July Reading...

 

The month began as June ended - with Ian Rankin's Set In Darkness - one of his Rebus series. As always this was a great and engaging read, bringing in many of the usual favourite characters outside of Rebus himself. This is set around the time that Queensberry House was being remodelled to turn it into part of the new Scottish Parliament complex, and indeed that is where a big strand of the story originates, with other strands weaving there way through that as the book goes on. I can remember those works starting back in the late 1990s, it was quite interesting thinking back! This one will be joining the other Rankin novels on the shelf.

A random book find early in the month when I spotted some books sitting on a wall as I walked back to the car after work - Phillip Pullman's The Amber Spyglass. I'm aware that this is the third book of a trilogy and I'm not certain whether I should track down the others to read first, or whether it works as a standalone - if anyone has views I'd be happy to hear them! 

On to another author who has rapidly become a bit of a favourite - Leanne Moriarty - with Here One Moment. This one was a cracker, with the main storyline woven around events that occurred on a flight from Hobart to Sydney. Subsequent chapters follow the stories and lives of those involved and how those events affect them, and are as usual from Moriarty well written and extremely readable. Less of a twist in the tail than some of her books, and I’m not even going to HINT at why that is the case because that would definitely be a spoiler and we’re not here for those, but still her signature mix of chick-lit and thriller. A great read and I think I will pass this one on to Mum as I reckon she’ll enjoy it. 

With the hot weather ramping up, I felt like something suitably easy on the brain for my next choice and so. a Reacher book was the obvious selection. Lee Child, Never Go Back. Obviously I have read this before - it is going to turn out that we already own it? Perfectly possible, but never fear, if that is the case once finished it will return to the charity shop from where it originally came! As usual I pretty much tore through this - we’ve established that the Reacher books are fairly formulaic, yet  none the less readable for that. It isn’t any sort of spoiler to reveal that this one in no way breaks the mould. A good read - it’s obviously now been added to the shelf. 

On to an author whose stuff I’ve read in the past although not for a while - Adele Parks. First Wife’s Shadow begins as classic chick-lit then takes a turn. The first part of the book was actually quite an uncomfortable read I found - as it appeared that it was fairly obvious what was happening in the storyline and where it was heading, the lead character Emma is instantly likeable which adds to the discomfort. I didn’t see the twist coming though - and then a further twist towards the later stages of the book adds to the surprise. A really clever, well written tale, I’ll pass this one to Mum as it’s definitely her sort of thing. 

Elly Griffiths is another author who is rapidly becoming a favourite - she writes as excellent thriller and The Zig Zag Girl is no exception. Set amongst the variety theatre scene post world war 2, it takes us back to the "end of the pier show" and names up in lights, with a dose of murder and mystery thrown in. Again this one had plot twists along the way - with the murderer being revealed as one would expect in the closing chapters. Entertainingly written with excellent characters and good judgement around who "snuffs it" and who doesn't. I'll set this aside to go to Mum I think - she's doing well this month! 

Another "incoming" book when MrEH found a Lee Child we hadn't already got in a charity shop - well done him! That's on the shelf and I may even wait and take it on holiday when we go - we'll see! 

Finishing up the month is a Val McDermid I've not read before - The Mermaids Singing is one of her Tony Hills Series, not quite as good as Karen Pirie but there is still a  nice strong female character in there so all good. The usual McDermid mix of a great storyline plus enough personal interest created in the characters that you actually care what happens to them too. This is the usual breadcrumb trail of clues left throughout the story, until the twist in the tail arrives and you realise you’d missed something huge. Great reading! Onto the shelf with the others!

It almost feels slightly annoying having to go into a new book on the last couple of days if the month butI will make an exception for a Mark Billingham - not least because I know I will positively romp through it. Good as Dead is a bit of  twist - we meet Helen Weeks for the first time, and in quite dramatic circumstances, enter Tom Thorne to save the day…or will he? We’ll know by next month! 

Robyn

June Reading...

 

Following on from the (mostly Cornwall-based) adventures of May, I confess I was rather looking forward to a more home-based month of June. In theory this ought to mean lots of time for reading, but in fact what all too often happens when I'm at home more is I end up spending more time on various screens, or simply doing odd jobs around the house or garden, rather than picking up a book. The first of those though is something I want to try to scale back a little - maybe this will be the month for that?

I began with a book that's been on my "to be read" shelf for a few months - Rowland White's "Harrier 809", an account of the exploits of some of the Harrier force during the Falklands conflict, and in particular RNAS 809 Squadron, from their standing up and going into action. I'm sometimes a bit wary of this sort of aviation based book as they can be very "dry" and I really am far more interested in photographing aircraft than reading about them! To some extend this did indeed fit that mould, with far more detail about individual sorties and tactical details than I would usually go for - at times I did struggle with it a bit, however the story of the personalities involved and the sheer level of determination needed to go from nothing to a full additional squadron of Harriers and Pilots being deployed kept me reading. Another review of the book said “a lot of acronyms” though - and the full ELEVEN pages of them at the back of the book underlines this! MrEH will probably read this one at some stage, so it will get kept for now, at least.  

Two new books in to report early in the month - an L J Ross - "The Cove" which was on the charity bookshelf in the supermarket (50p) and a Val McDermid - "The Mermaids Singing" which was in a book exchange outside a house near work. I must remember to take a couple of books along there in exchange at some stage. Those have both gone onto the "to be read" shelf. There was also a stack of books from a charity shop later in the month - I really must stop going in there until the "to be read" pile has shrunk at least a bit! 

Next up was a Mark Billingham - one of my absolute favourite authors, and particular the Tom Thorne series, of which this was one. From the Dead takes Thorne outside  the UK for a change, but maintains the usual themes of Thorne’s boundary pushing…the usual supporting cast are less evident in this one which is a shame, the leading characters interactions with the likes of Dave Holland are always entertaining, Holland is there in the background but doesn’t playa y significant part here. I realised early on that I had read this one before, but got fully half way through it before realising that there was in fact a copy on the shelf! As a result it will be heading back to the charity shop. 

A new to me author next - Joanna Cannon with The Trouble With Goats and Sheep. “Quirky” proclaimed the sticker on the cover, and so it was. A interesting twist was that the book is partly set in the summer of 1976 - something which has been very much in mind over the blazing hot June days while I was reading it! Nicely written- with characters you warm to and a good twist in the tail as well. I’ll set this one aside to go to Mum although I’m not entirely sure she will get on with it. 

