2024 Diary - Page 46

12 July

Ela's class to start the day then a quick burst of treadmill before getting ready for tennis. This was the inaugural tennis session for the Knoll Residents' Association and Anne, June and I had a lot of fun, albeit that I'm pretty sure we won't be called by Wimbledon!

Rachel popped round to return a book she'd borrowed about a year ago about 2.30 p.m. but she was working from home so couldn't stop any longer.

I spent the afternoon gardening, 3.5 hours in total, so it looks a bit tidier and there are quite a few more rubbish bags for Jonathon to take to the tip.

13 July

I decided to have a less physical day today because I was aching a bit from yesterday's exertions!

First job was delivering the newsletters - my round is only 27 houses so quite easy.

I went to the gym and did a few weights and a bit of cycling but nothing too strenuous.

Jane, Jo and I went to The Oval to see England Ladies beat New Zealand. England were by far the superior team for this T20 match. They won within 11 overs with 7 wickets to spare.

It was Jo's first time at a cricket match and she enjoyed it so would be happy to go again (basically if I organise it!!)

This was my second of three Knoll activities for this weekend - the first time I'd organised a trip to the cricket so, hopefully, it will be something to do again in the future.

14 July

Started today with a walk through Priory Gardens on the way to the gym. It was lovely and quiet!

Church was Parade Sunday and led by the Scouts and one of their leaders. We had the bonus of a slightly early finish so back home in good time.

Jonathon had gone off to a photo shoot by the time I got home from church so I had a quick lunch and then spent a while in the garden. Clearly Vixie needed a sleep - she was enjoying the sunshine.

Today's gardening jobs were basically tidying up: weeding, gathering the windfall apples up (no good for eating), especially those off the pond netting and in the pond and pruning some of the bushes etc. round the patio. It looks a lot tidier now.

Led the Knoll Active gang on a shorter, local walk today so we could all get back for the UEFA Cup Final (England vs. Spain). We had a new dog today (Teddy) who'd brought his human (Ren) with him.

England lost 2-1 but Spain were the better team so deserved to win.

15 July

Busy day again today!

Ela's class first then we piled into BR6 Brasserie for Judy's birthday breakfast. I only had a pot of tea - the others had a drink and birthday cake! Breakfast was only a decoy - the real "party" is dinner tonight.

Gilda came over and we got the latest batch of tickets bought for Sadlers Wells then went for a nice walk. I was supposed to be measuring the distance but, for some reason, the app didn't work so I'm not exactly sure how far we went but I guess about 7+ km / 5 miles.

We met Jonathon at The Orpington for lunch. It was supposed to be a snack for me but the BLT was pretty huge so I came home fuller than I was intending!

Did my usual Park Watch shift. No trouble makers today but loads of litter and the bins were overflowing. I reported the bins to the council and collected as much litter as I could.

Judy's party in the evening at A Mano was a great success. She was totally stunned and took quite a few minutes to come to terms with what was happening but soon got into the swing of things.

Sharon had sorted out the decorations - cowboy theme this time - so we all had pink cowboy hats, pink glasses and sheriff badges to wear. Jo had brought a couple of large balloons (6 and 5) and Janet had made birthday buns to have as dessert.

16 July

Not much to report today.

I realised on my way to the gym that I'd forgotten to top up the bird feeders yesterday so did that when I got home. I couldn't get the garage door to close so left that for Jonathon to deal with.

Work was reasonably busy so the day went OK.

Met Gilda, Julie, Caroline and Marion for dinner at Zizzi near Tower Bridge and had a good catch up with them.

17 July

Gym then work. I spent most of today on Webex calls so that kept me out of mischief!

Got home to find Vixie and her three cubs having a lovely playtime in the garden. They really like the longer grass.

Our yellow rose at the front is flowering beautifully for the second time this year so that's a treat.

Carol phoned to cancel dog walking tomorrow because she has an medical appointment

Pub quiz in the evening. As usual, we did really badly in the music round so didn't do very well overall.

18 July

Ela's circuits class to start the day then cross training and treadmill to get most of my steps done.

These lovely yellow flowers are on a bush outside Tapi Carpets Head Office, between the gym and Tesco.

Oli has been my shadow today - he found a comfy place in my shed while I was working on the veg beds at that end of the garden (nice and cool on such a hot day). He sat with me in the shade of the sun umbrella while I had my lunch and he decided to join in my catch up chat with Christine - such a busy puss cat.

Ning came and collected some garden canes for her peas and return the red triangle that she'd borrowed a while ago.

I dead-headed the front roses then went to do a Park Watch shift. It was lovely and quiet, no trouble and not too much litter.

