Manchester and Hamilton Show

 Woke up early and wasted time on the phone as usual

Went down and had some coffee and croissants and gradually everyone got up and came through to the kitchen. Charlotte made us all laugh with sending an image of a lake and a lovely morning saying that was her view. Even Jodie was asking if they'd driven off somewhere in the evening!

Nice scrambled eggs for later lunch and then Charlotte, Miles and I went over to Go Outdoors as I wanted to get the gloves that I had seen previously, couldn't find the ones I wanted until about to leave and a small pair were in amongst a load of others and they were exactly what I needed so I bought them right away and Charlotte ended up getting a wet-suit!

Back to Lewis's and it was time to set out for the train station, it was just me, Tash, Mum, Lewis and Emily. The others, Charlotte, Miles, Jack and Jodie didn't have tickets so they went to the gym so we said our goodbyes as Charl and Miles were heading off to Nottingham ad not coming out for a meal after the show.

We walked to Cheadle and were a bit early so has a drink in the local pub and then got the train, we were in good time and got some food and walked to the theatre and took up our places in the top circle. Was the best seats but we've had worse so nothing to complain about.

Must admit I wasn't overly bothered about the show and didn't really know what to expect but it was very, very good. I really enjoyed it. The show is all rap and hip/hop-style singing and very little talking of any sort. It was hard to follow at times but very glad that I went and experienced it. Ate far too much rubbish but when we left we walked to The Anthologist which is a cocktail bar to meet Jack and Jodie was was met with a pleasant surprise to see Charl and Miles - they decided not to go to Nottingham afterall so were out with us for the evening which was great news.

Had a couple of drinks and then wandered down to our restaurant, Ciccheti which is near Deansgate which is such a great, lively road - love it along there. The restaurant was a good choice, nice atmosphere and food and drink.Once all done and dusted we were going to make our way home but ended up at NQ64 which is the place with all the arcade games, that was a laugh and we had a couple of drinks in there and played the games, me and mum were decent on the dance mat!

Jack took Mum home so it was just me, Tash, Emily and Lewis on the train, nothing exciting to report. Back at Lewis's and we sat in the kitchen and had a few more beers and then then everyone went off to bed but Charl and I stayed up talking and listening to music.

We chatted for ages about all sorts of things, a few tears, especially when I asked about marriage and Miles fear of flying. Such a shame. It was good to talk though and around 4.00am we gave up and went to bed.

A great day and evening - absolutely loved it.

Love our family and how we all get on together and do this

Manchester with all the kids

Normal day at work - managed to get up to date with things because of my holiday coming up very quickly!

I dropped Bess off at Vicky and Danny's - Nicki was there with the boys and they were lively and then back home again after filling up with petrol

Jodie came over in the afternoon as planned and then Mum did and eventually Tash got back from work meaning we could set out for Manchester. There were problems on the M40 and the road to Brackley was closed meaning there was loads of traffic up to Banbury but once that was past it was a decent run up North and we got there around 8.00pm - about 5mins after Charlotte and Miles.

Unloads everything and Tash and I got the spare room - I was expecting to be sleeping on the sofa! The airbed had a puncture which was annoying so Jack and Jodie slept on the sofas combined and Charlotte and Miles slept in the van - it all worked out well.

Before that we had a nice curry made by Emily (and a bit by Lewis I think) and then played games in the evening afterwards. Didn't finish and go to bed until about midnight. It was a lovely evening and great to have everyone from the cruise all there.

Edinburgh day 2

Hungover

Breakfast 

Late out

Walk to st Mary cross tour 

Raining 

Mystery continued 

Too wet

Storm isha

Hotel

Waiting

Sleep

Shower and exercise 

Hotel Bar

Meal in Edinburgh with Gareth's sister - Alison and Mark

Rat Pack Bar/club

Late night

Walk and Sunday Dinner

Lazy morning, struggled to get up to be honest. A combination of too much Night Nurse and missing the night's sleep on Friday..got up and had food and then Tash and I did our walk around Wytham Woods and when we got back Tiffany was at the front door.

We took her to her Dad's (Michael) in Blackbird Leys and helped with dismantling some beds and the washing machine and general house clearance type stuff as he's moving out in a couple of days and moving to Bicester. Mike's got early dementia and it's hard to tell just how far gone he is - I don't know if he knew it was me and Tash to be honest, very confused. Sad to see in anyone.

We were there for a few hours and it was useful for them and we also got a coupe of tools as a result because they would have just been left over for the house clearance company that's coming in. 

Took Tiff back to Bicester and she obviously appreciated what we'd done for her - and it was fine.

Got back home and Charlotte and Miles came over and we had a nice Sunday Roast (chicken) and finished with Xmas pudding and cream which was lovely!

Got the fire on the go and enjoyed some red wine we have - it was a nice evening and they didn't stay too late to be far, they'd been out on the piss in Leeds all day yesterday so were tired and wanted to get sorted at home for the coming week.

It was still early(ish) so Tash and I watched a film that's on everyone's lips at the minute called Saltburn. I wasn't too bothered about watching it but got into it and to be far it was a bit shocking but it was enjoyable if not VERY odd in places. Glad I've watched it but won't watch it a second time, there's no need to.

