Happy 2nd Birthday Jacob!

Hard to believe that Jacob is 2 today!  And on the 24th of this month, it will be exactly 2 years since I first held him.

But in a little less than 2 weeks, I'll be in Montreal and will get to see him again!

Can hardly wait!  Looking forward to seeing everybody - Rich, Katherine, Zachary, Joshua, Jacob, Danny, Adam and of course, Madison.

Unfortunately Nick won't be able to come because he can't take the time away from the new shop so I'll be making the trip on my own.

I'll only be there for a week so there probably won't be much time for visiting other family.  It's a pity to go all that way and not visit at least some of the sisters but the time always goes so quickly!

I've been told that Jacob's birthday party will be delayed until I get there. I hope there will be a barbeque!

Shire Games - our little emporium in the heart of England

Opened in June 2005 on Hope Street in Hanley, Stoke-on-Trent, Shire Games has become a major focus of our lives.  It's Nick's baby really. And he is brilliant at it. With over a thousand different board games and card games in stock, he always seems to know what to recommend.

I don't work in the shop, except to fill in on occasion, and I used to say that I had a 'proper' job and didn't play games for a living. It was after my very first stint of filling in that I realised just how difficult a job it is.

So anyway, after 6 years on Hope Street, we have decided we need more space and so we are moving! The new shop is three times the size of the current shop so we are quite excited about the propect of maybe having some permanent gaming space and an on-site games library.

We been busy decorating for the last couple of weeks, in the evenings and bits of the afternoon when Nick can spare time away from Hope Street.

Shire Games, Parliament Row, Hanley, 2011 -

When we first opened the shop, we knew that we could probably make more money by just selling on-line but we felt very strongly that what we really wanted to do was to introduce, or maybe re-introduce, people to boardgames.

Our own collection started when we first came to live in the UK in 2001 when  I bought The Lord of the Rings boardgame for Nick for Christmas and we played it to death! Wanting to know more, Nick found Boardgame Geek on the Internet and a whole new world opened up for us.  We found a small shop not too far away and very quickly our collection grew.

We didn't have a lot of money and even fewer friends so we bought games that worked well with two players. Every evening would be spent sitting at the dining room table challenging each other as we let our competitive natures take over.

We loved it when the few friends we had would come over and we could introduce them to delights such as Ticket to Ride or Carcassonne or any other of the old classics we had in our collection. Incredibly social, loads of fun and even educational, we always seemed to have a good time.

We often talked about how great it would be to open a game shop of our own and when things weren't going particularly well with Nick's job, we decided to take the plunge.

We had a real desire to get folks hooked on boardgames that weren't the old roll and move type of games.  Few people know that there are probably 5 or 6 new games published every week, kind of like video games. And like books, people have their favourite game designers and find they must have everything he or she puts out there.  We felt that if we sold exclusively on-line we would only be selling to people who already knew about the thousands of boardgames out there and what we wanted to do was snag the people who didn't know how great the hobby is.  It's so gratifying someone walks in for the first time with a look of astonishment on his face when he sees the massive assortment of boxes on the shelves. It's even better when he or she walks out with their first purchase and I can't tell you how great it feels when they come back a week or two later full of tales of how much fun they've been having and asking for another recommendation. That to us, is success!

Moving to a new location is a bit scary, not to mention costly but it's a risk we feel we need to take if the shop is going grow and being in a busier part of town, hopefully means more opportunities for new converts!



Shire Games, Hope Street, Hanley, 2005 - 2011



So, what's new eh?

For those that don't know, Canadians are sometimes known for ending most of their sentences with "eh". We do it without even thinking about it most of the time. I find myself putting it in emails that I'm sending to my family and Canadian friends but I don't normally include it in correspondence or conversations with non-Canadians mostly because I think the non-Canadians won't get it. I think of it as a secret code that allows fellow Canadians to identify themselves to each other.

I'm only kidding, I just like saying it :)

Anyhow, I wanted to talk about something new.

And that something is my new grandaughter, Madison.

"Maddie" as she is being called by those close to her, was born on 31st March 2011 to my eldest son, Richard-Ian and his partner Katherine.  Maddie has three older brothers, Zachary, Joshua and Jacob.

My fourth grandchild is a sturdy one - she weighed in at 9lbs, 6oz and was 19-3/4 inches long!

I have to wait a couple of months before I get to meet her, and let me say right now, that I can't wait.  I was last in Montreal when Jacob was born in June 2009.  I remember like it was yesterday, how hard it was to say goodbye to Jacob when it was time to leave.  We didn't know it at the time but Jacob was a bit poorly and had to have surgery not long after but has since made a full recovery.  But boy, was he cuddly.  He just seemed to mould himself into your arms.  That is the only time I have seen him and I'm really looking forward to getting to know him when I get there in June.

