All good things must come to an end. Out with the old and in with the new.  This month we’ve been ditching some things which have outlived their useful lives.  And before you ask, no we haven’t broken up or bought another car!

What a pane in the glass

This summer has been pretty poor in terms of hot sunny days but we spotted an opportunity and invited Marlpit Lane Social Club aka the neighbours for a BBQ as they are always great fun with the usual banter, jokes and jibes plus good food. 

One renovation job we put off has been sorting out the windows at the front of the house.  They look grand but close up you can see how much they have deteriorated since they were installed in the 1990s. In addition they are a security hazard as they were glazed from the outside which was common practice back then. We even resorted to white tape on the inside of the large windows in the front bay in winter as the wind whistles in. 

Our plan was to get quotes before we left for Goa last Jan and then get them installed early in the Summer.  What we were blissfully unaware of was that all the local  companies have a 6 month waiting list from accepting their quote.  So  when the window company finally offered us a date we had to grab it. 

Unfortunately, it clashed with our BBQ but, as they say, ‘the show must go on’.  We were sat at our swanky new patio table with comfy reclining chairs (we only needed two more chairs but Neil’s into this spending regime and it was much better value to buy another whole set!!!) having drinks and chatting before the food.  Then the chat became raised voices and shouting as the window men used all sorts of power tools to remove the old windows and fit the new ones.  Fortunately, it didn’t last too long, but it did make us all laugh. 

Life in the slow lane

Cruising took on a different look mid-September. Last month we were on the 3000 passenger Regal Princess, this month we were on the 6 berth (as long as they are teeny tiny people) canal boat, Australian King. This was our second narrow boat trip of the year.  Once again we were with our friend Gail and her dog Oren.  She had always wanted to do The Caen Locks in Wiltshire so that was the plan.

Caen Hill (pronounced ‘cane’), is one of the longest continuous straight flight of locks in the country. A total of 29 locks with a rise of 237 feet over two miles with a 1-in-44 gradient.  It is a visually stunning flight. 

We left the marina and headed towards Bath and moored near Bradford on Avon for dinner.  It was a Sunday and, unfortunately, we found that many of the pubs were closed.  Cheryl asked a local guy if he knew of anywhere that might be open, and he pointed us to an Indian restaurant overlooking the River.  We were not disappointed; it was probably one of the best Indian meals we have had in the UK, even if we had to sit outside with the dog sheltering under an enormous parasol as the rain started.

Next day we cruised slowly reaching Bath at midday.  Cheryl decided to hit the shops to get some retail therapy and Neil and Gail took a walk around Bath.  We all met up for dinner later to have one of the pies at the famous Raven pub.  It didn’t disappoint, so much so, that we overheard a group of Americans who were on their third visit as they worked their way down the pie menu!

We turned the boat round and headed back towards Devizes and the locks mooring up at the bottom of the flight so we could take them on next day.  All the locks are double width so if you’re lucky you can buddy up with another boat to help reduce water usage and take the strain off winding the lock paddles.  We were not lucky!  On the plus side, we didn’t have any slower boats in front of us or many boats coming down.  However, Cheryl and Gail are lock experts and we flew up in less than three hours.

At the top of the locks is the market town of Devizes.  It has a large square in the centre with a market, lots of pubs and shops.  More retail therapy for Cheryl and Gail while Neil held onto Oren who attracted numerous ‘oooo, isn’t he lovely’ and ‘he’s being so well behaved’.  ‘Actually’, Neil said, ‘he’s not always good and doesn’t always do as he’s told’.  To be fair, he is still quite young, so we tried to cut him a bit of slack although he did have an uncanny knack of always being in the way in the boat.  We ate out two nights in Devizes, first at a very good but pricey pub and followed that with the complete contrast of a cheapie session in a Spoons on the second night.

That little ship has sailed

Over the next couple of days, we headed back to the marina to hand the boat back.  Overall, it was good to do Caen Locks, second time for us and first time for Gail.  We have done many, many canal trips over the years including our epic 3 week adventure when we crossed the Pennines.  It has been fun and we have a lot of happy memories of our times on the canal network but we have decided to call it a day.  It was with some nostalgic thoughts that we unloaded the boat, said ‘goodbye’ to Gail and headed home.

Up on the roof

We’ve been having a problem in our bedroom for some time now – no, not that, although it has produced a rather unsightly damp patch – eeeeeew!  We suspected that the chimneys weren’t completely watertight when we moved in and had them re pointed and coated with a special and very expensive waterproof coating.  It seemed to be fine so we carried on with the decorating.  Then there was a period of heavy rain and some stains began to appear in our guest bedroom where the ceiling met the outer wall.  B*gger! We’ve only just put the painting stuff away.

Our favourite singing builder, Stacy came back and re did the flashing around the base of both chimneys and we repainted again.  That’ll sort it.

The first clue that things still weren’t right was that every time we came back home after a few weeks away Cheryl noticed a strange smell as she went up the stairs towards the bedroom.  She put it down to the house not being properly ventilated when we were away, and it was an old building with a few quirks.

We went away for our Winter sun to Goa and on our return we were greeted with this

Yep we had a serious problem! Stacy was baffled and we even got Stuart the Sweep in so he could put his camera into the chimney and we stood and watched the camera screen which revealed lots of jagged bricks and slate plates within the chimney which we concluded must have been holding the moisture from heavy rainfalls, allowing the wet to seep into the inner walls.  Not a problem when the house was built as fires would have been lit throughout the winter keeping the chimneys dry.

The solution was not for the feint hearted – the problem was in both sides of the house so the chimneys would have to come down and be rebuilt to modern standards with special lead plates which allow rainwater to drain out if it gets in.  Not an easy job, and not cheap either.  On top of that Stacy and his family building firm are in demand so we had to wait a long time to get this sorted out.  All the time watching our unique piece of modern art on the wall get bigger and bigger.

It’s not just buses which arrive all together – tradesmen do the same thing so first we had Stacy ask if the scaffold could go up in the driveway while we were on our hols in August – yes please do!  However, that’s all that happened for a few weeks so we couldn’t get to the garage and then of course the window guys arrived and it was chaos with all their vans crammed into the driveway.

The work has now started and one old chimney has gone, and he’s rebuilt it  with two lead trays instead of the old slate one.  One down and one to go!  We are hoping that the scaffold blocking the drive can come down in a week or so.  Then it’s time for the scaffold to go up on the other side to do tackle the other one.

Walking on Sunshine

We also hosted a Couchsurfer, Rachel, for one night.  She wasn’t enjoying her job so decided to quit and walk from John O’Groats to Lands’ End for The Save the Children Fund.  She decided to do it the hard way by including the entire Southwest Coast Path.  We were happy to provide her with a hot meal and a bed for the night.  She was great company and told us all about her walk and she raised over £7000 so well-done Rachel.

