2025 Diary - Page 60

2 July

Decided to do most of my steps on the treadmill today - it was drizzling when I went to the gym but didn't last long. Better than nothing but not by much and at least it was cooler today!

I hosted a Chit Chat Gathering at A Mano. 9 people (including me) turned up so a pretty decent attendance.

Terry and Tony came and did more painting and work on the pond filter. They told me they are ready for the fish to be moved tomorrow to their overnight accommodation in a temporary "tank" before going back into the clean pond on Friday.

I started doing the packing for Friday because I'm not sure how much time I'll have tomorrow.

The teasel is starting to turn purple and looking very pretty. There are quite a few flowers on it this year so the insects will be happy.

Gill came round with a WhatsApp problem but Carol had already dealt with it in the background by the time Gill got here.

3 July

It was fish pond emptying and cleaning day today. We've been dreading this but, thanks to having a powerful pump and a lovely big hose, it was emptied pretty quickly with most of the water being pumped into the water butts for future use.

The pond itself was filthy (as expected) but after Terry and his team had cleaned it (and repaired a rip in the liner) the clean water started to trickle in.

The fish were temporarily housed in the blue tank using water from the pond so they didn't get too stressed. Our main job was to put new nets on the pond covers to protect the fish from herons, crows, gulls etc. I'm pleased we only have to go through this every few years!

I went to the gym quite early then did Elas WOD class - so hard!. Next job was my usual dog walking but slightly earlier to try and get them our and back before the day warmed up too much.

I dug up the first of the Charlotte potatoes - they look lovely so should taste good when we get back. I'm taking some for Mum tomorrow.

A few of us went to see "Quadrophenia" at Sadlers Wells. The reviews had been very mixed and this was echoed in our group with three of the eight leaving at half time and the others of us really enjoying it. The music was orchestral and very powerful. A very varied and tiring day!

4 July

By the time I got up this morning, the pond was filling up nicely. I delivered the newsletters then went to get my paper before giving all the plants a good water, filling the bird baths and feeders etc. ready to travel north.

Terry and Tony arrived and finished off the filter set up, got the fish back into the pond where they were swimming around quite happily exploring and, importantly, got the net covers back on the protect them.

Terry even managed to get the fountain working again!

The journey north was painful with loads of hold ups for various reasons. We finally arrived in Harrogate and checked in to the Crowne Plaza. Although a short visit last time we were in Harrogate had given us some concerns about the parking, we found another level with plenty of spaces so that stress went away. Anna checked us in and was really helpful. We just need to see what breakfast is like tomorrow but fingers crossed it's good so we have somewhere that ticks the boxes for future Harrogate stays. It even has a gym so I made use of that to finish my steps (it was raining outside!)

5 July

It was pretty damp when I got up so I did some steps in the mini-gym in the hotel rather than venture outside.

We went to Mum's and caught up with admin there. Jonathon tried to sort out her Broadband / phone contract because it matures soon but someone will need to be at Mum's house when BT come to instal the fibre for the broadband so he'll have to deal with it when we are up north in October.

We went to RHS Harlow Carr, via the Betty's cafe that is there so Jonathon could have his hot chocolate. Happy days because Eton Mess was also on the menu.

J went and sat in the bird hide while I had a good wander around. I got a bit damp when it rained but it didn't last for long.

6 July

Gym first thing because it was pretty damp. The weather faired up after a while so I went to get my paper via the Valley Gardens. Someone (can't remember who) was reminiscing about Victorian bedding recently - there is plenty of it in Harrogate. The lovely tribute to VE80 caught my eye.

We went to Christine's for dinner. As pre-arranged, it was fresh bread, crackers, cheese and fruit. Christine had bought a load of different kinds of cheese at a farmers' market yesterday along with all kinds of fruit so it was very tasty.

I was allowed to take Bert out for a walk on the field tracks - we got a bit damp but had fun.

The cattle are always curious when we walk past them - they didn't stay sitting down for long because they came to have a sniff at us.

