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The all important downtime

Hi, How’s things? Hopefully good and if not, fingers crossed they’re moving that way soon. A break With Child 2.0 having finished their A Levels and indeed school, the Ever Lovely Mrs J suggested the idea of an early summer holiday. Given our collective needs around travel and those of our lovely doggos, a holiday in the UK was certainly on the cards. TBH, that suits me to a tee, given I don’t like airports or long travel journeys. The search began in North Wales and much was said about various holiday locations and Anglesey was very popular…. so how we fell upon the Peoples’ Republic of Yorkshire, I’m unsure 🤔 but very grateful 💖 We’ve had the pleasure of […]

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Cooler

Hi, Cooler in mindset, weather, and outlook, that is. I’ll let you decide on the outfit – although I did feel rather pretty in it 🙂 It’s been a busy week. Not one to complain about, indeed the opposite. Things done, IT stuff achieved, and all things moving in the right direction. I guess with using the old noggin a fair bit, you can get that mental tiredness. That and Monday was a long day due to travel. I think that threw me a little. In terms of home stuff, Child 2.0 has completed their last two exams, so that’s all of their A Levels completed and they are officially no longer in school. It feels very much like a […]

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Wharm

Hi, No, not an oddly named Wham tribute act, but one of those quirks of dialect. See also “it’s a bit code” (cold). I’ve said before that I’m not a hot weather person, so these last few days of the May Heatwave have not been ideal. Thankfully keeping the curtains drawn against the sun, early pre breakfast doggo walks, and avoiding the worst of the afternoon have paid off. Readers from hotter climes – without aircon – may wish to utter “you soft bogger” 😉 Talking of aircon, last year we bought a portable unit for the Ever Lovely Mrs J. Her health conditions and medications mean that she really struggles with the heat. With upstairs taking the brunt of […]

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The escape club

Hi, Well, this is the all new, singing & dancing WordPress edition, so if things are a bit off key – that’s me not quite getting my head around the changes 🙂 Chams & Calendars By a quirk of fate, Val and I are both unable to attend Chams on the first meeting in June. For insurance & hire purposes, only two of us have a key to lock up, so shuffling things around seemed the right choice. After asking the group what they wanted to do – cancel, move forward, postpone – they all voted to bring the meeting earlier. Cue a chat with the Centre Manager. That’s now sorted, which means it’s just a case of letting folk […]

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Home care & self care

Hi, It’s the slow part of a sunny Friday afternoon. In days gone, it was the long drawn out time between lunch, the escape to the weekend, and the faff of the rush hour traffic. Today, the tweeting of birds in the garden compete with the hum and bump of the tumbler. While the heavier items swing on the line in the soft breeze, there’s a play off between time, energy, and getting all the smalls done in one run. Besides, it’s a heatpump system, so significantly cheaper than having to the run the storage heaters. I’m enjoying a lay down having spent the morning sorting, tidying, and – knowing look to camera 😏 – a wander through the Narnian […]

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Pins and no needles

Hi, A few items of note this week. In national news, there’s a few things on my radar. There’s new legal powers where anti-LGBTQ+ hate crime is classed as an aggravated offence. Given the loss of the Pink Punters nightclub to an alleged arson incident, dare I say that hate crime is sadly all too topical. [ Update 2/5/2026 – BBC News reports “no evidence of criminality was found”. ] It’s been a long time since I went to Pinks. I think it was for an anniversary of the UK Angels. Visiting Pink Punters seems quite the rite of passage for many in our community, and I hope the owners are able to rebuild in time. I think it would […]

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