Author: anniesleath@hotmail.co.uk

There are certain times of the year, aren’t there, when you just feel like you want to clear the decks? Well, now is the time for Michael and Danielle, it seems. And so it was that I went over to the Kenilworth Newbies today to give Danielle a hand so that she could have a good clear out.

Made me smile, too, as item after item came downstairs for the chop, including a couple of vases and a plant I’d offered them a while ago. But, let’s face it, if it’s outlived its usefulness or the pleasure it offers, get rid!!

We had a good day. I mostly looked after Thomas and Oliver while Danielle beavered away, rummaging through drawers and cupboards to have a jolly good old tidy up. Of course, it’s no hardship looking after the children. It’s always delightful and they were very well-behaved. Although it has to be said, that whatever Thomas is playing with, Oliver wants, often eliciting the indignant cry of, “Oliver!” as the game/toy/item is quickly whisked away from his grasp. Bless him, Oliver doesn’t seem to mind and just moves onto the next thing.

I left the Kenilworth Newbies at coming-home-from-school time, to nip into town before going over to the Kenilworth Originals. Today was an important day. Freddie is seven today. Here he is, bowled over by the presents he’d been given this morning!

I spent a lovely hour with them to wish the Birthday Boy a happy birthday. He was playing on his new Star Wars video game which looked incredibly complicated to me but which he was mastering with ease.

A cup of tea and two delicious mince pies that Harriet had made later, and I said my goodbyes to get back home to John whom I hadn’t seen since 9.30 this morning.

John had been to his Pulmonary Rehabilitation Class, doing all the exercises except the walking one because, after the stand-ups and the weight-lifting, his legs were like jelly. However, he did his walking this evening, insisting on going up to the road to collect a couple of pizzas for our tea.

Contrary to expectations, he spent his afternoon faffing about on the computer and generally doing a few jobs. Not falling asleep in the chair, where I’d expected him to be, after all…..marvellous.

In other news, Gail has now succumbed to Covid, presumably picking it up from Graham, no doubt. Whether they will now make their cruise on Saturday remains to be seen. It’ll be a miracle if Gail tests negative before then, I think, but fingers crossed. There’s a lot of it about, it seems.

Take care everyone. God bless.

Took a little time out today and toddled up to church this morning. Lovely service, taken by Chris P, one of our Lay Readers, thinking about expectation versus reality. Food for thought.

Thoroughly enjoyed the hymns, too, and generally took a few minutes during the service to gather myself and to think of all those among family and friends who need prayers right now. I went over to the church hall for coffee and spent a good amount of time nattering to people I hadn’t seen in a while, too. It was all lovely.

I called into the Co-op to spend the remaining money on my loyalty card in buying a couple of croissants which I took home for our elevenses. John was just getting up so we made tea and coffee and sat companionably on the sofa eating our croissants and slurping our drinks. Smashing.

We were just debating on how to spend the day – mostly planning to wrap Christmas presents or buy a few – when we got a text message from Paul inviting us for a roast dinner. Naturally, we said ‘Yes please!’ – I mean, we didn’t want to look a gift horse in the mouth, after all.

We pottered on for a little while at home with some bits and pieces and then went over to Kenilworth for about three o’clock.

We had a lovely time. The roast beef and Yorkshire Pudding were spot on and the company was fabulous. The wine was flowing, but I took it steady, mindful of needing two cars tomorrow morning and not wanting to come home in an Uber, as is our wont when we are at Paul’s. John partook of the delicious wine and really enjoyed it, but thought he might go straight to bed once we were home…….

It was good to pause on our normal activities and to have a meal cooked for us. Refreshed (I hope) for the week ahead.

Take care everyone. God bless.

When I expressed regret at the football result this evening, John shrugged and said, “Well, that’s life!” I know this, but it doesn’t make it any easier to take. I have always found disappointment a struggle to cope with and it doesn’t get any easier no matter how many times I encounter it!!

Ah, well, I suppose one has to dwell on the good things in life instead. And we have had a couple of those today. This morning we were up reasonably early and logging onto Skype to chat to Graham and Gail. We were excited and wanted to wish them ‘bon voyage’ for their planned cruise which starts next weekend. However, the first thing Graham said as he leaned back in his chair, was: “I’ve got Covid.” Oh, nooooo! Our excitement evaporated a tad.

