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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. 

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!

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.

Much as like in the first days of last September when I didn’t have a new Prime Minister and King on my September bingo card, this September has started unexpectedly too.

Firstly, we have had an amazing heatwave which lasted for 10 days and gave us the hottest and sunniest days of the year. Unfortunately this also coincided with the return to school, which seemed a little unfair after the wet and grey summer holidays.

In these first few days back at work I presumed the extreme heat was what was making me feel really rough and needing early nights. Whilst I did a bit of parkrun tourism, I felt so poorly that on my return home I fell into bed and didn’t get up for a few days. As someone who is never off work sick, it was a shock to have to take two sick days so early into the school year. I thought it may have been Covid but repeated tests and a trip to my GP concluded it to be bad flu. It was awful and as soon as I can, I’ll be getting my vaccination as I do not want to feel so ill again.

In between sleeping, my bed rest meant that I was able to finish the Winners. Blackman is a genius writer and I sobbed at the ending. I have also read nearly half of the Chanel book. I am signed up for a webcast next week with Justine Picardie and have tickets for the Chanel exhibition in half term so my cultural life is Chanel inspired at present. Coco Chanel is certainly an interesting character. I watched the Greatest Days too, it was an easy, light way to rest and relax but its not making any top ten film lists. Mr S and I have also finished Who Is Erin Carter, a great concept with a strong start but a series which had too many action scenes for me to believe and rate the plot.

As I’ve been back to work for a few days now, we had a family day out today as the boys have football tomorrow. We went to a big seaside town for a beach walk, lunch and a few jobs. The town was buzzing with athletes for the Ironman tomorrow and it made me remember that we had come over the same day last year to do the parkrun. I had been surprised by the number of really fast runners last year until I saw the Ironman signs. The sand sculpture of King Charles we saw on the beach seemed poignant as we had a long weekend this weekend in 2022 for the Queen’s funeral.

I’m looking forward to a livelier few weeks now, I’m feeling so much better and healthier. Autumn, I’m coming for you …

Despite these sunny photos, the summer of 23 has been pretty grey and wet and the final days of the holiday were again huddled under umbrellas. This summer I used a one page holiday planner to help give us focus and organisation and really appreciated this as it gave me time to fit in all i wanted to do. With the exception of one day during the weeks, we had plans, some big, some small every day.

On our first day back from holidays, my son and I enjoyed a coffee with his old primary school TA, they were paired up for all his primary years and there still remains a very strong bond. When our son started school. he was a tiny little dot, due to being a summer baby and a development delay because of a really tough start to life. Today he towered over his TA in a photo we took. He didn’t stop talking, again he spoke very little when he started school and hearing him describe his school, friends, football was wonderful for us all. I am so grateful we have kept in touch and that his TA gets to see the impact of all her hard work over many years on a young person’s life.

This summer has been the one of £2 bus fares and extra routes and we have enjoyed lots of days out. We live in such a rural location that we get lots of value from the £2 fare, none of our trips have been less than an hour’s travel time. Pre the £2 fare, a single was £5 with no return reductions, so at £10 per adult, public transport was prohibitive in cost. The routes we have taken this summer are all open top buses as they are notable for their scenery. We have seen some stunning views and visited lovely local places. Our most regular has been to the big town but this week, we went to a local beauty spot where after a walk to a beach for lunch, we ended up in the bar and sipping on our drinks in warm sunshine and nibbling on chips on the beach. Life is all about simple pleasures.

Later on this week, after the first home football game of the season , we met my parents at a midway point for them to take the children for a couple of nights. This was the first time in 13 years that we had a night away from the children. In all their time with us, residentials, family visits, sleepovers, cub camps etc.. we have always had at least one child with us and it felt so odd (but also rather nice) to be a couple. As it was bank holiday weekend, we had simple plans. We popped into a ‘big’ town on our way back from the rendezvous point to purchase school uniforms and then picked up fresh ingredients to make a special dinner (we had looked for a restaurant but were left uninspired by the menus so headed home) Even prepping dinner relaxing to some music and the luxury of a late meal seemed exciting! The logistics of the final week of the holiday meant that I had to go and stay with my parents for the final night as we had a 7am departure for our next adventure. Rather than rush down, I went to Clark’s Village on the way. However it wasn’t quite the occasion I had hoped for, the weather was awful and the stock in the shops was summer clothes when I was looking for more seasonal attire. However I did like the Lindt and Haribo shops and bought some treats for supper for us all. I also popped in the Emma Bridgewater shop, and got a bowl for Halloween, which I felt showed remarkable restraint! I will return to Clark’s village, its a lovely setting, just not for me on the day. Our early start was to allow me to get the children to an adventure day near home, kindly organised and financed by the Masons. Whilst my son is always up for action and adventure, my daughter was more hesitant, however they both loved the day and could not stop talking about all the activities they had done and the people they had met. I am always so grateful for the time and effort given by members of he community to provide amazing opportunities for young people.

