June - Kit 70th - a brief return to Devon - London heatwave

June was somewhat uneventful - a heatwave for the last fortnight of the month sapped my energy and although I managed to go to all my fitness classes I collapsed on to a sun lounger in the garden most afternoons and did very little.  I felt a bit guilty about this - I don't know why.  It was good to take advantage of the sunshine and enjoy the garden for a change.  Suki made the most of it - lying in the sun and commandeering my blanket!

And she made good use of the shade under my sun lounger when she got too hot!

On the handbell front we started going for Lincolnshire Royal at Guys with me on 5-6 - so I spent a lot of time practicing on Abel!  We couldn't get through a plain course on the first get together, although we improved throughout the evening, but we all agreed that it had been fun and worthwhile and more enjoyable than attempting yet another peal of Kent Royal.

With Steve I rang a QP of 4 x spliced Surprise Major on 3-4 - we had attempted a peal which had collapsed after a couple of parts.  I was quite pleased that I was able to ring fairly solidly throughout as I had not rung much major inside for a long time.  I also rang a peal of Lincolnshire Major on 1-2 on a Sunday evening following the S&W striking competition at Cranford (which the Chiswick band won).

In Devon we scored a QP of 6 x spliced Plain Major (at the third attempt) which was quite challenging but great fun.  I was distraught when I discovered they would be going for the next attempt with 3 more methods without me!

I also rang a couple of tower bell Quarter Peals for special reasons.  At Barnes I rang in the London S Major for Francis' first London major, and on the front 6 at Chiswick in the Cambridge S Minor for Sophie's first treble bob.  This was a test for my wrists - but I felt they coped well enough to do it again sometime if needed for a special occasion/attempt.  I took a strong ibruprofen beforehand and wrapped them tightly in the procool wrist supports which obviously helped.

We went to Kit's 70th birthday lunch in Kent - the first family get together on Mike's side we had been invited to since Steve and Emma's wedding in 2013.  Mike insisted on attending the District Practice at Chelsea Old Church first (which meant we would be late) and wanted me to pick him up from there.  I wasn't very happy about it as parking is so difficult and I thought we should be giving the family priority, but in the end I agreed.  As expected, he was not down on the pavement waiting for me when I arrived at the alloted time, and when I rang to enquire where he was I found he was in the ringing room and wanted me to go up to ring PB Doubles.  I was not in the mood as I was annoyed he had not kept to his side of the arrangement, and was also worried about the car being parked in a resident bay, so refused.  I felt a bit guilty when I saw Geraldine and Mike Palmer descending from the tower.

As it happened, we got to the party venue at just the right time.  Kit was making a speech and then the food was served.  It was lovely to see everyone again - and meet all the children which had been produced since we had seen them all last!  Mary would have loved it - especially the children.

Kit making his speech

The cake - made by Annie of course

The Denny Family

I popped back to Devon for 6 days to be there when Anne and her dog Sam came for the week.  I finished the current cross stitch while I was there:

and made it into a laptray (which I had found at Trago Mills - intended for photographs)

I was rather pleased with it - and it made a nice change from pictures and cushions.

Anne turned up while I was at ringing on Monday evening, and it was instantly obvious that Suki was going to defend her territory.  She attacked Sam almost immediately and I had to put her on the lead.  Eventually there was an uneasy truce, which improved through the week although I always had to keep and eye on her and couldn't trust her.  She growled whenever Sam moved!  It was particularly tense when anyone had anything to eat on their lap!!

It got even more exciting when Lee and Emma turned up with their two!  Anne went out for most of the morning which helped.  Lee and Jayne (assisted by Beau) did more hard work in the garden, including building the rockery and digging out the bit by the shed for stones.  Emma, Elora and I went to Trago Mills and had a happy time indulging in some retail therapy.

I tended to take Suki out early each morning to give Anne a clear run and a bit of peace.  We went up on to the moor almost every day as the weather was so good - it was fabulous and I did some of my longer more strenuous walks which I hadn't done since last year.  Can't get used to the busy roads though ha ha.....

On the day I was going back to London Jayne came for a walk with me and we did our usual route via Black Hill from the small car park.  Suki stayed clean until we were almost back at the car - and then emerged from a ditch looking like this!

So we then took a detour to the quarry to give her a good wash down before heading back.

At the end of the month I changed my mobile phone provider from o2 to BT.  An anxious time waiting for Jayne to post me the sim and then getting the old phone number changed over, but it seemed to go smoothly enough.  I found I couldn't get free wi fi on the tube any more, but this is quite a minor drawback compared to the cheap rate I got and the many places I can now connect to BT wi fi which seems to happen automatically with the app.

I used up all my monthly data with o2 just before the contract expired by streaming the National 12-bell Final live on YouTube.  It ran out just before the results as we were leaving the house for the Cantanti 50th anniversary party, so we had to wait until we were back in on the wi fi to get them.

Crem day was on Mum's actual birthday, 1 July.  Mike and I met up with Gill and John there and we put flowers by the plaques and on the spot where the ashes were scattered.  It was the first time I had seen Keith's plaque - which had been placed just below Nan's as requested.  We had a look at the flowers from the recent funerals - there were many lavish displays - and found a small basket of flowers for the funeral of Leslie Grantham (Dirty Den in Eastenders) from the staff at his nursing home.  There were no flowers from anyone else for him - seemed a bit sad.

The front row of 5 vases are all John's - LtoR: Dad, Dad, Mum, Mum, Keith & Nan

We tried a different cafe in Barnes for breakfast one Sunday as Arte Chef were only just opening the doors at 9 am, and I had the most wonderful bowl of porridge covered in fresh fruit.  The service was a bit slow but we will definitely be going back there as it was much better than Arte Chef.