Ending the month with an Ian Rankin Rebus novel - Set In Darkness. You know I believe that I love these because of the location as much as anything - Edinburgh is one of my favourite cities and it always works so well when a book is set somewhere you can actually picture. His characters are always so engaging though - and I love the fact that rather like the Reacher books, it doesn't matter if you don't read them in the order they were written. I got roughly half way through this before the end of the month, so that is where we will pick up in July...

Robyn

Places to go and things to do...

 

Peak District - 2021

Who remembers this list then?

Places to go and things to do...

1) The Lake District 
2) The Peak District
3) Go back to the Farne Islands to photograph the puffins again. 
4) Go back to Donna Nook to photograph the seals again
5) Go back to Dublin
6) Belfast
7) Spend more time exploring the bits of Cornwall we've not yet seen
8) Glastonbury - The tor and village, not the festival! 
8) Do a trip on the Settle to Carlisle railway in better weather!
9) Northumberland
10) Ardnamurchan Point
11) Dunnet Head (I've been there, MrEH hasn't)
12) Lowestoft (Bizarrely MrEH's never been there, either!) - We've both been to The Lizard already
13) Arran
14) Islay
15) Blackpool! (Yes, really, I've never been, but LOVE tacky seaside places!)
16) Anthony Gormley's Another Place - Crosby
17) Visit to the Red Arrows at RAF Scampton  
18) Orkney! 
19) Re-visit the National Railway Museum at York
20) Make a short visit to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival
21) This one is for 2013 - get to an Airshow where the Vulcan is flying. Last chance to see her airborne.

It first saw the light of day in late 2011 I think, and I posted again with a bit of an update in 2013, but as far as I can see I've not updated it again since. With that in mind, I reckoned it might be time to update it, as I can see a lot needing changed! 

1) The Lake District - we have twice spent a few days there now - first camping, and then sharing a big house with the friends we consider our "CAMRA Family" a few years later. 

2) The Peak District - We made a fleeting visit there when heading up to Chesterfield and had the most glorious walk - we'd certainly like to return and spend some more time though! 

3) Go back to the Farne Islands to photograph the Puffins again - yes! Once again we had weather issues, but we got a decent length of time on one Island, lovely views of Puffins and seals, and MrEH even got dive-bombed by a Tern which is all you can really want from such a trip! Another thing we'd be keep to do again.

4) Donna Nook - I've been back, but (probably for the best) it's no longer considered acceptable to walk out on the sands, so all viewing is now from behind fences at the top of the beach. Still lovely, but not the experience it was.

5) Go back to Dublin - we went on the excuse of attending Bray Air Display for my birthday in 2016, and had a lovely weekend!

6) Belfast - I've been several times, including once with MrEH as well. Another place I'd like to spend more time.

7) Cornwall - well we spent a good chunk of May down there it seems! I never get tired of Cornwall and we find new things every time we visit. Definite plans to return!

(While writing this I noticed that my list had two number 8’s on it - how did I not notice that before?)

8) Glastonbury Tor & Village - yes, we did this some years ago now when on our way back from a weekend in Wales. 

8) - again!  Settle to Carlisle Railway in good weather - not achieved as yet. 

9) Northumberland - we camped up there the same weekend we did the last Farne Islands trip, and we're both keen to repeat the trip. 

10) & 11) Ardnamurchan Point & Dunnet Head - we have plans afoot around these, watch this space (in a year or so!)

12) Lowestoft - yes, done. This leaves me needing just one UK compass point to tick off (Ardnamurchan) and MrEH with 2. 

  Vulcan over North Weald- 2015

13) & 14) Arran & Islay - both Islands still on the wanted list. 

15) Blackpool - made it briefly in 2014 (for fish & chips on the night we were at Blackpool Airport with the Reds) and then for a proper visit for the airshow in 2024. Every bit as tacky as expected! 

16) Anthony Gormley's Another Place - Crosby. Yes - although another fairly fleeting visit in failing light thanks to getting delayed in traffic. Definitely want to get back for a proper look at some stage. 

17) Visit to the Red Arrows at RAF Scampton - well, that one escalated didn't it! Of course having written in 2013 that the team had now suspended all visits so it wasn't going to be possible, I nearly removed it from the list. Then 2014 came along, and as we know, a LOT happened, including me ending up spending a LOT of time at Scampton over the following few years! Such incredible opportunities, and times I will always look back on with a huge amount of joy and gratitude to those who made it possible!

18) Orkney - another one ticked off, having visited lovely Fay up there. Again, we'd like to return.

19) Re-visit the National Railway Museum at York - We've been back a couple of times, including in January when we were in York for a pal's birthday weekend. 

20) Short re-visit to the Edinburgh Fringe - I fear this one may now be beyond us as accommodation in Edinburgh at even the most basic of levels during August is likely to be more money than we are willing to pay. It might perhaps be possible as a day trip from somewhere else though? 

21) See the Vulcan Flying - well yes, and in the end between 2013 and when she retired from flight, I was fortunate to see her a good many times. Great memories, even if tinged with a little sadness that such an incredible aircraft is now grounded. 

That’s pretty decent progress isn’t it! I’m actually quite surprised and impressed how much we have done- and I am now thinking that perhaps a new list is required - or at least an extension of this one! 

Robyn

May in the garden…

 

A late start to the month in the garden as we were away for the first week of the month of course. We gave everything plenty of water before we left and hoped for the best - and actually almost everything survived unscathed. Two of the troughs of strawberries were looking quite sorry for themselves when we got back, but a few good soakings and they soon sprang back. We also lost just a few seedlings but nothing we couldn’t re sow. 

One thing that had happened while we were away was various things bursting into flower - the Alliums at the top are one of my absolute favourite plants in the garden, so ridiculously dramatic! Our Lidl bargain Clematis “Elizabeth” is also positively smothered in flower and another Lidl bargain - the little £2.99 rose I bought a couple of months ago is flowering again, not quite the bright yellow it was when I bought it, instead more of a vibrant orange. 

In the front garden both Salvias are flowering and attracting plentiful bees and other pollinators- one of the reasons we wanted them. The rose we cut back fairly brutally at the end of the winter has grown back to pretty much the enormous size we cut it back from and is  now flowering well with masses more buds - we may even get some cut flower from that this year - and it’s definitely going to need a scalping next winter! 

Not many plant purchases this month - although there was a visit to our favourite local nursery and some more herbs found their way home with us - 2 Crimean Basils, I'd anticipated Greek, but these seem to be the same sort of more woody variety so I'm hoping they will attract the bees just as well, plus a gorgeous Tricolour Sage and a lovely sturdy little Tarragon - we both love tarragon! One of the Basils has already been tucked into a pot at the front, and the others will probably end up in pots for the time being at least as well - I'd love to see if I could nurture the tarragon through the winter, although that will take some effort I suspect! These were just £1.20 each - an absolute bargain for really good quality plants. 