7 July

Gym first (I'm just about getting used to how the treadmills work in the hotel!) then a quick trip to town to get my paper.

I went to see Dad. Surprisingly, he was in sparkling form. He remembered I was his eldest daughter (first time he's done that in ages) and we had a decent chat.

On the way to see Dad, Jo messaged with a video to show that the water level in the pond had reduced significantly. I thanked her then sent the video to both Terry and Jonathon and asked Jonathon to call Terry, having tried myself but no answer. Jonathon eventually got hold of him and Terry headed to our house to try and sort out the problem. In the meantime, Jonathon had asked Peter (cat feeder) to go round and switch the pump off and start refilling the pond. We could have well done without this when we were 230 miles from home. Hopefully, Terry has now sorted out what was causing the problem and the pond should be reasonably full when we get home tomorrow.

I'd spotted a vintage dress shop when we were driving out of Harrogate yesterday so went to see what they had in stock. Happily, they had a couple of dresses that worked for me so I bought them. One of them could do with a belt but the belt that came with it didn't fit me so we ventured into Primark and bought a belt. I think the dress will work without a belt - it's for Thursday so will try both before then.

We went to The Tannin Level for dinner - yummy as always. I had Aubergine and Lovage risotto - delicious and unlike anything I'd ever eaten before.

8 July

We set off from Harrogate nice and early and got back about 2.30 p.m. Unfortunately, we found we had intermittent electric with most of the sockets around the house not working whereas most of the lights were. We have no idea why but Jonathon called Blu-Lite and they are coming out tomorrow to try and work out what's going on (and, hopefully, fix it).

Better news is that the fish pond now seems to be stabilised and the fish seem quite happy swimming about. I've also got three ripe tomatoes (well, two now because I ate one!) Considering I thought the plants had died in the heat, even if this is all we get it's better than I was expecting.

Carol B brought her son, Nathaniel, round to look at the fish and give them a tiny bit of food (Terry says not to over-feed them until the pond has settled down). One of the fish hasn't survived the trauma of the last few days but until it comes to the top of the pond we can't easily get it out.

We tried to water the veg and fruit but the pump and hose pipes weren't working as they should. Hopefully it's not because the pond water in the water butts is too dirty but there seems to be no obvious reason. I'm really hoping that's our three things that have gone wrong - the pond, the electrics and the watering system. I'm also hoping that they can all be resolved satisfactorily before too long.

I had a wander round the garden to check everything else was OK. There's quite a bit of tidying up needed from the baskets etc. that came out of the pond so that will be one of tomorrow's jobs. At least we have some pretty colour around to cheer us up.

9 July

Oli was obviously pleased to see us home and snuggled on my bed for most of the night.

Jacky let me know that my teasel photo is in the local paper this week - a nice surprise.

I went for a walk, via a newsagent, on the way to the gym rather than go straight there - it's much warmer in Orpington than it was in Harrogate last weekend.

I spent the afternoon tidying up my shed and the bottom of the garden from the pond work. It was a messy, smelly job but it looks a lot better now. The fish, meanwhile, were happily swimming around in their nice, clean, aerated pond.

Jonathon dealt with Dan from Blu-Lite who quickly analysed what the problem was with the electrics and restored us to power. He then booked a plumber to replace the damaged part of the emersion heater - he's coming tomorrow.

We joined a host of others for the GPO monthly quiz. There were 8 of us in the team and we got 50/70, coming 5th out of 15 teams. We agreed that the quiz was far too slow (and Ginny thought the team behind me were cheating) so we'll try going back to The Cricketers for the August quiz, assuming we can get a table.

10 July

Went to get my paper then headed over to Carol's for dog walking before it got too hot.

Mark, the plumber, came and replaced the broken part so we should have hot water again as well as electicity only we don't because the emersion blew the electrics again. Current thinking is that the solar convertor might be faulty so another electician visit then, probably, another plumber visit is required.

Iwent to the gym for a little while - so happy because they seem to have got the aircon working.

