2025 Diary - Page 53

12 January

Today seemed to be quite busy. Gym then church as normal for Sunday then I led the Knoll Active Group on a longer than normal walk (10km). It was still fairly chilly but not too bad and only one bit of icy ground to skid on (I was at the front at that point so I could warn them after I'd skidded!). The sun was setting as we walked back towards Orpington.

I chatted with Christine after tea - the weather has improved where she lives so they'd managed to get quite a bit of farm work done and were just about caught up.

13 January

Ela's class first thing then home to take the soft plastic recycling to Tesco and get my paper and make sure everything was ready for Alma coming this afternoon.

Gilda came and we went for a walk and saw the first daffodils of the year. She's been poorly with irregular heart rhythm and very upset becasue her friend Tricia died of a sudden heart attack on Saturday - it's likely the two were related. She seemed fine today and has been told to carry on as normal, just be aware of what her heart rate and blood pressure are doing.

Gilda went to Bromley after lunch and I went to get some bits from Sainsbury's, some books from the YMCA and check with Scott at the Orpington for tomorrow's Knoll gathering. It's very clear that he doesn't cope well with uncertainty but I can't give him a precise number of people because I don't know myself. In the end, I booked a table for 10 and we'll see who turns up.

Chris from across the road brought some pond related stuff - some food that I will probably use and some chemical stuff that I won't!

Alma cleaned the house and the frost started to melt with slightly milder weather. The birds continue to eat a lot so I topped up all their feeders (again).

14 January

The sunrise was spectacular this morning - looked like the sky was on fire in a friendly way!

Went to the gym (but not the circuits class because I didn't have a space on that). We had the inaugural "Chit Chat" meeting for the Knoll Group at the Orpington. 10 of us turned up so that went well. A square or round table would have been better but there aren't many cafes in Orpington that can provide that. Mike brought some booklets about Bromley's history so I put those up on the History WhatsApp group and, within moments, Duncan had said he'd like them so they were in and out very quickly.

Cleared out some clothes from my wardrobe and cupboards and took them to YMCA then did a bit of food shopping at Sainsbury's.

Vixie seems to be recovering well from her mange attack. Her fur is growing back and she's a lot livelier in herself. If only Skitsi would reappear so I can give him some medicine - he was in a bad way last time I saw him. I fear he might have been driven away by the big male fox that seems to be in our garden everyday now.

Met Gilda, Caroline and Wendy-Jo for a Girls' Night Out at Cote. Nicola and Marion cancelled for illness and plumber problems so there were only the four of us.

I went to London a bit earlier than I needed to so I could have a walk alongside the Thames before dinner with it being such a lovely dry and mild evening.

15 January

A few of the Flamingos flocked to the gym this morning for our own made-up circuits session. Great fun as we used the Functional Area so there was hardly anyone else in there.

Dropped a load of old newspapers round to Peitra for Orpington Cat Rescue.

Met Mark at Chislehurst Station and walked back through to Orpington, a bit of a wiggly route.

The biggest surprise of the day was when Oli decided to sit on my knee for a few minutes. Mark was sitting in Jonathon's chair and he went to him for a second or two first then moved to me. It's the first time he's sat on my knee in the 8 years he's been with us!

Gilda, Mark and I went to Ephesus for dinner then joined Ginny, Jane and Swati at the Cricketers for the monthly quiz and came third with 40/62 - not too bad and we even scored some points on the music round (10/20).

16 January

Ela's circuits to start the day. Sainsbury's to stock up on fruit. Dog walking - it's really hard to get a decent photo of Tisha because she spends the whole walk sniffing the ground to cathc up with the local canine news.

Jonathon came home in the afternoon and booked appointments for us with the Practice Nurse to discuss vaccinations for our trip to Costa Rica for when we get back from Yorkshire.

17 January

There were quite a few of us at yoga this morning which made Kevin happy.

I joined June and the others for a walk round Belair and Dulwich Parks.

Had my hair cut in the afternoon then Jonathon went out to do a photo shoot while I stayed at home.

18 January

I delivered a load of glass ramekins to Alicia for Greenwich Wildlife Network then went to the gym.