Bottoms Up

We joined U3A a couple of years ago and are members of the wine appreciation society.  We have a lot of fun in our meetings and this year we had a trip out to our local winery, Lime Bay, based in Shute.  Our host Steve was extremely informative and entertaining and a very pleasant afternoon ensued as we sampled seven different wines followed by gin and mead. 

Cheers.

“We need to talk” said Neil.  “I know we’ve been together for years and everything works, but…….I need more excitement.  I know I’m being a little reckless but you were the one who got me thinking with all of this we’re not getting any younger so we should just get on and do the things we’ve really wanted to do…………” 

 “So you’re saying it’s my fault??” said Cheryl.

He continued “I know that I’m getting everything I need, and there’s nothing actually wrong but I it’s more about what I want.  I’ve been thinking about this for a long time now and if I don’t do it now it will be too late. I feel really bad about saying goodbye but it has to be done.”

Decision made Neil looked online for his replacement and after weeks of searching she finally appeared, sleek and desirable, guaranteed to make heads turn.  He had to have her, and once the old one had gone, he knew he would have no regrets.

He talked it through with Cheryl and eventually she had to agree that it was the right thing to do.

So, out with the old, and in with the new.

From This

To This

Meet the very sexy, Miss Roxy Waters – ain’t she purdy?

This year’s theme is Just Do It.  We’re going to focus on getting on with the things that really matter to us and trying out a few new things we’ve always wanted to do.  This month it was all about the community we live in and the simple things that ordinary people can do to make things better.

Since returning in March we’ve not enjoyed what has been endless grotty weather, and rain, rain and more rain.  But there have been many positives – the grass needs cutting, the spring flowers are out and the garden has come to life, the birds are singing and getting frisky, decent wine is readily available as is real ale and with a bit of luck and a following wind it’ll be BBQ season very soon.

Neighbours Paul & Maureen looked after the house while we were away so we took them for a thank you meal in The Shed Restaurant and sampled their new bistro menu.  A new experience was the accompanying cocktail flight. Food and drinks were delicious.

Picture This

You may remember that last October we met Colin and Iris on the cruise.  It turned out that Colin and Neil went to the same school when they were 11.  Neil showed Colin some photos of some of the classes and Colin revealed that he had a full school photo from 1967.  Anyway, they were staying in Exmouth and messaged to see if we were around.  So, we met them for lunch and Colin brought the photo – brilliant!  He’s loaned it to us and we’ve had a copy made by our local Seaton Design & Print and we’re now in the process of getting it framed.  It’s over a meter long and 25cm high.  Lots of familiar faces for Neil to try and name but it is not far off 60 years ago that the picture was taken.  Sadly, a few of the faces are no longer with us.

Keep on Running

The middle of March brought the annual Grizzly Run.  It’s a gruelling (there’s a clue in the title) 20 mile run firstly along the pebble beach to warm you up and then along the coastal path westwards.  The weather was lovely but because of the constant rains over the last few weeks it was the muddiest Grizzly in years possibly even since its inception in 1988.  People come from all over the country and we also get international competitors.  We don’t take part in the running but we impressed ourselves when our team came second at the fundraiser quiz – however, we do realise it was due to the stellar knowledge of team mates Bob & Steve, thanks guys.

Things can only get better

Trying something new, towards the end of March we went on a Warners Hotel break at Hayling Island.  It was meant to be a short break with dance lessons of all types and standards.  Sadly, it was neither, it was mostly ballroom dancing, most of the people were so experienced that they had their own special dancing shoes, the average age was 80+, the holiday park was a tad run down and sad looking and the weather wasn’t kind.  So all in all it wasn’t a hugely successful weekend.

However, we always find some positives.  The rifle shooting activity was good fun and Cheryl was extremely smug about being better than Neil.  After deciding the dancing lessons were a bit of a dud we managed to dodge the showers to take walks exploring Hayling Island and had a pleasant day out in Chichester. 

We also found another activity which suited us better and the cocktail making class was a hit right from the start.  It cost £17 each but for that we learnt how to make 4 different cocktails and drink them!  Plus, the guy doing the teaching had to make one to start with and they were piling up on the bar.  Nobody else seemed bothered so at the end of the lesson we grabbed the extras and went and sat in the bar for the rest of the afternoon.  After a bottle of wine that evening with dinner we did have a good sleep that night.  We don’t think we will rush to book another Warners break.

Easter parade

Alex, Freddy & Luke came to visit for Easter and we had a wonderful time with them.  The new soft play in the Jurassic centre had just opened and kept Luke amused.  Cheryl couldn’t resist playing along as it was big enough for adults as well.  Luke timed his nap to perfection allowing us all to enjoy a great lunch at The Picture House on Easter Sunday.

That’s what friends are for

Marlpit Lane Social Club had a night at the Thai restaurant which was a lot of fun.  More fun was had at our Perk up Pat Party.  Cheryl bumped into her one day and the expected improvement in her painful feet had not transpired and her recent visit to the consultant did little to improve her mood.  We decided to have a surprise party to cheer her up and with our lovely bunch of neighbours that’s exactly what we did, along with some food and just the odd bottle of wine.  Pat went home much happier than when she arrived.

This is how we do it

We like to do our bit to help out whenever we can and have both been enjoying sessions at the Tourist Information Centre which is manned by volunteers at the weekends during the Summer.  Neil has also been spending a lot of time putting together the volunteer rotas each month. 

Regular readers know that we volunteer at our local arts and entertainment venue, The Gateway Theatre.  Neil cleans the pipes every two weeks and Cheryl has agreed to take on the role of Bar Manager on a temporary basis.  The charity needs to raise funds to pay for its running costs plus a share of maintenance and insurance for the building which has increased substantially over the previous year’s amount.  The revenue from the bar is crucial to raising the necessary funds to pay these bills so Cheryl plans to maximise the return from the bar by analysing profitability, optimal stock reordering levels and streamlining the products on offer.  As some of you know, she can be a bit of a finance nerd and does love a stacked spreadsheet.   It’s an ongoing project but hopefully in the next few weeks we will have made some changes which should deliver some improvements. 

We also helped out with the Seaton Shipshape Festival organised by Seaton Chamber.  It’s all about getting Seaton spruced up ready for the tourist season with such things as cleaning gutters of all the weeds, cleaning shopfronts, weeding the streets and so on. It’s been fantastic to see how people can contribute and make a difference just by doing simple things to make the town look its best before the main summer season starts.  We both got stuck in with the beach clean up organised by Jurassic Coast Clean Up.  They were able to identify the really large hard plastic object as a mussel float and had the contact number of the fishermen who would collect it for re use. 

We also offered our top skills of dressing up in pirate costumes, having fun with the public and taking as many silly pictures as possible whilst wandering  around the town with friends Graham and Liz handing out leaflets for the big party at the end held at The Gateway.  The series of photos were then posted to the local social media along with the some totally cringeworthy puns to attract ticket sales. 