Zachary, Joshua and Jacob all seem to be totally taken with their new sister.

It's really hard to put into words how I feel about Madison's birth.  I guess 'overjoyed' is a good word but it sounds a bit too melodramatic. 'Thrilled' is another good one but it doesn't feel like it's enough. When I think about that little baby girl, I get a small twinge in my heart and my eyes well up.  I guess it's because I can't help but be reminded of my own baby girl who died so many years ago.  It was an experience that changed my life and the lives of my whole family no doubt. The first death of a child in my generation meant that a lot of us had no idea of what to do or say or how to react. It was the first time my parents had to deal with the death of a grandchild and my mother, bless her, did the best she could by telling me to wash my face so I would feel better.  It was dark time for all of us. 

Lisa was born when Rich was three so he was the only one to have known his sister.  Danny and Adam only knew her from her photographs. Rich was even with us when we made that frantic ride to the hospital on St. Stephen's Day in 1978. There had been a snowstorm the day before and the streets of Ville LaSalle were horrendous.

Lisa died in my arms en route to the hospital.  The doctors did what they could but it was too late.  My mother came to the hospital and took Rich away while the doctors came to tell us the news and I thought I too was going to die. They let us in to say goodbye and I can still see her tiny face if I close my eyes, even after all these years.  She was only 6 weeks old.

We didn't know or understand why it had happened.  We had seen her paedetrician several times because she had seemed collicky and wasn't gaining weight but he assured us she was fine.  A visit to the local medical centre on Christmas Eve because she was feverish and seemed generally unwell left me feeling insecure and unconfident as a young mother because of the doctor's attitude and response to why we were there.  It was only after the results of the autopsy were revealed did we know that she had a very rare form of what they called Infantile Leukemia.  They didn't know how or why or even when she got it and I'm not sure that even today, 33 years later, that much more is known about it.

So 26th December has been a sad day in my life.  That is until Zachary was born!  His birth on the 26th December changed the meaning of the whole day for me.

I still think about Lisa that day, even reliving the events of the day in my head.  But there is less sadness.

But now, a new baby girl has joined the family. My hope for Maddie is that she grows up happy and healthy, loving and kind, gentle yet strong.

And I can't say enough how much I am looking forward to holding her!

Life after Brighton

When we left Brighton on Tuesday, we had a few hours to spend in London before catching our train back up to Stoke. I love London. There is so much to see and do. But we only had 4 hours sadly.

The Tower of London is one of my favourite places. I find the Tudor period incredibly interesting and have read quite a lot about it. I only wish I could retain what I have read! One of my favourite authors these days is Alison Weir. Although a formidable historian, Alison has written a few brilliant non-fiction books. Innocent Traitor, the story of the short and rather sad life of Lady Jane Grey, being my favourite.

We spent almost a full day at the Tower when we visited London at Christmas time which was our third visit there and we still came across things we had never seen before.

While on our short stop in London, we did a bit of geocaching. A very, very little bit. More about geocaching later.

The HMS Belfast is anchored on the River Thames. Will have to take that in on a future visit!

Once on the train, it was only a quick 90 minutes or so before we arrived back in Stoke.

All in all, it was a great trip and I’m already looking forward to the next one.

Taking so long to get started...

I've tried to start this loads of times but have never advanced very far.

So I'm just going to go for it now.

On Sunday the 3rd of April 2011 we went to Brighton for a couple of days. One of our passions is Brighton and Hove Albion Football Club and Nick, through our shop, Shire Games, sponsors the away kit for one of the players. Every year the club holds a Kit Sponsors Dinner where you get to have dinner with 'your' player and have the opportunity to meet other players and even the club management.

This was the second time we have been and I just can't say how much I enjoyed it.

Our player is Elliott Bennett and he's a lovely young man.

Now we took several pictures with different players, but because they give you an official picture with your player and the shirt we get to take home, I didn't actually get any pictures of Elliott. Here is my favourite though - Gus Poyet, BHAFC Manager and demi-god!


We chatted with Gus for a bit and also with Charlie Oatway, Ashley Barnes, Adam El-Abd, Craig Noone, Matt Sparrow and Dick Knight, former Chairman.

It was a great evening!

We were in Brighton from Sunday tea-time until Tuesday afternoon and found a new favourite pub.


An 18th Century farmhouse apparently, which is in brilliant condition. Lovely atmosphere and all the things we look for in a pub - quiz machines, stools for sitting at the quiz machines and sport on the telly!

The weather wasn't brilliant the water was quite rough.


The visit was too short, as it always is. Can't wait for next year when the dinner will be at the new Amex stadium and Brighton will (hopefully) be in the Championship!