2025 Diary - Page 64

23 October

I had nothing in my diary for today (bliss!) so had a sleep in with Oli then went to the gym where I did most of my steps rather than walk in the rain and wind, courtesy of Storm Benjamin.

Jonathon and I went to Xi'an for lunch - it was exceptionally tasty today. Victor told us his chef must be in a good mood.

Caught up with the ironing and other such tasks so a nice, easy day.

24 October

After a dull, wet day yesterday, today was much better but quite chilly.

First job was delivering my batch of the Knoll newsletters. It didn't take long and I went to get my paper as well before coming home.

The fox statue that gets dressed up according to the time of year now has his Halloweeen mask on.

My last outside job was to deliver the latest batch of knitted hearts to Francis Chappell. Carol and I have been busy so there were quite a few to hand over.

I saw Alix on the way home and she asked if Knoll Residents Association would like to take part in the Christmas Tree Festival at the Methodist Church. I passed the enquiry to Steve for his thoughts, letting him know this was not a project for me!

25 August

Gym first stop so I could use their weights (heavier than mine). I did both today's and tomorrow's challenge in case I don't have time tomorrow with travelling.

Swept up another big pop up bag full of leaves from the front of the house / drive and there are still loads and loads tocome down. Hope we can get through our front door when we come home.

Took the Knoll Walkers to Goddington Park and Lilly's Wood today - lovely autumnal day.

26 October

Admired the sun rise, smiled that Christine had sent me a puzzle to do, went to the gym to do most of my steps then it was the long drive to Yorkshire.

We stopped at OK Diner on the way north and arrived at Crowne Plaza Harrogate in reasonable time.

We went to Vivido for a snack and Tesco for a few proviskions to finish the day.

27 October

Had a quick stint in the gym then down to breakfast before heading over to Pocklington. We were hoping to buy some cheese to take to Christine's but the deli was shut so we took quiche, sausage rolls and pork pie instead. I'd got some fruit from M&S in Harrogate before we went and Christine had some cakes from the village craft fair so quite a tasty lunch.

Bertie and I went for a walk round the fields. The cows were really interested in him - they gallop round the fold yard whenever we walk past but you'd think they'd be used to him by now.

Laura, Christine's almost niece, is still clearing out her Dad's stuff so we brought a boot load of bric-a-brac and books back with us. Thankfully, Oxfam in Knaresborough were happy to take it all so we don't have to take it south with us.

Called in to see Mum and caught up with the filing etc.

We went to Piccolino for dinner. It was a new restaurant to us and the food was tasty, the service very friendly. We both agreed it's a good third option for when we are in Harrogate.

28 October

Today is Dad's 91st birthday. Mum and Pauline went to see him this morning (he was asleep all the time they were there). Carole and I went to see him this afternoon. He was very sleepy but Carole managed to persuade him to have some apple juice. It's so sad to see him in such a poor state with no quality of life - very upsetting and no fun for him at all.

Before meeting Carole, Jonathon and I went to Harlow Carr to enjoy the autumn colours (me) and bird watching (Jonathon). We called in to Betty's on the way in. There were hundreds of visitors and we thought it would be too busy on the way out!

There were various scarecrows around the gardens. This one by the stream was my favourite.

The gardens looked beautiful and I found some lovely, quiet places to walk about away from most of the other visitors.

I needed some new waterproof over trousers so we went to Rohan. I got some trousers and Jonathon got a lovely new winter coat and some socks.

Dinner today was at Vivido - yummy!

29 October

Today is Mum's 88th birthday.

Gym first then over to Knaresborough to join Carole and Pauline at Mum's. I got off the bus at High Bridge and walked along the River Nidd to get a few enjoyable steps done on a lovely, sunny day.

The four of us went to The Shoulder of Mutton for lunch. Thankfully, they did small plates as well so I had a tuna sandwich on sourdough and no dessert. We put Mum's cards on display while we were there so we could all enjoy them.

Jonathon and I went out for dinner at The Tannin Level, another of our favourite Harrogate restaurants. Yummy!

30 October

Jonathon was asked to do a photo shoot tonight so we were up and on our way very early. The sun was coming up as we drove along and it was quite an easy journey home.

Having got home, Jonathon found out he was no longer needed this evening so he went and did some shopping, I did the washing and went to the gym.

Oli seemed quite pleased to see us and all back to normal.

31 October

I got up and completed the BHF Challenge so that's all done. My Just Giving page came to £340 which seems to be quite good. BHF advised that, up to yesterday, we had collectively raised about £320k so a great result with, possibly more the come.

