Month: July 2022

It’s been a few days since I blogged. Mostly because I have been feeling weary and too tired at night to tap away at the keyboard – and had no inclination to start the blog earlier. Ah, well – I am sure I’ll feel better again soon. Fingers crossed.

I suppose weariness is no surprise given that we’ve been moving furniture out of our bedroom ready for a new carpet to be laid, and been painting the skirting board and the windowsills. Not only that, but the upstairs seems to be in a permanent muddle and I’m overwhelmed with it now!

Anyway, the carpet was successfully laid on Thursday and we are delighted with the result. John thinks I should repaint the walls now though, to match……

I spent a little bit of time putting furniture back into the bedroom on Friday, but I abandoned the job half way through the day because I had an appointment at ‘The Spa’ in Leamington. Hehe. How very lovely. Courtesy of Harriet and Paul’s Christmas gift of a voucher, I took myself off there to have my hands and feet sorted and a splash of paint put on my nails.

It was really lovely. Ellie, our granddaughter, works there as a receptionist and it was smashing to see her all professional in her workplace.

Meanwhile, John had been tinkering with the car a little bit, watching TV a little bit and then running me backwards and forwards to the garage while the VW was in for a service. Things are very expensive these days, aren’t they? And about to get more expensive as the chap at the garage had some ‘advisories’ for me. New brakes and tyres…… eeesh.

Yesterday we dolled ourselves up to the nines to go to my friend, Anita’s daughter, Jo’s wedding. What a lovely time we had. And how beautiful everyone looked. Gorgeous dresses and suits everywhere in evidence. But in particular, the bride – and Anita herself – stole the show.

Jo came into the hall on Anita’s arm and how poignant that walk down the aisle was. So dignified, elegant and proud. I don’t think I was the only one who had a tissue to hand.

The ceremony wouldn’t have been complete without a mention of Jo’s Dad, Ian, of course, and on the back of the order of service there was a tribute to him, ‘In Loving Memory’, with a quote from Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman’s ‘Good Omens’:

"Don't think of it as dying" said Death.
"Just think of it as leaving early to avoid the rush."

Crikey – that brought on a few more tears. Memories of a very dear friend and knowing how proud he would have been of his very successful and beautiful daughter.

Regrettably, as now seems to be the usual, I failed to take loads of photos. We were so busy nattering to people that I quite forgot to get the camera out until the last minute, so no photos of Jo in all her beauty, but I did manage to snap Anita, in all her beauty, with Ian’s aunty and cousin……

However, lots of people did take photos of Jo, didn’t they? Here is the happy couple, Jo and Rob, both looking radiant.

We stayed overnight at a Premier Inn near the wedding venue and on the way back home today decided to call into the Heart of the Country shopping mall on the A38, where I happened upon a Seasalt shop and bought myself a few new tops. Nice.

“Straight home now?” I asked John, as I joined him in the car where he’d been patiently waiting for me. “Yep,” he said, “Getting tired now.” I agreed. Me, too. So we set off…. only to think that the furniture shop we wanted to visit was in Tamworth and, as we were nearby……. well, shall we call in?

We did. And bought ourselves a new dining table and chairs. Delivery in 8 to 10 weeks. “And that’s good.” said the salesman patting himself on the back for such a swift delivery time….. really? Fingers crossed it all works when we get it in the room!

Take care everyone. God bless.

Happy Anniversary to us! We can’t quite believe that we have been together for 55 years and married for 48 of them, but here we are. Goodness, we’ve seen and experienced lots of things along the way and we’re still making the most of it as best we can. Marvellous.

We celebrated with breakfast in bed this morning and cream cakes this afternoon. Paul bought us a bottle of champagne to imbibe this evening while we did our quiz, but we decided to keep it for another day. We’ll prolong the celebrations as long as we can!!

Our plans for the day were not really much in the way of high jinks – more ‘more of the same’ really. My plan was to paint the door surrounds in our bedroom so that they’ll be spruced up and in keeping with a brand new carpet that the carpet fitters will bring tomorrow.