This summer has been one in which we have had to adapt to the weather. Initially the last day of my holidays (I went back to school on a Friday?) was to be spent at the air festival but the weather was so poor we postponed this to the weekend and headed to the cinema. We saw the film Gran Turismo and it was excellent, I enjoyed the true story. This was a great decision as when we headed to the air festival (of course on the £2 bus) on Saturday the weather was amazing and we had a spectacular day. I always get great pride when I see a spitfire flying wondering if that was one my Gramps had worked on. There was such a variety of aircraft flying and there was so much to do on the beach and prom too, a prefect finale to out holiday.

Due to the change in my job, this was the first time in nearly 20 years I had six weeks summer holiday (in my previous job we got the same 13 weeks’ holiday but more equally shared) It was also the first (and likely, only) time that all four of us had all the time off together. It was the coldest, wettest summer for many years but amazingly on the days when we had outdoor plans the weather was perfect. We had great days out and I really enjoyed exploring North Wales and the North West in our holiday. There are so many lovely memories of our holiday but my favourite times include my 50th birthday breakfast and trip to the pier, Liverpool – the Beatles bus tour, Ferris wheel, the boys joy at Anfield, the Blackpool Tower and Pleasure Beach, a cycle ride in North Wales, the Lowry Collection, the Fashion museum and Air festival. Summer 2023, you may have been soggy but you were fun.

After the wholesome week in North Wales, week two of our holiday was loud, fun and busy. Blackpool rocked and we made very happy memories.

The first day was a bit of a nightmare, the weather travelling to Blackpool was awful, biblical rain and wind and with petty arguments in the car, we were all pretty fed up by the time we arrived. We then walked into a filthy caravan, which took all afternoon to sort as it was so bad it had to be fully deep cleaned by a whole team of staff. We did receive a decent compensation for the inconvenience but it was just a rubbish day.

Fortunately, we had a week fully planned and on Tuesday, we started with the Blackpool Tower. We did the Blackpool Eye experience which involved a 4d cinema introduction to Blackpool and then a trip to the top of the tower. It was so much fun and I thought the glass floor was a brilliant touch. The day was so bright and clear that we had amazing views all across the town and sea. We then went out for a meal, we have joked that the week was sponsored by Tesco as the tower trip, Bella Italia meal and Pleasure beach were all paid by our Tesco points, its a great little scheme which helps gives the sparkles to special times.

By using our Tesco points, we had to book all activities in advance and as the Tower and Pleasure Beach were weather dependent we became avid forecast followers for the preceding two weeks. Amazingly, the weather all week was great, with the best day being Pleasure Beach day! The Pleasure Beach was brilliant, the children loved the adrenaline filled rollercoasters and did so many rides. I joined for a few, Valhalla which was wild and wet and had me crying with tears of joy, the Ghost train and Wallace and Gromit. Mostly Mr S and I loved just watching the children having so much fun and simply embracing the family time.

When we had been planning our week, we had not known about the water park but discovered it on one of tram journeys and booked a trip. It was another brilliant session, there are so many slides and features, including the longest inside water slide in the world. As you can read, Blackpool was pretty full on!

Another highlight of our week was a trip to Manchester for the girls and a return to Anfield for the boys on Saturday. In an amazing stroke of luck, my son’s team were playing Liverpool away and they got tickets to the match. It was such an experience for them both, a truly memorable day to be treasured. As we had been to Liverpool the previous week, my daughter and I decided catch a train to explore Manchester. I was keen to see the Lowry exhibition and the new Media city. I love to plan, so organised our train travel, sorted the tram routes and our day’s itinerary. The Lowry exhibition was brilliant, it started with a 20 minute film which explained so much about the artist and his work and then the opportunity to see the pictures referred to in it, made them so much more interesting. There was also an exhibition adjacent on the work of Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler, we did pop in and saw some of the original notebooks and sketchbooks and learnt about the creativity and process of writing. After the Lowry, we walked over to Old Trafford and posed for a few photos to send to my football mad son before returning to the city centre. I did find the city centre mighty impressive with its grand old buildings (and Emily Pankhurst’s statue) but also felt it was such a contrast to the works of Lowry we had just seen with their depictions of poverty. We also visited the shopping area too, but there was less on the shopping list after our Liverpool trip and it was more browsing. My daughter was keen to go to Selfridges and was in awe of all the designers and being able to see Chanel bags, Laboutin shoes etc on display, she has a wish list for when she is older! As a treat in Selfridges, we lunched in San Carlo Bottega and had a delicious meal in a delightful setting. I did buy a lip gloss so my daughter could have an ionic yellow bag as a memento of our trip. As the boys were later than us in getting back to Blackpool, we explored party Blackpool on a Saturday night as we waited for them to get back in, my daughter loved it and is planning a return trip with her friends in a few years time (scarily she’ll be an adult then)

Our final full day was Sunday and we were in Blackpool early to watch the Women’s World Cup final, sadly it wasn’t to be this tournament but the Lionesses have achieved so much. It was lovely to see the pubs busy with everyone tuned in to the match and such a positive atmosphere. We then did a final walk along the promenade and bought rocks and gifts for family and friends before heading back to the caravan and packing.