After that the weekend was over! Been a good one, I've enjoyed it

Golf

Quite clearly I was still drunk when I woke up this morning - luckily golf wasn't until 9.30am meet but I was struggling! 

Anyway, made it there and played with Wayne, Creedy and Julio - played against each other doing "better ball" and it was good fun. Wayne and I are a good team, when one has a shit shot the other seems to dig the other player out and that worked again today. It went down to the wire and we only won off the second to last hole when Wayne chipped in my decent tee shot - bit fortuitous but we took it and took the fivers off the lads!! 

On the way home I got some wood for the bamboo planter that has collapsed and also some coal and then pottered around at home not wanting to do anything but did get jobs done like the Xmas lights from the gutter and that.

Didn't do much in the evening, Tash is still really struggling with her cold so it was watching some TV and an early night for us!

Book Club and Boozy night in the Dark Side Bar

Tash and her wine friends decided they wanted to formalise their get-togethers so agreed to do a book club and Tash was hosting the first one at our place this evening.

So she'd sorted out lovely food and all that and there were two cancellations so just Dierdra and Jill were coming over, I made myself scarce and ate dinner in our bedroom whilst watching the most recent episode of Reacher which was good. By the time I came downstairs it was 8.00pm so the gym had closed so I went and pottered around in the bar and sorted a few things out and had a couple of beers.

I'd offered to drive them home and they did accept so I didn't drink but I then sorted out the photos that Charlotte had got me for Xmas and put those on the fridge - that took ages but it looked great. It's very much "Charlotte-centric" so I need to order some new photos to balance things out. 

Around 11.15pm I took the ladies home and they'd had a nice evening and came back again and fancied staying up so Tash went to bed and I played music (not video) and drank...loads!! It was such a nice evening, I did get quite drunk and danced and just enjoyed my own company, Bess wasn't even there!

It got to about 4.00am and I knew I had golf later so gave in and went to bed - a nice evening as far as a I was concerned!

Mum's Birthday

Worked as normal, nothing to get excited about, finished a bit earlier as we needed to take Natasha's car to the Kassam to get the front windscreen replaced because a huge crack in it

That was a mistake!! The A34 Southbound was closed which I didn't know about, I just went towards Headington to avoid Botley but then everyone else was being diverted to Headington and Cowley and there were accidents so cut off and went through Wood Farm and that was all snarled up - it was an absolute nightmare, really was. We missed out slot for the windscreen and having left home at 4.10pm we got to the Kassam around 6.00pm!

Charlotte was as Frankie and Benny's when we got there and shortly after Mum turned up too and we had a birthday meal for her. It was nice and the food was good. Had a nice time. A few presents and singing Happy Birthday from the whole restaurant that was amusing!

We then went upstairs to the cinema as we had tickets for Wonka, we really enjoyed it actually. It was about his setting out as a young adult and was chock full of famous British actors - it was good fun and a feelgood movie for certain

That was it, another birthday done and dusted so we came home - I took Bess for a walk and then listened to music and ate chocolate and then to bed!

The diet has gone out the window it really has, a shame as before Xmas I was really proud of my body shape but it's gone pear-shaped, figuratively and literally!

Back to Bootcamp!

Worried this morning getting out of bed but as much as my calves were screaming at me I was able to walk down the stairs without holding the banister so that was a relief! Wasn't too, too bad to be fair. Walked in the morning with Tash and Bess and then worked all day outside. It got colder and colder as the day went along and it even tried to snow in the evening, but it wasn't good enough and nothing happened.

So back to boot camp in the evening, could easily have given it a miss but went along and as usual it was the two of us, quite hard and we weren't as committed as normal but it was a decent workout. My steps were way down so I went and walked/ran along Five Mile Drive and Davenant road and back home so I registered by 10k steps and we had the fire and watched the Michelle Keegan series (Fool Me Once) which we're enjoying.

Not much to report today - thought work would be a lot busier with companies being back to normality now but it was okay so no complaints and the boot camp was good to get under our belt again.

Malvern Hills Day 2

Woke up about 7.00am and walked to the bathroom and wasn’t too, too bad. Not comfortable though. Tash was fine as you’d expect. 

Downstairs for breakfast and Bamptons were the same, stiff but ready to go again. Breakfast was fine and decent and filling. Got sorted and drive back to the usual carpark. The flooding visible now we were driving in daylight was incredible, so much damage being caused. 

Parked up and got going about 10.15am, the first part was hard, just walking through the town it’s so bloody steep!!

Did our usual hills and it hurt, also the windchill factor took the temperature right down, at times it was bitingly cold. We walked for a few hours before turning round and retracing our steps. That was hard work, I just plodded on one step at a time. But got there in the end. 

Made our way back to the car and then I drove us home, no problems at all. 

Tired out and sorted clothes and had a bath. Struggling to walk but there you go

Sorted out a few things, had food, watched TV and early night. 