We got more seedlings on the go too - although the chilly weather at the start of the month combined with what once again seems to be some really quite disappointing compost means that things are generally seeming to struggle quite badly. Apparently we're not the only ones finding this to be a problem either - and even the RHS are advising feeding from far earlier than would be normal!  The sudden burst of heat during the final week of May made a massive difference though - although of course it hit while we were away again just to complicate things! We got back to beans bursting through and an entire module set of peas - having finally given up trying to get them to any sort of sensible size in the ground this year (we suspect the birds are getting their own back from the RSPB instructions to take in seed feeders!) and those have been mostly transferred to a large pot, although there will be some more to go into the ground too. Two Tromboncino squashes and one courgette were finally deemed large enough to make it to the ground too, and MrEH set up the obelisk and got the runner beans in around that - less this year as we had far too many in 2025 and may be eating them for ever more! We've also got several troughs sown with salads of various sorts - I may well invest in some more troughs so we can keep successionally sowing things like that as well. 

We've had our first small harvest of the year in the shape of the first of the strawberries - delicious they are too - although hopefully some of the salad is also not too far away from being edible sized now also.  June will be a month with the weekends spent at home - so next month's post will catch up with where we're at in terms of the veg planting as a whole. 

Robyn

May reading…

 

 The camping trip at the start of the month meant several books read before the first week of May was even done. We’d had a plan - MrEH was reading a Lee Child so the intention was that he would bring that down for me to take over when he finished it. Instead he finished it the day before we travelled, and left it at home, meaning I was suddenly shorter on reading material than expected - not a happy state of affairs for me! No matter though, a trip to the charity book stall on Truro Market lead to the purchase of a couple more options for just £1each with the money going to the local Rotary Club, so a win all round.

First up was a book I’d brought down with me though- Linwood Barclay’s Trust Your Eyes. Regular readers here may remember that I’m a bit of a fan of Barclay’s style of writing, he does suspense and the twist in the tail exceptionally well. This one is the story of two brothers in the aftermath of the death of their father in what we rapidly realise may be slightly unusual circumstances- but strangely enough that is not the main story here. The younger brother Thomas is described in a way that makes clear he is fairly severely autistic- his main hobby involves viewing the world via mapping program clearly designed to resemble google street view- and this is a hobby that takes his time to the exclusion of almost everything else. It’s while viewing a particular street in Manhattan that he spots something suspicious in a window, and it is this story that then rolls out through the rest of the book. Cleverly written - the final chapters see several twists and turns as well as at least a partial explanation for why Thomas is as he is. Older Brother Ray is the glue that holds the whole thing together with the story mainly being told from his perspective. This one will be heading back with us for MrEH to read. 

Next up, the one in the header picture - J D Kirk - An Isolated Incident - a Truro find which immediately sounded excellent. Set in the Highlands of Scotland (so ticking the always popular “somewhere I know” box) and told from the perspective of  a Police Officer - DCI Jack Logan. Kirk (not his real name) write with humour and pace while still managing to pen a good and suspenseful story - Logan feels like a strong character and the supporting cast are also well crafted, indeed this book is one of a fairly prolific series so I’ll be keeping an eye out for more. This one will also be heading back with us as MrEH has now started reading it! 

Onto the second Truro find  - a “double header” of two Ian Rankin Rebus books, with the first being The Hanging Garden. Rankin (and Rebus!) are sufficiently legend that little needs saying really - and this is much as one might expect, with Rebus tangling with the Edinburgh gang scene while juggling multiple cases including one relating to WWII war crimes. The usual Rankin musical references weave their way through the story, and of course Rebus does his usual trick of breaking all the rules while still ending up smelling of roses! I debated whether to read directly onto the second book - “Dead Souls” and eventually decided to do so as I already had the book to hand. It works well as it refers to various events from The Hanging Garden  although I did realise within a few pages that I already had it, and had read it not long before! Still an enjoyable read though. Unusually in this case I will hang on to both copies as the "double header" has some damage, so if I find a better condition copy of  the Hanging Garden I'll let it go at that stage instead.

Time for what seems to have become a monthly Lee Child Reacher read then - In Too Deep. This one unusually starts out with a battered and broken Reacher -and a bad situation which rapidly seems to be getting worse, too. Of course we know the pattern here by now don't we - I was discussing the Reacher books with a pal and we agreed that they aren’t quite formulaic as such, but there is definitely a degree of a pattern with them. Sometimes it’s good to know what you’re going to get with a book though - these are the Wetherspoons pub of the reading world! 

A second trip to Cornwall at the end of the month inadvertently lead to me stocking up on a few more books - the supermarkets all have excellent charity book shelves and I found a couple there, then three more at a market we visited - one of which was a Val McDermid that I may actually have at home, time will tell (I am writing this section of the post in Cornwall) so Still Life was the next choice. A Karen Pirie tale, always a good read. I have actually read this one before but long enough ago that I had forgotten the storyline as I discovered when I went on to read it, so all good! As with most of her books it was mainly set in Edinburgh although this one does seem to get about a bit too - as I have said before though I do like a book where I know the locations - it definitely makes for a better read when you don’t have to try and picture the settings.

Robyn.

April Reading...

Another month, and another crime thriller to start us off! David Baldacci this time - with Long Road to Mercy. I've read a number of his Amos Decker series, but this book introduces a new main character in the shape of Atlee Pine - an FBI agent with a unique history. A strong - if in this case very slightly implausible  - female lead in this sort of book is always a great thing. When I come to think about it, Pine has a little of the Jack Reacher about her, and implausibility has worked for that character! The book was enjoyed anyway, and will be headed to the shelf with the others from the same author. 

At some stage I will have a bit of a review of books I have opted to keep - and give some thought to whether I really am likely to read them again. If the view is that I will, they are well worth keeping - I can happily read a good book many times over, and if an author is particularly tricky to track down then they earn their shelf space for sure. Although we do have the shelf space in the house though, I’m still not in the market for simply keeping books “because” so an occasional review is a necessity. For so many years in the flat with no space we had to operate a “one in, one out” rule - so having the luxury to choose to keep a book without turfing another one out to make space is wonderful! 