Sadly, we couldn’t be at the party as we had already committed to a visit to family in Bristol and the next day Cheryl travelled on to Champneys for a couple of nights with the girls to celebrate Anna’s birthday.  The Champneys break was superb with Anna on top form between her treatments and her mum June walking better than ever since her recent surgery.

It’s a Jungle out there

Wildlife report from the garden.  Silver has become our pheasant in residence, he’s still very shy but is getting used to the place where Neil will put out seeds.  We had a bit of a shock one afternoon to find a new visitor staring at us through the patio doors. 

Mindful of protecting Silver as pheasants really are the most stupid of birds and an extremely easy target for a hungry predator, Neil made sure that Foxy soon got the message that our garden was not a safe refuge for him. 

Mid-month and we noticed that Silver was limping and clearly had a very sore leg he could barely stand on.  Ringo developed a gammy leg last year so we wonder what on earth the pheasants are doing to damage themselves in this way.  At the end of the month we had a surprise visit – Ringo was back and limped his way happily to Neil for his handful of seeds.  Will we have handbags at dawn between Silver and Ringo?  Who knows

We could be right, we could be wrong….

Just do it also means being open to saying yes when opportunities arise and this was the case for Cheryl when a last minute ticket was available to go and see one of her teenage influences, punk legend John Lydon aka Johnny Rotten at nearby Axminster Guildhall.  Huge fan Eric had booked himself the VIP meet and greet and an additional ticket for the show for his wife who couldn’t attend at the last minute so Cheryl went along.  It was not something she would have booked, but, came back buzzing from the event especially as Eric managed a front row seat for her for the second half enabling her to sing and dance along to the closing songs – Anarchy in the UK and Rise, and she took the opportunity to shake his hand.

This year’s

Hello Regular Readers, this is a quick entry to let you know we have been stalked! It’s rather creepy and sinister as we have been invaded by an unwelcome visitor with malice aforethought.   

At first we thought ‘how flattering, someone who isn’t a friend or family member wants to delve into what we are doing – so maybe we are interesting people after all and potentially can join the cool kids as influencers, ha ha’.

However, our initial chuckles faded when we discovered that this uninvited visitor deliberately searched through this blog for information with the sole purpose of damaging our reputation within our community. After taking some time to trawl through the entries, the meagre pickings were shared with a wider audience, and we were copied into this email so we would know what this person did.  Pretty impressive drama for a small town we hear you say.

We understand the Interweb is not always a safe and cosy place and that this blog can be accessed by anyone with time on their hands and an axe to grind.  As you also know we are lazy, and this blog was an ideal way to keep you all updated when we decided to travel all those years ago. We’ve also made some wonderful friends around the world and when we stopped the full time travelling, we used the blog to share our tales of renovating during the pandemic.  

Realistically it was bound to happen.  I guess we tend to judge people by our own values, and we usually see the good in everyone we meet even if we don’t always agree with them.  We feel it’s important to admit that sometimes we get things wrong. After all, we are human and none of us is perfect and to be frank, Neil can be very annoying at times!!

However, there are times when we feel the need to call out bad behaviour and stand up for ourselves when we feel we are being bullied and harassed. This must have really upset this person as they firmly believe they are always right no matter what they say or do.  We think you will agree that stalking isn’t a nice or kind thing to do, and that’s why you are our friends.

Don’t panic – we will continue to post our ramblings but sadly we will now be wary that our spy is still hovering and looking for ‘dirt’. We do need some time to absorb what has happened, but we do feel extremely disappointed as our stalker is in a position of authority in our town which makes this episode all the more shocking.

We also wondered if this behaviour was the result of some deep-seated personal issues or lack of self esteem on their part, and if this is the case then we sincerely hope this person seeks the professional help they need before they spiral out of control. 

Maybe there is no problem, and they simply need to get a life.

Anyhow, as you know, we are big and tough and will bounce back as we know that we have the love and support from the people who really matter in our lives.

Stay safe – and don’t have nightmares wondering who is looking at your digital footprint right now.

Yup, our blog this time starts with a momentous occasion, Neil hits the dizzy heights of 70. Surely not? we hear you say……..he only looks 69!   At this age Neil decided he needed more than just one day to celebrate so he started on the 11^th August and went past his birthday on the 16^th and all the way up to the 20^th.

First up was the Gala Night for the Indiana Jones Film when we got dressed up for a screening of the film in our local venue where we had canapes and bubbly on arrival.  We had a great night although the film wasn’t the best.  The following evening we went with neighbours to a Murder Mystery Event where half a dozen people on stage read the mystery with clues as to ‘who dunnit’ in the style of a radio play.  It was just so good to see how a handful of people with such limited resources can put on such an entertaining show.  The special effects man had us in stitches!

For Neil’s actual birthday we had smoked salmon and scrambled eggs for breakfast in bed and then cheese for lunch and a very expensive bottle of red from our friends in France.  Then it was off to The Gateway again for a very funny spoof of two Shakespeare plays all in less than 90 minutes.  Plus, Neil wearing his ’70 Today’ badge, was called on stage to help with a minor stabbing….fab! After the show we took off down to the beach to walk off the red wine and the odd drink we had at The Gateway.  Then we bumped into Lisa and Sean who insisted that we went for a couple of beers at The Vaults to celebrate Neil’s birthday.  Like we needed to celebrate more!  For the evening we went for Neil’s favourite food, curry, what else?  Here, his ‘70 Today’ badge got him a very nice free desert with a candle in it! 

After meandering home via the beachfront, and turned down another invite from a group of total strangers to join them having a birthday drink on the beach, we finished the posh red wine that we opened at lunch time and slept very well indeed.  Well Neil did but Cheryl struggled because somebody was snoring!

There was more to come the following evening.  We had invited the neighbours around for dinner and once Chris and Viv knew what the plan was they insisted in driving all the way from Brecon to take part.  Only Chris and Viv knew that we had invited a chef, Dariusz, from nearby Colyton to come to the house and prepare a 4 course dinner for everyone.  Dariusz did not let us down and even included a hands on pasta making lesson while he was preparing the food which was amazing. The neighbours were very impressed, so much so that we thought that they were never going to go home to bed.  We had a fabulous night.

Next day we drove up to Leanne’s in Cheshire where we were to have a weekend with Neil’s family.  It was action packed with walks, the odd beer (now there’s a surprise), BBQ (now there’s a surprise), a climbing wall and Sunday lunch where Neil was welcomed with a giant balloon of ‘70’ behind his chair.  It was just so good to spend the whole weekend surrounded by his family.  What a great way to finish a 70^th birthday celebration which, actually, went on for over a week rather than a day or two.  Hey, it had to be done!

