We attended the Remembrance Sunday event at the war memorial just around the corner from our house here in Newcastleton. It was only a small event – a few prayers and a role-call of those villagers who gave their lives in WWI and since. Despite the rain, it seemed to be a well attended event and Pete looked mighty fine with his medals shining!

I’m not sure they got their timings right though… the two minutes silence was definitely before 11am (by my watch it was only 10.55am!) and I wondered whether it was something to do with us being in Scotland? That said, it was probably more a combination of the “march” to the memorial from the Hotel not taking very long and the terrible weather! It was a nice event though and there was a Piper too which really “Scotified” it for us!

Everyone was invited to the Liddesdale Hotel on the other side of the square for refreshments afterwards although we didn’t partake… maybe we will do next year when Pete is less susceptible to infection!

Monday (10th November) was our 13th wedding anniversary. We didn’t do anything out the ordinary but had an early start as a couple of guys were coming to collect the kitchen island we had delivered last week (which was damaged) and to drop off a new one (great customer service from the Furniture Market). The kitchen feels more complete now, especially after we put together some new kitchen stools (which took forever… grrr… I did say we were never going to get self-assemble stuff anymore but forgot!)

Having spent part of Sunday afternoon dismantling the myriad of fitted drawers etc (which are all cream and dark brown – yuk 🤢) in our bedroom, we had a car full of wood, glass and drawers so we had to head to the tip in Hawick… our little trip also gave us the opportunity to order some new flooring for our little sunroom too.

On our drive to Hawick, we had our first experience of a deer leaping out in front of the car! It was a tad unsettling but fortunately, I managed to avoid hitting it! Pete said there was a second deer at the side of the road that, thankfully, appeared to slam its own breaks on instead of following his pal straight across the road!

Pete was a bit done in when we got back so I headed out for a walk around the village on my own and got soaked… we have had a couple of days of non-stop rain resulting in flood warnings this week, but it seems our rain has been nothing to the havoc Storm Claudia has caused some in England and Wales… Hope everyone affected is ok out there and recovering!

Storm Claudia very nearly disrupted our weekend plans for a visit from our Louise & Niamh… fortunately, despite the biblical rain that was hitting Liverpool last Friday afternoon, they managed to get their planned train out of Lime Street to Carlisle. It was later reported that subsequent trains were cancelled due to the weather so they were lucky!

Pete & I drove over to Carlisle to pick them both up from the station…our timing impeccable as they were just coming out the entrance as we pulled up ☺️

Of course we had to stop at the border between England & Scotland so Niamh & Louise could straddle it for photos (neither of them have been to Scotland before) and then, on arriving back in Newcastleton, we realised that the power cut that had occurred just before Pete & I left for Carlisle, was still active and we had no power or heating 😱🥶

Fortunately, my phone internet was still working and I read on Scottish Power’s website that the power outage was being investigated and they were hoping to restore it by 6pm… Pete, with Niamh’s help, got the fire in the front room going so at least we had one warm room in the house, lit by every candle I could find…

During this time, our neighbour knocked to see if we were all ok and offered us the use of some torches, which, although we didn’t need any, was nice of her. The neighbour mentioned that one time the electric had gone off on a Friday and not been put back on until the following Tuesday – gulp 😧

We snuggled up by candlelight to wait until 6pm… which came and went with no power – boo!

On checking the SP website again, they had revised their repair time to 10pm as they had to call in some “extra resources” to affect it… So, with an increasingly hungry, almost 8-year old and a dwindling number of logs, Louise, Niamh & I made a foray out into the darkness to see if the Spar shop was open…not sure what we were going to do if it was but it was something to do!

Of course, the Spar shop was shut… the whole village was in pitch darkness 😱

There was nothing for it but to jump in the car and, leaving Pete at home as he was knackered, head back to Carlisle to the nearest McDonalds and to visit a garage to get some more wood for the fire!

It seems that half the village had the same idea as I have never seen as many cars on the road as that night! We managed to get there, fed and back with a boot full of chopped wood and some chicken for Pete just before 8.30pm… Whilst we were gone, Pete had fallen asleep & so was freezing as the fire had gone out… but it didn’t take long for him & Niamh to get it going again and, just as the room was nicely warming up, the power came back on – hurray!

It was definitely an adventure (funny what you have to tell kids to keep them sane! 🤣🤣🤣) and not necessarily the welcome to Scotland experience we had intended for Louise but we survived and, let’s face it, it was only a few hours without power rather than a few days! Phew!😅😅😅

Despite this slightly dodgy start and a scary moment when Louise accidentally managed to bash Niamh’s head on a door handle… (well, Niamh had been hiding behind the door…) the weekend was great… we celebrated Niamh’s 8th Birthday (which is actually next Friday – 21st November) a few days early & I even got to watch the film K-pop Demon Hunters which I would never have got to see of it had just been Pete & me! Thanks Louise & Niamh ❤️

Of course, nothing in the lives of my Liverpool family is ever without drama and it wasn’t until we were on the drive back to Carlisle yesterday (16th) that Louise noticed a lot of the trains (including the one she & Niamh were booked on) were cancelled or had been diverted due, we think, to flooding from Storm Claudia! Having given ourselves plenty of time to get to the station, the only feasible train for them to now catch was 20 minutes earlier than expected so the pressure was back on!

Fortunately, the traffic was not too bad and I managed to get to the station with 10 minutes to spare and, after a hurried goodbye, they rushed off to get the train whilst Pete & I sat waiting to get confirmation that they had made it – which, despite being given the run around by some station staff, they did – phew!

So, that was our weekend! Full of mostly planned (& some unplanned) adventure and just a touch of stress! We enjoyed seeing Louise & Niamh very much and having them as our first official visitors! We were both tired out at the end of it (Pete more so, as you might expect at the moment) and have decided we will not have anyone else visit now until after Pete’s chemo is over, even though we enjoyed the company very much!

I have had the results from my X-ray which has confirmed only slight wear and tear in my hip / back so it’s back to the drawing board with where my back pain is coming from… Ho hum! And Pete has been for his pre-chemo blood test this morning in preparation for his 4th chemo session later this week… then the 3-week recovery starts again. At least he will then be over half-way through!

It’s turned very, very cold here in the Borders… they are even saying we might get some snow (although this is more likely up in the Highlands…)! I am just hoping the weather and the roads are ok for our trip to Melrose for Pete’s treatment – fingers crossed! 🤞 TTFN xxx