Author: seasidesparkles

2023, the highlights….

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2023 was a year of lows and highs, but with Mr S’ accident and subsequent brain injury we are finishing the year on a real low. However I also don’t want to detract from the highs, we had some wonderful family times and they should be celebrated. 

I have detailed all the highs in my blog during the year, but thought I would simply list them here so on a bad day I can look back and smile at the memories. This year we have loved exploring the British Isles and many of the highlights are from our holidays in the Isle of Wight and North Wales and North-west England, amazingly for the wet year we experienced all three weeks were drenched in gorgeous sunshine. But life also happens away from holidays, the family reunions were very special to me, as well as special days out. And sometimes its the simple things which bring joy to daily life, a brilliant book, a twirly skirt ..

My highlights of 2023

parkruns. Volunteering and running give me the reason to get up early on Saturday morning and go out. I always feel so much better for my parkruns and they are an important part of my week, socially and for my fitness.

Lessons in Chemistry. My first read of 2023 and the best book of the year.

Lemn Sissay. By chance, I saw Lemn Sissay was appearing in a local literature festival and just had to see him, his work has left a big impression on me, both his poetry and autobiography. This was my first literature festival and Lemn was everything I hoped he would be and more. My daughter came with me and loved him too.

Portsmouth. Another lovely spring weekend in Portsmouth, on the first day exploring the historic docklands and the second at Gunwharf quays for outlet shopping. The children loved their Nike bargains, I just cherished the relaxed days, warm sunshine and delicious dinner out.

Compton Acres. These are local gardens which I have meant to visit since we moved to the area, twenty years ago. I finally managed it in 2023 and LOVED the gardens, my new little sanctuary.

The Fashion Museum. Another place I’ve tried to visit for years. It was wonderful and I’ve become a friend of the museum as it was so special.

Chanel at the V&A. This was the highlight of an amazing day in London. Chanel’s work was beautiful and inspired We also loved our river ride, trips to Covent Garden, Harrods, Fortnum and Mason and Liberty’s and everywhere we passed as we walked 30K steps around London. 

Red and pink skirt. I bought this from Unfolded and is the most beautiful swirly skirt I have. My outfit of choice for many summer events. The most ‘feelgood’ clothing I own.

Dirty Dancing. This was an early birthday present from Mr S and was amazing and strangely emotional, I cried! We enjoyed an al fresco lunch on the rooftop of a Greek restaurant on the most perfect sunny day before enjoying the matinee. 

The Isle of Wight. There are so many highlights from the Isle of Wight which coincided with another May half term heatwave, the cycle ride around the island, the water park, outdoor pool in Ryde, a brilliant week away.

North Wales. I thought the North Wales coast where we stayed for a week was beautiful, rugged and wild, I loved the beauty and history of the area.

Liverpool. Whist the football mad boys went on a tour of Anfield, my daughter and I went on the Beatles open top bus tour and it was brilliant fun, great social history, fab photo stops and a Beatles singalong. We then walked around, did some shopping and went on the Ferris wheel, such a good day again in glorious sunshine.

Blackpool. This was such a great base for the week. I loved all we did, the Blackpool tower on a clear blue sky day, the Pleasure beach on one of the hottest days of the year, an indoor water park. Blackpool was fun with a capital F!

Manchester. This was a day trip from Blackpool and we went through to Manchester to see the Lowry exhibition. It was so good, and the accompanying short film really set the scene. It affected my impression of Manchester as I could still see the themes of his work reflected in the city today. I was delighted to find the Pankhurst statue in town and marvel at the library too. 

The Air show. We had to postpone our original planned trip as it was so wet and miserable, but did it a few days later in gorgeous sunshine. Again it was a fantastic day, great displays, a buzzing atmosphere and just a fun day en famille.

CPR. I did the training as part of my work in July never thinking I would have to do it for real in November. The patient survived and my highlight is the happy ending.

