2024 Diary - Page 45

14 June

I went back to yoga today and enjoyed it, even though I found it harder than I remembered.

Popped to the High Street to get some bits and pieces then savoured some of the new potatoes that I'd dug up yesterday for dinner (with chicken and veg!).

Got quite a bit of gardening done before heading down to Priory Gardens for an hours Park Watch and litter pick. It was lovely and quiet - no trouble at all - but there was a lot of litter again, particularly in the children's play area. All gathered up and disposed of so I was happy to leave the park in a better state than when I got there.

It was pouring down this morning but brightened up nicely in the afternoon!

15 June

It was lovely and dry when I went to Tesco and still dry when I went via Priory Gardens to the gym. By the time I'd done Fay's circuits class, it was pouring down and continued to do so, on and off, for the rest of the day.

The Priory had an open day today. I thought it was just the studios so that's what I saw, along with some very nice maypole dancing (indoors because of the weather). However, there was apparently another part to look at that I missed completely!

Had a Skype call with Mum - no real news today.

Collected some fabric from a neighbour for Gilda and delivered the charity walk sheet to Lou (she'd dropped round with a donation and charity nomination while I was out).

Did Dad's financial assessment update ready for when we head north next week.

16 June

The weather was pretty good first thing so walked through PG on the way to the gym. The area between the two ponds was flooded from the rain yesterday so I missed that bit out!

The cubs are growing well. Jonathon saw all three of this yesterday so that was a relief. This one was having lessons from Dad (highly appropriate on Father's Day).

The cub destruction appears to have started with the first victim being one of my watering cans!

Church went OK apart from one of the hymns where the organist played a tune that nobody knew! We muddled through then sang the last, very well known, hymn with extra vigour to make up for it.

Went to pick some strawberries but they've all been taken by either birds, slugs, squirrels or foxes - we'll never know which. Interesting to see that the cache of strawberries that the squirrels had gathered had also disappeared which makes me think that the foxes might be the culprits.

Had a quick catch up with Christine because she needed help with wording an email!

Knoll Active did a charity walk today. There were only 7 of us but someone who couldn't make it this evening also gave a donation in exchange for a clue sheet. We raised £57 for The Maypole Project, a local charity that helps families with children who have complex needs so a very worthwhile cause.

17 June

A busy day today! First up Ela's class then Gilda came for our Monday walk. We tried a new route - Kelsey Park and Harvington Woods and Sports Ground. It was a lovely walk on a lovely day.

We met Jonathon at Aqua for lunch then went home to try and sort out the pond. We know there must be a leak but we can't find it. We took the last remaining plant out in case the roots from that were causing a problem but it seems not. Terry is now scheduled to come and have a look next Tuesday while we are in Yorkshire. The plan is for him to try and find / patch the leak then have a new fibre glass lining made for the pond. The plastic lining has lasted about 22 years so it's served us very well.

I did Park Watch (thankfully all quiet) then had a nice, relaxing time reading my paper and enjoying a well-earned pot of green tea. When I looked round, it seemed everyone else - both human and animal - were even more relaxed than me!

18 June

Gym then work today as per normal.

Signed my extension letter so I'm committed to be there to the end of the year now.

Treated to Nigel to lunch - both his birthday and because I'll miss his retirement do next week.

When we left The Ivy, Tower Bridge was open - not sure why.

19 June

Gym then work again today. There was a new, interesting exhibition about climate change by the river in More London.

Work was quite busy so the day flew past.

Met Mark at Haz for dinner then came home and watered the potatoes, carrots and leeks. Noticed that this lovely rose is now flowering. It always looks such a perfect specimen.

Marie and Andy now have had a little daughter - Olivia. She was born this morning. Mum and baby are both fine.

20 June

Today was a beautiful, sunny day - highly appropriate for the Summer Solstice.

No gym for a change because I had plenty of other activities in my diary for today. First up was supposed to be dog walking but Carol messaged to say she wasn't very well so dog walking was cancelled. I made full use of the freed up time to clean all the bird feeders and bird baths.

Oli took advantage of the long grass and did quite a bit of "hiding" today.

Spotted this beautiful, double self-seeded poppy in the garden - it had been blown away by tea time!

Activity number 2 was a Ceilidh at the Liberal Club. Gerd, one of our walkers, had invited me to join so Gilda and I went along. We were easily the youngest there (by some margin!) but we had fun and danced off a few calories.

We each won a raffle prize - this box of miniature Famous Grouse whiskies will go to Christine next week for a raffle prize up there and Gilda's book is on the pile to go to the YMCA shop.

Activity number 3 was a lovely Summer Solstice walk led by Steve. I was back marker to make sure we didn't lose anyone! With walking poles in one hand and a walkie talkie it was too tricky to take photos so I've "stolen" someone else's for most of these photos. The sunset one was taken by me at the half way mark.