They are hopeful that they will still be able to go if Graham tests negative this week and Gail doesn’t succumb. Fingers crossed. Despite Graham feeling poorly, we had a lovely long chat to them and we were pleased to have been able to do so.

After we’d finished our Skype session, I took Mac for a walk. It was another fabulous day. Freezing cold at minus something-or-other, but the sun was shining and it was crisp underfoot. I took a little bit longer on the walk just to enjoy the sights and sounds of such a glorious day.

There was a hoary frost that bejewelled the leaves, the hedgerows, the trees and the grasses…… so pretty!

Mac bounded along, his paws making a soft pat-pat-pat noise in the frozen grasses, turning to me every so often to check I was still following along. We paused just past the oak tree for a selfie…..

Home again and I found John a-snoozing in his chair. I laid a blanket across him to keep him warm and went to make us some lunch. He woke up for that.

This afternoon I finished all the Christmas card writing as we watched the Morocco v Portugal match. All preconceptions were overturned, with Morocco unexpectedly winning that match.

We were done then with football for the moment, so John went to see if he could dig any plates out in the kitchen ready for our evening meal. The boy done good and even managed so far as to finding the dishwasher…..

In between times, the Kenilworth Originals were home from their trip to find Father Christmas and they took Mac home. We had enjoyed his stay – it had been uneventful save for a moment this afternoon when something spooked him and sent him, shivering, to crouch behind John’s chair. We have no idea what it was, unless it the Christmas lights John had taken out of the box to examine. But bless him, he wasn’t half frightened.

When you look back on the day, you realise that all of life is there. The humdrum as well the exciting stuff. Elation and misery. Fear and hope. Heart full and heart empty.

Best go to bed on the positive stuff though, eh?

Take care everyone. God bless.

After all of the festivities for my birthday, there has been a a bit of a lull in proceedings. The lull, of course, is dangerous. It leads to self-pity with regards to the ageing process; reminiscence; lounging about in comfy chairs; and an attempt at re-capturing one’s youth.

I mean, it was only yesterday that I was in my sixties and fighting fit. Now that I am in my seventies I have lots of aches and pains and fatigue….. John, too, being in his seventies, bemoans his aches and pains. Mind you, he does have a proper reason for moaning, I suppose.

However, we are harking back to our youth. We are living like students again. We are staying in bed as long as we can; leaving our beds unmade and clothes all over the floor; leaving piles of papers in the study – ‘Don’t touch! I know just what’s in that pile!’; scattering our purchases all over the place – in the hall, in the lounge, in the kitchen; and leaving the washing up in the sink until we’ve run out of plates. Howzat? I think we’ve hit the bullseye of student living, don’t you?

When we thought about trying to recapture our youth, this sort of living wasn’t exactly what we’d envisaged. No, we’d more thought about embracing freedoms, driving along an open road and drinking and eating exotic foods and travelling to lesser-known destinations. But, you know? I think you have to be careful what you wish for……….

Anyway, in the meantime, when we’re not living like students, we are still behaving like grown-ups as well. Examples below.

We had gone to bed without putting the bins out last night. I heard the bin lorry commotion in the street this morning, so hot-footed it downstairs, still struggling into a pair of jeans, to put the bin out.

Ha! Made it! Well, I thought I had. It transpires that it was the green bins they were collecting. You know, the ones that are no longer actually on the list? And ones we didn’t put out? Not sure if they ever collected the general rubbish. When I last looked, our bin was still embracing the rubbish we had so lovingly put into it…….

After the bin-a-thon, I tottered back upstairs to get into yoga kit. Having missed a few sessions recently, I thought I ought to attend class. When I got there, Jaime was surprised. She’d thought I was doing something else this morning. My first thought, given my weary self, was that I could have stayed in bed…..hehehe. It was a good session though and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Home again, and John was up, watching TV. “I’ll just take the dog for a walk,” I told him. He nodded and resumed his TV watching.

The walk was fabulous. The air was clear, the sky was blue, the ground was (mostly) crisp underfoot and the dog was a good boy. Here he is, waiting for a treat.