Christmas Tree Lights. One of my favourite local events and this year, after a hiccup on our first attempt, my son and I had a wonderful time, the lights are stunning and we wondered around full of festive cheer. We had the most amazing hot chocolate in twinkling mugs, all the festive feels. 

Family and friends. I love our family and friends but Mr S accident has shown the deep love from our friends and family whom have reached out to support us. I will never forget their kindness, love and support and this is my biggest take away from 2023. 

My weeks … when time stopped.

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Its difficult to write on what has been a truly life affecting event. Life has been put on hold for the past few weeks as we are all dealing with the effect of an accident for Mr S.

This year, we were exceptionally well prepared for Christmas as Mr S was due to have a planned operation on December 12th. As he would be recovering for a few weeks after, all presents were bought and wrapped and we had done some lovely festive family treats in the weeks preceding, ready to hibernate for a cosy, quiet Christmas. I am so relieved we did this as after 13th December, time stopped and the only reason we had a Christmas was due to our forward planning and preparation. 

Mr S operation went well on the Tuesday and he was discharged from the day surgery and came home to recover. He seemed really well and I went to work as normal the next day, simply doing a shorter day. When I came home, he had a shower, ate dinner and we were pottering around the kitchen when he suddenly fainted, quickly and suddenly without warning. He hit his head with such a force that one side of his face was bleeding badly and he was unconscious. Our son ran for help, whilst I called 999. In the best stroke of luck, our local lifeboat crew were receiving emergency medical training and we quickly had paramedics, first responders, the air ambulance crew and an A&E consultant, the latter three from the training a few minutes from our house. It quickly became clear that this was serious and as soon as he was stabilised. he was taken to a local hospital. By the time I arrived at the hospital, having organised for my son to be looked after by our neighbours and an overnight bag hastily packed, a CT scan had been carried out and I was told that they were liaising with the regional neuro unit for him to be transferred due to a bleed on the brain. This was the scariest night of my life, trying to keep him talking so he did not sleep which might have been fatal whilst many doctors and nurses worked on him. When he was transferred, it was with an ICU doctor in the ambulance and I was not allowed to accompany him. I was asked to wait for a call to be able to visit him as the neuro unit was under extreme pressure on that night. So in the first of many surreal moments, I came home for 6am, picked up my son and got him ready for school, did a few jobs all in a complete daze. My parents came over with my daughter and we simply waited until we could go over to Southampton. I did try to sleep as it had been 28 hours without sleep but that didn’t really happen.

My mum and I went over to Southampton in the afternoon and started what would become our daily routine for the next 10 days. I knew how poorly Mr S was and how his facial injuries and potential speech and memory problems might frighten the children, so felt it best to keep them safe at home. I quickly discovered that time is a strange measure in hospitals, I was allowed in 2 – 8pm daily and with travelling times, was out 12 – 10pm daily. My day started a routine, the morning with the children, tidy up, organise dinner and then leave to be with Mr S. Amazing friends rallied round to help support with the children, taking them out to give my parents a break. The gingerbread biscuits in the photo were a most welcome late night snack baked by the children with a friend. I started daily updates to keep everyone informed but for most of the time there was little news, we simply went from hour to hour. What had been an improvement on one day, could quickly be reversed the next day. Sometimes Mr S would talk, on other visits he slept for our time together. Breaks away from the bed were down to the café for a drink and snack. On two nights I was moved to tears in the hospital entrance as choirs sang Christmas carols, the music and emotion were so overwhelming. And the music continued with the most wonderful moment when a brass band played carols in the neuro unit. The tree in the photo is the one outside Southampton hospital, despite the very difficult circumstances, the staff attempted to create Christmas sparkles. 