I think I'll sleep well tonight after all the activity!

21 June

After the excitment and busy-ness of yesterday, today was much quieter. I did a few jobs at home then walked to the gym via Priory Gardens. It was a beautiful, sunny day and so lovely and quiet as I walked through.

I roughly worked out how many steps I expected to do and decided I didn't need to do any treadmill in the gym so did weights and cycling instead.

Oli and I sat and did the crossword then read the paper while having a pot of green tea. We were hiding under the umbrella in the shade to keep out of the sun.

I did a load of gardening so the "lollipop" golden euonymous and the other plants in the patio beds look a lot tidier. We can also get round the garden without being engulfed in plants and bushes!

There's loads of colour in the garden at the moment with the lilies now in flower along with the Loosestrife (Lysimachia) and the St. John's Wort (Hypericum). The yellow of the latter two really brighten up that end of the garden.

We did quite a bit of water management so the huge water butts are now drained as much as possible, using the pump. The water butt at the bottom of the garden is full and the ones near the garage about half full which will, hopefully, be enough for Jenny and Peter to water the pots next week.

I did a Park Watch shift. Two PCSOs arrived at the same time as I did and stayed for about half an hour. It's good to see them about - hopefully it will mean the yobs think twice before getting up to mishief.

I caught up with Jacqui and Peitra then Diane arrived and we walked round together. There was hardly any rubbish so a good shift, all in all.

Jonathon went to London for a photo shoot not long after I got back so I did some watering of pots etc. then shut everything up for the night and did the ironing.

22 June

No blue skies this morning - it even drizzled for a while which made a nice change. I went for a walk alongside the River Cray and across the fields (public footpath). One part of the footpath was completely impassable so I took the longer route instead. Called into the gym on the way back then went home.

I ticked a few more things off my To Do list, including checking the itinerary for the big holiday to Costa Rica, packing, watering everything that needed to be watered using a watering can, sorting out the potatoes (last of the Swifts now up) and doing the big Times crossword.

I did an extra Park Watch / Litter Picking stint until the meet and greet with the police which started at 6 p.m. There were a few of us joined up (more than in the photo) but we split into two groups because there were some trouble makers in the park and we wanted to keep an eye on them. They were known to Matt (PCSO) so he had a word with them and they left after a while. The other local police officers / PCSOs were not able to attend because there was too much trouble kicking off in Bromley so they'd had to go there instead.

The park had been busy during the day (the sun came out just before lunchtime) so there was a lot of litter for me to collect.

23 June

I went for a lovely, woodland walk this morning before going to the gym (didn't need to do much at all when I got there because I'd walked quite a long way!)

Got all packed up and a load of jobs done before heading off to Yorkshire.

The roads were quite busy in places so the journey took a while. We stopped at OK Diner for dinner then called in at Mum's to get her to sign a letter for the bank and a form for the building society that I'll deliver tomorrow morning.

Jonathon had some photo work to do on his computer so we didn't venture out again once we'd got to the Knaresborough Inn.

24 June

Went for a walk before breakfast - decided to go alongside the River Nidd today then up into the town centre for my paper and some fruit.

Breakfast was nothing special (as usual here) then it was time for me to go to Harrogate to visit Mum's bank and building society. That all seemed to go well.

While I was doing that, Jonathon was getting two rear tyres to his car - quite a productive morning.

We went to Daleside Nurseries in Killinghall and managed to get a couple of new watering cans (red ones this time) using a garden voucher Mum had given me a while ago.

Next stop was Betty's cafe at RHS Harlow Carr for a snack lunch (their rarebit scones are yummy!)

Jonathon took himself off to the bird hide while I had a walk around the lovely gardens. By then, a few clouds had gathered so it was quite sticky but less burning than the morning.

25 June

My early morning walk was to Jacob Smith Park. I spotted this beautiful, unusual rose on the way there.

The park was lovely as always with plenty of dog walkers to say hello to and one spaniel that particularly wanted a scruffle!

I walked home via the pretty village of Old Scriven then followed a couple of country lanes before going back to the hotel.

I went to see Mum and fix the water butt that hadn't been working for a while. Having emptied the water out (into the other water butt or onto the garden), it was only the tap that was blocked up so quite an easy job and all done. I caught up with the filing while I was there.

We were planning to go to The Quirky Farm Bistro for lunch, only to find it was closed (because it was Tuesday) so we went to Baltzersen's instead - a successful Plan B.

From there, I went to see Dad. He continues to go downhill quite fast. I'd like to think he was vaguely aware that I was there when he opened his eyes but I couldn't really say. He managed a couple of sips of tea when one of the carers brought him a drink but then went straight back to sleep. I stayed about an hour then left him in peace.

