It’s so fabulous to be in one area for three months. Somewhere not too far from my eldest daughter and grandsons.

We had one of our grandsons for another sleepover at the weekend, and I got to play like a child again. He coerced me into going swimming at Tamworth Snowdome (such a huge variety of activities there), persuaded me to play on the huge inflatable in the pool and slide gracefully (seriously, it was most relaxing) down the flume. On Sunday we went ice-skating – though his boredom threshold only lasted half an hour.p, and then spent a delightful few hours at the Castle Pleasure Grounds.

I love being a grandma. And Barry had a ball playing ‘Top Trumps’ on Saturday evening.

Dropping a plate

Calendar Club is a full-on commitment for us for three months – well 14 weeks to be exact. Though we’re both enjoying immensely. Alongside this, I’m often driving to mum’s to take her to various appointments.

So being Secretary and Newsletter lead for the Roving Canal Traders Association recently became the plate I decided to stop trying to keep spinning. It was the least important of my priorities.

Sadly though, rather than being able to resign in a dignified fashion, a couple of people decided to force me to leave in haste. This has left a very sour taste with Barry and I after all the energy I’ve given to the Association since October 2016. There’s many ‘truths’ about how it all came to a head, depending on your perspective – like most uncomfortable conflict situations. Needless to say I’m extremely relieved to finally walk away, wishing I hadn’t felt so responsible for so long,  and get more of my life back, and valuable time with Barry. Enough said …

‘Old’ and very dear friends

On a far more positive note, I was delighted to recently spend a couple of evenings with some much loved friends from my past.

A couple I’ve known and kept in touch with since I was five years old, one since I was eleven, and three from my midwifery days at Good Hope since 1987. I was there for 14 years, and we shared many happy times both in and out of work.

Friends from infant to grammar school and beyond …

The ex-Good Hope crew