As I write now, Mr S has been discharged. I felt the discharge was premature and would have preferred him to get the treatment he needed in a rehab unit, but there were no beds available. Our nhs is amazing and the care we received outstanding, but it desperately needs investment. Its lovely to have Mr S home and to be able to sit with him, he remains resting in bed, but there is a lot of caring and many, many further scares so far. The specialist equipment he needed came after Christmas and he is very wobbly standing and walking, he needs someone supporting him at all times. I am living from day to day and not making any plans for the future. My parents still remain with us and for the foreseeable future to support me and the children. 

Christmas was simply a time to appreciate family and cherish the day together which we had prayed and dreamed of only two weeks earlier. An incident such as the one we experienced showed the truly important things in life, love, care and family and friendships. One of my favourite quotes for Christmas resonates even more

“And the Grinch, with his Grinch-feet ice cold in the snow, stood puzzling and puzzling, how could it be so? It came without ribbons. It came without tags. It came without packages, boxes or bags. And he puzzled and puzzled ’till his puzzler was sore. Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn’t before. What if Christmas, he thought, doesn’t come from a store. What if Christmas, perhaps, means a little bit more.”

My week .. the one with magic moments

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After last week’s attempt to see the Christmas tree lights ended up in an unexpected visit to A&E for my son, we made a new date and yesterday, we had the most special mum and son day exploring the lights. And then to continue the festive theme, our little family of four visited a local National Trust property today where as well as doing a woodland walk around their grounds, we visited the house which has been beautifully decorated for Christmas. It’s unlike me to go in early for Christmas but with Mr S having surgery on the 12th of December and needing time to rest and recuperate, if we want to do some festive family events we need to do them early.

Saturday was a beautiful winter’s day, bright blue skies but with a definite chill in the air. I ran my home parkrun and with the views and sunshine on my face, it certainly gave me a real sense of peace in another busy week. We headed over to the Christmas lights in the afternoon, again on the bus as it’s so much easier and the journey is often cited as one of the most picturesque journeys in the UK. Whilst it was Black Friday weekend, we had ordered the presents we were after on Friday night, so we didn’t do much shopping, just pottering around the Christmas market before dusk fell and we could explore the lights. Part of the occasion is to have a special festive refreshment, previously it’s been freshly baked pizza, crepes and churros but tonight we went to a hut designed as a hot chocolate emporium. Quite simply it was the best hot chocolate I’ve ever had. You choose, milk or white chocolate, a syrup and then it came with all the trimmings, cream, sprinkles, marshmallows, a gingerbread man and a candy cane. We paid an extra £3 to get the mug with twinkling lights too, it just felt oh so festive. I went for white chocolate and butterscotch and it was perfect, the best accessory for walking through the illuminated gardens. The gardens are really Christmassy, along with all the different lights, there is a skating rink and an Alpine hideaway. The lights are so impressive, the trees are huge and there were lots of nice new touches this year, a tunnel of lights, the waterfall now featuring some polar bears too, projections onto nearby buildings, and some new displays. It was busy but it added to the atmosphere, and you could easily get to all the lights. It was also friendly and relaxed with people taking each other’s group photos, everyone simply delighted to be in such a magical space. My son and I both really enjoyed it and it felt special that even as a teenager he wanted to be with me to see the lights.


Today, we hadn’t really planned our visit to the National Trust property, we were looking for somewhere different to go and walk and remembered we had a free entry pass needing to be used up. I knew of their special Christmas decorations in the house but also knew it would be popular and we might not get a ticket as they only allow so many people in for a timed slot. However the weather was drizzly and grey and when we get there early, it was quieter than normal and we managed to secure a time only 15 minutes away, perfectly timed for a quick look around the shop! The house is always beautiful, but the decorations took it to another magical level. Each room and area had been decorated exquisitely. The trees reflect each room, the library was so cosy lit by candlelight, the ladies salon sparkled and the dining room’s tree complemented the beautiful greenery arch over the table. However, it was the other decorations which were so memorable, the beautiful fireplace, the moon display, the table delightfully set with a Nutcracker theme and a stunning paper display. The paper decoration was a cube around 1.5 metres high, with each side showing a scene cut from paper and lit. It really was breath-taking and I was so pleased we were able to tour the house today. We followed it up with a damp walk around the woods and gardens to blow the cobwebs before we came home and settled into a cosy afternoon in.