Dinner was at The Tannin Level which we now think is our favourite restaurant in Harrogate!

26 June

My morning walk was alongside the River Nidd then back via the market place to get fruit to take to Christine's. It was a bit cooler today and not as sticky so much better for walking. Some of the gardens along the walk were lovely, especially where they had plants growing out of the walls. It's always nice to see the rabbits in their favourite orchard as well (not sure I'd think the same if they were eating my produce!)

Jonathon dropped me off on the A1079 and I walked down to Christine's farm while he went to Pocklington to get cheese for lunch to go with the fruit. It all seemed to go down well.

The next part of today's plan was to go see Angela and family but she phoned to let me know that Jessica wasn't at all well so we shouldn't go there in case we caught whatever it is she's got. The doctor took one look at her and thought it might be meningitis so sent her to A&E. Thankfully, it was diagnosed as a nasty bug so they medicated her and sent her home for Angela to take care of. We still dropped the magazines round that we had for Jess so she can read them when she's feeling better.

Jonathon had also bought cheese for Mum, Jenny and Peter (cat feeders) and us so I dropped that at Mum's and found space in her fridge for it over night. I crept around like a mouse in case Mum was having her afternoon nap but then found out she wasn't at home. I remembered she was going to see Dad today. When she got home, Mum reported that Dad was in much better fettle today - they'd played dominoes and Dad had asked to go to the afternoon activities as Mum was leaving - very different to yesterday.

We went to Two Brothers in Knaresborough for tea - quite tasty, especially the small pizza that Jonathon had.

27 June

Had a lovely walk this morning along Hay-a-Park Lane and the public footpath circular route in that area. Walked through a cattle field - they were (as always) quite curious but we left each other along.

We drove back home (journey wasn't too bad for queues) and came back to a pond with very low water so whatever Terry had done on Tuesday hadn't fixed the problem. With no water butt water left, we had to top it up with tap water. Terry suggested turning the filter off to make sure it wasn't that so let's see where it looks like tomorrow.

With lovely weather, the washing was done, dried and put away!

28 June

Yoga and treadmill to start today then we delivered a couple of old printers to Beckenham for a school project.

Did a couple of hours of gardening round the pond after dinner so it looks a bit tidier now.

Terry had told us to switch the filter off in case that was leaking - matter of trial and error to try and work out what's wrong. Even though the pond didn't seem to have lost any water overnight, we topped it up again and measured it as part of our monitoring.

29 June

I'd filled up most of my garden sacks so Jonathon said he'd do a tip run (or two) to clear them. I carried all the bags to the front drive before I went to the gym.

Jo told me that her runner beans are thriving. Unfortunately, the same can't be said for ours because black fly has devoured ours, along with our broad beans! Thankfully, we have some peas and carrots, albeit that the carrots are somewhat stumpy which is surprising because they were growing in a tub rather than the ground. Perhaps I've not been watering them enough?

I'd agreed to collect some books from Gill and deliver them to the local parish church for their fete today. She has quite a few to get rid of so I took two bag loads today and Jonathon will collect the rest tomorrow, sort through them and deliver them to a charity shop (or two). When I got to the fete, I spotted a paperback that Jonathon had been looking for for a while so I got that for him to hand on to the person he was wanting it for!

30 June

I finished reading my book then went for a walk before going to the gym so my steps etc. were all done quite early this morning.

Did a couple of hours gardening after dinner then got ready to go to church for Praise and Pastries. That went well with plenty of lovely singing.

1 July

Ela's class to start the morning then met Swati and we went for a walk. She's still not over her operation so we didn't go too far but it was a lovely morning for a stroll.

I worked in the garden after dinner - Oli decided my garden rubbish sack was a good bed so I had to get another one until he moved somewhere else.

Alma came and did the cleaning as normal.

I did my Park Watch / litter picking shift - hardly any litter today. No trouble while I was there but the known teenage troublemakers were lurking around. Hopefully, they didn't cause any trouble once I'd left because there was nobody covering the following shift.

2 July

Back to work today so gym first then off I went. It was dull and grey but Hays Galleria are doing their best to brighten things up!

We had a bit of rain today so I didn't need to water the plants tonight!

3 July

The flower towers in the High Street are looking lovely - I admire them on my way to the gym.

Work was boring: on-line compliance training but at least it's all done for this time so I can do something more interesting next week.

4 July

My stretch target / challenge this month is to double my active calories (against target) for two days. I did it on Monday and decided to make an effort to do it again today so I could forget about it. As a result, I spent an hour on the treadmill after Ela's class so target met!

I walked Mia, Nellie and Tisha - they were pleased to be out and about after being at home all last week (Doris, their other walker was also away). I didn't see Carol because she wasn't well but her carer dealt with the dogs' harnesses and leads etc. so they didn't miss out.

