I am starting to write this blog in the most unusual of places, our local A&E. My son collapsed this afternoon (and recovered) but we were advised to go to hospital and are now awaiting test results and further advice. It was supposed to be our special mum and son day but now will be memorable for the wrong reasons. The incident happened fairly early in our day in the neighbouring town where we had gone for the Christmas market and light festival so not only did he fall ill, we also didn’t get to do our little treats we had planned so carefully ☹️. I am so grateful to the members of the public who rushed to help and to the lovely Welsh lady who stayed with us and gave me a big cwtch which was so needed. It’s a strange old time at present, there’s a lot of sad news around but also it really feels that we’re all together and looking out for each other.

Today had started so positively, I had a great time at parkrun, chatting with a friend and then despite an awful forecast, running in bearable conditions. I felt really good running today and managed my best course time for about 18 months. I also got my best ever position, 32 but in fairness the weather had put off many runners.

Apart from today it’s been a quiet and uneventful week. Our daughter is doing GCSE mocks and despite her anxiety she has sat every exam. We’ve had a few tense drives to school but the drives home have been much more positive.

I’ve been trying to read lots to try and get somewhere near my Good Reads target. I have had several books on the go and am finishing them off. I did manage to read a book in about 24 hours this week, pretty good going when it was a school day too. The book The Rachel Incident was excellent and had me up to the early hours finishing it off.

This week has also seen me doing more Christmas prep, all is going smoothly and my lists are being ticked off. I have a few items for which I’m waiting for Black Friday to see if they are reduced but for most of my presents, I’m trying to use small businesses rather then the big multi nationals.

Next week continues to be a fairly quiet week, I’m trying to bank these before the whirlwind of Christmas events for us all. My diary is my best friend in December!