I did get on with that job, but abandoned the idea of trying to get a second coat on, despite having said to John that I’d stay up to finish it ‘even if it was two o’clock in the morning’. And the reason I abandoned it? The opportunity to spend time with Paul and Freddie, of course!!

Oh, bliss. Paul phoned to say they were on their way and we set aside everything else to spend a lovely afternoon together. We all nattered and played and laughed and were just beautifully companionable.

And how Freddie is growing up. So articulate, explaining what he’d done and seen at Legoland where he’d been yesterday. So lively and lovely, as he worked out how much pocket money I would give him for his upcoming holiday. So interesting, as he played some more on the calculator and discovered that the phone in portrait showed the standard calculator, but what fun to turn it sideways for the scientific one!

We had a game of chess at which he beat me and was thrilled with his efforts, before we went upstairs to the computer where I was still setting up the quiz. Amazingly, he knew the answers to a few of the quiz questions. I mean, do you know what an axolotl is? Apparently there’s one in Minecraft, so Freddie did.

When we’d finished putting the last few questions into the quiz, I showed Freddie the e-jigsaw I like to do and so he had a go, too. He thoroughly enjoyed the fun of pitting his wits against the clock. Oh my, I did enjoy my time with him and Paul, and feel so grateful for the years of marriage which have given us these blessings. Lucky, lucky us.

This evening it was Quiz Night and we were Quiz Masters. I’m always nervous about getting the balance right in the quiz and wasn’t sure if I’d got this one right. It turned out that one or two questions had clearly been chosen from left-field. But, despite that, the score was pretty respectable at the end. And we stayed on, chatting long after the quiz had ended. We had fun. Thank the Lord once again, for friends and family.

Take care everyone. God bless.

…. we had a very nice weekend, thank you!

We spent the weekend at Malcolm and Caroline’s in North Dorset travelling down on Friday and arriving about tea-time. The journey was quite good on the way down thanks to the SatNav. As we neared our destination, a message flashed up on John’s phone: ‘Car crash’. Oooh, right….. but the SatNav steered us all round to avoid it, ensuring we came off the A303, wriggled round a few back roads then came back onto the A303 to very empty road. Not a car in sight behind us. Good for us, but obviously not good for the car crash victims.

Malcolm and Caroline were the perfect hosts and made us feel very welcome, providing great food, decent drinks and great company.

On Saturday we had a potter into Sherborne, tootling up and down the main street, browsing the shops and then the Abbey. I was very taken with the Abbey and felt very at home there.

A little light refreshment was required after all our exertions, of course, and we popped into a coffee shop, where they had a very pretty courtyard at the back. We were out of luck with regards to a cream tea though, as we had left it a bit late in the afternoon. Never mind. We’d choose something else. Dorset Apple Cake? No, sorry, that’s off, too……. Chocolate brownies and toasted teacakes were on the menu, however. Caroline declined the offer of anything else, but Malcolm had to wait hours for his teacake. They had forgotten to put the order through. Hmmm…. there was a bit of argy-bargy about that.

Despite the wait and John taking a trip up the step and then thwacking Caroline in the eye as he fell, we enjoyed the surroundings and the chat.

On the way back, we took in a visit to the pub, The Buffalo. I mean, it would have been churlish not to, wouldn’t it? It was quaint and old-fashioned but lovely.

We had thought we might stay until Monday, but John’s hip was giving him jip and his eyes were sore, too. He had forgotten his specialist eye serum and by the end of the day he was struggling to open his eyes, so we thought it would be best come home on Sunday. But not before I’d visited the stables with Caroline to see her horse!!

On Sunday morning, we left the men at home and drove up to Shepton Mallet to see ‘Red’. What a lovely horse he is. Glossy and looking as fit as a fiddle. Caroline groomed him and said, “Do you want to brush his tail?” Erm…. me? Oh, OK then. I was brave and brushed his tail. Although, to be honest, I didn’t need to be brave because he was as good as gold.