I can’t quite remember what John was doing while I was out but, once I was home again, we thought we’d sit for a few minutes and watch Bargain Hunt before I popped up to the shops to buy bread. John raised an eyebrow at me. “That’s if you don’t fall asleep,” he grinned. Well, of course, I fell asleep. Dozed all the way through Bargain Hunt. Didn’t see much of it at all……

I did eventually get to the shops and we did eventually have some lunch. It was at that point that we started discussing the preparations for Christmas once again. “Let’s not put the Christmas Tree up just yet,” I suggested, “I’m letting Mac out through the patio door into the garden (to avoid the cat….) and it’ll be in the way.” OK, John agreed, and simply put the thing in the new stand we’d bought for it and shovelled it into a corner for now.

“What about gifts then?” said John, “have we got a list? Can I photocopy it?” Hmmm……. sort of. I squirmed. Normally, I am right up there on the organisation stakes and have my list all sorted. But not this year. It’s still a bit of a muddle. (I blame all those festivities….. silly of me to so enjoy myself, don’t you know?).

John photocopied the scrappy list I’d got. He couldn’t make head nor tail of it. He closed his eyes and had an afternoon nap instead. Feeling guilty, I thought I’d better do something about it and promptly set about ordering gifts on the internet and writing up what I’d bought/ordered/thought about buying…….. nearly there on an organised list – and there’s plenty of time anyway, isn’t there?

In other news…… there is a Father Christmas! Proof right here…….

Take care everyone. God bless.

It was a cold and frosty morning today. And we certainly knew about it. John was off to his rehabilitation class and had to scrape the ice off the car before he could set off, while I took Mac for a walk across the fields. Here he is, looking dapper and picking his way through the frosty leaves.

We are looking after Mac for a day or two while his family take a well-earned break in Lapland to meet Father Christmas. They have snow there apparently……. Looks nice, doesn’t it?

After the walk over the fields with Mac, I was off to yoga. For one reason or another, I had missed out recently so I arranged to go to the ‘Gentle’ class this morning, It was lovely – just suited my mood and my elderly bones.

Home again and I did a spot of ironing while I waited for John to come back from his class. We had some lunch and then slobbed in front of the TV for a little while. “This afternoon, I am determined to go and get the Christmas Tree, John. Do you want to come with me?” Yes, he did, which was nice. But not before both of us sat a little longer in our comfy chairs……

We made it to the garden centre and chose ourselves a lovely tree. Paid. Loaded it into the car and got it home. “Have we got a stand for it?” John wondered. I nodded. “There’s one in the loft. Shall I run up and get it?” I said. Yep. Great idea, but why is it that you always buy a tree that is too big for the stand you’ve carefully put away from last year? We had two stands in the loft. I dutifully brought them both down – neither of them were right. Back to the garden centre to buy another.

“Did you get your tree put into your car?” the sale assistant queried, surprised to see us back at the checkout. “Oh, yes,” I replied. “We’ve been home, realised the stands we’ve got are no good and come back again….” Bless her, she laughed. Well, you would, wouldn’t you?

In times gone by, of course, we’d have rummaged in the shed for a suitable plane or saw to thin down the thick trunk on the tree, and spent ages beavering away until the darned thing fitted. Now, we just look at the job, think twice and take the easy option. Sigh.

This evening, there was a half-hearted attempt to Zoom chat the College Crew. Some WhatsApp chat threw up the reminder that it was the regular Thursday evening offer. As it turned out, only three of us made it. A couple of the group are away, one was at choir practice and one was doing housework…… hats off to her!

And there we are, another day done, with thoughts going out to besties Carol and John who have been poorly with Covid, and Dave and Chris who have been battling with Dave’s nasty cold. Not much sleep apparently …… oh, dear, they have my sympathy!

Take care everyone. God bless. Christmas is a-coming so let’s try and stay safe so that we can spend time with our loved ones, shall we?

Yesterday was one of those days…. you know, when you are busy from end to end!!

Last week, the care home had phoned to tell me that Mum’s dentures had developed a crack in them and would need a repair. So, off I went, first thing in the morning, to winkle them out of Mum’s mouth and take them over to the dental laboratory.

Bless her, Mum wasn’t keen. The care worker tried and failed to get Mum to take her teeth out. Resolutely refused. “You’ll have to have a go,” said the care worker ruefully. “She won’t do it for me.” Right.

It took some cajoling, flattery, hugs, laughs and threats but eventually, out they came and I was able to get them to the repairers. “I’ll bring them back soon,” I said. “Well, make sure you do,” said Mum, grinning goofily.

I popped back home and got on with a few jobs. One in particular, was the establishing of whether we had all the ingredients necessary for the Christmas Cake. A little late in the making, I know, but better late than never, eh?