Jonathon was on an all-day photo shoot for a famous jazz trumpet player so we had dinner when he got home (about 7 p.m.) then I put my feet up and watched television while Jonathon worked on his photos.

19 July

No gym today - I went for a lovely, early walk instead. The woods are now almost dried up for the summer so I could go on a path or two that I've been having to avoid.

There's a garden between our house and the River Cray that has sunflowers - they are lovely every year but this one looked spectacular with the summer morning sunshine on it.

Played tennis with Anne. The only court we could get was outside so it was boiling hot - probably too hot really. We made sure we stopped for water now and then. I was very grateful she offered me a lift home.

I spent most of the afternoon gardening (shade chasing) so yet another bag of rubbish is ready for Jonathon to take to the tip!

Went into London to meet Nicola for her birthday dinner. We ate at Browns near Covent Garden - lovely food.

I arrived in London a bit earlier than needed and had a mooch around Trafalgar Square first.

20 July

Today was all about the Marvellous Festival, near Reading. We had a great line up of tribute artists with Adele, Blondie, U2, George Michael, Bon Jovi, Phil Collins and the Chicago Blues Brothers Band. It was a fantastic day, the weather stayed dry and not too hot. We were shattered when we got home but I'd definitely burnt a few calories off!

We were expecially pleased so see the "cook them while you wait" donut stand was there - yummy. As an extra bonus, the food offering was excellent with loads of choice and variety.

Oh, and I went to the gym before we did all that!!

It's always fun catching Jonathon in action!

Chris reckoned there were about 6,000 people in the crowd - it was very busy!

21 July

Hardly surprising that I had a sleep in this morning. Oli arrived on my bed about 5.30 a.m. and we snuggled down together until about 8 a.m. when he decided he'd waited for breakfast long enough. Rather than pester me, he went and curled up in the new box I have for Christine's stuff until I got up half an hour later.

Needless to say, there was no time to go to the gym before church so that had to wait until after dinner.

Had a Skype call with Mum. She's got a nasty flu type bug. She's not tested for Covid so no idea if it's that or not.

I was checking where we were while they all got lined up for this photo.

22 July

A lovely start to the day with coffee and croissants at Jo's house after circuits at the gym. Coco was at Jo's and came and snuggled up to me when I sat on the sofa - what a treat.

Alma came early - her last visit for a while because she's going on holiday this weekend for a fortnight.

I went to Priory Gardens to do Park Watch and some pick up some litter. It was nice and quiet - possibly because the police had arrested 3 hoodlums and chased 2 others out of the park earlier in the afternoon.

I popped into Fiesta Mexicana on the way back home to book a table for the next Mud Appreciation Society's dinner. I tried to do that last week but it was chaos in there so decided to try again today. The manager was very apologetic that he'd been busy last week and offered me a drink in compensation (I declined!).

23 July

A quick visit to the gym before work. Lovely to see some of my Gardeners' Delight tomatoes are now ready to eat.

Work was quite busy because our three graduate trainees are learning a new system so I've been helping / training them. A couple of them have already been using the input screens for a little while but the approach has been changed so they are re-learning. The other one is completely new to the system so he needs a bit more TLC.

Mark and I tried out a new restaurant tonight - Obica, St. Paul's. It was yummy (a big relief because that's where I've booked for our next lunch with Derek and Maureen).

I was a bit early so I had a wander around the western part of The City. We'll be moving offices to that area in a couple of months so I'll have plenty of time to explore when we move there.

24 July

Gym then work. Work was pretty busy because I was teaching the grads in between meetings so that kept me well out of mischief.

Popped over the road to water their garden and pick some beans for our dinner tomorrow. I was duly supervised by Oli who didn't quite understand why he wasn't allowed in through their back door. Apparently he often tries to sneak in.

Jonathon helped Bob (next door) sort out his solar panel water convertor thingy by speaking with Chelsfield Solar (who we use). Bob mentioned that his bone cancer has now reached his skull so it's from top to bottom - just a matter of time. He's amazingly cheerful and upbeat for someone in that situation.

25 July

Today turned out to be quite busy!

Ela's circuits class to start with then a quite burst on the treadmill.

Next job was walking Nellie, Mia and Tisha. I was shocked to see how much Carol had deteriorated since I last saw her even though I knew she'd been poorly.

She'd asked me not take the dogs across grass so we had a slightly different route today which meant I went past these lovely roses a few times.

I took a fold up chair to Jo's after dinner and popped to WH Smith for cards and Boots for some bits and pieces. Jo and Irene are going to watch the Olympics opening ceremony tomorrow night on a big screen somewhere but only had one chair between then so they're borrowing one of ours.

