- 21st to 30th January 2026 – a new fireplace rising from the dust & soot…
- 11th to 20th January 2026 – January: The longest month…
- 2nd to 10th January 2026… Snow, what snow?
- 1st January 2026 – Happy New Year!
- 12th to 21st December 2025… one up, one down and just 4 more sleeps until Christmas!
Read an excerpt below…
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11th to 20th January 2026 – January: The longest month…
Why is it that January always seems to last forever? It feels like New Year was ages ago and yet it was only 20 days… we are barely through the month! 🤣 I heard they call yesterday (19th), the 3rd Monday of the New Year, “Blue Monday” as it’s supposed to be the most depressing…
Keep reading2nd to 10th January 2026… Snow, what snow?
Although many places in Scotland, along with quite a few in England & Wales, have had a shed load of snow this week, we haven’t had more than a smattering but, blumming ‘eck, it’s been f-reezing! I was pretty glad that we had no snow which meant that the drive up to Melrose for Pete’s…
Keep reading1st January 2026 – Happy New Year!
I hope everyone had a good Christmas or at least enjoyed some time off work… So here we are, New Year’s Day 2026 – a new year begins! Looking back, at the start of 2025 we were in India enjoying the sunshine of Goa and not really thinking much beyond the six weeks we still…
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21st to 30th January 2026 – a new fireplace rising from the dust & soot…
January is still not over… it feels like it has been going on forever but February is just around the corner and everyday, the bulbs in our garden poke through a little more so spring is definitely on the way despite the storms this week – hurray! Pete’s been feeling a bit up and down…
Keep reading12th to 21st December 2025… one up, one down and just 4 more sleeps until Christmas!
Pete is starting to pick up again 10 days after his last chemo… it’s fair to say that he is finding each cycle just that little bit more debilitating and gets a bit fed up with all the tablets & injections. Thankfully, there is just one more to go, scheduled for 2nd January 2026. At…
Keep reading4th to 11th December 2025… home improvements, chemo #5, and a snotty beak…
Not sure how but I have managed to pick up a nasty cold this week and have been desperately trying to avoid giving it to Pete in his current weakened state 🤣🤣 (well, his immune system’s weakened state anyway…). I realise with my reported hip, back, hand & wrist pain and now this cold, I…
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26th November to 3rd December 2025 – Christmas is coming…
We have woken this morning to a rumble coming from the generator Scottish Power have put in our street to ensure the village has electricity throughout the day whilst they work on updating something or other which has caused all the recent power cuts… The genny, delivered yesterday, is pretty big and quite noisy but,…
Keep reading18th to 25th November… the arrival of winter(?), completing projects & chemo #4…
Since my last blog, Pete has had his 4th cycle of chemotherapy… although he’s currently feeling the after effects (extreme tiredness etc), it definitely seems to be working, as on the 18th November, two days before his chemo during the pre-treatment call with the cancer nurse, she told him his PSA count has gone down…
Keep reading9th to 17th November 2025 – Remembrance Sunday & our first visitors in Scotland…
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…
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1st to 8th November 2025… the aftermath of chemo #3 and a time of remembrance…
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…
Keep reading22nd to 31st October 2025 – Bye bye Yorkshire house… buy, buy Scottish house!
👻🎃👻 Happy Halloween 👻🎃👻! Well, the Yorkshire house is finally no longer ours (mixed feelings!) which leaves us free to crack on with the purchase of the Scottish house – hurray! After our brief overnight stop in Yorkshire, we handed the keys to our agent ready for the handover & completion of sale last Friday…
Keep reading11th – 21st October 2025
Another 10 days of life has slipped by and although we might be taking things at a slower pace whilst Pete goes through chemo, time still feels like it’s flying by… although when I say “slower pace” we still seem to have been busy enough! Although Pete feels he has got off lightly with how…
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All the gubbins… 