We had home grown veg with chicken for dinner - runner beans, broad beans and courgettes as well as a mix of Ratte and Charlotte potatoes.

In the evening, Jonathon and I went to the Mayor's Civic Reception for Voluntary Workers where I was awarded with a Certificate of Appreciation for the voluntary work I do in the local area, especially Knoll Active. There were quite a few of us and it was good to see Graham getting recognition as well. The buffet afterwards was really tasty - plenty of alternatives to sandwiches!

11 July

After the excitement of last night, it was back to normal today so I went to get my paper and a bit of shopping then joined June and co for our Friday shade-hunting walk.

An SOS went round after lunch - a lady with dementia had forgotten where shehad left her car so I went out to check the local streets. Thankfully Julie found it just round the corner from Tesco so all ended well. Goodness knows why that lady is still driving.

Popped round to Anne's to collect some stuffing for the knitted hearts then enjoyed the warmth under the sun umbrella and read my book until it cooled down enough for Jonathon to join me outside and sort out the irrigation. Thankfully, it wasn't as tricky as we thought so all good again.

We raised £75 for our local community garden but some of the walkers were really quite slow and it took us ages to go not very far - three hours to do a walk that should have taken two. We got to the Pret a Manger for lunch to find it was shut so went to a local sandwich bar that wouldn't sell me a salad so my lunch was a packet of crisps.

That gave us a good excuse to go to Xi'an for an early dinner and have an ice cream when the van came into our street.

13 July

After the busyness of the last few days, today was a lot quieter.

I did a few jobs around the house and garden and went to get my paper before heading off to church.

Once my dinner had settled, I went to the lovely, air-conditioned gym rather than go for a walk in the heat (although it was cooler this morning, it was like someone turned the oven on this afternoon). I spent a bit of time reading my paper and then my book under the shade of the sun umbrella and generally enjoying being in the garden, relaxing.

14 July

I popped to the gym for a little while then home to do a load of jobs before Gilda came round. We met Mark at the station then went for a walk through Crofton and Sparrow Woods, Parkfield Rec and Jubilee Park.

Gilda is covering someone else's keep fit class so had to leave us as soon as we got to Petts Wood and Jonathon was waiting in for parcel deliveries so it was just Mark and me for dinner. We decided to try Cyprianis for a change - very tasty.

Alma was here when I got back so the house is clean again.

I went to tennis. We had a new person, Meera, with us today. She has always wanted to play tennis so came to try it for the first time ever. She didn't do too badly for a complete beginner. She wants to practice so I've lent her one of our spare racquets for a while.

15 July

I didn't have a space for Matt's class when I set off for the gym but thought I'd check before getting on the treadmill and someone had cancelled at the last minute so I could join after all.

It is Carol's birthday today so when I went to walk the dogs (I'm out on Thursday) I took her a card and came home with birthday cake!

Jonathon and I went to Petts Wood to get a frame for my certificate and it's now hanging on my bedroom wall. The man in the shop was really helpful and put the certificate in the frame, having cleaned the glass thoroughly. That's the difference when you go to an independent shop rather than a chain. We went to Aqua for lunch while we were there.

The Agapanthus are flowering nicely. The must like the weather more this year than the last few because this is the best they've been for a while.

I lifted the runner beans off the shelf at the bottom of the garden and tidied them up a bit then gave the courgettes more room to spread from their tubs. This is the first yellow courgette I've grown - as Jonathon says, it's very yellow.

I went to a meeting at church in the evening to discuss Knoll Residents Association's input to the church's centenary (not until 2027 so they are planning early).

16 July

No time for the gym today. I went for a quick walk to get my paper, back home then down to Greggs to collect Jo's order of croissants and pains au chocolat for the Flamingos' breakfast. It was Judy's birthday yesterday so a good excuse for us all to get together.

Back home to collect another bag and head off to the station to join Ginny and Jane for a trip to Dover. We went on the train, had a lovely look around the castle, yummy fish and chips at The White Horse then back home.

