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I thought that I’d write this for those who took an interest in our story and those who might be in a similar boat and let you know where we are now, three years after Carys died.  It does seem remarkable that it is three years already.  Life has a habit of keeping on keeping […][...] read more » 3 years on… the journey continues

I was out walking the other day I came across this.  The picture isn’t quite as clear as I thought, so let me explain what I was looking at.  This is a stump of a tree that has been blown over and its trunk sawn off.  Growing over the stump is a colony of fungi, […][...] read more » Starting over

It isn’t like me to watch opening or closing ceremonies (indeed, to be honest, I can’t say I usually engage with the Olympics) but London 2012 managed to grab me, and many of my fellow countrymen.  I was moved by last nights closing ceremony, especially when John Lennon’s voice joined the World with his rendition […][...] read more » Olympic Reflections 2012

Today I was one of many proud parents watching their beloved offspring don gown and mortarboard and be presented with their degree.  My daughter had quite a lot to overcome to reach this milestone.  She lost her mum a matter of months after starting, then broke up with her boyfriend of seven years shortly thereafter, […][...] read more » Graduation, a milestone

I celebrated my 60th birthday a month ago.  I can’t say it was a milestone that I was looking forward to reaching.  I grew up when the Beatles sang “When I’m 64..” when we all considered that unimaginably old!  It used to be that the one good thing about this landmark birthday was you got […][...] read more » Is 60 just another birthday?

I’d always heard of the laburnum arch,and wanted to see it, but never knew where it was; it turns out that it is in Bodnant Gardens which are in the Conwy Valley in north Wales, about an hour from where we were.   It was so worth the trip.  The drive through the Dee valley was […][...] read more » The end of the holiday–Bodnant and the Lakes

Our final day started by re-crossing the aqueduct, we were now seasoned old hands. Only the day before the Olympic torch crossed it on a barge drawn by 3 men, how weird is that!? We then boated uphill(!) all the way to Llangollen, and not only is that strange, but very hard work. The water […][...] read more » Barging About: Llangollen Canal – Day 4

Steering a barge ain’t easy! To start with you push the tiller (the steery thing) left to go right and vice versa. Then weighing about 20 tons and proceeding at a stately 3mph it takes an age to respond to any directions. The rudder (the bit in the water) is also relatively small and makes […][...] read more » Barging About: Lessons in Change

It is amazing how quickly unfamiliar becomes familiar. Four people squeezed into a confined space, in a strange environment and you soon find yourself adopting roles and ‘owning territory’. Yesterday I was handed the tiller as the barge needed to navigate a series of bends and bridges, it was the equivalent of giving a learner […][...] read more » Barging About: Llangollen Canal – Day 3

Slept peacefully and woke to a field covered in mist and the sun striking the flowering hawthorn. Performed a version of the vertical limbo in the shower and then first duty (after tea-making) nipple greasing, 3 full turns to keep the engine happy! Fill up the forward water tank (for ballast) and then through our […][...] read more » Barging About: Llangollen Canal – Day 2