After slowing down for a few days we had a visit from Alex, Freddy and Luke.  Always good to see baby Luke but it is tiring keeping him out of mischief now he’s increasingly mobile.  He’ll probably be walking next time we see him so that it’ll make it even more full on.  We don’t mind, he’s such a cheery happy go lucky little fellow that we don’t feel tired until he’s gone to bed.

There were a few other events/activities like Marlpit Lane Supper Club where Neil baulked at the bill until Pat pointed out how much wine we had drunk, the new Mission Impossible Film (we liked this one even though we had to admit it was just a load of exciting tosh), volunteering at The Gateway behind the bar and volunteering at Tourist Information.

September brought us our two week narrow boat trip with Gail and Orren her dog.  We started in Ellesmere in Shropshire with the intention of completing The Four Counties Ring – Shropshire, Staffordshire, Worcestershire (West Midlands) and Cheshire.   The first week was so hot with temperatures in the UK setting September records.  Thankfully, whilst we were hot at around 28C we were much cooler than the south.  The trip was going well until Neil had an argument with a windlass when he thought he had broken his arm.  Fortunately, being something of a drama queen, he just had to contend with a very sore arm and a wound that just would not heal.  Still, it could have been worse as we have heard of people having similar accidents and finding the windlass mashing up their faces!  ‘Of course, that might have made an improvement’ says Cheryl!

The second week’s weather was not so pleasant as we had a number of wet days but on the upside we still managed to BBQ most evenings even if we did eat inside. 

The trip went so well that we calculated that we had 2 clear days extra to play with.  Neil had the idea that as Cheryl was now beginning to steer the boat a lot more we should head past the marina and get ourselves up the Llangollen Canal as far as the Pontcysylite Aqueduct.  It’s an amazing piece of engineering from Thomas Telford which was opened in 1805.  It’s over 300m long and there’s not much to prevent the captain at the back falling off and plunging nearly 40m down to the River Dee.  We have passed over it a few times before so Neil had the idea that this time it was Cheryl’s turn to take the boat over, take her first winding (a 360 degree turn) and bring it back over again. It’s just an awesome experience and she did brilliantly. 

We weren’t done.  After we gave Gail a hug we parted company and we headed off to have lunch with June and Roy plus Bill and Sue.  This time we had chosen a good venue.   The Highwayman Inn delivered a cosy environment, cheery staff and excellent food.  Bill and Sue headed off back to West London and we went to spend the evening with June and Roy and watch our first World Cup Rugby Matches.  The drive home next day started great but just past Bristol the heavens opened and we were down to 50mph as the rain was so heavy.  We stopped off to buy diesel but gave up as the filling station had a huge queue because most of it was more than 6’’ under water.

The final few days of September and early October were pretty busy.  We had the U3A wine club meeting where we had to provide 2 bottles of rose/white and 2 bottles of red each containing the letter K in any part of the grape variety, vineyard name or country.  Letter K Easy?  Actually, it wasn’t that difficult and our favourite amusing purchase was a bottle of Kylie Minogue Rose.  Sadly, most people thought it wasn’t good value and not a great taste, we agreed.   That evening we were at a quiz at The Gateway with Simon Jupp MP as our question master.  We went with Bob ‘n Shiela and Paul ‘n Maureen and improved on our position compared with the last quiz but not enough to win the prize.  The following evening we volunteered behind The Gateway Bar for the AC/DC Tribute band, it was busy and bloody loud but the band were good value giving excellent entertainment.  Then next day it was Tourist Information all day so a very busy weekend indeed.

Last month we left you wondering what Neil had been up to to get into this state.

He was transforming the garage – and had enough paint left over to do the workshop door as well.

Next month…………all at sea!

March, April and May, what a difference a month makes!  We arrived back from Goa to be greeted by cold and wet weather making us wish he hadn’t come home.  It didn’t last long, it’s good to be home and preparing the garden, getting ready for visitors and getting stuck into volunteering and socialising. 

Sadly, Doris our neighbour who lived opposite died and we had a funeral to go to.  She was 94 so she had, as they say, a good innings.  Mentally she was pretty sound but her body was very tired and she missed husband Alan so much that she really didn’t want to be alive.  She had an amazing life working in the music industry even shaking hands with Frank Sinatra.  The service was lovely and it was great to give her a good send off.

Marlpit Lane Supper Club was duly formed with a visit to Monsoon for a curry night.  The idea that we had was well received and it looks like we’ll be having a supper night once a month.  The only restriction is that we have to spend the money in Seaton which is good for the town and good for our legs but bad for our livers!

Cheryl had a girlie couple of nights at Champneys.  Anna is still in remission so she was floating on air and behaving very badly.

Neil has a new skill.  We had volunteered to serve drinks at a gala night in The Gateway and Dennis behind the bar asked Neil what he was doing Monday morning.  ‘Not too much, why’? said Neil.  ‘Ah, you could be here for 09.30 and I’ll teach you how to clean the pipes’.  So, after two sessions Neil is getting close to being able to do this important task every two weeks.  Another tick in the box at The Gateway and another skill for him.

One thing we had been so looking forward to was the visit of Chantal and Jean-Phillipe who hosted us last year when Seaton Twinning Association visited Thury Harcourt.  They gave us such a good time and their hospitality was wonderful. 

The group from Thury Harcourt arrived around midnight on the Friday so we quickly got them home and we chatted in Franglais over a glass or two of red before bed.  The following morning we had crumpets with marmite for breakfast. Cheryl & Chantal walked the Labyrinth in Cliff Field Gardens before we all headed to the promenade to show them the beach and the cliffs. 

We took a ride on The Tramway and enjoyed a lovely journey to Colyton.  Lunch in the Merchant Bistro was delicious and we took them to the church which is such a pretty one with incredible stained glass windows.  Once again, back on the tram for an early dinner at The Malthouse before meandering home for more wine before bed. 

Sunday started with a ‘full English’ for breakfast and then the entire group travelled by coach to visit some water gardens and lunch before moving on for a stroll around Weymouth, a beer outside a pub, and then we made our way to Lyme Regis Golf Club for the formal dinner.   Back home for some more wine and chat before bed.  Having given Chantal and Jean Phillipe the choice between crumpets and ‘full English’ they went for the big one which hopefully would see them though the day and the journey home. 

We really enjoyed having them come to stay, we hope they enjoyed it as much as us.

This blog entry couldn’t go without mentioning the Coronation of King Charles.  Neither of us watched all the pomp and ceremony on TV but we did help put up some bunting in Windsor Gardens to celebrate the event.  On Sunday, as part of our celebrations Bob ‘n Sheila hosted a lunch at which we had lots of fun, delicious food and a glass or two of something that you might fancy. 

Finally, big news.  We were both successful in our bid to be on the Town Council and have been to our first meeting.  It was, shall we say, extremely unexciting and even now, Neil is still trying to work out how he talked himself into going through this monthly self-inflicted agony. 