The castle was enormous - far bigger than I expected with some really interesting exhibitions. It's on top of a hill (as you'd expect) so plenty of hill climbing, steps etc.

5 heads, 6 bodies and 7 tails - artists were not allowed to show perfection so they made deliberate mistakes.

A view from one side of the castle roof over to the English Channel.

17 July

Another different kind of a day with a Woodland Trust walk in Hollows Wood, Chelsfield. Originally Jonathon was supposed to come with me but he had to deal with the electrician so I walked up to the gold club where we were meeting. From there we were taken by mini bus then had a lovely, guided walk round the wood and back to the gold club for lunch and a presentation.

It seems we have a new foxy visitor - I've called him Nick because of the nick in his ear. Having looked more closely, it's actually quite a bit tear but it looks like it's healed in that it's not sore or bleeding so it must be quite an old injury, despite him being a cub from this year.

The Bell Flower in our garden is just coming into its beautiful best so, hopefully, the bees and butterflies will enjoy it.

I joined a Zoom call about Loan Sharks in the evening. It was arranged by the Met Engage programme through Neighbourhood Watch and was very interesting. I've passed the info to Gill for Christians Against Poverty in case of it's of use to that team.

18 July

Did some shopping at Tesco then joined June, Ginny, Diane and Benji for a walk. We went on a similar, but shorter, route to the one I took Gilda and Mark round on Monday.

We passed the Rupert Bear post box topper in Petts Wood as we walked from Crofton Wood to Jubilee Park.

19 July

I had a bit of a sleep in this morning then spent a while in the gym to make up for not having been there for a few days. Jane was here when I got home to let us know that Bob died peacefully in the hospice last night.

There was quite a lot of produce ready in the garden so we had veggie risotto for lunch. I added asparagus and spring onions - it was really tasty. Jonathon had some ravioli left as well so we ate that up.

20 July

First stop was the gym today to get most of my steps done (and to burn a lot of calories).

Next - church. There was a short dedication service for our new garden after the usual service complete with singing "All Things Bright and Beautiful". Thankfully, the rain held off for the outside part.

Caught up with Mum then responded to an SOS from the Priory Gardens Wildlife team. Three youths had been seen lurking about and some us were needed to patrol the park. I took my litter picker with me as I'd noticed there was quite a bit of litter yesterday. By the time I arrived, the police had been called and there were no trouble makers to be seen so I gathered up the litter that I could see, put it in one of the bins and came home.

Caught up with Christine but no real news on her side other than it's wet up north as well as down here.

21 July

I did a quick cycle in the gym after getting some shopping from Sainsbury's.

I came home to find this lovely Tiger Moth on my bedroom window (outside thankfully). I don't think I've ever seen the underneath of one before.

I tidied up the front garden in the afternoon - the alstromaeira look lovely when they are in flower but need pulling out when they've died back because they look quite messy. I trimmed the cornus as well so it all looks a bit tidier in the front semi-circle. The long bed got a bit of a hair cut as well - three big pop up bags of rubbish later, it looks better!

I joined Ravi, Angela and John for tennis. It thundered most of the time we were playing with the occasional flash of lightning. Angela wanted to play a game but she wouldn't be happy because Ravi and I won 6-3. We got completely drenched on the way home - I think the rain had been saving itself up while we were playing but couldn't hold back any longer. We even had some hailstones thrown into the mix!

22 July

A quick trip to Tesco for my paper and some fruit then Fiona and I checked the VJ80 walking route. I didn't take any photos on the walk because we were walking quite quickly as Fiona needed to get home for a delivery by 12 noon and Jonathon had Martin visiting here.

Martin is writing a book about the Golden Rule (Fibonacci) and its application in wood turning. He has asked Jonathon for photos of some of the pieces in our collection so he'd come to choose which ones he thought would fit best in the book and admire the others.

We all went to Xi'an for lunch while Will was busy cleaning the windows.