Second book of the month was Susan Lewis' Silent Truths. I've read plenty of her books before but for some reason found this one quite hard going. A combination of factors I think - a lot of the storyline felt quite far-fetched; it dealt with the sort of lifestyles which I can't in any way shape or form identify with (not always a barrier to enjoying a book, but that relies on other factors being spot on I think) and one of the main characters being - to my mind at least - really quite unlikeable! The second half of the book gathered pace and was far more readable, but I think this one is heading back to the charity shop.

The monthly dose of Reacher followed - Lee Child - Blue Moon. I've read this one before - and not all that long ago either - but Child's books are always worth reading again, so no issues there. It follows his usual formula for the Reacher books - our hero encounters a situation where his help is needed, then encounters a load of bad guys. Blood is spilled and it all ends happily ever after! As usual this will be joining the others on the shelf because although I'd read it before, it was clearly at a point where we weren't keeping hold of them. 

A quieter month on the reading front - partly because that Susan Lewis one took me quite a while to plough through, but also because with increased daylight hours and warmer temperatures the garden is calling for our attention more and more. That said, as you can see from the photo, sometimes the two hobbies do collide and when it's warm enough I like little more than a sit in the garden with a cuppa and a good book! 

Robyn

New wheels!

 

Did I mention my new wheels?  I’ve been thinking about a new bike for a while - I’ve been cycling semi-regularly since our old Neighbours gave me a Dutch-style step through commuter bike a few years ago, but I’ve found myself wanting to do a bit more, and the old bike wasn’t quite ideal. 

One of our local bike shops has occasional “scratch & dent sales”  which ai suspect are  mostly about stock clearance when they get new ranges in, but still, some excellent discounts to be had, so when they launched the last one I decided to keep an eye to see what was available. I knew roughly what I wanted - a hybrid sports bike which would cope cheerfully enough with both road cycling and some light off road trails too.  I settled on the one above - at a very reasonable price and so far she and I are getting on a treat!

So what of the old bike, you may ask? Well, handily a lovely pal alerted me to the fact that another local bike shop works with a charity that provides bikes to those who need, but can’t afford them. My old bike is off for a full refurb and will then be finding its way to a new custodian - maybe helping them to and from a place of work or study. As I was given her for free in the first place, that seems fitting, don’t you think? 

Robyn 

 

March Reading...

 

Having finished the previous book on the final day of February, March has started with a completely fresh one - but a rather familiar author! This is the point that some of my reading this month might actually get to be done outdoors - one of my chief joys as the weather warms up is being able to sit in the garden at weekends, or in the park near to work at lunchtime on working days, and enjoy the sunshine and a few chapters of whatever I'm reading at the time - an unseasonably warm day in February did give me one opportunity to enjoy the park, but I'm hopefully this month will allow plenty more of that!

The familiar author then...? Well if you guessed Lee Child, you would be spot on - TheMidnight Line being the book this time. Another classic Reacher adventure - with the usual amount of retribution delivered to the bad guys while our hero marches on turning bad into good. This was another find in my favourite local charity shop - the main reason it is my favourite is that their paperbacks are still 50p each and they always have masses of them! 

Relatively unusually for me my paper reading was augmented with a book on my tablet this month. I always have a few books lined up on there ready for reading when a real book isn’t practical, and the tube journey back from meeting my pal Max at the RAF Museum in Hendon at the start of the month was one of those occasions as the bag I wanted to take wasn’t big enough for my physical book. I generally prefer non fiction if I’m reading on a screen, and at the moment I’m working my way through Ben Carpenter’s Fat Loss Habits - which aims to debunk many of the various myths surrounding diets and diet culture, as well as addressing (as the title suggests) the habits which can actually help with intentional weight loss. Ben’s writing is good - I follow him on social media and he writes in much the same way as he speaks -  a dry wit, very matter of fact and with a fair spattering of Fs! It will probably take me a lot longer to finish this one than any of the paperbacks I more often read

Back to paper format and Paula Hawkins with Into The Water. She is the author of “The Girl on the Train” which I read years ago and enjoyed enough to keep even with our then “one in one out” policy on books thanks to the limited space in the flat. This was a little slower to get started, but by the time I was a few chapters in I’d got to grips with both characters and subject matter. Quite dark, quite intense, and a storyline that twisted and turned right to the final pages. A really good read but very much a book that once you know the story it probably isn’t one to read again, so this one will be heading back to the charity shop. 

Next up - another return to an old favourite author and lead character in the shape of the Rebus series from Ian Rankin, the book this time being A Heart Full of Headstones. Set immediately post-Covid and after Rebus' retirement from the Police, the book opens with him in court, accused of, well, that we are yet to find out! The book tells us the background to the court case, and is written with Rankin's usual pace and thoughtful linking together of aspects of the plot - weaving characters and plotlines throughout is his speciality. Absolutely no spoilers from me - but this didn't disappoint and will be joining the others on the shelf! 

Final book of the month was another from Richard Osman - We Solve Murders is another wittily written tale. Entertaining characters and a good, if rather far-fetched, storyline made this an easy read, although the short chapters mean that the oft-repeated phrase in my house "I'll just read a chapter then do X" has lead to less reading and more "doing"! Very similar to the Thursday Murder Club that I read a few months ago - a great fun, low effort read. I'll cheerfully seek out his books again! This one was devoured in a matter of days and will now wing its way back to the charity shop. 

Robyn 

Small things...

 

Discovering that the big supermarket close to the office had a whole load of flowers reduced dramatically down in price after work on Wednesday - presumably leftovers from mothers day. I treated myself to two bunches of tulips for a bargain price of £1.63, not "frugal" as such, but a little burst of brightly coloured joy in the window for a very reasonable cost! I adore tulips - we had an array of yellow and red ones in the garden at the flat, and they were one of the first things I got planted in our garden at the house, too!

The beautiful weather this week - chilly first thing (indeed, we have had a frost several mornings) but the most glorious clear blue skies and sunshine making the world just feel a brighter, more cheerful place! 

Having finally taken the plunge and ordered myself a new bike. The current one has done me proud for several years, having been given to me by a former neighbour, but it's not a style I particularly like, it's heavy and it also needs substantial amounts of work to get it to a reliably functioning state. Given the choice of spending a fair amount on a bike that honestly I don't find really suits my needs that well, and spending a little more to buy something which hopefully well, I jumped onto the final days of a sale to save  myself over £100 on a nice sports hybrid which with luck will enable me to get further afield faster and more comfortably!

Starting to feel the benefit of regular yoga practice. I often tend to start the year with unrealistic plans to "do yoga every day" and that then falters a couple of months into the year. This year's plan was to "do some yoga most days" - and so far, I'm sticking to generally 4 - 6 times a week depending on what else is occurring. That said, at time of writing I'm struggling with a trapped nerve in my back thanks to a bit too much stretching last night, I suspect - so it's not all good! 