I loved exploring north Wales and the North West on this holiday, its been so different to other caravan holidays and the trips to Manchester and Liverpool were brilliant. It’s made me want to do more city trips around the country and my planning has started.

Over the past few years we have visited a number of Haven holiday parks around the country, Cornwall, East and West Sussex, East Anglia, Kent and Tenby and shown our children some of the beautiful beaches and countryside the UK has to offer. This year we decided to do something different and combined stunning beaches with some city trips too. We spent our first week in North Wales, for the outdoor experiences and then the second in Blackpool for the explosion of fun, fairgrounds and bright lights.

As it is a long journey we stayed a night at Trentham Gardens in Stoke. This was a lovely stop with easy access to the shopping and dining experiences, a beautiful warm evening walk and conveniently close access to the motorway. It was the best en route stop we’ve done and helped us be fresh and ready for our caravan stay. We had an early check in and started the holiday straight away, whilst I collected our food shopping the children were already in the pool, exploring and making new friends.

When we were planning our holiday, one of our priorities was a trip to Liverpool as our football made son wanted to do the Anfield tour, this needs to be booked in advance and the date available was the first full day on site, Tuesday. It did feel a little strange to unpack and then spend the first whole day away on a little adventure, but boy was it worth it. For me it was one of the best days of the holiday. We travelled through to Liverpool on the train, it is really simple and took about 90 minutes. This may seem a long trip on a holiday, but for us, who live in a very rural part of the country, its a typical journey time for a day out. Nothing is close to home! Whilst I am a football fan, I knew it wasn’t the ideal itinerary for my daughter so after breakfast together, the boys and girls split up, with the girls heading off to do a walk to some of the key sights in Liverpool before doing the Beatles open bus top tour. The bus tour was amazing. When I was planning our day it was the trip which kept on being highlighted for its 5 star rating and I had booked us on. My daughter was initially bemused by the trip, but was won over within minutes. We had a brilliant guide, who not only showed us the sites significant to the Beatles story but gave an excellent social history of the city too. Beatles music is played throughout the tour, with the guide playing relevant songs and also taking requests from the passengers, it is the ultimate feel good trip with lots of singing. We also alighted the bus at Penny Lane and Strawberry Fields for the tourist shots! I had dressed to complement the tour too, wearing my favourite long, pink and red skirt and strawberry straw bag, it was a fun thing to do and sometimes I think you need to embrace the moment. Following the tour (for which I did do a trip advisor 5 star post) we headed over to the Liverpool Eye, another great and enjoyable activity. The views on the eye were amazing as we were treated to blue, clear skies and could see lots. My daughter was keen to hit the shops and spend her birthday money, I was really impressed by the shopping in Liverpool and a very successful shopping trip ensued! We then met up with the boys who were so happy with their day too and headed back on the train. I loved how happy we all were about our Liverpool trip, it really was the best day.

After the busy day in Liverpool we then took some days to enjoy the holiday park. There were lots of activities swimming, the ‘Big Jump’, crazy golf and on Saturday we hired bikes to ride from Presthaven to Rhyl, a 13 mile return journey along the prom. I liked the simplicity of the holiday, wholesome activities enjoyed outside in the sunshine. We were so lucky with the weather, after the most miserable start to the summer holidays, we had two holiday weeks of blue skies and sunshine. Although we stayed mainly on the park, we popped through to Prestatyn a couple of times, headed into Rhyl on Friday night for a cinema trip to see the Haunted Mansion and then on Sunday drove through to Llandudno and Conway. Llandudno was gorgeous and I liked the cuteness of Conway with the castle, the smallest house in Britain and delicious Welsh cakes.

As the children are now older, we did use the evening entertainment too, the highlight being a stunning Tina Turner tribute. We also discovered that the local fish and chip shop did battered Mars bar and we surprised the children with one as a supper treat. I chose not to try it but the verdicts were positive!

I found North Wales to be a stunning place, the beaches were wild and natural and there was lots of outdoor activities to enjoy, a peaceful first week of the holiday before the fun of Blackpool.