5 July

Election results day. Our local MP was voted back in, albeit with a much lower majority. He's one of the few Conservative MPs now in the House of Commons as we have a change of government (as expected) with Labour taking a landslide victory with a clear majority. It's, apparently, the worst performance by the Conservative party in their entire history. Needless to say, Rishi Sunak has stepped down as their leader. Our new Prime Minister is Sir Kier Starmer - not a prospect I'm looking forward to so I suppose we just have to see how it goes.

In other news, I went to the gym as normal. As it was raining and I knew I wouldn't have much time during the day, I did most of my steps on the treadmill (but no yoga today).

The lilies in the front garden are starting to provide a flower. They flower after the alstromaerias are coming to an end so we have orange in the front garden all summer long.

We met Derek and Maureen at The German Gymnasium for lunch - still the best apfel strudel in London as far as we're concerned.

Had a Skype call with Mum because I'll be busy both tomorrow and Sunday afternoon and then sent Jo B. some Yorkshire phrases etc. for her "cultural" day at work - looking at different British accents / dialects.

I had loads of admin to catch up with so that filled the rest of my day and evening.

6 July

The roses in this week's flowers have come out beautifully - they make the kitchen very pretty!

It was pouring down this morning but that didn't stop the foxes coming for breakfast - they soon scoffed their food up.

Notwithstanding the rain, I had to go and get some potatoes and carrots from the garden for dinner. We are now on Charlottes - very tasty!

I had a quick visit to the gym then came home to have a go at the big crossword and get dinner ready.

The afternoon was Knoll Active Walk time. This time we did the Bromley Common walk that Gilda and I had tested out a couple of weeks ago. It's a lovely walk with plenty to see, including quite a few horses. Despite heavy rain while we were on the bus getting to the start point, the weather dried up as we got off the bus and stayed dry for the rest of our walk. The sun even made an appearance from time to time.

7 July

Went to the gym via Priory Gardens. There were loads of birds there, all being fed by some kind visitors.

Our main activity for today was a visit to Rochester for the Uptown Festival. Jonathon was working (photographing the Kent Soul Choir) and I had a ticket.

We got to Rochester in good time so had lunch at Peggotty's Parlour then I had a nice walk around the City before going to the castle for the festival itself.

We watched Shumba Youth (a reggae artist fform London). About half way through his act the heavens opened and I got drenched.

The choir were on second - they were really good - but the rain simply didn't stop so we decided to call it a day and head home.

We popped into The Cheese Room for coffee and cake before going back to the station. It was lovely to get into dry clothes, put my feet up and have a pot of tea!

8 July

Oli and I were very snug when the alarm went off and I really didn't want to get up and go to Ela's class this morning but it was too late to cancel (needs to be over an hour before) so off I went and struggled through it.

Carol cancelled today's dog walking late last night so I ask Swati if she fancied a walk and off we went - just local today. My hat was still wet from yesterday so I had to find another one for this morning! Everything looks very green with the rain we've had recently.

9 July

Gym then work today.

It rained pretty much all day - not great for July but at least we don't need to worry about the slow leak in the pond with this much water coming from the sky.

Walked via the Tower of London to get to dinner - there are quite a few wild flowers there at present - the predominant colour seems to be yellow!

Mark and I went to Vapiano for dinner - the food was OK but I don't think we'll go there again (expensive for a "cafe" with shared tables).

10 July

Gym and work again today (normal Wednesday). The sun was shining on the way to work so it was a nice work through More London and alongside the Thames.

Work was busy enough to keep me occupied.

Jonathon had a very busy day, up and down to London a couple of times for photo shoots and delivering a ukelele. I saw him as I was coming home from the station and he was going back to town.

11 July

Having cancelled our walk with Woodland Trust (I spoke to Denise who's organising it and decided the walk would be too hard for Jonathon and there was no realistic way for me to get there on public transport), I decided to take full advantage of a free day and catch up with a few bits and bobs.

First was Ela's class (as normal) then Sainsbury's. Saw this card that made me smile, espacially as we had space hoppers for the KRA 50th party!

Next job was to take a whole load of newspapers to Peitra at the Orpington Cat Rescue so I did my walk around that to make sure I got my steps done for the day.

Jonathon and I went to Xi'an for dinner. It was tasty as normal but we were the only customers there.

I had my hair cut at Supercuts (a new hairdressers for me). Sarah was very nice so I'll see what my hair looks like in a few days and go to see her again if I like it.

I did a Park Watch shift this afternoon. There were five youths hanging around (known troublemakers) but they scarpered out of the park as soon as they saw me (they know who I am now). Caught up with Kerry, Alicia and Lizzie so a pretty good shift all in all.

Final job for the day was the ironing so that's now all up to date and everything ticked off the list!

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