Pete didn’t feel too great after his last round of chemo which is quite normal except this time it’s really whacked him out…

Speaking to my brother Andy earlier in the week, he shared a theory that each time you have chemo, the starting point for your body to recover is lower than it was the last time you had treatment. We thought this sounded sensible and it was confirmed by the Oncologist when Pete had his phone consultation with her on the 7th… she said the treatment has a cumulative effect, so each time you have it, your starting point (or strength) is slightly lower than the time before and therefore the treatment has a more noticeable impact… thank you Dr Wilson!

Most of the side effects Pete has are short lived but it’s the fatigue that Pete finds the most challenging 🙁. For a person who has been very active all his life, he cannot understand how even doing the simplest things, such as getting out of bed or eating a meal, can completely whack him out…

Despite how he feels during this time, he still makes an effort to go for a walk most days and it’s always nice to get a bit of fresh air… we know that once this is all over, we can start working on regaining fitness and start going further afield. Pete keeps telling me how he has already picked out a number of Air B&B places for us to go and stay on a mini tour of Scotland next year! That’s the spirit! 🤣

Of course, this past week we have had Bonfire night (or Guy Fawkes night as I remember it…) and my Birthday. In addition, tomorrow is Remembrance Sunday & Monday, our anniversary so lots going on!

Remember, remember that poem about the 5th November? (See below for a reminder!)… well, they don’t seem to remember it in Newcastleton! On the 5th, we went for a walk around the village about 6.30 / 7ish and, whereas in Yorkshire, fireworks would have been going off in different parts of Keighley & the surrounding area all night (and probably for a good week before & after!) we didn’t see one firework… not even a sparkler… how disappointing! ☹️

I wondered whether it was something to do with Guy Fawkes being a Catholic sympathiser but, according to the 2022 census, only 13.3% of Scots identify as being Catholic and that figure drops to only 3% of people in the village… so I don’t think it’s that!

I then thought maybe it’s because the Scots think blowing up parliament might be a good idea (who doesn’t think that every now and then! 🤣 joke!) but it turns out that only 47% of the people living in the Holm (that’s what us locals call Newcastleton!) were born in Scotland whereas 49.6% were born in England!

So maybe the lack of fireworks is just about the amount of livestock around the village or that most people seem to own a dog? Or maybe it’s just that you can’t buy fireworks in the village and you can’t get them delivered with your weekly shop… who knows!?

As it turned out, a little later I heard fireworks and raced to the window to see a lovely display just over the roof tops opposite which might have been coming from the pub as they were over that way… anyway, it made my night!

It was my birthday on the 6th and, as has become a bit of an annual event, I thought I would take a peek on Facebook to see if I had any messages… of course, as ever, I was overwhelmed by people who had taken time to click on the happy birthday message & especially those who had written personal messages or sent messages via messenger or WhatsApp… in a time where physical birthday cards seem to be a thing of the past (although I can still rely on certain pals to always send a card through – thank you, you know who you are!) it was very nice to be remembered…

To be honest, I didn’t really expect much from my birthday this year what with Pete going through chemo… I expected nothing but a quiet day in. But, Pete surprised me with a few little presents that really meant a lot as it must have taken a lot of effort to think about these this year! Later in the day, we even managed a lovely walk around the village and returned home to chocolate cake – well, I did anyway. Pete left the entire cake to me as, what with his tastebuds being up the spout, everything tasting like lard to him! 😣🤣

I got to talk with my Mum and Brother Andy on FaceTime; had a WhatsApp message out the blue from my Brother Chris (again, that must have taken a lot of effort); one from Brother Steve and, for the first time ever, a birthday message from Grandson Aedan – all of which really made my day and was made even more perfect with a phone call from our Louise the following morning!

Tomorrow is Remembrance Sunday and we are planning to walk around the corner to the village war memorial for their Armistice parade & service.

And then Monday is our 13th wedding anniversary when we will remember what a great weekend we had with family & friends back in 2012 – especially those who are no longer with us like my Dad, cousin Tracey, Ginger, Tommy R, Chrissie, Ian & our friend Glynn… so many gone but definitely not forgotten ❤️❤️

Where does the time go?? What a great time we have had over the past 13 years (and the 14 years before that too!) – Love you Mr Collins! ❤️❤️❤️