Next job was Park Watch. On the way there was a strong smell of gas so I alerted the street occupants who immediately called the gas people (they are doing extensive gas works on Broomhill) who came out really quickly to sort out the leak! Good job I didn't ignore it.

Park Watch was pretty busy. All the big gates were closed (apparently to stop travellers moving in having been evicted from a nearby recreation ground) but there were a couple of small gates open so I could still get in.

There were a group of five teenagers (known trouble makers) so I had a quick chat with them. They asked me if I'd taken their photo while they were in the peninsula (I hadn't but I was pleased they didn't ask me about after they'd left there!). They split into two groups and didn't cause trouble so all good.

Another couple of lads (new to me) were "herding" the geese until they saw me moving towards them then they also left.

Three younger kids were chasing the geese but their mum stopped them when I asked her to!

A tiny dog decided to chase the geese - his owner called him back then had a chat with me to apologise. To be fair, he was in the "dogs allowed" area but they are still supposed to be under control if there are birds around.

On top of all that, there was loads of rubbish to be collected so, all in all, it kept me well out of mischief for the 90 minutes I was there.

26 July

Yoga first then met up with some of the Knoll Active walkers for a walk led by June and her dog, Benji. Ren brought Teddy as well and they had a great time playing with each other. We had a lovely walk through Crofton Woods and Jubilee Country Park. We didn't put June off too much because she's offered to lead another walk next week.

Not sure what the air ambulance was at JCP for and we didn't want to disturb them to ask.

Met Jonathon at Aqua for lunch.

Caught up with the ironing and did a tiny bit of gardening.

Watered all our pots and veg then watered Chris and Hilary's garden.

Jonathon had a health(y) day - Loretta his foot care person in the morning and dentist in the afternnon.

Met with a few others in the evening to have a walk round Priory Gardens with Matt and Millie, our local PCSOs. They are planning to do these walk-arounds every couple of weeks.

27 July

Decided to wash all our bedding today because it was lovely and sunny. Once I'd done that I had a quick trip to the gym then took Jonathon's shoes into the cobblers. It was about an hour's walk to the cobblers and they were really helpful. I've left his shoes with them to try and work some magic but, really, they are coming to the end of their useful life!

Cleaned all the bird baths and bird feeders after dinner so they're nice and tidy again.

Had a Skype call with Mum - she was really chatty today. She's had a busy week so had plenty to talk about.

I was intending to go to Tesco to stock up the freezer meat but my phone was nearly out of juice so thought I'd do a bit of gardening while it charged up. I got a bit carried away and eventually came in from the garden at 7.15 p.m. so Tesco will have to wait for another day! The front garden looks a lot tidier so that's a bonus.

Bad news from Priory Gardens today. One of the Egyptian geese has been shot. It's still alive but in shock. It was taken to a rescue centre very quickly so hopefully it will make a good recovery but it won't be returned to PG because it's not a native species.

28 July

Festival Day again today. This time we only had to go as far as Blackheath which should have been an easy train jounrney to Lewisham and walk but there was rail engineering work on that route so it was a bit more convoluted.

Before all that excitement, it was gym and church as normal for a Sunday morning.

29 July

I'd cancelled my space at Ela's class because I wasn't sure how tired I would be after the festival yesterday. In the end, I got up as the class was finishing!

I did go to the gym but didn't stay long because Gilda was due to arrive about 10 a.m. to test out a new walk, involving a bus journey to the start.

However ... before long, all my plans were scuppered!

I did my weekly Covid test and, despite having no symptoms, the test was positive. I did a second one using a test kit provided by pbb (even though the pack was out of date). Still negative. No work for me this week then and no Gilda visit either.

Jonathon went to Boots and bought some new test kits - still negative so I'll have to accept it.

Thankfully, the rules aren't quite as stringent as they used to be so I can still go out and about, they just ask you not to go into shops or enclosed spaces. If you have to, wear a mask. No problem as Jonathon does most of the shopping anyway.

As luck would have it, Alma is on holiday this week (and next) so I had plenty of time to do some of the cleaning, as well as yet more laundry.

Made a risotto for lunch and did my usual shift at Park Watch. It was really, really hot!

Had a lovely stroll round our garden to get some steps done and noticed the Manchester Commonwealth rose has another perfect flower.

Watered the pots and food beds then watched the sunset while I caught up with Christine.