Caroline took him into the indoor riding area to lunge him which I thoroughly enjoyed watching. Once again, he was as good as gold. Smashing.

After lunch John and I came back to Balsall, only to find Jack still at our house. Having fed the cat he was thoughtfully watering some of our plants. What an amazing boy he is! Can’t do without him!

Today we have tinkered about at home – me slicing up carpet to get at the skirting board in our bedroom to paint it; and John having another look at his car.

The only mar to our enjoyment was a phone call from the urology nurse telling John all about his results from the biopsy. Yes, it is prostate cancer. We knew that. It will need more intervention now. We didn’t know that. It’s classified as T3 cancer and on the Prostate Cancer Gleeson Score it is 9. Hmm…… the nurse was very good at explaining it all and said that his case has been referred to the oncologist who will be in touch. Soon we hope? “In due course.” Ha! I wonder how long that will be?

Take care everyone. Prayers appreciated if you are so inclined. God bless.

Not only is the weather on the change – turning from hellish temperatures to more reasonable ones today – but things are afoot at home, turning hellishly old-fashioned and worn-out décor into something more reasonable.

Obviously, there’s still much ado with the dining room, but that wasn’t it today. Today it was the turn of the bedroom. I was bold and ordered a new bedroom carpet a week or so ago, which has now arrived in the showroom and is pencilled in for fitting next Thursday.

We were delighted to hear that the guys from the shop would move the furniture and take away the old carpet for us before the fitting. That would save a lot of work for us, wouldn’t it? Possibly…….

Thinking ahead, I planned to paint the skirting board before the new carpet arrived. And what does that entail? Ha! Moving the furniture, of course! In order to have fluff-free paint I need to cut back the edge of the existing carpet by an inch or two. Hmmmm….

So that was me, this afternoon, emptying chests of drawers and then shifting them and their contents into other rooms. Nearly there, just a couple more to go. And then there’s the bed, of course. Wonder how we’re going to get on shifting that? I am sure it’ll be all fine…..

The dining room is still at the bare wall, newly-plastered state of affairs, of course, with the emulsioning being held off until the cornice is fitted. It would be wonderful if the cornice was fitted before the new cupboards arrive, so that I can paint the walls and ceiling and not drip it all over the brand new fixtures. But is it likely to happen? Perfect timing? Fingers crossed, but I’m not holding my breath.

However, I did manage to treat the horrible knots in the wood surrounding the windows and doorway today, so that’s one step in the right direction. Tally-ho!!

John was still faffing about with his car and doing a lot of thinking today. Every piece he touches seems to present a problem and he’s got to find the part from some dealer or other on the internet, or he’s got to make it from scratch in his man-shed at the bottom of the garden. And it’s exhausting – thinking – isn’t it?

We also spent a little bit of time fiddling about with the solar panel set-up today. The alarm on the system kicked off again, so there we were, crawling into the loft once more, and on the phone to a disembodied voice advising us what to do….. Managed it, but we’re waiting to talk to the battery people to find out why it keeps bleeping at us. That’ll be one for next week probably.

So there we are, a change is as good as a rest, they say. I am sure they didn’t mean this sort of change though – ‘cos we couldn’t half do with a rest! Still, it’s mostly our choice, so can’t complain.

On another note: it’s all getting expensive, isn’t it? You know, the things you normally buy but don’t think about too much. A spot of shopping now seems to regularly cost me £35 instead of the £20-£25 I used to spend. And petrol? Nearly had a heart attack filling the Eos up today!

Take care everyone. God bless.

Who’d have thought we’d feel cool when it was 25°? Currently basking in the ‘chill’ of a 10 degree temperature drop and feeling grateful for it!

Yesterday was very warm again and, as I stepped out of the house, it felt like an oven had been switched on and was blasting me. That didn’t change all day and I was pleased to scuttle indoors to try and keep cool.

It was William’s end-of-term farewell show yesterday morning and I had been invited to watch. I had wondered whether they would go ahead given the heat, but they did, and it wasn’t too bad – although there were one or two red faces among the children after they had performed!

