Abi & Izzy - the next 5 years

We have literally spent the whole day driving across the country, for a 20 minute cuddle with a tiny little puppy that doesn't know us from Adam - the things we do for fun! Today Abi and I set off before 9am (miracle given she didnt get home from Devon until gone 8pm last night) to meet Betty for the first time. Of course we didn't find a puppy close to home so this was a 300 mile round trip and, I kid you not, we only spent 20 minutes there. It's ridiculous but apparently expected and we are not alone - Jon and Lucy drove to the Peak District yesterday to meet their new puppy - a slightly longer trip than even ours and they have to do it again in 3 weeks!  The good news was that after plenty of discussion we agreed that just Abi and I would go. Izzy is way too much like Glenn in this respect and could see no point in spending the whole day in the car if we weren't even going to bring her home, so she and Glenn stayed put. While of course it might have been lovely to ha...

This week has been one of those weeks where everyone is in and out. That is everyone but me of course - I have been the constant presence while the rest of them have flitted in and out. It's also been one of those weeks where the weather has shown itself in all its British glory - I'm very close to putting the heating one despite the fact that it's August. Having had the hottest April on record, we have been on track this weekend to have the coldest August Bank Holiday - not what we all wanted. It's been a good 5 degrees below the normal average and we've had enough. What's worse is every so often the sun does come out and we boil as we are wrapped up in jumpers!  So to kick off with where everyone has been, Glenn had his cycling trip. What should have been a gorious week of mountains and smooth tarmac was instead 3 nights in Yorkshire on English tarmac (aka poor man's cobbles). It should have been 4 nights but the forecast was so bad for Friday they came h...

For some reason I have spent the whole day feeling shattered and I have no idea why! It could be due to first week back at work after the holidays, it could be that we didnt get to bed until later than usual last night (my fault - we've been watching a Netflix series and I let the kids get away with 'just one more episode'), or it could just be the weather which is pretty rubbish right now. Whatever it is I'm heading into a Sunday evening feeling less than refreshed and it's a busy week ahead.  This week Glenn is away cycling in Yorkshire (not quite the pristine French tarmac and sunshine he was hoping for) and so I'm in charge of everything domestic, including feeding us all - eek. We have agreed a meal planner and I'm banking on keeping it simple because quite frankily after a long day of juggling work and home I can't see me wanting to cook anything harder than spaghetti bolognase! Today I promised myself that I would jolt myself into a more energiti...

Tonight I'm writing with mixed feelings as while we have very happy news - a new puppy(!!!) - it's tinged with sadness as well. We have been debating when to get a new puppy for a while and of course many of the conversations in France with Abi involved whether we should do as she would like and get a Great Dane (no, for so many reasons!). Somehow the conversation escalated very suddenly when Abi found a litters of Boxer puppies online and in a moment of weakness got me to make an enquiry. The advert was a few days old, advertising a litter not yet born, and so I thought I was on pretty safe ground. The breeder, a family rather than a 'proper' breeder, suggested we speak rather than text and so we had a really nice conversation with an ever more excited Abi next to me. The Mum to be had been scanned and there were 6 puppies expected, and we were #13 on the list.... clearly therefore we were unlikely to be lucky this time. Not to worry though as her other dog was due to ...

I’m writing this as we head home 2 days earlier than expected due to the now ever-present threat of coronavirus. Cases in France are rising and although the UK government hasn’t yet slapped a quarantine on travellers returning from here, there was a lot of talk of it on Friday and we just didn’t want to run the risk of having to spend 2 weeks in isolation for the sake of 2 more days of sunshine. So home we go - it all feels a bit too soon.  This trip to the Dordogne has been wonderful, one of the best we’ve had in years, despite the scorching heat and therefore rubbish sleep. As always Glenn has finished the holiday saying never again because he didn’t sleep a wink last night (nor did I given his huffing and puffing), but come Christmas when we are thinking about summer holidays it will no doubt be top of the list again! The kids have enjoyed themselves immensely- hardly a cross word and not a single “I’m bored” - some kind of miracle! Part of the reason it’s been such a good trip ...

Noodle out for a rare 'stretch of legs'! My out of office is on and tomorrow we set off on our normal road trip down to the Dordogne. We have been anxiously watching the news given the mercurial situation with Covid. With only 24 hours notice the government pulled a U-turn on Friday and put Spain on the quarantine lists as well as postponing some of the lockdown easement measures. With cases rising again in Europe and a number high still across the US and the developing world, it's clear that no-one feels we are out of the woods yet. Face coverings are now compulsory in all indoor settings and we are getting used to shopping trips where you try and be as quick as possible so you can breathe properly again. While I can understand this and appreciate the need for caution, I find it hard to reconcile the measures with the data. I spent an engrossed half hour on Saturday morning (I'm such a geek) reading the latest reports from the ONS which said (for the week ending 17 Jul...

Welcome to the 'talking tub' - pure homemade therapy! That's what we have decided the hot tub has given us - a place to have those conversations that you might not find the space or time to have elsewhere... unless you are Glenn of course, in which case it's a place to be alone with your iPad. He heads off there quite often, grumbling that he's only using it because no-one else is, then emerges about an hour later looking very flushed. I think he secretly quite likes it! In reality with all that's going on, between coronavirus and 2 adolescent daughters in the house, we need a space for catching up on the little but important things in life. Despite still spending way more time in the house than ever before, life appears to be rushing by as quickly as it ever was and I cant believe that we are nearly into August. Before you know it the summer holidays will be over and (fingers crossed) the girls will be back in school. The nights are noticeably drawing in an...