This was the weekend I really needed, there’s lots going on and our two festive visits felt like a much needed escape to a sparkly, twinkly world. The festive treats continue next weekend, with our town’s Christmas market which is a genuine highlight of the year and then when the boys go to football on Sunday, my daughter and I are heading off to Southampton for our annual Christmas shopping trip. I’m pretty organised this year, the children want a few big presents which we have already ordered thanks to looking out for offers. So far on my shopping list it’s Christmas pyjamas and a few decorations, I’ve no doubt on my daughter’s list there’ll be nails, eye lashes and a few clothes totally unsuitable for the winter weather! However, there will definitely be a special lunch with a few mocktails. What’s not to love?

My week .. the one with a late night read.

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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!

My weeks .. the seasonal edit

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Its another fortnightly catch up, the two weeks after half term which has included Mr S’ birthday, Halloween, our 25th anniversary of being a couple, Bonfire night (although the storm meant most displays were postponed or cancelled) and lots of football for my boys. The most significant event of this fortnight, is one I don’t feel comfortable writing about, but it has made me reflect on the beauty and fragility of life and how important it is to be there for each other.

Mr S birthday was a quiet celebration and we went out for a lovely family meal at a carvery. I never buy Mr S a traditional birthday cake, it is always his favourite, Christmas cake and this year, I sourced the one which keeps on coming top in best taste tests from Aldi. I do love a little mooch around Aldi and whilst I did get the cake, which was delicious and well worthy of its awards, I also picked up lots of lovely goodies too, I’m particularly looking forward to the blonde chocolate elves.

I am feeling pretty well organised for Christmas this year. I’ve been buying presents and wrapping them as I go along. I even managed to find the Christmas flavoured crisps this week for Mr S, although I would not recommend the Christmas pudding flavour, I only tasted one and it was enough! Last year, I experienced my first Christmas since returning to work full time and know this year, I want to make sure that I do as much preparation as I can early so I can relax and enjoy December and its special events. Mr S played his part this week, finding and ordering some presents and booking the coveted Tesco Christmas delivery. I am planning the Christmas menu, although was disappointed by this year’s Good Food Vegetarian Christmas magazine. However, as I have many past editions, I buy it every year, I am sure I can find a special main course for Christmas dinner. My personalised Christmas cards arrived this week and they are amazing, I am so impressed and absolutely delighted with the design. I can’t wait to write and send them out. I am making a real effort to support small businesses this year and Instagram has been a wonderful source of ideas and links. This morning, I also popped into the best local Christmas decoration shop situated in a great garden centre. It is next to a parkrun and as I’m going to be running locally probably until after Christmas, I took the opportunity for a little tourism. I wanted a flat parkrun that my daughter would enjoy, our home run is so tough it can be daunting. We both ran well and loved our little visit to the Christmas shop, it is the most magical shop, with so many different themed rooms. We then popped over to Waitrose for nibbles for lunch and to sustain GCSE mock exam revision!

This week, my new bureau arrived. When we moved nearly 20 years ago, I found an old bureau in a second hand shop. It has served me very well and I have renovated it too, but sadly after 20 years daily use, it needed to be replaced. Buy a new bureau was one of my #23for23 and this year, I have spent the year hunting online and in charity furniture depots, retro warehouses etc.. to find a new bureau with no success. Its become a bit of a family mission too, and last week Mr S sent me some photos of a bureau he had seen in the window of a local charity shop in excellent condition. Initially I didn’t think it was the style I was looking for but at the price, £25 it would at least be an interim. However, I have totally fallen in love with its 1970s style and it is perfect, I am so pleased to have my new bureau. It also shows how rewarding on so many different levels it is to buy second hand. I have had a bit of a Vinted blitz this week and have a beautiful party skirt from Coast (£4), and everyday skirts from Laura Ashley and White Stuff (£6 each) due to arrive next week.