And here’s the rub. The local Co-op has had a change round. Modernised, don’t you know. Ha! I say again – Ha! What an absolute joke. The store no longer stocks what I would call ‘family food’. I may have mentioned this before……. sorry to bore you with it. But did it have any glace cherries, or mixed peel, or currants, or raisins? No! Of course it didn’t.

I popped along to Oakes’ where I was able to source some mixed peel; I rummaged in my cupboards and managed to source most of the rest. There may be fewer currants than the recipe calls for and a few more sultanas, but hey-ho.

I started the mix-up of the cake and then realised that I wasn’t going to get it into the oven before I had to go back and collect Mum’s teeth, so I abandoned it half-way through. Who knows? It might taste better for having rested? We’ll see.

Dentures successfully collected and a return to the care home to pop them back in Mum’s mouth. She was delighted to have a full set of gnashers back in.

Regrettably though, she was confused. She wasn’t too sure who I was but knew she knew me somehow. She wasn’t sure where she was going; where the bathroom was; where her clothes were and initially, refused to change the clothes that were a bit grubby. Almost every touch resulted in a yelp. “Ow! You’re hurting me!” she cried, as I dried her hands after their wash.

I felt saddened by her loss of memory. The care worker had asked me to note down her likes and dislikes, who was important to her and so on. She couldn’t think who was important to her, but agreed when I suggested it might be me and Graham. She rolled around in her mind for a long time where Graham might be. She couldn’t remember that he was in Australia at all. But, on the plus side, she is not unhappy, so that makes it feel a bit better.

The cake was finally mixed and cooked by 9.30 at night; cooled on the wire rack by 10.30 and….. oh, where are my tins? I had round ones and tall ones but no square ones. In the end, I wrapped it all up in foil and thought I’d check with the kids if I’d given them out previously with goodies in. Eeeh, I can’t remember anything either!!!

And how about today? Another busy day but one which was wonderful. A marvellous morning at Freddie’s Nativity Play in which he played Joseph. He was so gorgeous, playing his part very well. Here he is, thrilled I’d gone to watch and pleased as punch with his performance.

A visit to the hairdresser’s later and a session of wrapping Christmas presents while John wrote Christmas cards, before we both collapsed in a heap to watch the footie this evening. There’s clearly no peace for the wicked!!

In other news, it’s been a very busy day for Christiana, too. Baby number two made his appearance this afternoon! So thrilled for her and Mike, who couldn’t be there unfortunately, because he’d tested positive for COVID. So disappointing, but it won’t be long before they are reunited, I am sure. Gloria stepped into the breach and supported Christiana, which must have been a relief for her. It’s always nice to have someone’s hand to hold, isn’t it?

Here’s to new life and hope.

Take care everyone. God bless.

….. let the festivities begin!!

The last of the birthday celebrations was held last night and so they are all over for this birthday girl. But guess what? It’s time to start gearing up for Christmas now, so off we go again!!

Fortunately, today was a day of rest. And forgetfulness. I was supposed to go to a Yin Yoga and Gong Bath this afternoon, but I forgot…… I had consciously left my phone upstairs out of the way. Missed the reminder. Missed Jaime’s message. Missed the class. Booo…… ah, well, next time maybe!

Anyway, back to yesterday. We pottered about in the morning, then I took myself off to the opticians for an eye test. My eyes have been bothering me for a while and a visit had been on my ‘to do’ list since July.

The optician thought that the astigmatism in my eyes had changed which was what was causing a slight blurring of vision. But she paused as she pored over the scans of the back my eyes. “Hmmm….. there’s an anomaly there in the macular in your right eye,” she said. “Let’s just do another, more detailed scan and I’ll take a closer look.”

She could see that there was a dip in the macular in the right eye. She could also see some darker pockets in the left. “I’ll refer you to the hospital,”she said. “They could be little cysts.” Oh. I wasn’t expecting that.

Never mind, it was time for partying and save the worrying for another day. We were on for an evening out with the Centre Stage Crew.

We got ready and sat waiting for the taxi to arrive to take us to The Tipperary Inn. An hour before it was due to arrive, the taxi company phoned John and cancelled. “We haven’t got a driver,” they said. Oh, Lord.

John wasn’t best pleased. However, he isn’t one to be beaten and got on to the computer and found another company that would do the trip, so we were saved.

