2026 Diary - Page 71

Pauline is feeling better now than she has for the last four weeks but the cancer continues to grow, albeit seemingly slower than it has been. The palliative care team are surprised at the slowdown in her deterioration so have agreed to stop the regular consultations and suggested Pauline get in touch with them whenever she feels the need. There is no indication how long she has left but the weeks given in her early prognosis might have been a bit pessimistic. That said, the cancer is in all her major internal organs so could flare at any time or just happen to get to the wrong bit of one of her organs so she continues to live with a ticking time bomb.

In the meantime, apart from being tired, Pauline is her usual self and getting on with life.

I went to the building society on the way back to pay some money in for Mum (they were really helpful so that was easy).

Having got back to the hotel and recovered, I went for a walk round Valley Gardens. They looked lovely in the late afternoon sunshine.

I met Jonathon at Vivido for tea (yummy as always).

18 June

Another busy day. Gym first to get some steps and weights done then off we went to meet Andy in Boroughbridge. I can't think of the last time I was there but it wasn't how I remembered - far more upmarket than I had in my mind.

We met Andy in a cafe called The Hideaway and had a drink and a chat before he had to go back to work. Jonathon, of course, had to scour the charity shops before we left.

From there, we headed over to Pockington to get cheese for Jenny and Peter to thank them for looking after Oli (and more charity shop searching). I went for a walk while J did that.

Next stop was Christine's. All the jars and bottles that have been donated over the last few months are now in her office. It was a lovely afternoon so I took Bertie for a walk in the fields and then caught up with Christine's news

On our way back to Harrogate, we spotted this beautiful poppy field. We took a quick detour so I could take a photo.

We had snacks in the Club Lounge for tea because neither of us was particularly hungry.

19 June

I woke up early and decided to take advantage of the lovely, summer weather (before it got too hot and the day gpt busy). I walked through Bilton and ended up on Starbeck so thought I'd better get a train back to make sure breakfast wasn't closed by the time I returned to the hotel.

We called in to see Mum very briefly so we could put her passbook back where it lives then went to Harlow Carr Betty's for a drink and snack. It was packed. The car parks were as busy as I've ever seen them with marshalls trying to organise drivers. It's some kind of special event this weekend (Friday to Sunday) so that explains why.

From there we went to Fountains Abbey. We are life members of the National Trust and don't use our cards as much as we should. The bird feeders are not out in Harlow Carr in the summer months so there's not much point Jonathon sitting in the hide because there's very little to see so we thought we'd go here for a change.

It was even better than either of us remembered and we had a great afternoon.

I searched high and low for deer (there are three different kinds I was told) but they have their youngsters with them at present so they are keeping well hidden. Thankfully, a group of four bachelor boys were easy to find after I'd given up and was heading for the gate back to the meeting point with Jonathon. This one posed very nicely, the others were very busy eating.

We went to Tannin Lounge for dinner. It was as delicious as ever.

20 June

My early morning walk was across The Stray and on to Hookstone Wood. It's a while since I was last there and it was lovely to wander round the wood again.

I took a slightly different route back then met Jonathon back at the hotel for breakfast.

The journey home was fine so we got back mid afternoon; plenty of time to do all the washing, top up the bird feeders, water the veg, check the pond (level was fine but water was murky) and generally get things back to normal.

Peitra came to collect her keys and I gave her a set of mugs Christine had sent as a raffle prize.

It's good to be home!

21 June

Today is Father's Day - the first one without Dad. By happy coincidence, it was my turn to pay for the flowers at church so I asked Tina to include some white roses for Dad and Yorkshire.

Jonathon had a very frustrating morning. He went off to Barnes to collect something he'd bought on EBay, only to get most of the way there before the seller contacted him and cancelled the sale.

Mark phoned to chat about the options re his new car. The mileage is different to what he was expecting so he doesn't know whether to go ahead with the purchase or not. He'll decide tomorrow.

It was too hot to do much during the afternoon but it was our Summer Solstice Walk in the evening. As usual, I was in charge of bringing up the rear to make sure we didn't lose anyone.

Steve brought his "fire" with him for people to jump over.

The sunset was amazing on the way back.

22 June

It was nice and cool when I got up so I watered the veg and got my paper then set up the seats outside and did my crossword with a pot of green tea.

Gilda and Mark came over and we walked through to Bromley, using a roundabout route.

Not sure what the helicopters were doing but there were two the same and one different buzzing around.

We met Jonathon at Da Raffaela for lunch.

Gilda took the charm that Christine gave us - her sister collects them. Alma took the boxes for her daughter so we only have the cocktail stick holder left and that will go to YMCA.

Jonathon spent a lot of today trying to sort out the pond pump. He's now liaising with Burtons, the suppliers.

Angela and I played tennis in the evening. When we arrived, there were four lads on bikes playing with their footballs in the tennis courts. I shoo'd them off but the lurked around so I stayed until the next players arrived before coming home.

