Trips here and there

Jephson Gardens, Leamington, June 2026

What with all the moving house and everything we lost momentum on the organisation of our annual ski trip. I'd been working with JW and JD for a while, choosing from a selection of dates, countries, resorts and accommodation types. We found a moment to revive the project, and now we are booked into a self-catering apartment in Ischgl, Austria at the beginning of February next year. One job crossed off my list. Except that now I have to work out how to get there and back.

Mum was slightly appalled by the length of my list of jobs, but it's the only way I can get through without forgetting important things. For example I am reminded of the need to keep chasing things like insurance renewal and quotes for work on the kitchen as well as keeping track of the refunds I'm owed for council tax, utilities and broadband. And the rest.

Recent trips out with mum: two, one to her friend who has been having treatment for cancer and then on to Lidl, and another trip to get ericaceous compost for the heather plant she bought on the first trip. While Lola II is away on holiday she has also given mum the responsibility for caring for a plant that needs a strict regime of 14 hours in darkness, so mum's green fingers are glowing emerald.

Meanwhile I took myself off to Mr M and Lola II for a very short break, since they were in the midst of preparing to go on the holiday mentioned above. I helped Lola II focus on clearing her room while she helped me focus on photographing the contents of six boxes of kitchen stuff that we offered to the rest of the family so that whatever is unwanted can finally leave the premises. [I estimate that mum and I are about three-quarters of the way through the process of merging the two households.] Then we entertained ourselves with a real treat - Lola II's new Spirograph kit, which she intends to lend to friends who have a similar nostalgic attachment to this amazing toy.

Back home, and my first session with my new Personal Trainer, Muscles 2. The sessions take place in a gym, and he must have thought I was joking when I said I wasn't going to do anything without my music on, because that stipulation was completely ignored and I had to endure the din that was being broadcast throughout the gym. As a first 'get to know each other' session it was OK - he worked me a bit too hard on the shoulders which are now quite sore, but the real issue is the music! I've paid up front for five sessions, but I'm also considering exploring other options.

Another trip out in between contemplating storage jars and two households' combined cutlery collection was to Tate Britain to meet a Buddhist friend who comes from Croydon. I'm sure I haven't visited Tate Britain since I was a child, and maybe not even then. My friend is a member so presumably knows the place quite well, but we wandered randomly from room to room, and sometimes a new room felt like a whole new realm as we switched from Pre-Raphaelite to some strange and modern installation then back to the nineteenth century and then to Henry Moore. They don't half have a lot of Turner.

Decorator Dave came to quote for redecoration of the kitchen, the insurance job that keeps on giving. I liked him and would like to give him the job, but I wonder if this is just the hope that comes with novelty and he will eventually become difficult to get hold of and pin down for a date just like all the others.

Lastly (for now) I visited Eastbury Manor House as part of London's Open House Festival, which "opens up and celebrates the city’s architecture, special sites and neighbourhoods." The added bonus is that the normal admission price is not charged. It's a Grade I listed 16th century manor house that once stood alone between Barking and Rainham surrounded by farmland right down to the Thames. It was very nearly demolished before World War I and has managed to retain just the gardens around it - otherwise it's now completely surrounded by housing. I joined a tour led by the Curator who described the work that's been done recently and what's planned, so I'd be interested in going back again next year when the gardens might be little more developed.