to travel to and get set up in blighty to make a new start. We’ll all need to get jobs ASAP though and that concentrates the mind..

I’ve been reading comments by readers and doing some research into the cost of living in the UK. It’s been 9 years since we’ve lived there. I can see, more than ever, there appears to be a poverty gap, families relying on food banks etc. It concerns me.

I did further reading and found out that Nottingham appears to have been the poorest city (income per household) in the UK in 2012.

People are obviously struggling..

Jack Monroe: Mum who fed son on £10 a week lands book deal for her breadline recipes

I see a movement towards eating well on less. I came across a blog in the UK by a “Girl called Jack” (now called Cooking on a Boot Strap) who had lived in a financially unstable situation with her young son and who had created good nutritional meals for just £10 per week. I applaud her…. I REALLY APPLAUD HER.

I see there is the “Eatwell Plate” recommendations by the National Health Service and further research led me to read that the cost of providing the Eatwell Plate recommendations to one person for week came in at just under £17 per week.

I then out of curiosity did some calculations using online store prices in the UK following a 1940s wartime rationing plan of approx 2000 or more calories per day

Per week

On ration

Bacon, Ham, Meat £2.00
Milk £1.50
Fats and cheese £1.35
Sugar 0.25p
Preserves 0.15p
Tea 0.25p
Egg 0.15p (free range)

Off ration weekly

Oats 0.25p
Bread 0.45p (1 loaf per person wholemeal)
Split peas/kidney beans 0.75p
Potatoes 0.75p
Vegetables 0.75p
Salad 0.75p
Fruit £1.00
Spices, extras £1.00

TOTAL= £11.35p

This is rather a strict scenario of wartime rationing. I’ve compared prices and took an average value for most foods via http://www.mysupermarket.co.uk and it doesn’t allow for splurging and luxury goods BUT what it does do is provide a weekly spend to provide a nutritionally sound weekly food allowance living on wartime rations and it comes in at under £12 per person per week.

CLICK HERE FOR MY 100+ RECREATED WARTIME RECIPES USING THESE INGREDIENTS

I’d love to continue this discussion- please post your comments below!

Articles of reference you may find interesting

How little money can a person live on? *RECOMMENDED READ**
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-22065978

http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2012/nov/18/families-rising-food-prices-budgets

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/48360-our-average-weekly-spend-as-britain-stays-in-the-grip-of-a-severe-financial-squeeze-8382187.html