The show was so good. So exciting to see the children all come into the hall, their eyes anxiously searching out their Mums, Dads, Grandmas, Grandpas and siblings, then their faces beaming as they found them. William was no exception and our hearts soared as he entered the hall grinning from ear to ear. What a cutie.

Here he is offering a shy little wave to us, having sung the final song for which they sang their hearts out going for ‘Gooooooold…….!’ and receiving a gold medal for all their efforts. It was lovely.

Afterwards we went back to Michael and Danielle’s where we cooled down with an ice lolly and a rest on the sofa. We had a little play but it was fairly lacklustre on all the adults’ behalf. The heat overnight had done Michael and Danielle in, having had to tend the children for half the night – and I am sure I was just feeling my age……. or was it the heat?

A propos of that…..Susie Dent’s Word of the Morning today? It is ‘forwallowed’ (15th century): exhausted from tossing and turning all night. Hmmmm….. I quite like that one! We were definitely forwallowed yesterday – and again today……

On the way home from Michael and Danielle’s I called in to the Co-op for a few groceries and understood why people might want to spend longer than normal in there. It was definitely cool……

After lunch I decided to rest some more…… inspecting the backs of my eyelids for a change. John, meanwhile, was shifting furniture. We had taken delivery of Harriet’s father’s desk a while ago but hadn’t put it in situ. John rectified that and shuffled his desk and the new-to-him desk around to settle the space. His former desk is now in pieces awaiting a new home……

When I woke up, I did a little bit of painting on the window frames in the dining room. Primer, on some bare wood, which hardly took any time at all, but I did spot some knots in the wood which I hadn’t dealt with, so it’s back to the drawing board on those…… plenty of time, I tell myself, plenty of time……

Meanwhile, although John had spent some time watching TV in the afternoon, he had been very busy in the morning mixing concrete and finalising the security post in front of the garage door. Unfortunately, this picture is a ‘before’ one in which none of the dressing concrete had been mixed and laid, but you get the gist……

We were up quite early this morning, making the journey over to Heartlands Hospital for John’s regular treatment of immunoglobulin. We had both had a rotten night’s sleep one way and another, so John enjoyed an all-morning snooze while he had his treatment and hoped that the rest would work wonders on the dodgy hip he now finds himself with. He can hardly walk – it’s a bit stop, go, stop, go, stop……I blame the furniture shifting yesterday……

At home I did a few chores and ran a few errands before it was time to go back and collect the ol’ man. “I’m thinking of going into Leamington this afternoon,” I said, as we drove home, “I want to look at some dining tables. Do you want to come with me?” John thought about it for a nano-second and came back with a firm ‘no’. “You have a look and then report back,” he replied. Okay. Probably best.

So that’s what I did this afternoon, before calling on Paul and Harriet on the way home to see how they were. Paul seems to be well-recovered from Covid, and he confirmed that it had been a mild dose this time. I did my usual clucking and told him he still needed to take it easy. Do you think he’ll listen to my wise words?

John spent the afternoon in the garage, sat in the car seat, tinkering with the Lotus again. It’s such a labour of love – but frustrating at the same time as he searches and researches parts to fit the defunct, and often very fiddly, pieces on the car. It ain’t easy!

And then this evening was a lovely Quiz Night. Albeit we were tired and perhaps not on top form, but it was just lovely to see everyone again. Everyone else was on top form though, because we achieved a creditable 81% score this week. Not too shabby, eh?

Take care everyone – now that this particular heatwave is over perhaps we can enjoy some time out in our gardens. God bless.

Despite the heat yesterday, I drove over to the campsite where Michael and Danielle were staying. I went early because they had decided it was too hot by lunchtime to stay on. They were camped alongside the River Avon and there were plenty of entry points for a bit of paddling. So we were in.

Being as blind as a bat, I couldn’t quite see the tiddlers swimming about in the river, but Danielle assured me there were some there. And she was right. It wasn’t long before William and I found them. And excitement of excitement, William caught one in his net.