Future plans: Bargain priced tickets to a gig for a band we both love. Free admission to the London Transport Museum's Acton Depot open weekend because of our Friends of the Museum membership. Several planned camping trips, plus a day trip up to one of our favourite areas on the Suffolk coast during the upcoming easter weekend...nothing there that will cost us a vast sum of money, but little things to look forward to. As before when we were clearing the mortgage, we're taking the view that a balance of frugality and fun is the way to go - it's a long haul, and making life miserable to get the mortgage gone sooner is not in the plan! 

Robyn

February reading…

 

I confess I’m rather enjoying documenting the books I’m reading - it’s making me think more about not only the story or subject matter of the books themselves, but also about what I’m picking up to read next. I mostly read fiction - crime/mystery are favourite subjects, I particularly enjoy series that follow a central character from book to book - Val McDermid’s Karen Pirie novels, and Mark Bellingham’s Tom Thorne, those possibly appeal because they are often set in areas I know reasonably well, Edinburgh and London. I also like a novel which although fiction, has a basis in true events as well, which brings us on to the first book of this month…

Fern Britton is a name many will know from her TV work- but she is also a prolific novelist. The Good Servant takes the late Queen Elizabeth II’s governess Marion “Crawfie” Crawford as it’s central character, and deals with her story from her appointment to the Royal Household when the young princesses were just 6 & 2 years old, following her life through until her departure from the household once the Princesses had come of age, and her fall-from-grace following the publication of a book "The Little Princesses" for which she appeared to have knowingly sold personal stories against the wishes of the then Queen. The story is fiction based on fact, and extrapolates out what is known into a story of misplaced love and broken trust - and who knows how close to the real story that is? A good read anyway - I'll set this one aside to make its way to my Mum who also enjoys Britton's books. 

A change of pace and genre next - back to old favourite Lee Child's Reacher series and Echo Burning - found in a charity shop for 50p a few weeks back. It's harder and harder to find books from this series that we haven't read previously, on this trip we actually found two, the other is still on the shelf to be read in due course. I found this a little slower to get going than some - the first third of the book felt a little disjointed somehow - but once the story started playing out it turned into the usual good read with all the classic a child hallmarks - the good guys won the day, the bad guys mostly ended up dead, exactly what you expect from a Reacher book! 

Full non-fiction for my third book of the month - Spitfire Kids by Alasdair Cross deals with those remarkably young people involved with the building, flying and maintaining the poster-boy aircraft of World War II.  An absolutely fascinating read - in good part because it deals with the stories you rarely hear, about the people who are so often forgotten. From the young employees at the Supermarine factory in Southampton, to the women of the Air Transport Auxiliary via plotters and pilots, it is at times a tough read, but for anyone who enjoys learning more about the “behind the headlines” side of World War 2  history I would highly recommend it. This one has gone onto the shelf with the other books of a similar genre. 

Elly Griffiths’  “The Woman in Blue” was next off the shelf, set in the North Norfolk area so I was back to a book where I knew the basic geography of the area if not the specific location. I’ve read at least one of Griffiths books before although she isn’t an author I know well. She writes a good story though, balancing the plot with the personal lives of the characters nicely, and including just the right amount of suspense. Thoroughly enjoyable, and I will be setting this one aside to pass to Mum. 

Finally for the month another favourite author - Val McDermid - with 1979. Picked up in a charity shop, this one was set in Glasgow in 1979, and although rather different from the other works of McDermid’s I’ve read, I thoroughly enjoyed it. Lead character Allie is a Junior reporter on one of the Scottish nationals, and her determination to see success along with a chance meeting on a train leads her to hook up with colleague Danny Sullivan to work on several stories with increasing levels of danger. When the worst happens, Allie finds herself first a suspect, then turning detective in a bid to track down the culprit and see justice done. A fast paced, easy read with the added interest of looking back on how things were quite so different so relatively recently (homosexuality still being illegal in Scotland, for example!). This one will make its way to the shelf with the others! 

I managed to avoid too many additional book purchases this month but did cave in to a charity shop visit on Saturday using £2 of my personal spends for 4 additions to the To Be Read pile - including 2 Lee Child’s we didn’t already have - one of those will become my first book of March. 

Robyn

January Reading…

 

Starting the month with the book which was the header photo for last months post - Lee Child - The Hard Way, another in the Reacher series - we’ve been reading and enjoying these for years, and now we have added space in the house we are working on getting the full set, previously lack of bookshelf space demanded that they were returned to the charity shop after reading! This one is set partly in England, and a bit of the country I knew well, so an additional layer of interest there, but they are always a rollicking good read. Reacher emerges victorious of course - he always does, that’s no plot spoiler, but in spite of his extreme levels of violence he also manages to be likeable, a measure of Child’s writing talent I think. This will be joining the others on the shelf!

Next up was Liane Moriarty - Big Little Lies. Big subject matter too with its twin themes of bullying and domestic violence and played out in a small community in Australia. Moriarty writes brilliantly - this book is punctuated throughout with little quotes from the various characters, written as though they were given in interviews with a journalist, and all alluding to the "the event" that the book pivots on but without ever giving away the "whodunnit" aspect. The gossipy cliqueiness of the primary school parents giving the quotes shines through and I suspect many people can recognise that sort of behaviour from groups they have been part of! When "the event" occurs towards the very end of the book it actually comes as a shock in the way it plays out and it is all the more impactful because of that. I probably won't be keeping this one so it will either get passed to Mum, or returned to a charity shop. 

Linwood Barclay's Never Look Away kept me absolutely gripped. Started with the apparent abduction of a small child, the twists in the tale came from the very beginning, with things taking a deeply dark turn as the story unravels. Main character David Harwood is well written and likeable, making it easy to feel sympathy towards him, and the author has cleverly wound several mysteries into the  storyline without making it feel cluttered, they all intertwine perfectly and conclude neatly in the final chapters. I didn't want to put this one down and read it in a matter of days - I'll be keeping my eye out for more from Barclay, and will probably pass this one to my Mum for her to read. 

An old favourite author next in the shape of Val McDermid - a truly excellent crime-writer in my view and well deserving of the bestseller status she enjoys. A Darker Domain is part of the Karen Pirie series - and I realised within a few pages that not only had I read it before but in fact I already own a copy - clearly I need to add McDermid's books into my note of authors who I am collecting to avoid duplication in the future! That said, I was quite happy to read this one again - and long enough since I read it first time that I had largely forgotten the storyline, so all good! This copy will head back to the charity shop, and I’ll retain the original one. 