23 June

We had a huge storm last night. It lasted about 2 hours with very heavy rain, thunder and lightning. Jonathon slept through the whole thing but it woke me up! We are the white round pin on the map so in the red zone.

Needless to say, all the water butts are now full again and the pond looked very healthy when I got up.

Jonathon and I went to the Odeon to see Mother's Pride. It was a lovely film and the cinema was air-conditioned which was a bonus on such a hot day.

We went to the Orpington for ice cream and a drink afterwards so it felt like a proper afternoon out!

24 June

Pleased to see one of my sunset photos in this week's local paper.

With the weather forecast to be scorching, I set off quite early and took Gilda's "free gift" baseball hat round to Judy for when she plays bowls. It fits her perfectly so all good. I tried to stay in the shade as much as I could while getting some steps done.

Oli was back at the vets again today because his eye has flared up again. Another few days of antibiotics and anti inflammatory medicine then back to see what's what. In the meantime, he hates the heat as much as we do and did shade hunting pretty much all day. He didn't even want to eat so we'll have to keep a very close eye on him.

Jonathon continued to work on the pond. We now have a filter pump running so, hopefully, that will help. Time will tell.

Went to Knit and Natter. Squirrels was cancelled because of the heat and Beavers were offsite at Downe Activity Centre so it was very quiet.

25 June

Nothing in my diary today so I went to the gym for a while and did a load of steps on the treadmill. There's been a lovely breeze today so that made living a bit easier even though the temperature was 30C+.

I took the latest batch of knitted hearts to Francis Chappell to finish off my steps then spent the rest of the day in the garden.

The Indian Bean tree (Catalpa) is in full flower this year - I don't think I've ever seen so much blossom on it before.

I bit the bullet and did my tax return. I don't owe them as much as I dreaded so not too bad.

Jonathon continued to work on the pond. The filter pump had taken quite a bit og gunge out but then decided it didn't really want to work any more - a job for tomorrow (or a cooler day).

I got rid of most of the big weeds on the patio ready for Alan to come and power wash it next Friday - it looks bigger without the weeds!

26 June

Oli seems a tiny bit better today and he's eating more but it's still too hot for him (and us).

I went for an early morning walk before it got too unbearable (thankfully, today is forecast to be the last very hot day).

Jonathon and I went to the GPO for lunch then he came home and did his tax return. HMRC owe him roughly the same amount as I owe them so it will balance out nicely.

I went to Tai Chi in the evening - the hall was lovely and cool and Louis kept it nice and simple for us so it was a pleasure to be there.

27 June

I didn't really go anywhere today - Tesco, the newsagent and the garden.

It was just about cool enough to do weeding provided I stayed in the shade so I got on with that. The path looks a bit tidier but there's still plenty more to do. I wandered round with my camera as well - there's quite a lot of colour in the garden at the moment. There were lots of butterflies and bees around as well.

Caught up with Mum on FaceTime - she's had more than enough of the hot weather and is fit for nothing.

28 June

Gym and church this morning - back to normal! It was "Sing a Song of Praise" at church along with crafts so a fun morning.

Our pond is definitely getting clearer and I now know how to clean the filter if Jonathon's not here when it needs doing.

Ginny, June, Anne and I went to have a look at the car show in the market place. Steve was there with his old Peugeot. My Shaun would probably fit in nicely but he'd need a full, professional valet before I would dare take him amongst the shiny cars that were there.

29 June

Didn't venture very far before Gilda and Mark arrived and we went for a walk. We did a similar walk to the one last night but took a longer route through Petts Wood and came home via alleyways.

Gilda was scheduled to start her radiotherapy so couldn't join us for lunch. We went to A Mano - very disappointing. My veggie pasta was pretty tasteless with far too much pasta and not enough veg. Unfortunately for Gilda, one of the radiotherapy machines had broken down so her treatment was postponed until tomorrow morning.

I went to tennis in the evening. There were a couple of people playing when I arrived and we invited them to join us. The girl, a real beginner, declined but Kieran had a knock up with Angela and me for a while which was fun.

30 June

No circuits today because the gym team are getting ready for the move back to the Walnuts on Thursday so I went and got my paper then joined Sharon for tennis. Thankfully, the showers had stopped by the time we played.

Jonathon, Oli and I sheltered under the big garden umbrella while it was raining - Oli was clearly not concerned at all!

The deep red clematis is starting to flower - it's darker and more velvety in real life and looks lovely.

I did more weeding and cut the cross in the grass so it looks tidier. I moved a lot of the Californian poppies from the path into tubs and put them on the grass in the hope that they'll spread and flower there next year.

The newsletters finally arrived at Steve's so I went round to help split them in the the rounds then Chris and I delivered the "Central" area ones to the road wardens.

I thought my last easy job for today would be cleaning the filters in the two pond pumps. Unfortunately, the new one had other ideas and the hose back into the pond went completely berserk, flew out of the pond and drenched me completely.

Next jobs, unsurprisingly were shower and washing - at least I'm clean!

To 2026 Diary (Page 72)