Naturally, we weren’t quite prepared and the bucket to put it in was on the shore. William very carefully carried the fish in the net, nurturing it all the way and he was delighted to plop it into the bucket of water and excitedly tell Mummy all about it. Such fun.

I had left John having a lie-in, and he was just getting up when I got home. However, we were so warm by lunchtime that we really thought it would be best if we didn’t do anything much at all. So we lazed about, watching a bit of TV and generally congratulated ourselves on being so sensible. Hehehe.

Of course, today has been even warmer than yesterday. I wasn’t sure exactly what the temperature was outside, as both of our indoor/outdoor weather stations seem to be on the blink. I had a bit of a fiddle with them and got them working for a while but they soon nodded off again and refused to tell us consistently how hot it was. According to one of them at one point it was 31°. Believable. The other one, placed in direct sunlight against the hot bricks of the wall, reckoned it was 57°….. blimey…. no wonder they were on the blink. Unbelievable?

The floor fitter arrived early this morning and got on with fitting our new floor in the dining room. We are both pleased with it and think it will look very good with the cupboards we’re having fitted and the décor we have chosen. Fingers crossed anyway!

We spent the morning pottering about with one or two jobs – a bit of a tidy-up; phone calls to the consultant’s secretary about the prostate biopsy and another one to the dentist; a bit of washing; and feeding water to wilting plants.

I was thinking I might nip up to the shops, but the morning wore on and it was clearly too hot to walk and I didn’t want to take the car, so I rummaged in the fridge for something to eat. In the end, I made Gazpacho soup. It was so cool and refreshing that we finished the lot!

Just after lunch, the scaffolders called in. When they had come to scaffold up for the solar panels, quite a few of the tiles were broken, so they came to ‘make good’. Pffft! They did what they could but didn’t get the job finished. “Ah, well, you see, we’d have to take the ridge tiles off to get at those…… so I can’t do anything about them.” Humph. John will be on the phone to the scaffolder’s boss tomorrow…….

This afternoon, John tinkered on the car. The garage was the coolest spot in the house. I, on the other hand, was a lady of leisure. Margaret came round to watch Downton Abbey with me, as I’d still got it rented. We popped open a bottle of Prosecco and, ensconced in the best seats in the house, we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. The film was even better the second time round!

This evening, alternate to our Thursday evening once-a-fortnight-chat, it was the college crew get-together on Zoom. The aim of the game was to get everyone together, as Thursdays seem to be proving impossible. Ha! Mondays are impossible, too. There were four of us this evening – sickness, caring duties and committee meetings all got in the way. Never mind, maybe next time?

Covid is enjoying the warm weather, too, and the stats tell us that 1 in 19 people have now been infected. Paul still says he’s not feeling too bad, so fingers crossed it stays that way.

Mask up everyone – the variants are enjoying the repeated infections! Loving it, in fact, and morphing into something new each time. Grrr……..

Take care everyone. God bless.

Sorrel in the garden: now that’s alright isn’t it?

In the spirit of trying to change things a bit, I booked onto a retreat and a ‘Quiet Day’ today, with ladies from the Mothers’ Union. Ha! Never thought I’d be involved in that particular branch of activity from church but the opportunity to sit and do nothing really appealed.

We were located at Temple Balsall where, in the olden days, the Knights Templar had their Preceptory. There is a fabulous church there, wonderful grounds and a lovely old Hall in which we held our service before fanning out into the estate to meditate or pray. The weather was glorious which enhanced the experience of course, and the atmosphere wonderful.

All in all, I enjoyed the day – although I am not sure I feel particularly renewed….. perhaps it’ll take a while?

Here’s a pic of the church anyway, and fellow attendees enjoying lunch.

Before I set off for the retreat I welcomed in the floor fitter. He came early to prepare the dining room floor before he fits the parquet on Monday. I am really looking forward to it being done. I am sure it’s going to look lovely. I left John in charge as I was going out, so he too got up early, and he waved me off about half past nine.

