John Wasn't
Secrets
Sixty Years
It’s almost the end of January. Where did the month go?
Where did the last year go?
I’ll tell you where:-
January = Hibernation Mode
February = Woke from Hibernation
March = Lancashire to Celebrate my Sister’s 60th Birthday
April = Off to Glastonbury, then onto Wales via Rhandirmwyn in the Welsh hills, over the Brecons to Daffy meet of Bongo pals then to Llanystumdwy, Porthmadog, Ponty Pool Oswestry then home!
May = New Forest, Seatown, Burgh Island, Plymouth, Falmouth, Senan Cove, The Minack Theatre, Truro, St Michaels Mount,Bude Widemouth Bay Tavistock then back to Glastonbury and home from there!
June = Up to Kew to stay with our son for a few days and explore Kew Gardens and the National Archives. Then we headed up to Stourport, for our annual Bongo Bash, with other Bongo owners. After that it was onto Bedgelert Wales, Anglesey, Bala, Cardigan Bay, Cwmtydu, Aberporth, and home via Devises,
July = Leek, Very WET! Derbyshire got rained off after 4 days out!
August = Up to Lancashire twice. First for my niece’s 21st Birthday. Whilst there I enjoyed Southport the views from Rivington Pike, exploring the countryside around Rawtenstall, Chorley market, and pottering on my brother’s allotment
I trundled back to Sussex picked up the other half and headed North again! We visited Hebden Bridge, The Lancashire Panopticons, Formby Point, Gormley Statues, Brinscall, Blackburn Market, Gawthorpe Hall, Rufford Old Hall in fact all the places I never get ‘around to when visiting Lancashire because I am too busy visiting family and friends! Then it was north to Scotland
Our first wild Camp was at Luce Bay with a view over to the Isle of Man. We then enjoyed a beautiful day at the Mull of Galloway RSPB centre that night it was wild camping at Stranraer where the RAIN arrived! The fish didn’t seem to mind though they were busy leaping out of the water. The sun returned and we went over the bridge to Skye. We explored every windy lane and cove! Fish and Chips in Portree are not to be missed.
September = Still on Skye for a few days then it was onto Aviemore. We then headed to Glenmore for Scottish Bongo meet. The sky at night was lovely and clear but it did make for a very cold night. I had wanted to do the Applecross run– over the top but as it was a very low cloudy day so we took the coastal route and were not disappointed, the scenery was stunning. Then we camped at Inverewe. The Melvaig Inn was amazing the Sea Bass and Scallops were wonderful and the 60s pop memorabilia around the walls was like a trip down memory lane. We found Dingwall rather dour and Moffat as usual was bathed in rain! Wild Camp in a forestry Site – the wildlife that came out in the evening was good to watch. We headed down to Clent hills and finally we headed home to recharge the batteries and enjoy a few home comforts.
The end of September the wanderlust took over again so we booked into to Canterbury C&C Club site to explore the castles of Kent! We visited Sissinghurst, Deal, Samphire Hoe and the Reculver Towers on a VERY hot day!
October arrived whilst we were in Kent and the weather was VERY Hot!!! After a few days more it was home via Margate, Gravesend Sheerness.
November! REST!
December = Back up to Lancashire to deliver Christmas presents and visit friends and family!
Now I have sat here and written all this I now realize where all the money went last year, and why I have so many photos to sort through! I’m just about to plan this years’ ramblings!!
Shame I can’t order the weather as well.
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This last week in Lancashire has absolutely shot by! But what a lovely time I have had. A couple of days ago I bumped into my youngest cousin, Andrew, in a supermarket. I cannot honestly remember the last time I even saw him. It was lovely to catch up on all the family gossip!!! I cannot honestly believe my little cousin is now a granddad!
Time is very strange indeed. The quote by Helen Van Dyke is so very true :- “Time is too slow for those who wait, too swift for those who fear, too long for those who grieve, too short for those who rejoice, but for those who love, time is eternity.”
Very often I wish life had a pause button, rewind would be another useful feature! Delete, perhaps, but maybe not our trials and tribulations in life help in forming us into the people we become!
Lancashire watch out Evil Edna is again out and about!!
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I am sat in the student flat where my niece Wendy resides watching Preston slowly wake up. A seagull is circling outside stretching his wings and the building opposite is swallowing up the office workers for another day of tedium. Me? I’m drinking a cuppa and planning my shopping list! Early retirement is wonderful but I am slowly reaching the stage where I have more dash than cash. It could have something to do with the fact that I am becoming more high Maintenance. Glasses are more expensive when you need varifocals lenses that cure the eye sight which is deteriorating!! Dental bills – well don’t even get me going on that subject. But I suppose the screws in my jaw will prevent my teeth from EVER falling out again. I must make a mental note to myself though to make sure I have the funds for a mobility scooter with go faster stripes when my knees give way.
But in the mean time I am off to hit the shops, but please don’t tell the hubby. Poundland & Primark here I come !
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Yesterday I drove the 300 miles between Worthing and Blackburn to get my ‘Lancashire Fix.’ Six miles into the journey I suddenly realise that technology is moving backwards where cars are concerned. I remember not so long ago when all cars had a little orange light on each corner that would flash whenever the driver changed direction. Not any more apparently. Whenever I left a comfortable gap between me and the vehicle in front the driver on my near side felt duty bound to fill that gap. Without the aid of these now extinct orange lights it got a bit dodgy at times.
I think there must be a new national sport developing here as the gap was usually occupied just as I was about level with the offender! I lost count of the number of tail end shunts I saw along the way. (Honest!) The best one I think was five cars in the outside lane of the M6 all damaged because they had obviously been driving too close together when someone decided to partake of this ‘national sport.’ What was reassuring though was the road designers are obviously determined to stop this by replacing all the Armco Barriers with very solid concrete barriers. One assumes this is so the said offenders bounce nicely off and hit poor innocents minding their own business driving along safely. I think it must be part of a greater plan to decrease the number of vehicles on the now busy roads.
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I’m still trying to complete the Nano Wri mo challenge of writing 50,000 words during the month of November. Somehow I don’t think I’ll make it!
I am up to a word count of 38,000 but as there are only three days left I cannot see myself managing 4,000 words a day. But hey nothing ventured nothing gained. The great thing is my Dragon story is almost complete. When I started the month I had an outline of a story that I imagined was going involve a fierce battle between the Faerie Dragons and the fire breathers but it has taken a completely different line. Now comes the worse bit, editing and reediting it. Part of my problem this month has been that I keep going back on my self and amending storylines and checking spelling. I think I will have to content myself with 40,000 words this year and really ‘go for it’ next year.
As I started writing this blog I looked at the calendar and realized I had missed someone's birthday - off to send an email! Then I'll try and rattle out another few hundred words!
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