I joined June and co for the Friday walk. It was pretty wet at times but that didn't dampen our spirits.

The post box topper in Petts Wood is spectacular - I used the "cleean up" function on my phone camera to get rid of a lot of the stuff in the background.

1 November

I went to the gym firt thing then lead the Knoll group on a walk through Poverest Park and Petts Wood. It was a lovely, mild autumn day and the sunshine made for great photo light. We saw some amazing fungus on our walk.

I swept up half a bag of leaves - the ones outside the front door. Hopefully, Ben will be here later this week to do the rest of the leaves on the drive. No doubt by then more will be near the door!

Had a Facetime call with Mum - she was in reasonable form but has had a busy week.

It was Nick's 70th birthday party this evening but we didn't go - too many people for our liking and with a croaky voice I wouldn't be able to talk to anybody which would have been very frustrating.

2 November

When I woke up this morning it was raining hard and I wondered why I'd left all my running around jobs to today. Thankfully, it faired up by the time I was ready to go get my paper and stayed dry for the rest of the day.

My main job was delivering a sleeping bag to Jackie at church for the street pastors and old newspapers to Orpington Cat Rescue. I came home via M&S at Nugent so I could get some pies for lunch, some stuffing for knitted hearts and a birthday card for Kelly.

Back home and we had our lunch outside because it was so sunny albeit it was a bit chilly.

Our last acer is changing colour and looking very pretty, adding yet more colour to the garden.

3 November

Went to the gym to burn off some calories (stretch target is all about calories this month).

Met Gilda at London Bridge and we headed up to Archway for our Monday walk.

Our aim was to visit Highgate Cemetery as our first stop but there was a £10 entry fee and we didn't think we had enough time to spend there to justify that so we only saw it from the outside.

Next stop was Waterlow Park then back towards Archway Road and onto the Parkland Way, admiring the temple en route.

The final part of our walk was in Stroud Green for lunch in Hokka Brasserie not far from Finsbury Park station. The food was delicious.

Once home, I dumped my bag and went to deliver an "On the High Street" leaflet to South East Legacies, pay for tomorrow's flowers and check if the GP surgery had my test results. It doesn't look like it so the receptionist asked me to message them via the website - the quickest way to have a GP contact me.

Mum asked me to sort out her cream tea for Friday so I ordered that from Piglet's Pantry (J found them on the internet and they do afternoon tea for one which seems to be quite unusual).

4 November

Gym first, including Matt's class. Loretta was here when I got back (Jonathon's foot lady).

Our main job for today was visiting Simon and Linda (and Maple and Rooster) to deliver the hydrangea heads, teasels and echinops. It was good to catch up with them after a couple of years. The dogs are as friendly as ever. Rooster likes being around you but Maple likes being on your lap. Jonathon was happy to oblige.

Once home, I went along the alleyway with my gloves, secateurs and a bag to tidy up the pyracantha that is well below head height and quite dangerous. It is now safe and the cuttings are in our garden waste bags.

5 November

Michael had cancelled tennis so I had all morning to do what I wanted. I decided to make a chicken casserole with Yorkshire puddings for dinner so got that sorted before I went to the gym for a while.

I went via BR6 to book a table for Sharon's breakfast next week - the staff are pretty hopeless but he wrote everything down carefully so let's see if we have a table when we get there.

Ben came after dinner so the front garden looks loads better, not least becasue we took 3.5 bags of leaves and weeds out of it.

I got an email from the GP last night telling me that the lung function test was inconclusive so I need more tests but use an inhaler in the meantime. I went to book the blood test (end of November) and Boots to collect my inhaler (they didn't have it so I'll try tomorrow).

6 November

No gym today because I decided to map and measure the walk for Sunday. It was a lovely morning for a stroll round the local area.

I had a second walk around taking the dogs out and a final one collecting some stuff for Jonathon and doing some Boots shopping. They still didn't have my prescription.

The sunset was beautiful but fleeting so I was lucky to catch it.

Ginny and I sent to Sing the Musicals at Bromley. Great fun but my throat will be even more sore tomorrow than it's been for the last couple of weeks.

7 November

Gym first but not for long because I was quite late getting up and we were meeting Derek and Maureen for lunch in London.

Great Ormond Street Hospital have a Christmas tree in St. Pancras Station with a QR code for donations.

We tried a new restaurant - Tua Casa. The main courses were OK but the desserts were disappointing so we won't be going back.

I went to the GP surgery again to find out what was happening with my prescription. Apparently the second signature was missing. This has now been addressed and it should be ready for me to collect tomorrow.

