2nd, May 2022

777 days after our first lockdown day

I’ve been away on holiday so lots to talk about since my last entry. 10 days in Spain and 3 days near Keighley have been highlights of the last 19 days. We also finished our break in Scotland with Bill and Irene. Having to use crutches and, more recently, walking sticks, clearly reduced the amount of time we could see the sights. However, the main objective of all the visits was to catch up with old and valued friends and in this, we succeeded admirably.

In Scotland we were able to see Bill and Irene’s friends and family at a wonderful meal to celebrate Bill’s 75th Birthday. We also ate out a couple more times and enjoyed a lovely visit to New Lanark, on the Clyde River. It boasts a wonderfully preserved woollen mill and employee’s village and school.

We were lucky enough to fit in a visit to Spain. We overlapped the visit with Sally and Jim and spent our first night in a hotel. Thereafter we stayed in Sally’s flat in Alhama. We caught up with Ann and Don, who we don’t think will ever leave Spain. We met our good pals Donna and Pete and their son Harry, for a meal in La Zenia. We also saw them at their house and went for an Indian Meal on Campasol urbanisation. It was an excellent meal. We met our favourite Spanish pal, Diego at La Duna Restaurant. It was fantastic to see him, especially as Sally and Jim did not get a chance to see him. David was on holiday in Benidorm so we spent a day there with him and Jo and her daughter Liv. A really great day where I had a “sex on the beach” cocktail and Liv kareokeed at the Rose and Crown. For lunch we all went for a big all-day breakfast.

When in Rome..! On the Benidorm day, I did over 8000 steps. Phenomenal. With Sally and Jim we went to Puerto Mazarron for drinks and tapas. A bonus was that our Cottingham neighbours, Matthew and Di were on holiday too so we met with them in Alhama and went for a Menu del Dia to the Don Jamon restaurant were we could eat outside. It was a beautiful day. After Benidorm, David told us he had proposed to Jo and she said yes. Fantastic news!! The wedding will be next year and we are looking forward to it. Unfortunately they have decided that both dads will give a speech. Still, plenty of time to prepare. We had a very relaxing 10 days but when we got back to the UK the car wouldn’t start. The AA came within the hour and “jumped” the car off. They said it may have been somebody touching the car as they passed setting off the alarm which may have drained the battery. He fixed it in no time and as a bonus, the stop start feature of the car rebooted itself. Every cloud….!

We have seen the grandchildren a little but Maisie has been absent since 26/12/2021. Thea is coping well and Ronnie is happy as long as someone takes him to football, cricket or swimming. Thea is a very mature 15 year old and is, I think, fully aware of what is going on.

Our government is causing problems with their poor governance and Boris et al are an embarrassment. Now we are trying to send asylum seekers to Rwanda for goodness sake. What are they on?

My injuries from falling down the stairs are improving but I still need a stick and cannot lay on my left hand side. I can however drive a bit but Jenny still does most of it.