The emptying nest
My younger son has gone to university and my nest is a little bit emptier. I still have my 21-year-old son (who did an apprenticeship after A Levels) and my 16-year-old daughter at home, but I realise I am experiencing a form of grief. I’m not the first parent to go through this and I certainly won’t be the last. It’s something we all have to experience at some point, as we start to let our grown up children go. And...
Interrailing: A post-exam or gap year adventure
If your year 13 or final year university grown up child is already starting to think about how they might celebrate the end of exams, interrailing is a great option. If they don’t fancy the more usual lads’ or girls’ holiday by a pool somewhere hot, interrailing is a fantastic adventure. It is a brilliant way to see and experience Europe (and great for teaching them independence if they’re just about to go to...
My half marathon history
I recently ran Cheltenham half marathon for the eighth time. It was the 22nd half marathon I’d run in total, going all the way back to 1995. I haven’t had my best year of running. Manchester marathon was tough. In retrospect, it was probably too much to run it so soon after Newport marathon in 2021. It meant that, between July 2021 and April 2022, I’d spent seven months out of nine training for a marathon. I know...
Destructive dogs are big business
I wrote recently about my struggles, as a new dog owner, to find a groomer and kennels for Hetty. Dogs are clearly big business and, from my experience, there is a gap in the market for more groomers, kennels and doggy day care. But there is another way that dogs are a big business. By destroying things! Before we got Hetty, our cockapoo puppy, we’d read that it costs about £100 a month to keep a dog, which didn’t seem too...
Cheltenham half marathon 2022
My expectations were fairly low for Cheltenham half marathon 2022. After having Covid in June, I’d struggled to get back to full fitness and my running wasn’t what it had been. My husband had struggled with fitness too and, after having Covid in August, decided to pull out of Cheltenham half marathon. So this year, it was just me and my sister representing our family. I’d done two 13 mile training runs just before...
Hetty’s holiday
At the end of August, we went on holiday to Padstow in Cornwall, my favourite place in the world. We took Hetty, our nine month old cockapoo puppy, with us. But unfortunately, as we’d booked our holiday before we knew we were getting a dog, we didn’t have dog friendly accommodation. So Hetty went into kennels nearby and came out with us every day. You can read more about her kennels experience here. Hetty loves being in...
