…w*nker.

Reflecting on the past week and what happened in Liverpool put me in a quandary about how to title this week’s blog and whether to use the “W” word… I apologise now if it causes anyone any offence but my vocab is limited and I don’t know how else to describe this person…

Anyway, despite the craziness of the world in general and the acts of a lone dickhead in Liverpool, this past week has been a good one for us. We’ve had plenty of rain which has been a nice change and has left everything looking extra lush!

Our week started last Sunday (25th May) with a nice walk, despite the gale force wind(!), near Ogden reservoir where we ventured into the woodlands before finishing with a lap of the reservoir itself…

26th May 2025 was a Bank holiday which brought with it some pretty heavy, but much needed, rain overnight. We decided that, despite the weather, we would head out for a quick walk along the canal before picking up some shopping and heading home again so I could watch the cricket and Pete could head to the allotment for a bit… it was a good day and I remember watching the joyous scenes of the Liverpool Champions parade on the six o’clock news, wondering if the Liverpool family were there & enjoying themselves… only to then see the horrific news later about the nob-head nutter driving into the crowd and suddenly feeling quite anxious about the Liverpool famalam – how quickly things can change and spin off in different directions…

Whilst we watched the news, I worried about family but Pete, stoic as ever, said if anyone we knew had been caught up in it, we would have heard. It reminded me of the 1990s and the IRA bombings in London (Bishopsgate, 1993 & Canary Wharf, 1996 in particular) where my brothers Andy & Chris worked at the time… when you heard of the latest bomb going off, you would naturally hope that nobody you knew or loved had been caught up in it… my brother Chris always said you would hear if this was the case. Of course, in those days, mobile phones were relatively new and news was a lot slower reaching you! You certainly didn’t get all the mobile phone footage so that you could see the incident as it happened and in such graphic detail… don’t know about you but I don’t know why they have to keep showing it over and over again on the news… I find it disturbing and cannot be alone in that?

Anyway, it was good to hear from Louise that, despite the family all being at the parade, everyone was safe if not very sad at how the day had turned out… 😢 what was that guy thinking? Utter madness… ☹️

On Tuesday (27th May) it rained a lot… in the morning I had my virtual, online annual meeting with my financial advisor, Vinny who took me through my pension and how it’s looking… which is OK despite President Trump’s best endeavours to scupper my retirement plans! Later in the day, we managed to dodge the rain showers and have a little walk locally where we saw a deer being chased by two lambs… wish I had my camera to capture it but sadly not…

On Wednesday (28th May) I finally managed to see the Chiropractor who, of course, thinks he can help fix my neck pain and long-standing back problems… he reckons it will take around 8 sessions for the neck and possibly up to 16 for the back which, at almost £50 a pop is a bit of money (approx £800 all in…) but I think it would be worth it if it means I no longer get these recurring injuries or pain? I am going to give it a go though and look to have treatment once a fortnight… so shall see how it goes. One thing, when he was giving all the blurb about the treatment, they have to go through a statement which you then agree to – it mentions how treatment can lead to muscle pain, bruising etc, which is ok, but also mentions that in some cases, can also result in broken bones! Don’t fancy that much 🤣🤣🤣 Hopefully, he will be gentle with me!

It’s very difficult to know what to buy someone as the years go by and people don’t necessarily need or want anything specific. In Mum’s case, she appears to have everything she needs and, if she can no longer tolerate a bit of cake, the choices become even more limited! Looks like it might have to be something pretty / sparkly for her bedroom, a nice warm cardy or chocolate… or maybe all three! I have a few weeks to think about it yet…

Having agreed that we would go away for a few days the coming week, Pete spent much of the week researching places we could stay… He takes a lot of time searching through websites for nice places, whereas I don’t have the patience for it and would probably book the first place I saw! The process now is definitely a long way from the days when we used to consider accommodation as a concrete tent (ie, that the standard of accommodation didn’t really matter, with the location itself being more important!) although, in fairness, then he probably took just as long searching for nice locations! 🤣 Fortunately, Pete (this week nicknamed “Last Minute Pete” 🤣) finally booked a 7-night stay from Saturday 31st May until the following Saturday, in Cumbria, just south of the Lakes National Park – hurray!

Due to our last minute booking, we spent a bit of Friday (30th May) down the allotment weeding, watering & netting before our little trip away so that everything is left in good shape for our return next weekend… we also added some straw under the strawberries, which I was surprised to see are forming up nicely with some already ripening, so they will hopefully not get too munched whilst we are away! On return home, we got our kit together & I baked a cake all ready for our departure in the morning…

BBC Springwatch started up again at the beginning of last week and it always makes us think of places we’ve not been for a while for some reason… we therefore thought we would head to RSPB Leighton Moss on our way over to Cumbria yesterday (31st May)… it’s only a small place (compared with St Aidan’s near Leeds for instance), but it gave us a chance to watch a few Marsh Harriers amongst other things… sitting in one hide (it was quite busy) there was a young lad (maybe 10 or so?) with his pal and his Grandad who was helpfully pointing out interesting birds including a distant Osprey! It was nice to see… much better than being in front of a screen all weekend! The Grandad mentioned another place where you can see the Osprey nesting so, after some lunch in the nice cafe, we also had a stop at Foulshaw Moss Nature Reserve which was also on our way.

At Foulshaw we saw two massive Osprey nests and even caught a glimpse of the top of one parent’s head! It is weirdly captivating looking at these giant nests in the distance… even though you cannot really see the bird or their chicks, you find yourself wanting to stay longer “just in case” one of them happens to stand up or the partner flies in suddenly! Of course, during the hour or so we walked around this place and sat watching the nests, none of this happened… maybe next time!

Finally, we arrived at our accommodation around 5pm just as the rain which had threatened all day, decided to start. The place is very comfy (Last Minute Pete did good – as he always does!) and we are looking forward to exploring more this week. We have actually been to this area before some years ago and, more recently back on February this year when we viewed a house for sale down in Millom (about 5-10 miles south of where we are)…

I am sure despite the weather, which is expected to be “changeable”, we will have a great week as a change of scenery does you good!

TTFN 😘