Around the middle of the month we set off for Bristol to see Neil’s son and his family.  It was tiring with endless games of football in the garden with an energetic almost 5 year old and then to cool off we had endless games of table football indoors.  On Saturday night we were taken to a Comedy Night at a local venue which was very good.  The weekend was made all the more fabulous as Paul cooked some delicious food on Saturday evening and Sunday lunch.

Whenever we leave Seaton we try to make best use of the long journey so on our way to Scarborough we stopped off to see Leanne and Neil.  ‘Dad, do you have a sledge hammer’? ‘Yes darling, I do’.  ‘Please can you bring it with you’?  On the journey up on Friday we stopped off at various places to shop for trousers, shoes and whatever.  Whilst we love living in Seaton the lack of shops can make buying clothes difficult.  Anyway, we arrived at Leanne’s to discover why we had to bring the sledge hammer.  They had a large and rotten garden shed that needed demolishing and burning, plus quite a lot of undergrowth, so that was Saturday and Sunday morning accounted for.  We did go out for a long walk on Sunday afternoon, had lunch out and then went to a fund raising quiz night in Macclesfield.   Neil messaged Leanne two days after we had left and the fire was still hot!

Next stop a brief overnight outside York to shop some more before heading up to Scarborough on Tuesday.  The reason for our visit was to celebrate Tony’s 70^th birthday.  We had booked a small B&B and once settled we set off to explore the town.  We discovered an Indian Restaurant which was BYO with the added bonus of a Tesco shop opposite.  Job done for dinner!

On Wednesday we met Tony and Brenda in The Wetherspoons which was to be the venue for the big party.  We also met with Annette and Keld who had flown in from Denmark.  We had a great evening with food and drink and a meeting with the pub manager to check he was OK with us trying to take over a part of the bar.  Whilst he couldn’t reserve any seating he was more than happy for us to ‘dominate’ an area.  The following day we walked along the coast to Filey which was about 10 miles.  It wasn’t the prettiest walk we’ve ever done but the exercise was good and the apple pie we had at a farm shop/café was enormous and quite delicious.  We had a walk around Filey and then took the bus back to Scarborough.  That night we all met again for a meal at the Indian and by this time Connie and friend Ann had arrived from Newcastle.  It was a really good night with lots of laughs over the size of the nan bread and the cabaret with which it was delivered to the table – the waiter dressed in a cape and mask and dry ice just to make more of the occasion.

The party was on Friday afternoon and evening.  By now almost 20 people had arrived in town for the 3pm start.  Annette and Keld had come the furthest, Denmark, followed by us and Sue with us both about 6hrs drive, there were some from the Midlands and others from Lancashire.  Sadly Sue had driven up to Sheffield to see Tim the night before only to have to drive back home to Kent because her cat had been run over.  Thankfully, the cat was OK.   The party was great, lots of food and drink, lots of reminiscing, lots of laughs and some fine presents for Tony to open.   We left the pub just after 11pm so it was a long evening and Neil did feel a little jaded the next morning. 

Saturday morning we drove down to Gloucester to see June and Roy and help with their tax returns and then Sunday we had a very bad Sunday lunch with Bill and Sue before driving back to Seaton to enjoy what had become a fabulous weather pattern.  Whilst Scarborough was cool, hey it’s on the North Sea, it was dry and sunny and that continued at home but a few degrees warmer.  So, May finished with warm sunshine and June was going to be the same, at least for the foreseeable future.  

December brought us around 2 weeks of bitterly cold weather with temperatures down to -6C and some days it didn’t rise above zero.  This is very unusual for Seaton as we are on the coast but it wasn’t as cold as some parts of the UK where it dropped to -15C.

It was now time to get into the spirit of Christmas.  The Gateway had asked us to help with a children’s seasonal activity day as well as promoting the pantomime which was scheduled the week before Christmas.  We teamed up with Liz and Graham from the gym and U3A to dress up as pantomime characters and, of course, Graham and Neil were ugly sisters, Liz played The Fairy Godmother and Cheryl was Principal Boy. 

Our initial job was to welcome the children to the entertainment, craft tables, and meeting Father Christmas before they sat down to watch a Christmas Film.  We encouraged a lot of silly photo opportunities for the kids and their families as well as having some ‘he’s behind you’ fun.   Then we set off for a wander through the town to hand out flyers for the panto.  We went into many of the businesses to jointly promote them and  The Gateway’s Pantomime  by getting them to take pictures of us and post the crazy pictures on their social media pages.  Of course we did find time to pop into a couple of hostelries for some well earned refreshments.  We definitely encouraged some additional ticket sales with our silly antics and it was a great way to spend an afternoon. 

Ever since we moved here, we have had at least one pheasant and sometimes two take up residence in the garden over the winter and spring.  Neil has been trying desperately hard to get them to be tame enough to feed from his hand.  Well, his patience paid off and Ringo finally took food from his hand and now each time he feeds him Neil takes just s few moments to keep him happy to feed from his palm.   

By now we were seriously into party mode.  Volunteering behind the bar at The Gateway for a matinee of The Nutcracker from The Royal Ballet, a Gateway volunteers beer and buffet evening, a Marlpit Lane Social Club Christmas Dinner at The Shed, dinner at our new Thai Restaurant with Eric Laila and a U3A wine circle Christmas lunch which got extended with Graham and Liz back at ours – and all this was in one week!  This was followed by a trip to Champneys for Cheryl and the girls whilst Neil had some time with his grandson. 

We had a brief visit back to Seaton when we managed a trip to The Gateway to see Dick Whittington, ‘oh yes we did’!  We love pantomime and it’s slapstick humour and the entire show of about 2hrs was put on by just 5 actors.  They worked really hard and made us laugh so much especially the Panto Dame who just happened to be a very tall Scotsman with fabulous outfits, drag queen make up and a booming voice.  As usual with panto the kids got really involved especially the little girl behind us who was frantically shouting ‘he’s behind you’, it was fantastic.    

We were soon back on the road to travel to June’s for Christmas.  Cheryl had started with a slight cough and cold a couple of days before we left but it didn’t bother her too much.  Neil, however, succumbed on Christmas Day of all days.  He was very unwell and spent most of the day in bed.  Still, it was great to see Anna looking so radiant and having such a good time.  Lisa was over from Oz with Callum and Jack so it was a very festive and loud Christmas Day which meant that whilst Neil was in bed feeling grotty he didn’t get much sleep. 

We drove back on Boxing Day and started back at the gym the following day.  By now we were on countdown for travelling to Goa and making sure that all the bins had been emptied, the fridge and freezer down to a minimum, the Christmas decorations packed away and the final batch of washing ready for packing. 

