Well, another World Cup has come to an end and England didn’t make it to the final… I really, really thought they were going to get there this time & they came pretty close… a matter of minutes away but it was not to be. Such a shame 😞

Luckily, being English means we are pretty resilient (out of necessity!) and, as many people will have done, we shrugged our shoulders and were over it by the following day..! In some ways, I felt relieved that I wouldn’t have to sit through a nerve-wracking final… I am not sure I could have stood it! It would have been good though, right?!

Ah well, there’s always the Euros in 2028… but of course, our allegiance for this World Cup then turned to Spain 🇪🇸 – ¡Vamos, España! – so glad they beat the Argies 🇦🇷

Well, one night last week Pete got round to putting it all together & set it up in the garden as a trial before the nipper comes to visit in the summer holidays… and it worked! How excited were we to take a peek in the egg boxes the following morning and what a catch we had…

We were astounded by our catch and had no idea we had such big moths like the Emerald and Elephant Hawk Moth flying about the garden at night! Can’t wait to give it another go soon and see if we get anything different… and a much cheaper way to do it instead of paying £100+ on a proper trap!

Another first to happen last week & after many years of talking about it, with a bit of encouragement from our neighbour Nichol, Pete had his first go at lawn bowls and really enjoyed it! I was working on the day he went so it was nice that he got to meet some new people in the village too… apparently it’s quite a range of people with varying abilities or actual bowling skills!

We both went back yesterday to watch the matches that were on & it was a very pleasant way to spend a few hours in the warm weather. Nichol is going to give me a quick lesson some time this coming week so we shall see if it’s for me or something I leave Pete to participate in with me in a cheerleader role only! I am a little worried about getting bowling bum as Pete said the muscle in his right buttock was a little tender after last weeks’ trial… goes to show how you don’t necessarily use all the muscles in your body despite all the walking, gardening etc!

We are definitely having a great summer with lots of warm weather. We have had a few walks and the jogging is still going well… I have now completed week 4 of my 5km training program and managed my 2km non-stop jog last Saturday. If I stick with it, I should be up to 5km (3 miles) in another 4 weeks 🤞 & definitely feel better for it!

As I say, it was an entertaining visit this time round and made me think that it might be worth going to see her earlier in the day rather than getting there after lunch when she always seems a bit more sleepy… 🤔 something to think about for my next visit.

Pete popped up to Laycock to drop some money off to our old neighbour Katie after she had kindly reposted a parcel that went to our old address… sadly, neither Katie nor Paul were in (although Pete had a nice chat with daughter Jessica) – it was a shame to miss them & we will message next time we are down & likely to pop in!

The brief visit to Laycock gave Pete a chance to take a look at our old garden which he described as being in “shit state” which is a real shame… that’s why it’s never good to look back! 🤣🤣

After the meal, we dropped into a pub on the way back to see the first half of the footy before heading back to our hotel in Roby. A nice evening!

On Monday morning, we headed to Halfords to see if we could get Niamh’s very belated Christmas present (new bike) which we were unable to get at Christmas due to Pete having his chemo and wanting to make sure the bike was the right size & set up for her properly (eg, by the experts at Halfords!).

Niamh chose a bright pink bike which was a size too small for her and, despite us encouraging her to go for a slightly better bike which was purple (her favourite colour) and pink, and the right size for her (we want her to get a few years use out of it!) was adamant that it was the pink one she wanted (all part of her Pathological Demand Avoidance, bless her…). Fortunately, it turned out that the pink one was out of stock & they did not know when they would have another one in… so she then decided it was the purple one she wanted after all – hurray!

As we expected, the bike would take a few days to be put together which meant that Niamh wasn’t able to take it with her to the park which was going to be our next stop… she should get it today so cannot wait to see her bombing about on it during the summer holidays – she certainly looked good on it having a go around Halfords!

We had a great afternoon visiting some shops in Lark Lane & a wander around Sefton Park & the Palm House. The weather was lovely which meant we were allowed to have both cake and ice cream 🤣🤣

After a brief rest back at the hotel, we headed to Louise’s for a BBQ to finish off our visit. It was a very nice BBQ followed by a lot of reminiscing with Carol which was very funny – we were crying with laughter and I had to persuade Pete it was time for us to head back to the hotel around 11-ish, as I knew he would be exhausted the following day as we had been non-stop since arriving in Liverpool!

We had a great few days but it was very tiring for Pete who, although much stronger than he was, cannot yet go full pelt at things like he used to!

We cannot believe Aedan is 18 already and about to go to University – we are, of course, insanely proud of him and the funny, witty, kind, loving and clever young man he has become!