Today is Armistice day, I wore my poppy to parkrun and as we drove home we by chance, found ourselves driving near the village where my Gramps had served with the RAF. The autumn colours were stunning, bright blue skies and a very poignant place to be at 11am to remember all who served in war. This afternoon, I needed to pop into town briefly but did take the time to walk along the seafront and up to the war memorial. The big parade is tomorrow afternoon but I found it peaceful to visit it today. The remembrance crosses each bearing the name of a serviceman from the memorial had been planted by school children yesterday in the traditional school’s service and the child made wreaths on the memorial were simple and moving.

My week .. the London edition

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And so to a much needed half term break. I always like the October half term week, to me it signifies the transition to dark nights, cooler weather and the time when I really up my Christmas planning. It is of course the week to catch up on appointments, I’ve been to the hospital, doctors, salon and had a flu vaccination this week. However, we also try to organise a special occasion. For my daughter and I it was a trip to London, whilst the boys spent time with Grandad in Bristol.

When you look at the photos from London, its hard to believe that it is simply one day in London, the weather started misty and cloudy, turned to bright sunshine, finishing with showers in the evening. We had the best day, the highlight was the Chanel exhibition at the Victoria and Albert for which I have done its own blog post. However I am a queen of planning and had designed an itinerary to pack in as much as we could. My plan was a piece of art, timings, tube lines, walking routes all noted down. London has been a big part of my life, I am a London born girl and frequent visitor prior to family life so do feel confident navigating the city. I love London, there is a buzz and atmosphere that makes it unique. Our day started by walking from Waterloo and seeing the Houses of Parliament, the London Eye and a Netflix production being filmed along the South bank! We then took a river bus to the Tower of London, I had never done this before and it was a great way to show some of the sights to my daughter. We then caught the tube to Knightsbridge and Harrods. As a young girl we always went to Harrods for their Christmas shop so this is what we did and bought a new decoration, we also popped into the food hall and bought the best takeaway lunch, sushi for my daughter and a salad for me. Both dishes were amazing, eaten in the courtyard of the V&A in bright sunshine. After the exhibition, we took the tube to Piccadilly Circus, for its iconic location, before walking to Fortnum and Masons, again for their Christmas shop, there is a theme here as we also went to Liberty’s Christmas shop! We then headed to Leicester Square (and the M&M shop), China Town and Covent Garden, where we had one of those magical moments both singing along with a busker singing classic Oasis songs. My daughter, unbeknown to me, took a video and we both look and sound so happy. We also explored Regent Street and had the obligatory stop at Nike Town so my daughter could spend some of her money. We then walked back to Waterloo (35k steps walked on this day) passing by Downing Street, Parliament Square and the London Eye all beautifully lit in the dusk. It was at Waterloo we hit the only problem of the day as there was major rail disruption due to an earlier incident. As we were on a late train, we were fortunate to only have a 40 minute initial delay, some people had been waiting hours for a train, however the disruption continued and our train went so slowly that we were entitled to a full refund as it was more than an hour late. The train journey was lovely, we found ourselves sat within a group of women, and despite it being such an Un-British thing to do, we all spent the time chatting and having wonderful conversations. We were a diverse group but it was a thoroughly pleasant and fun way to spend the journey. The delay meant it was midnight before we got home, and after leaving at 6.30am it was a long but brilliant day to be treasured.

After such a busy day in London, you would think we would have taken it easy on Wednesday, but no. I had an early doctors appointment and then was taking my daughter over to big town to meet her friends. This did give me some time to pop into B&M and Home Bargains, and after an appointment at the salon, we then did collapse onto the sofa for the evening and ensured that Thursday was a quiet day.