We had a fabulous evening. Twelve of us and a great get-together. Copious amounts of food and drink; plenty of frivolity and the offer of some lovely gifts – thank you very much! And boy, we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves!! Here we all are grinning like Cheshire Cats! Lovely.

Take care everyone. God bless.

Memory is a funny old thing, isn’t it? As you look back into the past, a rosy glow appears, coating your memories with softness, removing all those hard edges that were surely there.

Such was my experience yesterday. I had decided to do a little bit of Christmas shopping. I had exactly in mind what I was going to buy and where I was going to get the gifts from.

I popped up to the local Garden Centre, Rosebourne, which is a very nice garden centre, with lots and lots of lovely Christmas things. But did they have what I was after? No…… they didn’t. They had lots of other things, but not specifically the items I was convinced they would stock. Now, last year, I was sure they had had said items on their shelves. Was my memory playing tricks? Who knows?

Never mind, I thought, I’ll adopt Plan B and nip into Kenilworth to see if I could buy what I was after there.

Before I could raid the stores in Kenilworth however, I was called to go over to run an errand for Mum. The dentist had been and had advised the staff at the care home that her dentures had a crack in them, which would need a repair. Very specific instructions were issued to the staff as to how to go about it, which was then relayed to me. “If you come and get your Mum’s dentures today, you can take them to the laboratory in Nuneaton and, within an hour, you’ll be able to collect them and she can have them back.”

Ha! I love a game of Chinese Whispers, don’t you? It transpired that that wasn’t the case at all. Yes, Mum’s dentures probably do have a crack in them but, a) they’ve got to be removed for repair first (good luck with that, the staff sniggered, your Mum’s a bit reluctant…..); b) the laboratory has to be at the address you’ve been given (it wasn’t); c) the laboratory has to be willing to do them the same day without notice (they weren’t).

In the end, I left without visiting Mum or looking at her dentures. I didn’t want to stay as I had my bit of shopping to do, so thought a visit for five minutes would only confuse her. The plan is to go on Monday and see what we can do then. Hopefully, the dentures will last until then. Fingers crossed anyway.

Back to my shopping. I remembered that Coleshill has a Morrisons. Happy memories of shopping in Morrisons with Paul when he was in his early teens. I ran through my shopping list in my mind. Yes, I am sure Morrisons will have what I am after.

No. Small Morrisons. Full of booze and fast food. Horrible place. And none of the items I was after. The bubble of lovely memories burst. Perhaps Morrisons hadn’t been that wonderful all those years ago, after all? Ah, well, onwards and upwards! Opt back in to Plan B.

Travelling down the A452, I suddenly bethought myself of Melbicks Garden Centre. Ooooh, such a lovely garden centre with lots of knickknacks, they will definitely have what I’m after! But could I get into the garden centre? No…. HS2 has put paid to that on the route back from Coleshill. Got to drive nearly all the way home before turning round to be heading in the right direction! Abort! Abort!

Kenilworth wasn’t a lot better. Boots was woefully empty of anything exciting, but I was able to choose one acceptable something in WH Smiths.

What, you might be wondering, did I actually want to buy? Simply a man’s washbag and a nice pen. That was all. There were nice women’s washbags all over the place. And pens galore – but not nice ones. In my mind’s eye, I remembered seeing the items in all these places, but no longer. Gotta order them off the internet these days…….Grr.

Anyway, if yesterday tainted my happy memories, today was about making new happy memories. Nev and Jane came up on the train from London and we all went out for lunch in Solihull. More birthday celebrations! Hehehe. We had a lovely time, ate some great food and have vowed to return the favour and go down to visit them for lunch in the New Year. Marvellous.

Now, in the meantime, I am counting down the days to Christmas with my Advent Candle. Having a bit of a panic that there’s only 23 sleeps until Christmas. Anyone else?

Take care everyone. God bless.

A Wednesday is often a very busy day for us – but not today. There were no hospital runs, no babysitting duties and no quiz. However, in their place was a lovely meal out with Richard and Jill at lunchtime. All rather civilised.

I hadn’t slept well and so was awake at the crack of dawn. Despite that, I didn’t get up über early. Neither did John. I mosied on down about 8.30 and John followed about an hour later.

I was busying myself in the kitchen, having a little tidy-up when John suddenly announced that he was going to do the ironing. Well, you could have knocked me down with a feather!!! “Just the easy stuff.” he said. “Have you got any easy stuff?” I nodded. We had. So he off he went.