The rest of the day was nice and quiet. I checked the pond and sent a message to Terry about adding a grid ont he outflow pipe, making a note of the depth and checking the sink hole - all seemed to be OK.

Patch (fox) "helped" me feed the birds - she likes to gallop after fat balls - goodness knows where she's burying them all but they probably won't be there when she goes to retrieve them.

23 July

I thought I should do some gym work this morning so that's where I started my day.

My main activity for the day was a trip to London with Amelie. Hard to believe that she's almost as tall as me now! Our aim was to go and see the pelicans in St. James Park and they posed very nicely for us. We had a good wander round the park, admiring both the formal flower beds and wild flower areas before heading to Trafalgar Square for lunch. We tried the cafe in Waterstones first but their menu was very limited and they didn't even have everything that was on it so we ended up at Pret a Manger for a takeaway then sat in the Square to eat it.

From Trafalgar Square we strolled back to St. James Park then on to Victoria, going past the Queen Victoria Memorial and Buckingham Palace. I dropped her home then came home and put my feet up with a cup of green tea.

When I got home, Jonathon had found an Oyster Card and challenged me to find the owner. It was no challenge because I recognised her name and phoned her daughter to let her know the card was safe so she could pick it up (and return Jonathon's flash drive at the same time).

24 July

Back to normal today with gym then dog walking.

Gilda and I went to see "Fiddler on the Roof" at the Churchill Theatre in the evening - a fabulous performance. Jonathon was at Toulouse Lautrec with his cameras.

25 July

Delivered a load of old newspapers to Pietra for onward delivery to Greenwich Wildlife Network then joined June and co for our Friday walk. There was a good turnout today because we were visiting various sites of interest in the woods including an old horse trough, a former isolation hospital and the hand built BMX track.

Jonathon and I went to Talli Kitchen in the market place for dinner - very tasty. We were there so I could scope it out for a possible future Chit Chat gathering. It passed the test so I'll definitely keep it on the list for either September or October.

We went to Deptford to experience Storehouse with Mark. He quite enjoyed it whereas we weren't so keen - a bit too superficial for my liking with not enough audience participation (e.g. voting etc.)

We consoled ourselves by going to Cote for dessert and a drink before making our way back home!

26 July

Gym after doing a few jobs around the house.

I'd asked Terry about the covering the top of the water filter outlet then saw something on Facebook that gave me the idea of putting a plant pot over it - it should now stop anything falling in and drowning.

Oli was assisting at the bottom of the garden - completed focused on something or other between the old pond planters and the fence. Thank goodness the smelly pebbles have dried out / been washed by the rain.

I caught up with Mum on Facetime. She's been dizzy this week but it doesn't seem to be stopping her doing what she wants.

By the time I'd done that and been to Sainsbury's for my picnic for tomorrow the afternoon had all but disappeared and it was time to meet up with the walkers for an evening stroll along alleyways and through local woodland.

We saw some beautiful gardens along the way as well as some lovely views.

27 July

Gym first then I met up with Louise and her friend, Martin, for a day at The Oval. It was the Vitality T20 Women's Final. There was an elimination match between The Blaze and Bears first - Bears won. They then played the final against Surrey. Surrey won and both matches were quite close and exciting. Louise and Martin were both quite new to cricket so I spent most of the match explaining what was going on but they both seemed to enjoy themselves.

28 July

Back to normal again so a quick walk round to get my paper and some other bits before Gilda came round for our Monday walk. We went to Goddington Park and Lilly's Wood today.

I cut the lavender for Gilda (leaving some of it for the bees). I didn't think we had much this year but the pink box was full by the time I'd finished so a better crop than expected.

I caught up with Christine in the afternoon - she was harvesting. She messaged later to say she'd seen smoke coming out of the top of the combine but, thankfully, nobody was hurt.

Went to tennis - only Ravi and I turned up so we had a great game even if I lost 5-2! Another family came along not realising they needed to book but, as nobody else was using our second court we invited them to join us. Good to see the courts being used.

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