Today has continued to be a quiet day, the boys went to football and returned very happy with the result. I volunteered and ran at our Halloween parkrun. It was a fancy dress event but I am saving my Halloween dressing up for work on Tuesday, so just wore some ghost head boppers and had fancy nails as a nod to the event. Its been such a wet and windy day (post parkrun) that I am delighted to be cosy inside.

Gabrielle Chanel: Fashion Manifesto at the V&A

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I was delighted this week to visit the Chanel exhibition, Fashion Manifesto at the Victoria and Albert museum in London. I had booked it on the day the tickets were released (after waiting in a virtual queue for 8 hours) and in preparation had read the Chanel biography by Justine Picardie, attended a Zoom Chanel presentation by the V&A and read reviews and articles on the exhibition. To me it simply wasn’t an exhibition but an opportunity to really learn about Chanel and to have this knowledge to be able to view the exhibition. I was so excited that I’ve had a little countdown widget on my phone, counting down the days.

The exhibition didn’t disappoint, it is spectacular and such an interesting reflection on the social history of Chanel’s lifetime. One of my favourite items was a pair of shorts and blouse, with a psychedelic pattern in bright pink, designed by her at the age of 86, totally fitting in with the fashion of the day of the swinging sixties. To still be so creative and innovative at that age is remarkable.

Chanel’s work is exquisite and the attention to detail, stunning. Some of the finishing had to be seen to be believed, the individual petals on a dress, neatly cut and sewn were awesome. For both my daughter and I it was the dresses which were the highlight, so many different designs and colours but all so beautiful. There is a fantastic display of Chanel suits too, a rainbow of colour, but my memories will be predominantly of the dresses.

The Chanel exhibition was all I had hoped for and more, I was pleasantly surprised by the sheer number and variety of outfits on display covering her whole career. The settings were very well thought out and designed, the room of mirrors was perfect for the staging of the dresses. I keep flicking through the photos on my phone and have ordered the accompanying book to be able to look at the detail at the dresses and dream a little dream of wearing a Chanel dress.

My weeks .. the one with the indomitable Lemn Sissay

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There are some weeks when there is plenty to write about and others where I do my entries fortnightly as there is less. Our life recently has consisted of work, school meetings and the humdrum of everyday life. We’ve done proper adulting on Sunday afternoons, and have sorted our finances and pensions, written a will and researched and renewed insurance policies. It may not be exciting but at least its given us clarity and peace of mind. Also it seems all our household insurances and plans, and car servicing, MOTs and insurance are due at a similar time, so our work is now done for another year.

Life is just ticking over, we are planning on transforming the children’s playroom to a more adult type of snug for them, so I have been looking at possible colours and home furnishings. We need to wait for the roof repair before we can proceed further. I have also been getting very creative at school so have been trying a few arts and crafts at home first. There are a small amount of stones in our garden which may have been accidentally spray painted white and silver with my experiments! I have continued with my weekly parkruns and am delighted to be running my fastest 5ks of the year. In pure coincidence, I was 80th on my 80th parkrun, of which I liked the symmetry.

My highlight of the fortnight was my first ever visit to a Literary festival to see the poet, Lemn Sissay. I follow Lemn on social media and have read his previous anthologies and his memoir, My Name is Why. I recommend this book to everyone, it is a tough read, but contains threads of hope. When I saw Lemn was appearing locally, I really wanted to go and see him, so got two tickets for me and my daughter. I wanted her to see someone who had come out of the care system and had been able to follow their passion to make a successful career. I wanted her to see a positive story. The timing could not have been better as she had had a really difficult week at school. The evening really was perfect, we went over early and enjoyed a girlie dinner date where we were able to talk honestly and openly about the week. Lemn was amazing in his sell-out session, we were all enthralled by him, he was very witty, thoughtful and entertaining. Halfway through the evening, my daughter just turned around and said I love this man and when he read a very poignant poem on being placed into care, she whispered ‘that hit hard’ I am so pleased that we got to see Lemn, in the words of Gretchen Rubin, live the bigger life.