Just a few days before the end of year we booked a trip to cross off The Northern Lights or Aurora Borealis off both of our bucket lists.  We’re taking a 12 night cruise from Southampton with P&O later in the year and will spend Cheryl’s birthday in November 2023 taking in the Norwegian fjords.  It’s a long time off but as we will be crossing the North Sea during the winter we decided to go for it so that we could book a cabin with balcony midships to minimise the risk of Cheryl being sea sick. New Year’s Eve was spent with Marlpit Lane Social Club plus lots of friends from the gym at The Gateway.  We saw in the new year to a 12 piece big band who played two long sessions interspersed with disco and a buffet to get us in the mood.  It was a great night and by the end of the evening everyone was dancing and singing.  We even had a good old fashioned conga line lead by a Scottish friend with his kilt swinging. Neighbour Maureen wasn’t impressed with her Happy New Year kiss from Neil as he was a tad sweaty after all the dancing! 

New Year’s Day was Pat’s birthday and everyone was invited around for drinks and finger food in the afternoon.  It was a chance for us all to see her brand new kitchen and building alterations, wow, what a difference it made.  It was the usual jovial event with some fine food and wine. Monday brought us yet another social event, this time to Lisa and Sean’s house for drinks and food.  We know Lisa from the gym and also she works the check outs at Tesco one day a week for some extra money but also to help keep her brain in gear.   

Finally with all the partying done it’s time for us to set off for Goa.  As usual our trip to London is messed up with train strikes again so we’ve had to resort to taking another expensive taxi to the outskirts of London to enable us to catch the tube to get to Alex & Freddy’s house.  This time we will be catching the newly fully opened Elizabeth Line for the first time to spend a couple of days cuddling Luke and catching up with the boys before our flight to sunshine, 30C, Kingfisher beer, lots of friends behaving badly and delicious food.   It’s been over 3 years and we are so looking forward to it.   More to follow when we’ve settled in Benaulim.  

It’s been an eventful couple of months including the appearance of creepy creatures,  family visits, a boat trip, fun and games in Yorkshire and Cheshire where we brought back more than we bargained for, more family and several nights out.

Regular readers will know that Neil is a Trustee at our local venue The Gateway Theatre.  Sales for a show hadn’t been going well which was very sad as this was to be the first professional live theatre here in so long.  ‘Dracula the Bloody Truth’ was giving many people the impression that it was a serious horrifically bloody tale.  This was a long way from the truth as it actually was a comedy not dissimilar to pantomime.  On the back of her recent success with dressing up to market Shipwreck Sam during the summer Cheryl had the idea that we should dress up and carry out some fun publicity with the local businesses by having our picture taken in various poses and have them posted on social media along with as many Dracula/horror related puns they could come up with.  It worked fangtastically well as ticket sales really picked up and local businesses such as the butchers, Post Office, the gym, bicycle shop, pubs and the fruit and veg shop posted silly pictures of us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.  We went to the show on the Friday still in full costume and it was as described, mad slapstick humour!

It was our turn to host a neighbourly event and it will be no surprises to you dear readers that it was a BBQ.  We had 11 neighbours and friends around at 12.30pm for drinks followed by food and chat.  It went well with most people staying until around 6pm.  In fact it went so well that at around 8pm Neil asked the remaining people if they fancied some cheese and biscuits which was just about all we had left to offer them as we were running down to fridge before we went away.  The final stragglers finally left around 10pm….a huge success.

Just a few days later we travelled up to June’s for the big family party in Gloucester.  Around 30 members of the extended family gathered for the event with everyone bringing some food.  Neil did the BBQ and the weather was good apart from the one hour that Neil was busy cooking the sausages and burgers.  In typical UK Summer BBQ style, Cheryl stood by holding the umbrella whilst everyone else scuttled indoors for shelter.  After the food, it was silliness personified as Roy brought out an old buggy that he had made when the grandkids were young.  Now it was adults doing crazy things.

Our 3 weeks away was now full on, the family event over it was a drive to the midlands to pick up a narrow boat with Chris and Viv.  Our original route was scuppered by the drought as many of the canals were closed due to lack of water.  It wasn’t a problem, we had a Plan B and we headed through some beautiful countryside towards The Shropshire Union Canal.  As with most of our boat trips we completely under estimated the requirements for beer and wine so had to make an extra stop to buy supplies. We blame Chris and Viv……of course!

At the end of the boat trip we headed to Sheffield to meet with Tim who we know from our many stays in Goa.  A couple of beers followed by a Thai meal in Zaap, a restaurant replicating a Thai fast food court.  The ambience was good, the staff very cheerful and the food excellent.  Good choice Tim.   

Moving on once again, we continued on to Harrogate to meet up with Tony and Brenda.  They were dog sitting a lovely Japanese Akita, Luna.  It was the usual trip to Spoons, next day a long walk along the river at Knaresborough followed by a few beers at Happy Hour in our hotel.  On our last day Tim drove up from Sheffield for lunch as he hadn’t seen T&B for over a year.  Visas permitting we’ll all be having a drink together again in Goa.

No flies on us, we were on the road again with another drive back south to Wakefield to catch up with Donna and Rob.  It’s been a long while since we’ve seen them and the time we had in the Italian restaurant wasn’t enough so we decamped to our ‘interesting’ hotel which had seen better days.  However, our extended cosy chat over another beer didn’t happen as the night receptionist had just arrived, locked the front door and then launched into relentless ‘standup’ mode and kept us in stitches with mad stories about the hotel, it’s history, it’s staff and the events like weddings with obligatory punch ups and dramas that had taken place there.

Another step further south next day took us to Lyme, a National Trust property that was used as Pemberley in the TV drama of Pride and Prejudice for that unforgettable wet shirt scene with Colin Firth.  We had visited before and having spent so much time sitting in bars and restaurants a long walk around the gardens was the order of the day.  It’s a beautiful place, the house absolutely stunning, the gardens so pretty and the estate humungous.  Of course, this is National Trust and it would have been bad form not to visit the café.  With all our excesses over the previous 2 weeks we were restrained, we shared one cake.

Our final stop on our Northern sojourn was to visit Leanne and Neil.  We had a quiet night in on Friday before embarking on a 10 mile walk on Saturday with lunch thrown in.  Having done very little exercise it was just what we needed.  Leanne had bought tickets for the evening to go to Buxton Opera House for a night of Cabaret & Burlesque.   The theatre itself was beautiful and the show absolutely fabulous.  We even spotted Edwina Currie going into the theatre which was spooky for Cheryl who remembers seeing her back in the eighties when going to a play in the West End. What a night, the show was such fun and with great audience participation.

Sunday brought us a damp day so it was a 45 minute walk to the local pub for Sunday lunch before spending the afternoon drinking beer in front of the fire and timing time.  Timing time?  Yes, Leanne had an egg like timer in her living room so Neil decided to time it so see how long it took for the sand to run through.  Leanne very quickly got excited by the prospect and 2.5hrs later with 5 different timings we were none the wiser.  She even got another one from the top of the stairs but that didn’t work at all. 