I led a walk from Chislehurst back to Orpington after dinner. There were 12 of us in total (plus Benji) so a good crowd. We tried to keep to a decent pace because it was quite chilly. We came back to Orpington via Jubilee Park and Crofton Wood to ensure we could enjoy a bit of greenery.

19 January

Did quite a few steps at the gym today because I wasn't sure how else I'd hit my daily target.

Church was fun. We had the service in a cafe type arrangement with crafts through the service. The main task was to colour / decorate a tree using bits and pieces provided to us. I made mine into a family tree. We then attached a "money box" to the back of it to collect money for charity. I'm not sure how long the tube will stay attached to the tree because it's attached with a small sticky square but the idea was good.

Had a Skype call with Mum. She's still not very well but is starting to get better.

Caught up with Christine so we know what our instructions are for the weekend and her party.

20 January

I got to the gym for the 6.45 a.m. class only to be told it had been cancelled because Ela wasn't very well. Did some gym work then came home.

James and George arrived to tidy up the pyracantha and do a few other bits and pieces - they weren't here long but it looks a lot tidier.

Jonathon and I went to the Orpington for brunch - we share a set breakfast between us with one extra "main" and that seems to work quite well. While we were there, Carol contacted me to ask if I'd be willing to lead a walk for VE80 in May (of course, if she gives me a list of places the walk should visit).

I came across this puppy on my way to Orpington Cat Rescue. I guess it had escaped from home because he had no collar on. Thankfully a postman and a dog walker helped catch him and I left it with them to call the police. At least I know I stopped him from running onto the main road.

I put all the empty garden rubbish sacks back into the shed and admired the lovely sunset.

St. John's Worship Group was my final job for the day. Our new minister, Sohail, joined the meeting for the first time. He seems very enthusiastic about everything so it should be an interesting few years.

21 January

I got a space at the 9 a.m. circuits class today so went to that. Our main activity for today was lunch at The Ivy, Tower Bridge. I'd accumulated a lot of points on mmy loyalty card, half of which were due to expire on 26 January and it seemed a shame not to use them. In the end, our delicious lunch cost us nothing other than a tip for our lovely waiter. Jonathon had their signature dish, shepherd's pie, and I had plant-based rendang curry - yummy!

I mapped and measured a London walk while I was in town. I took a train to Charing Cross, walked through to St. James's Park, across the front of Buckingham Palace and into Green Park then wiggled a route through Mayfair and Soho. It was feeding time for the pelicans in St. J's Park so lots of activity and they were very close to the path.

I've no idea what the carriage was for but it looked pretty! I used someone else's walk for part of the route - it seemed unnecessarily complicated so I'll need to tidy it up a bit before I lead the Knoll Group on that way otherwise I'm in danger of losing some of them.

22 January

Met some of the Flamingos at the gym and did a bit of exercise followed by some recumbent cycling. It was really misty and murky getting there.

I walked Mia, Nellia and Tisha today because we are going to Yorkshire tomorrow.

Met Gilda at Charing Cross and walked up to the Gielgud Theatre to see a fantastic production of Oliver.

23 January

No gym today because Jonathon wanted to leave home at a reasonably early hour to get to Yorkshire in the daylight and, hopefully, nab a decent parking space. The ploy worked because we got our favourite space in the corner with plenty of room for the Audi's length and room to open the doors!

The drive to Harrogate was fairly uneventful and. as we were there mid afternoon, I had a walk around, albeit in the dark. The window dressing one of the local opticians made me smile.

24 January

Up before dawn (but not too early) so I could go for a wander before breakfast. The moon was still visible and the strong winds from Storm Eowyn were already blowing in gusts. I managed to stay upright but had to stop a few times to steady myself against it.

The hotel is really quiet so breakfast was cooked to order - made a nice change.

I went to see Dad and check the finance position with Jakub. Dad was on pretty good form (for him) and managed to beat me at dominoes 4-0 with very little assistance.

We went to see Mum who is definitely recovering from her bout of flu but has a way to go before she'll be 100% again. She was up and about but quite tired today.

We went to The Tannin Level for early dinner - delicious as always Jonthon's orange pavlova was a pretty large meringue!!

