Forever Queen fan's

Well I know we haven't blogged for a long time but as you know things have changed for a while.. We are treating this stage in our lives as just another chapter and we know this is the right thing to do.. You have to realise that as much as we love Derwent6, she is just a material thing and Al's Mum is way above the boat.. We are still reminded everyday of Alf and still feel his presence in the house that he loved..
Del has been popping back to Derwent6 just to keep it warm and keep the cogs turning..

We still haven't been able to get our heads round Christmas, but the house has been decorated just like Al's dad would have liked it... It is still very difficult for us to get out but we have had some respite from carer's and Al's sister..
Last weekend was just fantastic!! We had arranged to meet up with some boating friends Mark and Sian off n.b Utopian who live down in Portsmouth, and they had invited us to stay with them over the weekend..
Well what a weekend we had..
Mark plays in a Queen tribute band called Forever Queen ( http://www.foreverqueen.co.uk/) and Del being a big Queen fan couldn't wait to see them..

We went with friends Bernie and Sarah as Bernie is also a big Queen fan.. When we arrived Mark met us and showed us around their lovely Guest House and to our rooms, Wow we were blown away!!!
We had some time in the afternoon to go to Gunwharf Quay's (walking distance) and the girls got some shopping in while the guys had a drink or two, rude not to...

Mark went off to meet up with the rest of the band and set up for the evening and we all got showered and ready to meet up at 8.00pm (again walking distance)
It was great to meet up with the rest of the boys Karl, Craig, and Marcus, and what a great bunch of guys they are..
We had just a fantastic night, albeit Del was a bit loud and lost his voice halfway through, check out the video's on Facebook  (https://www.facebook.com/pages/Forever-Queen/136675133112778.. )
We then got back to the house and the beers continued till the early hours of the morning at Marks bar.. Yep we were knackered!!

On the Saturday the weather was just so lovely we all went for a walk along the sea front at Southsea and had breakfast in the beach café which is actually on the beach, the sea was so calm...

We continued our walk with a free tour from born and breed pompey boy Mark, it was so interesting, even finding out Isambard Kingdom Brunel was born there in 1806.. We did the round tower, Henry VIII  castle..

We also did Old Portsmouth and the tour finished at the Navy base where we went to the Mary Rose museum, a must see...

We walked back to the Guest House and it was get ready again for the evening.. This time the girls went into town while the Queen fans jumped in with Mark for another gig in Basingstoke..
We felt like Roadies as we helped getting the gear to the stage for setting up, and there is a lot of it.. What another great night we had, even though Del couldn't sing (thank god! it's Christmas).

The boys got back at 2.00am.. The girls had drinks and something to eat before it was time to catch up on some sleep..
On the Sunday we were up at 9.00am and we walked to a small café called Smile (Queens first band name) and had a lovely breakfast.. It was then back to the house where the band turned up again for a photo session, and we said our goodbyes.. On our way back we stopped off for some Sunday roast at the Crown in Shoreham before we said goodbye to Bernie and Sarah..
It was the break we needed and it helped to recharge our batteries even though we were full on over the weekend, it was great to be normal again for a bit..
Al's Mum has taken the loss of Alf quite hard and she looks a bit sad still and has been finding it difficult, calling out for him at night. But we are trying to look forward to Christmas even though one of us will be missing!