Time for some non-fiction then - and a history of British Rail, by  Christian Wolmar - this one we spotted on the bookshelves at Blackhorse Road Station early last year I think - we always stop and have a look there if heading back from the taprooms on the Blackhorse Beer mile, and have often found some interesting stuff for the taking. I don't read huge amounts of non-fiction, but every now and again fancy something a bit different, and this ticked the box, particularly with the part re-nationalisation of the entity happening currently. It was a fascinating - if slightly heavy read - and corrects many of the misconceptions about the perceived poor reputation of pre-privatisation BR. This has gone aside for MrEH to read, and I suspect it will get kept.

Robyn.

Small pleasures…

 

I’ve mentioned before that I always try and get out for a walk at lunchtime - the fresh air does me good, at this time of the year in particular the daylight is much needed, and it also sets an expectation that my lunch break is a time I value. Sometimes simply escaping the office for 20 minutes or so can be a bit of a blessing, too! 

On a day like today it is just a delight to be out in the sunshine - and I’m always grateful to have a little patch of green space to walk to as well - in the drier summer months the nearby edge of Wanstead flats provides a network of paths to wander, part of the Epping Forest, it combines a patch of shady woodland with a large area of heathland alongside. Muddy in winter, dusty in summer, it’s still a magnet for dog walkers, runners and just anyone wanting a break from the urban streets. 

I’ve pretty much decided that Frugal February will be  happening by the way - although it will mainly be angled towards the food aspect again. I’m not expecting - or wanting to- keep the spending quite as low as this month, there are a number of bits and bobs we definitely need to stock up on now. I’m sure we’ll find plenty to talk about though over the course of the month! 

Robyn

Making the best of things!

Shortly after posting my Frugal Friday post, things got rather less frugal, through no fault of my own!

A trip up to Lincoln to see those Little Red Jets and the 2026 team winter training was well overdue - and Claire and I had plotted and planned for that to happen last week - with me driving up on the Thursday evening, tea at the fabulous Dambusters Inn, then a day of photography on the Friday after which I would head home - however the arrival of a storm with a funny name made us put on our uncharacteristically sensible hats and we agreed that it probably wasn’t the best plan for me to be heading up just when Lincoln was threatened with possible heavy snow, so we postponed by a week. A good decision as it turned out, as there was no flying at all last Friday  (no snow either as it turned out, but that is another story!) Anyway, the forecast this week was FAR better, so all good, surely?

I arranged a slightly early escape from work, and we agreed that we’d meet at the pub “as long as I was up by7.30pm” - not a problem though, that allowed a good three hours for the trip, which should be plenty. Well, that was until the absolutely torrential rain that hit on Thursday afternoon, turning the M11, A14 AND A1 into a succession of swimming pools! Nearly 4 hours later, I finally arrived at Claire’s and we agreed that a takeaway would be just the thing! This morning the day dawned…well, overcast and cloudy, and, worse, with a visibility forecast of “poor”- wait, THAT wasn’t in the forecast! We duly trotted out and sat and waited but it became painfully apparent that no flying was going to happen first thing, so we agreed to head back, collect my car, and return to Waddington via a rather nice butty van we’re fond of for a late breakfast/early lunch bacon roll. Half way back to Waddington, with the rolls scenting our respective cars rather wonderfully, I swung off a roundabout and suddenly saw the dreaded orange warning light plus a “check injection system” warning pop up on the dashboard - and immediately also lost a lot of the car’s usual power… I tried a couple of hard revs in the hope of clearing it, but to no avail, and it became apparent that I was going to need to call the breakdown people.

I should say at this point that this was my first time of requiring help from my current breakdown insurer- Eversure - and I honestly can’t fault them. They have a straightforward web form to fill in with details, then kept me updated at every stage with who was attending and when I could expect them. The excellent local recovery chap turned up within half an hour, plugged in the diagnostic tool and gave me the bad news that it was going to need full recovery. Initially Eversure suggested that they were going to try to get a local garage to take it for a repair, but happily on a Friday afternoon, and with what pointed to a quite major fault, that rapidly proved impractical, and it was agreed that instead they would recover the car back to our lovely pal Neil at his garage local to us, albeit this wouldn’t happen until early next week. Back came the nice local chap - with a slightly bigger truck this time - and off went the car.this was all inside 2 hrs and 30 minutes! In the meantime, Eversure had also agreed that I could simply get the train home and then send the receipt in for reimbursement - very efficient! 

At the time of writing I am on my second train of the day, and here are the gratitudes which come under the heading of making the best of things - first up having friends like lovely Claire who did battle with Friday afternoon Lincoln traffic to drop me at the station, but not before the Reds finally got in the air for the last slot of the day in the most wonderful light - a joy! Having a free hot drink code on my Greggs app - after standing out wielding the camera that cuppa was most welcome when I got on the first train! The delicious piece of Victoria Sponge I have just enjoyed on THIS train - courtesy of a friend of Claire’s who had made it for a fundraising thing they did yesterday but not all of it had been eaten so Claire snaffled a couple of slices for us! Having the wit to ask whether I could use my train ticket on a slightly earlier connection from Peterborough - I suspect I have been a lot more comfortable on this train than I would have been on the later completely sold out one I was scheduled to use! And finally, MrEH for turning out to collect me from the station near home on a chilly dark winters evening - and for the fact that we have a second car for him to use for this purpose, of course! The train journey itself too - I read my book on the first train, have written this post on the second, and will get the book out again for the Tube connection between Kings across and Tottenham Hale, and on the final hop back to our local station from there. Sometimes, it’s nice to have enforced downtime! 

I suspect we are in for a hefty repair bill for the car, but we will deal with that as needed. Thank goodness for Emergency Funds! 

Robyn 

Sunny interludes...

 

We seem to have had more than our fair share of grey, drizzly days this winter - and worse, patches of time when we've had proper heavy solid rain for several days on the trot. Drizzle is one thing, but a downpour, regardless of what precautions one takes in terms of umbrellas and waterproof coats is just dispiriting. 

I try to make sure I get out for a walk at lunchtimes on working days - I started this some years ago when I realised that there were some days during the winter when I left home in  the dark in the morning and got back there again in the dark later, and barely saw any daylight all day. Having been struggling with low mood in the winter months it suddenly occurred to me that perhaps some extra light might help - and sure enough, the first year I consistently added a daily walk of a mile or so during my lunchbreak, I noticed a huge difference during the months of shorter days and limited daylight. generally speaking I've kept it up since, and it has to be quite a wet day before I will decline to get out for some fresh air.