Apparently, John spent the day creating a bracket or something that he can’t buy commercially, so when I got home and asked him what he’d been doing, he said, “Welding. Then re-welding and bending bits of metal.” It wasn’t clear exactly how successful he’d been but not overly so I suspect, as he wasn’t exactly excited about it.

The Kenilworth Newbies looked like they were having a ball on their camping trip but photos can be deceptive….. Danielle said that the children were tag-teaming their naps, so no sooner one fell asleep than another woke up…… I think the parents are worn out……not sure they are going to be refreshed from their weekend away. I mean, they weren’t able to get nap in, but I hope they got a beer in to compensate!

I reckon William had the best idea though……

Paul tells me he is not feeling too bad with COVID so I am relieved about that, but even so, it can’t be pleasant with this hot weather. Covid infections have continued to rise, with 1 in 20 people now infected, but this looks like it might have peaked now.

Take care everyone. Mask up if you can. God bless.

There are several key people in our lives – family foremost, of course, but friends are just magic, aren’t they? The last couple of days for me have once again been uplifting in the company of my girl friends. Absolute rocks.

Yesterday, it was the turn of a couple of the college crew. We had mulled over whether to go to the cinema to watch the latest ‘Downton’ film. In the end, I decided I still wouldn’t risk being in an enclosed public place. However, I found that I could download the film from Sky, so Anita and Linda came over to watch it on our ‘big screen’ instead.

We had a lovely time. After a glass of Pimms and a light lunch, we settled down to watch the film with a box of Maltesers and a bag of popcorn to tuck into. The ability to pause the film every so often was also a blessing, as we wondered who was related to who and who the next love interest was. It was a cracking afternoon and I gained a lovely display of flowers into the bargain.

John spent the day in the garage once more – not doing his car yesterday, but still having a tidy up – and he dug a hole. The garage is beginning to look a bit more like now – but the hole? Well, that’s directly in front of the garage door……. what a mystery.

This morning I left John in bed for a lie-in – he’s still getting over his chest infection – while I went off to the campsite at Stoneleigh with Danielle to help set up their tent for the weekend. Originally, Paul was planning to help, as it is their tent that Michael and Danielle are borrowing, but he sent us this photo yesterday, with an expletive accompanying the text………

It turned out that Danielle and I were very capable of putting up the tent as well as minding the baby. Oliver refused to sleep while we beavered away, content to watch from the sidelines for a while and then from the comfort of either Danielle’s arms or mine. Amazingly, the tent was very easy to put up. It brought back memories of when John and I had an ‘A’ frame tent – but that was pretty hard work in those days!

The family are all set up this evening and clearly enjoying themselves so far.

I arrived back from the tent adventure to find that the hole John had started digging yesterday was now even deeper. Hmm…. It transpires that he’s planning to put a security post in place. Having had the car out of the garage ‘on show’ he thought he ought to secure it more adequately. Nothing stops that man. Chest infection or no… he’s still on it.

I was still gallivanting, however. Treated to afternoon tea at lunchtime with my friend, Margaret. How thoughtful she is. “I thought you needed cheering up,” she said. Well, it certainly did that. We had a lovely time and the food was delicious. Yep, the girls rock.

John had not only successfully dug the hole for the security post when I got home, but he’d put the post in place and concreted it in. He’s amazing. Outstanding in fact. I had to go and have a lie down after my exertion of having afternoon tea while he worked on…….

With Covid on my mind and Paul in particular, I hope everyone stays safe. The incidence of infection is quite high just now – hoping I avoided it at the afternoon tea venue……I mean, I had to take my mask off to eat! Hehe.

Take care everyone. God bless.

John has succumbed to a chest infection*. We got back from our lovely weekend away and he was coughing a bit. By Monday morning, it was a full-on bark and by evening he was struggling to breathe and had a bit of a raised temperature. So, yesterday morning, I phoned the doctor’s surgery. I expected the third degree from the receptionist and then the offer of a telephone consultation. However, I only had to phone three times to join the queue of eight, and then the receptionist said, “Yes, can John come down at 9.50 this morning?” Well, blow me down with a feather! Yep – that’ll do.