Monday was the drive home which we hoped would be uneventful as it was the day of Queen Elizabeth’s funeral.  We heard the news of her passing whilst on the canal trip and although sad, we both felt that she had achieved so much and was so well loved that passing on at home surrounded by family was a fitting way to go.  We listened to the service on the radio as we drove along quiet roads.  The journey took about 4.5hrs, and we arrived home after almost 3 weeks quite exhausted and looking to give our livers a well-earned rest.

Tuesday brought us a bombshell.  Cheryl had complained of a tickly cough a few days ago and neither of us were feeling on top form when we woke up in the morning and we came to the conclusion that we had all the right symptoms for the dreaded lurgy.  At 5pm we tested, bugger, positive, we have Covid!

Neither of us had any energy to do very much for a week.  We got the odd job done that we had been putting off as long as it didn’t need much effort.  There was one other downside, the weather was absolutely stunning, the sort of weather we would like to have gone out walking and then sat in a pub garden having lunch.  Not to be. 

We posted in May that we had a new addition to the garden, Ringo, the aptly named pheasant who brought such beautiful colour to our garden.  However, he only stayed a few weeks before moving on.  Well, he’s back!  His ring of white feathers around his neck, hence calling him Ringo, have disappeared as when you get close it looks like he’s been plucked!  Apparently, according to a local wildlife photographer, he’s moulting in time for new winter plumage.  We’re pretty sure it’s him as he was very comfortable with Neil from day one, he comes for food at the same place and he’s roosting in exactly the same tree next door.  We’re really pleased and we hope that this time he’ll stay a bit longer.

Early October brought us a welcome visit from baby Luke and his Dads.  We were very excited to have cuddle time with him and he was an absolute delight as he is such a happy little soul.  We did laugh at the ability of one very small person to need so much luggage and to take up so much space.  He also managed a spectacular poonami which needed a serious clean up but luckily he kept the mess to his clothes and his high tech baby rocker chair.  Our sofa and carpet were spared!  Neil even found a great use for his juggling skills as it seemed to work wonders for those few times when he got fractious.

This entry brings Chapter 14 to an end, fourteen years since we took that first step to go travelling for 6 months and then we didn’t stop.  It’s kind of funny, we’ve just contracted Covid and Gary, who ran The Hat and then lost it through Covid, is now retracing the steps that we took in that very first trip, Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos and Malaysia. 

Chapter 15 will commence in a few weeks with something being crossed off Cheryl’s bucket list.  Watch this space.

It has been pretty much full on since we posted the last blog entry hence the delay in writing this one.

It all started with a trip to Bristol for our first grandson’s fourth birthday party which was great as we hadn’t seen him for a while.  Next was a Gala Film Night to see Top Gun Maverick.  We put on our posh outfits and were greeted with pre-film fizz and canapés.  It was an excellent night, lots of chat beforehand and a film that was a tad plotless but exciting nonetheless.  A week or so later it was time for Phantom of the Open.  This was a good old British comedy based on a true story of a shipyard worker from Barrow-in-Furness who, in 1976, blagged his way into the British Open Golf Championships despite never having previously played a round of golf.  Boy, did we laugh.

Then it was time for the Celebratory 40^th Anniversary Dinner at The Twinning.  It was a pretty low key event for everyone except us.  During the dinner our new grandson Luke was born in Canada.  Needless to say, Cheryl was extremely excited, with one eye on her phone for messages and couldn’t wait to tell people.  Neil is deputy Chair and had to say a few words to the gathering and started by explaining why Cheryl had been wiping the odd tear from her eyes – a round of applause followed!

Events were now coming on thick and fast with us volunteering at The Natural Seaton Event organised by The Tramway.  Cheryl, never missing an opportunity to ham things up, dressed as a pirate and wandered around the town with Eric to promote one of the events in The Gateway, a children’s performance called Shipwreck Sam. 

We could only help out at the event for the Saturday as the main event for the month was arriving on Sunday – the second annual visit of Barmouth South.  10 adults and 6 teenagers descended upon us for best part of a week for seaside stuff, good food and the odd drink. 

As several of them left towards the end of the week friends Chris and Viv arrived in readiness for the next event, an Abba Tribute Band.  This time we all dressed up to go and dance and sing to all our Abba favourites, wow what a night it was.

Chris and Viv stayed for 3 nights which included a tramway trip and a long walk to Branscombe. 

Almost immediately after they had left Alan and Heather arrived from Scotland.  Neil went to school with Alan, so has known him since he was 11, and was in the same Scout patrol, Panthers, with Alan as Patrol Leader and Neil as his second.  Sadly they could only stay 2 nights as they had a fully loaded trip planned but it was great to see them.  We must find time to get to Scotland!

Still on the go, Alan and Heather dropped us off at the station for us to travel to London to finally see baby Luke.  Alex & Freddy flew back from Canada a few days earlier as they had to organise a passport before he could travel. The surrogacy was amazing and we have so much love for Winter who carried Luke. Wow is he a cutie.  Hardly a peep from him when he’s sleeping, eating or being changed…..amazingly chilled little fella.  Well done boys for being such great Dads. Of course, Nana had great fun in feeding him and even Neil had a go! 

While we were in London we also attended an Indian Visa office to apply for Neil’s spouse OCI visa.  It all seemed to go well despite the inevitable wait time, they took his money, and now we await a video call just to make sure we are who we say we are.  We absolutely roasted on the train home as it was a heatwave and there was no air con.

Shortly after our return to Seaton it was Neil’s birthday.  We had planned a long walk with lunch out but the much needed rain finally arrived on the day.  We still managed lots of short walk in between showers between several of the town’s pubs.  Pub crawl over we headed to Monsoon for an Indian dinner. 

While we were there we had a message from Paul and Maureen to say they were away and that a parcel had been left on the doorstep – could we please take it around to the back of the house and put it in the shelter at the back?  We walked back to the house, well Neil staggered, and we settled into home.  At 5am the following morning Neil woke up, ‘Shit, the parcel’!  He rushed across the lane to rescue the parcel and make it safe.

Another guest arrived less than a week later.  A couchsurfer called Marie from Germany.  She had finished her studies and was spending 6 weeks exploring the UK.  We had put couchsurfing on hold because we had got so much going on but she only wanted 1 night and from her profile she did sound very interesting.  We were so glad we allowed he to stay – for a 20 year old she was very mature, spoke excellent English, she was enquiring and extremely funny.

This entry is a round-up of the various things we’ve been up to in the past six weeks.  Obviously it’s not as exciting as a long trip to Mexico but we’re upbeat as we’re starting to feel as if Covid has been beaten.  Now all we have to do is sort Putin out, and, maybe, just maybe, the world can return to normal.