My favourite workplace to walk from was when I worked at an industrial estate on the banks of the Thames in East London. and could get a short distance alongside the water, or even on occasion a quick trip across the river and back on the Woolwich Ferry - that always came with an edge of risk though as the old boats that were in service then were somewhat prone to breaking down, and the risk of getting stranded was an ever-present! 

Today's walk was just around the streets, taking in the edge of a local patch of heathland and the fringes of the forest, but the sky was blue and the sun was shining, and it was a delight to be out there! 

Robyn

Into 2026 we go!

 

A seat with a view - Sheringham

Happy new year  - I wonder what 2026 has in store for us all? 

As usual, no New Year’s resolutions here - the closest I will get will be some planning in my notebook and some intentions set out. There won’t be umpteen new habits, a diet that smells of sadness, or a “New Year, New Me!” plan that’s guaranteed to make me feel like I’ve failed by February 1st! 

There are some odds and ends I would like to do - for a start to work on my fitness a bit more - firstly by getting back to some regular yoga again. My lovely pal Jenni over at Not Really A Farm did a fantastic challenge during December of starting her day with Yoga - often by candlelight - and I’m in awe! The only thing I can usually manage to consistently do first thing in the morning is to have a cup of tea, so I certainly won’t be making any plans to copy her, but I would like to get back to doing some regular stretching and flexibility work again, and for me, structured plans often work best, so I will have a look for a suitable monthly programme to start me off - very possibly something from Yoga With Adriene on YouTube.

Later today we will be sitting down to revisit our financial goals for the year, something we always do at this point in the year. Talking things through means we can ensure we are both on the same page with our plans, and that we are both happy with the money that goes into our various savings pots each month as well. That in turn streamlines things through the year - and means we can make the best possible use of our funds. 

We’ve got various plans already for this year - with more time available to us now that the Great British Beer Festival is no more, we want to get back to doing more regular camping trips, I’m hoping to squeeze in a few more air shows, and we already have some fun stuff planned with friends too including a trip to York to help a close friend celebrate a milestone birthday. As usual we’ll be heading off to the Hebrides later in the year, and we intend  to get back to a Cornwall for the first time in a few years too.

We also have plans to get at least one major job done on the house this year - hopefully this will be replacing the rather perilous front steps, although depending on how things go through the timer it could turn out to need to be the roof - we’ll have to wait and see on that one! Like so many of these sorts of tasks the biggest step will be in deciding exactly what is to be done, and by who - we need to take a deep breath and get started I think, and once we have started I suspect it will become far less scary! 

I’m intending to start the year with a bit of a financial reset and challenge - prompted by the two groaningly full freezers and an expensive month on the food front in December - I’m going to get things planned out in my head (and very possibly that notebook!) and will get a blog post sorted on it once that’s happened though - as we all know, writing it here = accountability! 

Robyn

December Reading...

I wonder if this format of monthly posts will stick? I ought to have additional time for reading this month with Christmas and its associated down-time to come at the end of it, plus I'm going to make a conscious effort to ensure that I do try to pick up a book rather than scrolling on my phone or tablet too - social media has its place, but I'd really like to absorb at least a little less of it...!

I've always been a reader - as a child I was constantly being referred to as "having her nose in a book - AGAIN", and would - as I think I have mentioned here before - read literally anything that was in front of me. As an adult I'm someone who always has a book with me, and preferably in paper form, too. That said, I'm not a fan of hardbacks - it's soft covers all the way for me through choice, other than for things like recipe books.

This month began with the book I started at the very end of November - Peter May's Extraordinary People, part of his Enzo McLeod series. As soon as I started reading this one I had a feeling I'd read it before, and so it turned out. That said, it was a while ago and I didn't recall the detail too closely, so was content to carry on with it. I originally got hooked on this author via his Chessmen trilogy - set on the Isle of Lewis - and in fact that reminds me that it really is time I re-read those! This one is set in France and the storyline takes the main character all around the country as it unfolds, ending with a nail biting final chapter in Paris. The format of clues taking them from one place to the next is clever - and there is plenty to keep the reader griped even without being familiar with the setting. This copy will head back to the charity shop and the original one I have will stay on the shelf.

Next up, a lucky Tesco charity bookshelf find in the shape of John Nichol’s The Red Line. MrEH spotted it and asked whether I already had it - nope, although I do have several others by the same author. Many will recall that John was half of one of the Tornado crews shot down in the first Gulf war, and was subsequently taken hostage alongside his pilot John Peters and several other allied crews. They brought home the nature of the opposition in that conflict when they appeared in propaganda broadcasts having clearly been treated brutally by their captors. He writes factual accounts without being in any way dry or dull - his aim is always to write about the individuals involved in the events, and so you get a truly personal account told from many different perspectives. This book, dealing with the historic Nuremberg raid of WW2, is no easy read - unsurprisingly some of the accounts from the crews involved are nothing short of harrowing.it does provide a fascinating insight into the decision making both on the ground and in the air though, including an honest take on the mistakes made. 10/10 - this will join the others of it’s genre on the shelf.

Next up, a charity shop impulse buy from an Author I don’t believe I have come across before, “A Bird in Winter” by Louise Doughty. The main character here is Heather - aka  Bird - and begins with her leaving her place of employment in the security service - something which becomes very relevant on all levels - and going on the run. The story then retraces its steps over her life to fill in and explain the background to this dramatic opening. A good story, with added interest through featuring a number of places I know reasonably well, but one of those books that doesn’t quite seem to have an ending - or at least not one conclusive enough for me. Still a good read, and was passed to my Mum to read. 

On to a book I was delighted to find in a charity shop recently - and on a three books for £1 basis too - Richard Osman’s The Thursday Murder Club. I’ve been keeping an eye out for a copy of this for a while, so as you can imagine, I pounced! A great read with a good balance of suspense and comedy - with the comedic aspects being provided cleverly by the main character’s personalities. I’m often dubious about books written by celebrities but fair play to Osman - he’s definitely proved himself to be a good author here! 

I finished the month with a favourite author and character - Lee Child and another book in the Reacher series of course - The Hard Way. I’ll do a summary of that next month though. 

Robyn

November reading...

I do love a blog post where the writer gives a little summary/review of the books they've read or just dipped into that month - it's often not the sort of books I'd read myself, but that's fine, we're all different and never more so than in our reading tastes! Anyway, I was inspired to see if I could start doing the same thing - mostly because of just finding them interesting sorts of posts, but also because I wonder if it will actually encourage me to read a bit more, and scroll a bit less...