John is still struggling to breathe and he’s coughing very well, but he has antibiotics and some steroids, so fingers crossed he’ll be out of the woods shortly.

Meanwhile, despite struggling with his health, the ol’ man has been having a go at the classic car in the garage. Not only has he been having a little tinker with it but…. drum roll, please….. he’s started it up and driven it out of the garage and back in again. Boom! Howzat??

Honestly, I was so excited when I walked home from the shops to see it parked on the drive! Marvellous! The only thing is, though, that John had forgotten how hard it is to steer a car without power steering……. he’s going to have to build his muscles up to drive it. Get out the weights and start lifting!! Hehe.

Having got the car to the point it is now, John thought he might clear up the garage a bit. There’s bits and pieces everywhere. So that’s what he’s been doing the last day or two in fits and starts.

I, on the other hand, have generally been faffing about. Both John and Michael asked me the other day what I was going to do to change my mood. “If you keep doing the same things, you’ll get the same results,” they grinned. Hah! They are right of course, so I set to thinking about it.

The result was a slight change of direction today. Not much, but hopefully a bit of different steer.

It started with a visit to church this morning. One of our former parishioners, Claire, has now been ordained and had returned to take the mid-week service this morning. I was so glad I went. It was lovely to see her and people whose company I enjoy. Claire and I spent ages chatting after the service, exchanging anecdotes about our families. One piece of information I was particularly interested in was that Claire’s son is doing an apprenticeship in classic cars. Now there’s someone it’ll be useful to keep in touch with!!!

When I came back from church I took the bull by the horns and popped into the carpet shop to order some new carpet for our bedroom. We’d had samples the other week, but not made the order. So I went and did it. Decisive. For a change.

Home again and chores loomed. Oh, bother! Didn’t fancy it. So I picked up my book by Linda Stratmann, which had been recommended to me ages and ages ago, went into the garden and lay on the swinging chair in the warmth of the day and read for nearly an hour. In the middle of the day. I mean, that’s unheard of these days. But I didn’t half enjoy myself.

After lunch, I popped over to see Mum. She was dozing in the lounge when I got there, but she soon came trotting through to her room where she sat on the bed to watch me arrange the flowers I’d taken. “Where do you want them, Mum?” I asked. “Put them with those flowers there,” she said, “you know, the everlasting flowers…….” Ah…..I see – and here they all are. A selection of real, plastic, silk and paper flowers. Nice.

Mum was very well but rather tired today. I think maybe the heat had an effect and, half-way through looking at the latest batch of family photos (there really weren’t that many), she suddenly said, “I’ve had enough of looking at those now. I’m tired.” And she snuggled into bed and promptly fell asleep. Well, I suppose I had interrupted her doze in the lounge, hadn’t I?

Before I left though, she was awake and wanting the tightest hug as we said our goodbyes. “Another one,” she said, drawing me in close to her once more. So we hugged some more.

Take care everyone. Hold your loved ones close. God bless.

*The Lateral Flow Tests are clear…....

During our wonderful reunion weekend, Ren took a few photos – as did one or two others, so here’s a selection and cheers to old friends….

The Gang’s all here! Well, nearly all of us anyway!! I think Heather was taking the photo and Rob was still in the kitchen pouring champagne, or was it the other way round? But what a sight for sore eyes, eh? All these lovely, lovely people.

And here’s us – not long arrived, glasses full and Rick doing the honours for new arrivals. We were very happy to be drinking Moet and Chandon, I can tell you!

And Kelv, looking very happy at his barbecue, cooking some very tasty chicken which we all devoured the minute it was served.

Later on in the evening, we were delighted with the offer of muffins – a cake and candle for each of us. All of us 70 or due-to-be 70 this year…. Oh yes, 1952 was a vintage year!

Needless to say, we had a good time! Take care everyone. God bless.