My weeks .. parkrun tourism, Quentin Blake and Bake Off

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I am now into the rhythm of autumn and my weeks seem to follow a pattern, full time work Monday to Friday. Saturdays start with a parkrun and mum taxi duties which take me around the county, followed by a late afternoon cooking in the kitchen and listening to the football, before settling down to watch Strictly. Sunday is a day for a family walk, little jobs around the house and prep for the week ahead. Its a life which brings comfort and contentment.

Over the past few weeks, there’s not much to report on. I have a new silver ring, a belated 50th present from my parents, its an unusual style, more an oval than round but I love it and its totally me (well I did choose it!) I have done two local(ish) parkruns, both are near the ‘big town’ where I have needed to drop my daughter each week. The deal is we go early so I can do my run. Last week we returned to my old ‘home’ parkrun, where I have still done the majority of my parkruns although this stat will only last for a few more weeks. By a lovely quirk of fate, I had friends running there and the event was also celebrating its 250th event, so it was a wonderful morning in the autumn sunshine. This week, I ended up at a venue I had not been to for nearly 4 years, it has an amended post Covid course and I so much more enjoyed the new course, it was my fastest time for a year. It is also really well located so I got to have a shower at the neighbouring sports centre and could feel a little nicer pottering around town. I took the opportunity to visit a Quentin Blake exhibition at the arts centre. It was well worth a visit.

As the autumn draws in, television is so much better, Bake Off and Strictly are my must watches. We have also watched a miniseries, the thriller Safe by Harlan Coben, it was a decent watch, even if the plot line was a little stretched at times.

Our Sunday walks have been lovely, warm, sunny walks in the woods and fields. I do feel that the sunshine on my face and breathing in the autumn air is therapy to me, a walk clears the head and focuses on the present.

My week .. with the shades of autumn

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Every autumn, I play a little game on how long I can keep wearing my summer wardrobe. With the random weather we have been having, I have packed my summer dresses away one weekend only to have to get them out the next!

This past week we had some terrible weather during the week, only to be blessed with a stunning weekend. Saturday morning at parkrun was beautiful, near perfect running conditions and then a relaxed parkfaff outside on the café terrace, with warm sunshine on our faces. There was also just a super friendly atmosphere, some lovely visitors and our community whom all made a joyful morning. Sunday was another mild day and we enjoyed a long family walk, with the bonus of warm pasties at the midway point. I nicknamed it our berry and nuts walk, because as we walked through the countryside, nature’s signs of autumn were all there to see. As we approach autumn, I am also back to Saturday night is cooking night, this week our recipe was a delicious savoury crumble. It was also my first homemade soup of the season for Saturday lunch, fresh soup and bread from our local bakery is the best lunch.

At this time of year, the start of a new academic year, my weekdays are very work focused, so I do really appreciate my weekends. I’m relishing being outside and every evening have been taking a walk around the block for 30 minutes, it helps to reflect on the day and to relax ready for the evening (and also to calm after the stress of asking my Year 11 daughter to do just a bit of schoolwork) On Monday evening, I did watch the live Chanel presentation from the V&A with Justine Picardie as an introduction to their exhibition. I am counting down the days to our trip in half term. I do like having something to look forward to. On Sunday we were also doing some planning for our Med cruise next summer, I’m very excited for the trips we have booked so far, Segways in Marseille and a Gaudi tour to Park Güell and Sagrada Familia. I am the sort of person who will research and learn all about Gaudi in the preceding weeks to really embrace the visit. The children and Mr S are off to a water park on the same day and I am secretly delighted to be a visiting it alone (albeit in a guided party)

Next week is a quiet week, the boys have a couple of football matches, so some quiet time for me, which is always appreciated.