Hello there :)

I enjoyed reading your first post, hannoona. Welcome to gransnet

Thank you Its nice to be here.

Hello, Hannona! Welcome to Gransnet. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

And I got your name wrong, Hannoona So sorry

So did I Aridane - its supposed to be Hanoona :D :D

Thank you for the welcome anyway

Aridane - oh my goodness :D Sorry.

Hi Hannoona. Nice to meet you

I am also a mum of 5, with 5 DGC - sixth due later in the year, 4 step DGC and a son who is now disabled after a major stroke when he was 35. And, I live in the East Midlands. Nor as exciting as the Middle East!

Welcome Hannoona - nice to hear about other people's lives. Living in the Middle East I assume your weather has not been so wet and cold as I can assure you South Wales has been! I am here with family at the moment - we moved to SW France full time last year.
Look forward to hearing more from you.

Hi Hannoona, great to hear from you, hope you will enjoy Gransnet. Did you marry a man from the Middle East? It would be interesting to hear your story of how you came to move there. You definitely have your hands full with family!

Hello, Hannoona, pleased to meet you .

Hello Hannoona, welcome to Gransnet!

Hannoona A very warm welcome from sunny Kintyre. I hope that you enjoy Gransnet. Since joining, I have become friends with many lovely people. This forum has changed my life [for the better].

Welcome Hanoona I hope you enjoy being a member here.

Hello, Hannoona.Welcome to the Gransnet, a cheerful and conversational website for us older generation.I, too, have a disabled son, and have been through hell and high water over the years with him, but now thank goodness, I am able to get on with my life at last.Good luck to you! And keep up the membership.It,s great.

Welcome Hanoona I hope you get to enjoy Gransnet as much as I do

Good Morning ladies and thank you for the lovely welcome.

Bez, the weather here right now is painful. Really painful. Hot and humid, and for me its the humidity that's the worst part of it. Hot flushes on top of damp and sticky due to the heat is not the nicest of combinations. :D

Oh to be in South Wales right now, my dad teases me by calling and letting me hear the rain bounce off the conservatory roof. I only have another month to go though till we up sticks en-masse for the summer and our ice cream in Porthcawl and Mumbles - even in the pouring rain.

Shysal, yes I married someone from this part of the world and wouldn't mind telling my story but sadly experience has taught me there's always someone who will bring it round to other things and I really cant be bothered with it anymore. I'm sorry if that sounds rude, its not my intention at all, but life since 9/11 has been very hard for the ordinary person with any Islamic connection and I feel quite jaded by it all when it comes to others picking up a ball and running with it. There is always someone :D To be honest I have lived very happily here for a lifetime as a woman who has no outward signs of being married to a local. I'm accepted at face value where ever I go and am treated with the utmost respect. I love these people and not just because they were and still are so accepting of me. This really is a great part of the world to live in and the wonderful people just make it all the more so.

Liminetta - I understand

Sorry if you felt I was being intrusive, I was just interested, nothing more. I am so pleased that you are happy there. The people are even more important than the place aren't they? I can relate to the discomfort of the heat and humidity, as a 'hot body' myself! I always say that it is easier to warm yourself up than it is to cool down.
I hope you will enjoy Gransnet, although I must warn you that it is addictive! You will find advice, comfort, humour and just plain craziness!

No, you weren't being intrusive shysal, anything but, and I'm sorry if my reply made you feel that way. (flowers) It really wasn't intended. Being a natural blether I love talking to people about how I got here and what its been like. I really have had a life and a half. Its just that its been hard for the ordinary person for quite some time now and though the world is full of very nice people - there is always someone who isn't so nice and what can start off as me just telling a story can become something else entirely. I find I'm less able for it the older I get. (hmm)

Hannoona, that's understandable, but such a shame as it would be interesting to hear your point of view and experiences.
The world (and Gransnet) is indeed full of very nice people

Hello Hannoona. We have had the coldest Spring here for 50 years and June is predicted to be 'changeable' so make sure you bring wellies and waterproofs AND thermal vests.

Will do Oldgreymare

Hello Hannoona, welcome to GN. You will love it here. There are some really nice folk to chat to especially if you are feeling low. I am from Scotland Inverness-shire. Its beautiful but cold and wet, well it can be nice when we get a share of summer. I also started life in South Wales, Cardiff. Would love a day in Porthcawl and the Mumbles with the grandchildren. Nos Da.