I dropped the Christmas Tree application for round to Steve's so KRA can enter a tree in the Methodist Church Tree Festival.

Went to Simona's Thera Dance Class in the evening.

8 November

Gym to start the day. We went to St. Barnabus Church to collect two cycle wheels so Jonathon can create a number 8 decoration for the Advent trail and called into Alicia's on the way home to collect two fold up chairs and hand over a bag of gooseberries.

I spent some time in the garden this afternoon, tidying up then playing with the panorama setting on my phone camera.

Had a catch up Facetime with Mum but neither of us had much news.

British Heart Foundation advised that the Strong Woman Challenge 2025 has raised £352,000 in total (so far).

9 November

I did some cycling at the gym for a change then went to church for the Remembrance Sunday service.

Jon was in the UK so he was the flag bearer.

There was a community ceremony at the War Memorial. Steve and Anne-Marie had made a wreath on behalf of the Knoll including names suggested by local residents.

It seemed appropriate to start our group walk close to the war memorial and it was good to have quite a few walkers (and Benji and Rubicon) with me today.

I caught up with Christine after tea. She's received the final payment from the sale of her business so that's now behind her.

10 November

Did my strength exercises at home rather than the gym today then went to get my newspaper.

Mark and I tested out a walk starting at Colliers Wood today. We didn't get as wet as we thought we would and my new waterproof trousers were very successful. We "wandered along the Wandle" for a while, visiting Morden Hall Park amongst other places then got a bus to Morden where we had lunchat Sofra Grill before heading back. I'll do a revised version of the walk for the Knoll group on Saturday.

11 November

Gym, including Matt's class. Jo is on her way to America to spend Thanksgiving with her son and family so I buddy'd up with Dave instead today.

I delivered the latest batch of knitted hearts to Francis Chappell the collected and delivered a load of Christmas "Cards" for All Saints Church before dinner.

We had our monthly Chit Chat gathering. This time it was at Creams. They weren't expecting us and the whole place is looking very shabby so I don't think we'll be going there again.

Jonathon received a copy of Martin's book with a lovely thank you note for his photos and encouragement.

12 November

Started the day at the gym. Got a space in Ela's class so joined that but first I had a health check. Most things were similar to before and I was pleased to see my muscle mass had improved so perhaps it is worth doing my weights after all.

Ben came in the afternoon so we worked in the garden. He concentrated on weeding the veg beds and path between them (they look a lot better) while I scaped up yet more leaves, did some pruning and general tidying up.

We met our fellow quizzers at the GPO. We came 8th outof 14 teams with 40.5/70. Not our best moment.

13 November

It's Sharon's birthday tomorrow so that called for a Flamingos' breakfast. Sharon chose BR6 and today was the only day she had available. We were missing three people for various reasons but the rest of us had a good catch up.

Judy made coffee and walnut cupcakes so, needless to say, I brought mine home for Jonathon.

I walked the dogs, enjoying the sunshine. I don't think anyone else had been round to walk them since last Thursday so they enjoyed sniffing every leaf and blade of grass so it took a while.

I went for a local walk to finish my steps. The mild weather is confusing the plants so there are still a lot of summer flowers around, as well as spring flowers coming back into bloom.

We had our first Ad Hoc Choir practice this evening. Ginny came to join us so, hopefully, she'll come again. The songs are all really nice this year so I'll enjoy singing them when I get my voice back.

14 November

June decided it was too wet to go for our Friday walk so we met at Pato Lounge instead. That meant I needed to do some treadmill work to reach my fitness targets so off to the gym I went.

15 November

Had a relaxing hour or so before taking the Knoll Active group to Colliers Wood to do part of the walk that Mark I tested on Monday. They were incredibly slow - 2 hours to walk 3 miles (I didn't time the refreshment stop en route).

We wandered by the Wandle, called into Deen City Farm to have a snack and see the animals, walked through Morden Hall Park and Ravensbury Park then caught the tram back to Beckenham Junction and train home.

It was a long outing but they all seemed to enjoy it so job done!

16 November

A quick trip to the gym followed by church filled up this morning.

I still needed to do some steps so I went for a walk, found myself heading towards Carol's so took the dogs out for a short bonus walk then checked Jo's flat on the way back. The cyclamen on her balcony are looking lovely.

I had a Facetime catch up with Mum (she seemed OK), called Margaret (not OK, her cancer seems to be getting worse again) and called Christine (talked about nothing for nearly 2 hours!)

While I was doing all that, Jonathon was at Eventim Apollo, Hammersmith for an exciting photo shoot.

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