25 January

Went to Bilton for my early morning walk today. Yet another wedding dress shop! It was good to see the fox mural still there.

26 January

A shorter early morning walk today so I just went round the Valley Gardens then back to the hotel.

We popped into Mum's to start downloading a new computer system for her and left that running while we went to Harlow Carr.

It was freezing at Harlow Carr! We called into Betty's for drinkings on the way in so Jonathon could have his hot chocolate and I could have my rarebit scone.

Jonathon did the Big Garden Birdwatch hour in the bird hide while I had a good wander round. We got to the car before the heavy rain started so didn't get too wet.

27 January

I decided to walk to Knaresborough this morning. It would be a shame to go to Yorkshire and not visit the Nidd. I walked along the A59 through Starbeck becuase I decided the more country way through Bilton would be far too muddy and I wasn't sure enough of the route to walk it in the dark.

Having checked out, we started our long journey home. It was going fine until we got close to the M25 and there'd been an accident on the slip road from the M11 so we ended up about 2 hours later getting home than we had anticipated.

Alma had been in so the house was lovely and clean to come back to and Oli had been well cared for in our absence by Jenny and Peter so all was good when we got home.

28 January

Back to normal(ish) today. Unpacked and put everything away, first lot of washing done and a lovely hot, strong shower had before I went to the gym.

The scaffolders came to put up the scaffolding so Whites can mend our cockeyed chimney early February. The man from Whites came to do his survey later in the day.

Jonathon returned the borrower speaker and I collected some old towels from a neighbour to take to Orpington Cat Rescue when I have time. The bird feeders were all restocked but I haven't seen a single fox since we got back home.

29 January

I joined a few of the flamingos at the gym and had a quick catch up with them.

Delighted to report that one of our regular fox visitors has reappeared and is looking a bit better following the medicine we gave her recently.

A few leaves had blown into the porch while we were away so I swept them up.

I met Mark for walk in London and enjoyed an early dinner at Obica in Poland Street.

I saw the goose (I think a Hawaiian Goose) in St. James's Park - I haven't seen one before so that was a nice surprise.

It was dark by the time we'd finished eating so Trafalgar Square was prettily lit up when I walked through on the way back to Charing Cross.

Margaret emailed to let me know that John had died last week. He's been poorly for a while. His funeral will be on the 24th of February in Croydon.

30 January

Today was beautifully sunny and it was even quite warm in the sun - a lovely Spring feel to the day.

I didn't go to Ela's early circuits class but went to her 9 a.m. Tabata class and survived - phew!

I had a load of jobs to do on my list. My potato sets arrived yesterday so they are now in their chitting trays - first job for the day.

I walked past the "proper" gym on the way home - pleased to see the refurbishment work seems well underway.

Jonathon went to do a photo shoot in the evening while I sat at home and put my feet up.

31 January

No yoga for me today because I was still asleep. I did some cycling at the gym instead then joined June's Friday walk. I left the walk part way through as I had yet more errands to run and walked through different streets to reach my destinations so saw some different things! One of my jobs was delivering the wool hearts to Francis Chappell.

When I got back, Jonathon was at the dentist. He'll need to go back for some treatment on a cracked tooth after our holiday.

1 February

Did a few jobs around home then went to the gym for a little while.

Took the Knoll Active group to London today - St. James's Park, Green Park, Mayfair, Carnaby Street and Soho. The pelicans were posing very nicely and everyone said they enjoyed exploring some of the lesser known squares and courts in their home city.

There were a couple of demonstration marches in London today and, although we could hear some of the chanting / shouting they didn't cause us any problems. There were loads of police everywhere so we were quite safe.

Trafalgar Square was being decorated in readiness for the Chinese New Year procession. There were a few floats, pretty lights and a lot of Chinese people - all very colourful. Needless to say, we didn't stay for the event but scooted ome before it got really busy.

2 February

It was a bright and frosty morning and a bit slippy on the way to the gym. I did Shreena's Body Pump class because it was a no-church day for me. There were no treadmills free after the class so I walked a longer way around to Tesco for my paper.

We fancied pies from Marks and Spencer for lunch so I walked to Nugent to get those and popped into Pret for a couple of treats as well.

