Life!

Jayne and I went for an early walk in Parke - but skipped having a coffee at the cafe afterwards because it was full of runners and only minimal staff.  Jayne walked back and I set off from there back to London.  I had a reasonable journey and although the traffic was heavy I didn't get held up at all until I reached the A312 about 5 miles from home!  The traffic southbound was horrendous - stationary from Bath to Taunton - and sluggish thereafter.  Bank holiday weekend and the start of half term! The garden looked amazing - particularly the roses and the newer clematis. I mowed the lawn and then put the new narrow drawers together and placed them in situ, hoovering the site first. I then felt slightly dizzy and decided to have a sit down and something to eat.  I was just having a coffee afterwards when Mike turned up.  He was somewhat miserable (which is unusual for him after Intrepid as it usually bucks him up) and started banging around making a cup of tea - and then

I went to Castle Drogo and did a 4.5 mile circular walk which turned out to be quite dramatic in places, starting with a high path along the side of the valley, then steep descent to Fingle bridge, then along by the river which included a very steep set of steps, and then long climb back up to the car park. Nearly 1000 ft of descent and ascent. It was a very hot day and Suki was grateful for the bit by the river in woods. There was a black adder on the path at one point - I kept Suki well away while I took a couple of pics.  It was curled up at first but then slithered away across the path and into the undergrowth. It was a very enjoyable walk and I am glad I did it - just as well I didn't know what it was like until I had set off! I had a nice sandwich and cup of tea at the cafe afterwards - possible that dogs weren't allowed in the till area but by the time they saw her it was too late and I didn't see any notices. The Route The o

On 11th May Mike went off on Intrepid for a fortnight, and Suki and I went down to Devon! We both set off around 9 am - I had a long journey as the M4 was closed at Oxford and it took over four hours.  They had great weather on Intrepid, as I did in Devon, and apparently the ringing was good too. Intrepid itinerary .      Intrepid QPs. Oxford - OUSGG Centenary Dinner  - in the middle weekend of the fortnight Mike and I travelled to Oxford for the OUSGG celebration dinner.  I drove from Devon - it took just under 3 hours - arriving at The Osney Arms where we were booked in for the night at 4 pm.  The owners were out shopping but returned shortly afterwards, and the guy parked my car for me on the tarmac in front of the guest house. I checked in and then walked up to the station, which was only a short walk away, to meet Mike off the train.  There was an excellent wet room at the guest house and we were both able to get a shower and changed before our taxi arrived at 6.40 pm (only £5

On 10 May I rang my  450th peal  - Superlative with Steve.  It was Aidan's second birthday And Eria Ren Trixie Robins was born - to Lee and Emma I finished off the baby sampler and framed it

I designated the first week in May to be a "Project Week" to try and finish, or at least significantly progress, a number of projects which I have on the go.  My normal daily routine leaves little significant chunks of time to get on with these and I end up not doing anything on them because it is not worth starting.  So I decided to set the whole week aside at the beginning of May, with no gym classes and nothing in the evenings, and with the weather forecast being cold wet and miserable! I made a list with 21 projects on it!  And I got stuck in!  By the end of the week I was really pleased with the progress I had made and the fact that some projects had actually been completed.  I don't think I could have achieved this without the dedicated effort of setting time aside like that. The biggest one to complete was to have worked through a whole filing drawer and sorted out what need to be kept (a couple of thin folders were all that was left) and scanning in anything