Happy May Day bank holiday weekend everyone!
just one of the ways some people (& sheep 🤣) like to celebrate May Day
Sunday 26th April started as an average Sunday but with an early start for me as I had a 3.5-hour morning shift during which I learnt there had been another possible assassination attempt on the leader of the free world… I admit this news left me with mixed feelings as I contemplated a calmer world where Trump no longer existed, against never wanting to see someone in authority get assassinated no matter how much of a knob-end they might be…
When I got home, I had time to eat breakfast while watching the tail end of the Women & Men’s London Marathon unknowing that I was about to watch an amazing piece of history unfurl, seeing a man run 26.2 miles in under 2-hours… let’s just think about that a minute – that’s an average of 4 minutes 30 seconds per mile, for 26.2 miles… uphill, downhill and on the road – not a running track – in trainers, with no spikes to grip the road! And he ran the second half of the race (the last 13.1 miles…) faster than the first half… What an achievement – Wowee! Well done Sebastian Sawe from Kenya – you are most certainly one amazing Record Breaker! Oh, and the two runners behind you – Yomif Kejelcha from Ethiopia, who also got under two hours being just 16 seconds behind Sawe, and Jacob Kiplimo from Uganda who, although not under the two-hour marker, still managed to run faster than the previous world record… Wow, what a race to be part of!
Sebastian Sawe – finishing the London Marathon
& breaking the World Record by over a minute to become the first man to officially, in race conditions, run the distance under 2 hours!
Image from the Independent online (www.independent.co.uk)
Watching the London Marathon always reminds me of when I completed it back in 2001 & 2004 – I can’t quite believe it was such a long time ago and, whilst each year I have a strange urge to apply for a place in the next one, I know my knees probably wouldn’t survive it & am sure my marathon days (full or half) are over! 🤣
After the excitement of that marathon finish, it was back to the real world and a trip to the recycling centre in Hawick to dump all the garden waste Pete has generated lately and get some fresh produce in from the shops!
After a dump (🤣) & shop, we decided to head home via Langholm Moor & the Tarras Valley Nature Reserve as Pete hoped to show me the Hen Harriers he saw a few days ago…
Driving down the single track road back towards Newcastleton, we spotted a couple of cars parked up in a passing place further up the road and a couple of fellas with binoculars and long-lens cameras, so we thought we might be in luck…
Pulling up, Pete went to check it out and yes, the guys were there watching the Hen Harriers and, after a few minutes, we saw a male swooping up and down over the moorland – really nice!
Not having a long-lens camera, a photo was out of the question, but here’s one of a Hen Harrier I have nicked off Wikipedia!
Carrying on down the road, we saw the feral goats and also caught sight of a Roe Deer when it crossed the road in front of us… Not a bad haul of wildlife whilst just out doing the weekly shop! ❤️
The weather has been amazing these past few days and it’s been nice to spend some time in the garden. Having attended a “Wellbeing” appointment at the GPs earlier in the week (another referral the GP made for me when I got a bit tearful a few months ago, alongside the massage one I have mentioned before and putting me on HRT!), I seem to have even managed to get Pete to slow down and take a bit more rest! I told him that when I was chatting to the wellbeing lady, I mentioned I worried he was trying to do too much and she told me him overdoing it might affect his longer term recovery! Since then I think he’s been trying harder not to rush everything and take regular breaks… Of course, I have asked Pete why he listens to advice given third hand but not directly from me! 🤣🤣🤣 Still, why ever the reason, I am just glad that, for now, he has listened!
Thursday (30th April) marked the last day of the month & the last day feeding the birds in the garden in line with the new recommendations from the RSPB. If like us, you like feeding the birds but don’t know what I am talking about, check out the RSPB guidance here: https://www.rspb.org.uk/whats-happening/news/how-to-help-garden-birds?
Thursday 30th also marked my little brother’s 25th wedding anniversary… who can believe my beautiful sister-in-law Sharon has put up with him for that long 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 Happy Anniversary you guys ❤️❤️❤️ Hope you don’t mind me nicking these wedding day shots off your insta! Xxx
Oh, and I got my first pay-check this week which I can tell you was pretty exciting for someone who hasn’t had one for almost 2 years! Ok, it was only around 10% of my previous monthly salary, but it will certainly come in handy for a bit of duty free holiday expenditure on the ferry to Spain & will more than cover my preferred personal grooming products for the next 12-months! 🤣🤣🤣Oh, and the work is definitely 100% less stressful so I guess that’s worth much, much more!
Just one week before we head off to Spain… the weather this week has given us a little taste of sunshine and I think we are both ready for more! The preparations have begun, the XTrail has been serviced and has new tyres… let’s face it, it’s more or less a new blumming car after all the work we’ve had done on it recently 🤣🤣🤣 – so hopefully it will be smooth driving all the way (& back again!) now. Accommodation is all booked until 13th June and I’ve mapped out our route to our first stop, South East of Segovia and North West of Madrid… just a little under 300 miles from where the ferry lands in Bilbao… Ooo, I cannot wait to get on the road! Who knows, the next blog might come from somewhere in the Bay or Biscay! I hope it’s a smooth crossing 🤞🤞🤞
TTFN! 🥰
All the gubbins… 
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