The iron was shocked to have a different hand on it, too. After about half an hour, John puffed and sighed a bit. “What’s up?” I wondered. “The iron isn’t working…..” he replied. Ah…….. oh……

It turned out that the extension lead we had it plugged into had set up a fault. But wonder of wonders, the iron carried on working after we moved it to a different plug.

John was still ironing when Richard and Jill arrived. I think he was just doing it to impress.

We walked to the White Horse. “Shall we take the route I recommended?” asked Richard. He’d worked out that it was 0.6 through the estate to get there and 0.4 along the Kenilworth Road to come back – a round trip of the perfect mile.

I led the way, and actually created an extra bit for John to walk, so he did more than his mile today. But he managed it very well. Only a few stops along the way and then a welcome pint once he got to the pub.

The food at the pub was good. We had heard conflicting reports about it, but we couldn’t complain and came away with very full bellies. Particularly the men, who ate pie.

We had a lovely afternoon chatting away – well, at least, Jill and I did. The men had their eyes closed, and we were convinced that both of them were asleep at one point, although Richard denied it completely. “I was listening.” he insisted.

Then footie tonight. Not that we were that bothered about who was playing who and who might or might not win. Apparently, it was exciting and right down to the wire in Group C, with Poland going through to next round by having fewer yellow cards…… I always thought winning was to do with goals, but still.

Take care everyone. God bless.

As we no longer know what a ‘normal’ day is, I think every day is normal now – whatever happens. There is less and less of ‘we always do xx on a Monday’ because, even if we have regular activities, we sometimes don’t do them.

However, I did go to yoga this morning, leaving John to deal with the Solar Panel Man who brought batteries. Yep. Batteries. When I got home, John was in the lounge and, I thought, waiting for the delivery. But no. The Man had been and gone. “Everything OK, then?” I asked. “Well,” said John, “we haven’t had an alarm go off on the batteries yet….” Fingers crossed, folks, fingers crossed…..

I had planned to go over to the Kenilworth Newbies this afternoon, but Michael phoned to tell me to stand down as he had taken the day off and was now at home holding the fort. “Right-o!” I said and started to think about all the things I’d got on my To Do List.

“What are your plans for this afternoon then?” John wondered. Other than calling in to the Kenilworth Originals to deliver Advent Calendars, I didn’t actually know yet. John said he was keen to go across to Birmingham to collect his recently re-chromed bumper for the car. “Do you want me to come with you? Shall I drive?” I said. John thought that that would be a good idea. “It’ll be easier,” he said. Ah…. OK.

So that’s what we did across lunchtime. A quick sortie into Smethwick, where the foundries still reign, to pick up said bumper. The chap who’d done the work declared that it wouldn’t fit into the boot. So John cuddled it all the way home on his lap.

A quick bite to eat once we were home before I hot-footed it over to the Kenilworth Originals. I had a cuppa and a lovely chat with Paul before joining in a bit with Harriet’s Aunty Cathy and her friend Barbara who were there for lunch. “Do you want to come with me to collect Freddie?” Paul asked me. Well, what do you think?

We went to school to await Freddie’s exit from school and, while were at it, we met Michael, who swept into the playground, swooshing the pram with Oliver in it before him, on his way to collect both William and Thomas.

Freddie was concerned that I should go back to his house. “I’ve got a game to show you Grandma!” he exclaimed. Of course I was going back to Freddie’s house. Of course I would be interested in looking at his game.

William was also concerned that I should go back to his house, too. Of course I’d go back to William’s house. Of course I’d be interested in sharing the delights that William was preparing for me.

So that’s how I managed to see all the little grandchildren all in one day. Lovely. What a treat.

John had been asleep for most of the afternoon apparently. But he had also taken himself for a walk too, as per the physio’s instructions. He’s timing himself and trying to compare his walks each time to see if he’s getting any fitter. He was 30 seconds faster today…… well, that’s an improvement, anyway.

We watched football tonight – along with much of the nation, I expect. I was pleasantly surprised that we won and thought Wales put up a valiant fight to try and defend their honour.

An ordinary day? I am not so sure. I think it has been an extraordinary day. So much packed into it and so much that was unexpected. Now, where’s that To Do List? And an ‘Ordinary’ day? Maybe tomorrow?

Take care everyone. God bless.