It seems a long time ago already but we had a great Easter weekend which was topped off with a visit from Louise, Lee & Niamh for 3-nights from Easter Sunday…

One thing with Niamh – because she doesn’t eat much, being a mere slip of a girl, it means you can do an Easter Egg hunt over and over by re-hiding the same chocolate eggs, as she doesn’t scoff them all as soon as she finds them! One Lindt Bunny Easter Hunt box lasted the whole visit with the contents being hidden several times by either Louise for Niamh or by Niamh for Lou, Pete or me – or a variation of this – throughout the 3-day visit! Such fun! 🤣🤣

Storm Dave turned out to be a bit of a damp squib – at least where we are… the weather wasn’t bad at all with plenty of sunshine and, more importantly, no snow!

We had a lovely day out at Keilder Forest where we visited the Bird of Prey centre – somewhere we took our Aedan when he was a nipper about the same age as Niamh is now…

As ever, it took us a few days to recover from the family visit although that doesn’t mean we have been ultra lazy or anything! I worked four different shifts over last weekend (about 12-14 hours in all) shadowing colleagues whilst I continue to meet people supported around the village. I can say everyone I have met so far has been very nice – of course, some need more help than others – help with getting up in the morning or medication, preparing a snack or “tea” or getting their PJs on ready for bed… it’s not overly taxing and has, so far, been fun!

To date, we still haven’t got the Nissan back from the garage 😡 I don’t think there is much more wrong with the car, although the man in charge said when they took it for a run after the turbo had been replaced, they needed to replace / unblock a few pipes (or something like that?) – Pete is dealing with it but we are both just keen to get the thing back now because Pete is not sure he trusts this garage… it does seem to have taken a very long time for them to fix it and it’s just as well we kept our 2nd motor… It just doesn’t feel like our car has been much of a priority for this garage and their communication leaves a lot to be desired! Of course, our road trip to Spain is drawing ever closer so as long as we get it back in the next week or so, we’ll be happy-ish…

I have had my own Mini mini-road trip in the other car this week… yesterday I made my first journey down to Kent since we moved to Scotland, so I could spend the day with my brother Chris today – his 59th birthday!

Sadly, I haven’t seen my brother since Pete and I went on our last road trip to Spain in September 2024 & we called in on our way to catch the ferry to France from Dover. Since that time, after spending quite a few weeks in hospital, he finally moved to a local care home near Dartford. Today was the first time I have visited him in the care home and I have to say it is very nice.

My brother seems reassuringly comfortable even if he must drive some of the staff crazy as, by his own admission, he can be a right grumpy old git at times 🤣 and refuses to get out of bed… he told me this is because he has panic attacks when the staff take down the sides of his bed – he can feel his heart rate quickening which I guess is not much good for someone who has had several strokes likely caused by high blood pressure. In his own words he summed up his current life in care as “a bit shit” but “not as bad as it could be”… I think his biggest sadness is that he couldn’t get to see Dad before he passed away and that he cannot travel to see Mum now either, even though I’ve told him that Mum is quite happy in her own little world and would not remember his visit – I only visit her for my own peace of mind as I know she doesn’t remember me being there a few mins after I have left 🙁 He also said he was sad not to hear from our brothers and that I was the first person from his side of the family to visit…

In fairness, there’s not exactly many of us around – Mum obviously can’t make the journey, Andy lives overseas and Chris, when he was well, didn’t really give a crap about anyone else so I guess it’s a bit of getting what you give… everyone has busy lives with their own stuff going on but I will always do what I can, even if it’s only a few visits a year, as I miss all my family alive or otherwise!

I spent a very nice 4-5 hours with Chris and also caught up with my niece Emily and Nephew Danny too, so well worth the 6.5 hour journey down & the 700-mile round trip! Like a numpty, I forgot to take any photos of this rare reunion ☹️ but have arranged to video call Chris tomorrow when I visit Mum on my way home.

My only concern for the drive back tomorrow is the impact the threatened fuel protests might have on my journey although there’s been nothing about it on the main news (or London news) this evening… perhaps the chat about it on social media is fake news?

Regardless, I have to get home so will have to deal with whatever the traffic Gods throw at me. It would be great if the journey back is as nice as the journey here was as, driving along the A66 to the A1 at Scotch Corner in the sunshine was beautiful with all the rapeseed fields in bloom – it also gave me a chance to say hello to Dad up at High Cup Nick as I passed by at Appleby… 🥰

Just 3.5 weeks until we head off to Spain and, despite the car still being in the garage 🤬, we are starting to get ourselves organised including finally managing to get our travel insurance sorted (thanks for your assistance Jane F! ❤️). I thought I had better get the summer clothes out of storage the other day and see if they still fitted – am happy to confirm they did – hurray!

Like many, we have recently had to order a top up of our heating oil tank & had it confirmed that the cost of 500 litres has indeed doubled since the start of the US/Iran war. We thought we might be able to counter this increase by only ordering half the amount we usually do but it turns out, annoyingly, that the company has a minimum purchase limit of 500 litres! Ho hum, hopefully, all the current madness will be over before we need to order again which should be at the end of summer – fingers crossed it’s a warm one!

Ooo, one last thing – following Pete’s recent blood test his Consultant confirmed she was happy for him to come off the steroids – woohoo! That’s 3 less tablets for him to take each day 🤣 & more positive news… even though his overall recovery from the chemo is taking longer than he might want, he is definitely getting stronger & doing more each day ❤️❤️❤️

You know, I don’t realise how busy we have been until I write it all down… no wonder I am feeling a bit knackered & ready for a holiday 🤣🤣🤣 TTFN xx