30 July

Had a good night's sleep and got up early but, obviously, couldn't go to the gym so went for a nice, cool, early walk instead. Went through Poverset Park, Covet Wood and Crofton and Sparrow Woods. It was the only time of the day I would have managed it because the temperature rose above 30C today - far too hot for Oli and me!

Covid and heat don't mix very well at all. Although I'm still not feeling poorly, there were times when I coughed and coughed and felt really bunged up and other times when I felt fine.

I didn't do much at all for the rest of the day - crossword, reading, drining lots of tea, sitting in the shade etc.

I went inside and gave the kitchen a good clean when next door's gardener came and started using his usual power tools - noisy man. By the time I'd done that and got my tuna salad ready he'd left so at least I could eat outside in peace.

I waited for the heat to die down a bit then mowed the cross back into the grass but that was about it for me today.

Jonathon, on the other hand, was in London all day at the famous Abbey Road Studios with Daisy Chute. One to tick off his bucket list.

31 July

Another early-ish, solo walk. The weather was very sticky this morning so I was pleased when a breeze got up later in the day. Today's walk was to Tubbenden Meadows and Darrick & Newstead Woods then home via Crofton and Sparrow Woods but just the edge of those today.

It's always nice to walk in the countryside but also good to have a nosy in other people's gardens and see what kind of pretty flowers they are growing!

We had leeks from our garden for dinner today. These are some that I'd grown in the recycling box and they were really tasty. They've done a lot better than those in the garden so I think I'll grow some like this again next year.

Today's Covid cleaning exercise was my bedroom so that got a thorough going over. I also went through my jewellery and put all the pieces that I'm not likely to wear any more into a bag for Jonathon to take to the YMCA shop.

I did a bit of gardening when it cooled down and did another Covid test just to check. It was still positive but very faintly today so hopefully I'm coming out of it.

1 August

It's Yorkshire Day today so here's a White Rose.

I struggled to get to sleep last night so woke up a bit later this morning. It was drizzling when I left the house for my morning walk but stopped before I'd reached the end of the next street then stayed dry and muggy for the rest of my sweaty walk!

I decided to conjure up the next charity clue walk so headed off to Goddington Park and Chelsfield Recreation Ground hunting for potential clues. The walk was about 5 miles / 8 km so the right length, ending at The Maxwell for a change.

I got caught by Bob next door on the way back. He's remarkably cheerful for someone who's very poorly. His only concern is going "gaga" so he's getting all his affairs in order just in case.

Jonathon went to the local health centre to have his ears syringed. He can hear again now which is a great relief.

Tested again - still positive (grrr).

Spent the afternoon doing admin stuff. Theatre membership renewed, our accounts balanced, Mum and Dad's accounts balanced and the photos on my phone sorted into albums with lots deleted.

The forecast had promised us thunderstorms today from 4 p.m. It got stickier and stickier but we managed to have our tea outside then packed everything up and went inside just in case.

The thinder started about 6.45 p.m. then the strong wind and heavy rain about 15 minutes later. Hopefully, our water butts will be full soon but the gutters aren't coping as I write!

2 August

The storm last night didn't last very long in the end so the water butts aren't completely full this morning but better than they were and the garden had a good drink.

Stayed in bed to finish my book then got up and ready to go on a nice long walk in Petts Wood and Hawkwood Estate (a local National Trust property). It felt like walking through a temperate rain forest with the damp from last night - my glasses kept steaming up! It was quite misty when I started out so made for pretty views, as did the heather which was in flower.

I came across a lovely female stag beetle so reported that into PTES. I also found a new bear, a bird watcher this time - I didn't even know this one was there until I stumbled across him.

Had a Skype catch up with Mum. She's had a busy day with ears and doctor's appointment so was tired and ready for a rest.

Moved all the garden rubbish to the front of the house ready for Jonathon to take to the tip tomorrow then did a couple of hours gardening (to fill another couple of bags!)

Still testing positive but the red T line was very faint today.

3 August

Harrah - my Covid test was negative this morning so I'm back in circulation.

First job was to drop off a load of old newspapers to Peitra then went to the gym for the first time in a few days.

The main job for today was collecting for Marie Curie with Kerry. I think we did OK - this time we were based downstairs at Tesco and people were quite generous.

While I was doing that, Jonathon was driving to and from the green tip to clear all the garden rubbish.

After lunch with Jonathon at A Mano I suddenly felt really tired so sat with a pot of tea and my crossword for a while until I'd recovered then did a load of gardening and filled up one of the sacks Jonathon had emptied earlier.

Carole sent a photo through of George from his birthday earlier this week. There was another little boy in the photo and Carole asked if Jonathon could remove the stranger. Duly done and returned to Carole who is delighted.

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