Had a Skype call with Mum - she was much better this week.

I went for a short walk to finish my steps (and admire the sunset) then phoned Christine to get chapter and verse re the sale of her milk round business. It's all happened so fast I don't think she knows if she's coming or going.

3 February

Got up early to join Ela's circuits class (how on earth did I get up that early 4 days a week when I was working??).

Gilda came over and we went for a walk, It was a new route and I wasn't that happy with it so will have to thiknk of another one for the weekend.

I was invited to join Stephanie, Chris and Tim for our end of year dinner (we didn't get around to it in December). As it was a nice evening, I walked from London Bridge to the office. I had a few minutes to spare so I popped into the Tate Modern to have another look at the gruesome installation by Mire Lee. Most of them mean nothing to me but I liked the ones that looked like a ghost and this one that was nicely lit up.

Jonathon was at Smithfield for a photo shoot and, coincidentally, we met on the train on way home.

4 February

I didn't wake up until 7.30 a.m. (very tired after all my activity yesterday). I quickly checked the gym app and was really pleased to find someone had cancelled their space at circuits so I booked that and went along there.

We went to Boots to check whether we need malaria tablets etc. for Costa Rica. The pharmacist confirmed that there was no need based on our itinerary so that's a tick in the box.

I tried out a different variation of the walk for the weekend and am now satisfied that it is interesting enough (and about the right length) for a local walk.

I spent a while on the phone with the Department of Work and Pensions to try and work out how they had got to the calculation for Mum's pension credit. Apparently she should have had a second letter with the calculation on it. If it's not received by the end of this week, I'll have to call again next week.

I spoke to John Castle to discuss the order of service for church on Sunday - I'm covering for Lesley this week because she's having an operation.

5 February

I had to wait at home until I'd had a phone call with the GP's Practice Nurse this morning to discuss jabs needed for Costa Rica. Thankfully, she rang quite early so I didn't have to wait too long. I popped to Tesco first because there was an earliest time in the slot - the sunrise was lovely.

I went to the gym and did treadmill to get a few steps done.

I spent a bit of the afternoon tidying up in the garden, supervised by our new fox visitor and a very keen robin. I think the robin enjoyed his feast of bugs that I was digging up / disturbing.

Met Jo and Carol for dinner. Unfortunately, Sindhu's Mum died recently so she's in India and couldn't join us. Jo and I walked the scenic way round to get to the restaurant even though it was a bit dark. We went to Bank in Locksbottom, a new restaurant for me to try. It was very nice - lovely food and great service.

Carol works close by there so she gave us a lift home - a nice surprise.

6 February

Got up early for Ela's circuits class and saw the sunrise on the way home. I didn't have time for treadmill because Whites were due to arrive to fix the swek chimney but we weren't sure what time they would arrive so I came home to make sure one of us could answer the door if they arrived before 9 a.m.

They were very busy (and noisy) all day. but the chimney is now shorter and firmly braced so it should be safe for a long time from now. They also checked the other chimney stack and confimed that that one is OK.

I did some gardening in the afternoon and was pleased to see our snowdrops are putting on a good show.

7 February

Yoga and gym to start the day.

The weather was awful while we were getting ready to go into London to meet Derek and Maureen for lunch - we could hear the hailstones coming down and then they looked like mini blocks of ice as they landed. Very cold!

Lunch was at Manicomio in Duke of York Square, off Kings Road. Derek and I both had the cod - yummy! The statue was called "Lobster Flower" and was, apparently, one of a series of statues in that area but it was too cold to wander round and look at any of the others.

8 February

Did my usual Saturday morning jobs at home before venturing to the gym. It was busy but I managed to get on to a treadmill for a while. Rather than wait for the cross trainer I decided to go check out an alleyway for tomorrow's walk.

I noticed that the yellow lines had been repainted outside our house - at least most of them. Perhaps a vehicle was parked there (illegally) when the painters were here so they missed that bit. I reported it to the council so, hopefully, that bit will be painted soon.

Had my weekly Skype call with Mum. She's much better now and busy doing things again.

We went to Ashcroft Theatre in Crodon to see The Chicago Blues Brothers Band - they were on excellent form.