It’s been a great weekend and was hard work. We all feel we can’t do much more and we’re feeling sort of confident that we will manage to do this. Will see soon enough, only 4 weeks away!!

Malvern Hills Very Long Walk. Day 1

Up at 5.00am. Got sorted and Bess was going mad as she could tell we were going out and didn’t want to be left behind. 

Went and got John and Pauline a bit late at 6.15am and then drove to Malvern, bit of a problem on the normal route because of the flooding but made a work-around and got to the car park we’re familiar with. 

Followed the route over the hills that we’re familiar with knowing we had to come back the same way! It was our longest walk and was hard work - the British Camp area was interesting and a decent place to get to and walk up.We had a break for food and reached a point where we just stopped, turned around and retraced our steps!

This was hard work and I went on a real go-slow but I plodded along, it was exhausting but we did it and got back to the main entrance and walked through town to the van. the last few miles and hour or so was really quite painful and everything was hurting.

Drove to Worcester and experienced loads of problems with road closures because of the flooding and even when we got to where we wanted to the height to get in the car park foiled us! Found a multi-story and walked to the hotel right in the centre of town, nice area and looked the sort of place to return to for a day/night.

We stayed in a Travelodge and got changed - no time for a sleep as we were late getting there and then went back out into town and found Bills restaurant for dinner. It was Pauline's birthday today so it was her celebration but we were all so tired we just wanted to eat and go back to bed - only had two drinks! It was nice though.

Back to hotel and bed, aching like mad. Bit worried about cramps tonight an also in the morning - we shall see.

It was good to do this and it's going to show how hard work this is going to be on Kilimanjaro because we have the space and home comforts of the hotel and it was still hard work to get sorted - living out of a cold tent is going to be tough. 

Not feeling well

Both Tash and I struggling with cough and cold/flu symptoms, not even checking if we have Covid as it makes no difference   

Darts

 Busier day at work today, not much fun but it never is. Did what needed to be done though.

Took Bess for a walk in the morning and in the evening, hadn't done my 10k steps so had to stay out longer even though Mum had come round for dinner. Not a problem though.

Not much to report on the day itself.

Nice evening with Mum and Charlotte also came over and when they left I watched the PDC Darts final, Luke Littler is playing and he's only 16, youngest ever finalist and it's an incredible achievement. I am watching it now whilst typing this and it's a great game. I think he might do it!

I feel like death though, my cough/cold is dragging on and I am struggling - so annoying.

Really want to go to bed but this darts is keeping me up!!

        

Back to Work!

 Back to it today, although I obviously did some work during the break. Not a lot to get done today and it was a nice easy route back into the routine - next week will sure enough be busy!

Tash was also at work today and went by car because it was throwing it down with rain, can't blame her

I got sorted and then realised around 3.00pm I'd not had a break so went out for 45mins and ran around the usual route to get my steps in. Running was okay but it was hard in the storm winds - we are currently experiencing Storm Henk.

Tash called as leaving work and suggested we go straight out to Decathlon to change the pants she'd bought for Xmas (they were VERY tight) which we did. Aldi first to get some food shopping and then Decathlon and Sports Direct. I noticed yesterday that my hiking boots were splitting so had no choice but to buy some new ones. They're okay, basic, but I hope they'll do the job.

Driving back through Wytham and the road was flooded but we got through it okay, quick dinner (beans on toast), both Airbnb's had let themselves in and when we took Bess out for a walk and got our steps over the line for the 10k for today.

Back home around 8.00pm and then spent the next 2hrs sorting my bank accounts for Dark Enterprise so I could send information over to Simone, I am useless, should have done it four weeks ago.

I'm coughing and sneezing and feeling shit, don't think it's CovID, just flu. Hope that's all it is.

Well, day two of the diary completed!!

Happy New Year. 2024

Yes it’s arrived! 

We had a quiet evening last night as everyone was doing their own thing and I was happy enough with that. Couple of beers and bed by 12.30am. Sonia and Pete were still going at 3.00am but the ear plugs worked a treat. 

Up around 9.00am and got sorted and went for a walk again around Wytham Woods. Tired and not feeling well I could easily have not gone but we did it and it was 2.5hrs again so not bad. Took a detour and didn’t really stop. Getting a bit worried about the trek now as we’ve done a few hours each of the last 4 days and my legs are hurting. 

Just need to ensure that the whole of January is dedicated to the fitness regime, fingers crossed. 

Had an hour’s turnaround at home to shower and eat and then picked up Charlotte on the way to Sue’s for 3.30pm. Jack and Jodie were there as was Nathan and we had spag bol and he left and we played a couple of card games which was nice. 

Dropped Charlotte home and then watched films and ate with Jack and Jodie. This time it was a Adam Sandler and Jennifer Aniston film called Murder Mystery which was surprisingly good. Nonsense and fun with some laughs and very lighthearted. So good we watched the second one straight after. Then to bed and typing this. 

I was very poor at doing my diary in 2023 and I’d like to make it a more regular occurrence in 2024. All the things we did last year and I’ve not recorded it. A shame. 

Well, I hope this is going to be another packed and adventurous year ahead, we will soon find out!!

Have a good one