The book I started the month with was Lianne Moriarty's Truly Madly Guilty - I've read her books before, she has a real talent for writing a suspenseful book, and this one is no exception. The subject is an event that occurred at a barbecue, and the fallout created by that event - yet cleverly it isn't until two thirds of the way through that you find out what the event actually was. The chapters before that fill in background, and deal with some of the aftermath - but all without giving even the faintest of clues as to what actually happened - very skilfully written! I did find I struggled a tiny bit with this one - in part because I struggled to actually like some of the main characters very much - that said, it was gripping enough that I did persevere. Not one for me to keep - I'll pass it to my Mum to read and she will then send it back to the charity shop. 

Next up, Val McDermid “The Last Temptation” - a favourite author and genre of mine, I love a police based crime thriller, and Val writes an excellent story with cleverly constructed characters - invariably including the supporting cast. This was no exception - weaving two separate strands together in a way that allows the lead characters to do their thing. The twin storylines allow the suspense to continue right into the final few pages as well. This book was picked up from a book exchange and I will be keeping it as it’s definitely something I will re-read in the future. 

Moving on - T.M.Logan's The Daughter was similarly full of suspense and I barely wanted to put it down, rocketing through it in just a few days. The premise of a missing person that the Police weren't interested in investigating because "they're an adult who can make their own decisions" - in this case a young woman in her first term at University - felt perfectly believable as we've all heard of stories like that after all. The full picture gradually becoming apparent and building to a gripping last few chapters with a really unexpected twist made this a real page-turner, for me. The Author's name felt familiar to me but as far as I can see I've not read any of their other novels - I will certainly be keeping an eye for them in the future though. This one, meanwhile, will head to my Mum to read as I think she'll enjoy it, too. 

The last book I finished this month was David Baldacci’s The Fix - another from an author I’m quite a fan of, and again in the Police/thriller genre. This is part of his series featuring Amos Decker - an FBI agent with a photographic memory - along other quirks. Whilst not entirely a likeable character, he has a backstory that enables the reader to feel sympathy for him and that, combined with a gripping storyline, makes these extremely readable books. Baldacci has a particular talent for keeping the suspense going the the final pages too  - something he makes good use of here. An excellent read which will go to join the others from the same author on the shelf. 

Robyn

Plotting and planning...

River Stort - 14th January 2024

I was doing some reading back over the blog (on the basis that at least someone is still reading it, then!) and it's got me all inspired to maybe make some fun plans for the new year to share with you all - what do you think? First up - and as always really the cornerstone of everything, will be the financial stuff...

With the new house, our financial situation has changed fairly dramatically - although the new mortgage isn't particularly huge by many people's standards, we are working on precisely the same approach as when we had the mortgage on the flat (which was in fact slightly smaller than this one!) - that being, that we want to see it gone! As a result, and learning from our experience first time round, we made our first overpayment this time immediately - in fact, technically, before the first contractual payment was made - which was a pretty good feeling! We've overpaid each month since then, and will be continuing to do this going forwards. As before, the "saved" money from the two "free" Council Tax months will also go across to the mortgage as this has always been a good easy win. One thing that is an absolute joy this time is the ease of making overpayments - a complete contrast the faff last time round with having to phone up each time we wanted to make one, now I can simply pay money across whenever I feel like it from our banking app! It feels like a great novelty, even if I am perhaps driving MrEH (who keeps a proper tally of our overpayments, interest saved etc) just a little crazy by occasionally paying off odd amounts to bring us up to a nice round number outstanding! 

We're now working to a completely new budget as you might expect - and that is under fairly constant review at the moment. We are also still aiming to stash a decent chunk into savings each month - currently we can save at a higher interest rate than the mortgage is costing us, so while it makes sense to pay some money off against the mortgage, it also makes sense to ensure that the majority of our monthly surplus is still allocated to savings.  We have new savings pots - for things for the garden among other things - and are also having to adjust to having to carefully pick and choose what we say yes to doing, as the balance of what we want to do financially doesn't allow for the fairly regular weekends away we were able to agree to previously. We're also actively working to make savings where we can - and as always, as those savings are made, that money will be squirreled away into our Mortgage Overpayments Pot - from there, each time the balance reaches £100 a little chunk is paid to the mortgage. 

One substantial change we have to our plans for 2024 is that there will be no Great British Beer Festival - the decision had to be announced that we were unable to hold the festival this year due to issues with the venue. It's disappointing - as these days it forms a massive part of our year - but we will still be working hard in the background to ensure that when the festival makes its return in 2025 it's the best it has ever been. From my perspective this will mean some changes to the airshows I can attend as well - plus enabling me to do the whole of the Royal International Air Tattoo for the first time ever - although it doesn't actively clash with GBBF, it is at the time of year when MrEH and I are both frantically busy with stuff relating to it, so I shall be making the most of that one this year. As always, I am saving monthly towards airshow fun and games to come - this means that I always know that the money is there for the tickets and accommodation for the places I want to go - a real win! 

On the house front, there really isn't a huge amount of work we need to do - but there are a few things we would like to get done in due course. Of these the most pressing is to remodel the garden which currently has rather more patio and less growing space than needed - to a man with an angle grinder will be required to change this, and we want to get it done early in the spring as that will then make a big impact on what we can grow to help with feeding ourselves in 2024.  Beyond that, there are a few internal cosmetic bits and pieces - which we mostly have the paint for already, and then we are into potentially slightly further off jobs which we may start pricing up but are unlikely to do anything about actually getting done in the near future.

Personally, I'd really like to get back to more regular running again. A back injury last year lead me to stop running AND cycling - as the type of injury it was can be made worse by both those things. There's been no improvement for not doing them though, so I am now beginning to add a little bit of running back into  my life again - and I'm loving it! So nice to be back out there again - and all the more so because I am being kind to  myself, if it's wet, I'm not going. If it's so cold I know I will be uncomfortable - not going! So mostly when I'm getting out there at the moment it's lovely bright crisp sunny weather and that is by far the nicest weather to run in so far as I am concerned, so that's brilliant! The gym has been completely abandoned at the moment as that definitely was making my back worse, but I do want to get back to adding in some proper strength work again - that will be home-based, for now at least. Oh - and yoga! I KNOW that's good for me - helping with suppleness and strength - so that is something else I want to add back in - but let's take this one thing at a time, eh?! 

How about you then? Is there plotting and planning afoot? Have you changed things in your life dramatically and are now having to readjust to the differences those changes mean? Do stop by and tell me! 

Robyn