What do you really crave after being away for eight weeks? – a curry fix of course!  We decided to treat our friends Diane and Glyn as a thankyou for dropping us off and picking us up from Axminster station.  Glyn wouldn’t accept any petrol money so a curry night was the least we could do.  Local curry house Ragini didn’t let us down and really hit the spot.

We were also back in time to see The Grizzly, Seaton’s very own coastal run where the name says it all.  The full race is 20 miles along the coast and there is a shorter 10 mile run called The Cub.  It’s tough, very tough indeed, firstly running along the pebble beach, then through the town, across the coastal path to Branscombe via Beer and beyond, returning back to Seaton Seafront for the finish line.  Living by the coast just about anywhere in the world means hills so the route has a number of steep climbs and drops but thankfully this year it was pretty dry so no serious injuries caused by the slippery paths and no lost running shoes stuck in the boggy parts!   The weather was perfect, cool and not too breezy so we cheered off the runners at both the start and finish.  We found out a few weeks later that the event had raised over £30,000 for local charities.

We then made a quick dash to Gloucester to visit June and Anna.  Whilst we were away we heard from June that her imminent back operation had been delayed and sadly her daughter Anna had been diagnosed with the Big C and was preparing to undergo her first treatment.  Life was pretty shitty for both of them but Anna was amazing in her outlook, so positive and so cheerful.  Neil drove her to Cheltenham Hospital one day for some tests which gave him some quality time to chat about how things were affecting her family.  Radiotherapy and Chemo are  on the horizon for her which she wasn’t looking forward to but she is determined to do what it takes to see her children grow up.

Back in Seaton it was time for our first post-Covid live music event at The Gateway with The Detroit Soul Collective, a 9 piece band playing Soul, Motown and general feel good party hits.  We went along with our neighbours and it didn’t take long for us all to be up and dancing, singing and just so, so pleased to be listening to live music again after what seems like an eternity. 

We hadn’t done much exercise whilst away apart from long walks around the various sights, towns and cities.  To compensate we tried not to indulge in too much food and drink and felt pretty smug when getting back on the scales at home to find we both had actually lost a little weight.  Keen to get back into our gym routine we both booked a session on the super duper body analyser machine so we could get a good benchmark to then monitor progress.  Aaaaaarghh! The pesky machine confirmed that both of us had lost a little weight but that it was due to losing lots of hard earned heavy muscle which we had then replaced with lots more fat – oh B*ll*cks!!  We both resolved to get our fitness back asap and not to let it slip again.  Let’s see in 3 months time when we get back on the analyser again.

We are big fans of the NHS and during Covid happily took as many jabs as they wanted to squirt into our arms.  It was also time for what Cheryl refers to as ‘squash & spread’.  The routine screening for breast cancer isn’t something to look forward to but the NHS organisation and staff made it almost a pleasure.  In Devon we don’t have the massive infrastructure we were used to in Bristol and instead of a hospital or clinic, Cheryl was asked to attend a mobile screening unit in Tesco’s car park in the nearby larger town of Honiton.  It was so slick she was in and out again in less than 15 minutes and was happy to get the all clear letter just a couple of weeks later.

Another health issue that we have been meaning to look into (ha) is sorting out another side effect of getting older – deteriorating vision.   Both are suffering with poor close up vision with Neil now needing different glasses for both close and distance vision.  That means he has 2 pairs in the car, 2 pairs in living room, 2 pairs in the bedroom and readers in the kitchen, workshop, various pairs of trousers and the study.  Bloody glasses everywhere!  With the aim to become glasses free we travelled to Exeter to visit Optical Express to be assessed for lens replacement surgery.  This is a solution which has been taken up successfully by a few of our close friends.  Neil was approved and will be sliced and diced at the end of May.  Cheryl’s vision was not so bad and she failed to make the cut….ha, another good pun!

Time also to deal with the house and at the end of the month we finally got our kitchen floor re-laid in the way we had always envisaged.  This was the third attempt at getting it right following a bad material selection on our part and poor fitting.  After another disastrous fitting ‘repair’ we insisted on a new fitter and better material and pattern.  We now have a more sympathetic herringbone in oak, with a bespoke border which looks stunning and the bonus was that we had enough left over to do the utility.  The house has finally become ‘our’ house and in the layout we want – it’s no longer feels like The Miller’s house, although we still have all the before photos on a pin board in the hallway just to remind us of the many happy hours spent sanding, painting and sanding and painting ………..and sanding and painting.

Easter was spent with Alex and Freddy.  The boys are well into their surrogacy in Canada and we had another great Facetime catch up with Winter and her family in Calgary.  Winter is doing a fantastic job carrying Baby M and we were astounded by the level of technical knowledge both she and the boys have.  On top of this the boys are getting to grips with the legal situation and the logistics of planning the birth and their first weeks with baby in Canada.  We also had plenty of time for long walks, cream teas, ice creams, a film night and a very posh lunch at The Pig – thanks boys!

Next was another quick trip to Gloucester to see Lisa.  Neil’s niece was over from Oz on a surprise visit to see her family especially her sister Anna who had just got through her first very tough round of radiotherapy.  What a day!  Everyone was on form with Lisa pulling out all the stops to do the cooking and save June from hobbling around the kitchen on her sticks.  We laughed and laughed so much, it was just a great day to see June surrounded by her three daughters and their children.  It was a lot of fun.

Our Social life was now getting into full swing.  We renamed our close neighbours The Marlpit Lane Social Club and the group has been to see screenings of Kenneth Branagh’s latest film Belfast and The Duke.  Everyone brings a picnic to enjoy around a large table  with a few beers/wine and a chat before watching the main event.  Both films were excellent with genuine laugh out loud moments.  Then another live music night with Rollin Stoned, who were fantastic.  The band really got into character with great banter, costumes and fabulous performances of the best loved songs.  By the end of the night, even the few young folk who were there had joined the wrinklies who had been dancing from the start.

Many places in the UK have portable defibrillators available for public use in an emergency but training has not been deemed essential to operate them which is a bit of a concern as they deliver a powerful electric shock.  A local volunteer organisation decided to run some free training and we went along for the excellent session.  The first half was a welcome refresher of CPR which we both learned many years ago.  The second half was all about the defibrillator which comes in many different forms and although they do emit simple verbal instructions, we both felt the training session was invaluable to give us the confidence to use them effectively if we are ever called upon for help.

As we write this its become apparent that world events are continuing to influence our daily lives with no end to the war in Ukraine, fuel price increases, gas and electricity price hikes and inflation predicted to exceed 10%.  We have reflected on health issues within the family and we have resolved to work hard at our own health & fitness.  We do have a lot to look forward to, especially the arrival of grandson number 2.  We have lots of visitors booked in and events to look forward to.  We also have a new friend in the garden, who we have called Ringo.  We’re not sure if he is one of the two we spotted last year, and maybe we will be lucky enough to have him stay throughout the summer.