Days out in the campervan November 2025

November turned out to be a quieter month with camping than planned due to severe flooding in Monmouth. 

I did manage one of the nights planned camping on my friend's drive and my first parkrun in Monmouth at the beginning of the month. It was raining so I didn't pop the roof and folded the bench seat flat. it was a warm night and I didn't need to put the heating on.

I was able to get away this weekend and went to the Forest of Dean for the day. I stopped for a picnic on route. My route to Swindon, the A417 was closed after Cheltenham due to work at the former Hot Air Balloon, plus the ground was saturated from all the rain so the parkrun was cancelled and walk my friend and I were doing afterwards in the Cotswolds and our pub carpark camping was rearranged to the weekend just gone.

The campervan has been packed for the last few weeks with items to be dropped at my mums and gifts for child 2 and family including a spare christmas tree for granddaughters bedroom.

There's a little bit of maintenance to be done, mainly cleaning. The water tanks need flushing out, the leisure batteries need to be charged once a month to maintain the charge and the heater needs to be run from time to time, which we'll do when we go out and about and have picnics and coffees.

I was away on the weekend in the campervan. I had a fully serviced pitch, it's all that was available. It meant I had water and electric.

 

 

Week 49 2025 - One Daily Positive and Project 365

We're hurtling towards the end of 2025. I can't believe how quickly Christmas has come round. There doesn't feel like there is enough time left to get every done I need to do. Every weekend is fully booked up, but with only 2 weeks left of school followed by 2 weeks off, I'm quite happy as it's full of time with family and friends.

I'm no longer on track with my running and going to the gym as I've had a really bad chesty cough and heavy cold, but you know, we plough on, especially after a friendly reminder in work. I provide cover, I've been flat out. Friday had me in a muddy field in yellow wellies supervising cross country.

Sunday

Day 333 Slept till 8am and caught up with last nights I'm a celeb then off for a 3 mile run and met Peter at the coffee shop. Home and rest of the day spent finishing putting the Christmas decorations up and tidying the downstairs up. I caught up with all the soaps while I was working. Evening spent having dinner, a bath and ready to watch I'm a celeb, get ready for work, some blogging and in bed at 10.30pm.

Monday

Day 334 After work had an early tea, got changed, picked my friend and her son up and drove up to Birmingham. The rain was relentless. It was heavy going with the driving on the motorway and the city driving wasn't much better.We beat Watford 2-1. Got home around midnight and straight to bed.

Tuesday

Day 335 It was a struggle getting up and into work. Really not feeling well and it was raining so no running and watched I'm a celeb, from last night. Decided against the gym, but went for coffee and picked up some cat food as Pushkins hasn't been eating properly for a week. Home to a bath, dinner and an evening chilling out in front of the TV. Booked some Christmas treats and accommodation for some upcoming trips.

Wednesday

Day 336 A day covering Spanish 'Ola' and Science. Home via town to book tickets for Christingle Service on Christmas Eve at The Priory, met Peter for a coffee and posted my last Christmas gift to my old student. Video call with the grandchildren, pants tickets booked, last online order made and final Christmas cards written, bath and in bed to watch I'm a celeb.

Thursday

Day 337 Straight home from work, bath, hair wash, van packed, telly watched and into bed at 9pm to watch I'm a celeb. I didn't sleep at all well. I think my chesty cough/cold/flu has peaked.

Friday

Day 338 After a day of covering Spanish and PE I left work and drove straight down to Cirencester for the night where I camping ready for parkrun in the morning and annual Christmas walk with my friend Chrissie who drove up from St Albans and joined me for the night. ‘turn left at the toilet block and I’m next to the Christmas tree’

Saturday

Day 339  Woke up too late for parkrun, packed the van and went for a 5 mile walk around the Polo fields and visited the Christmas market and had coffee. I drove onto Keynsham where I called in to visit my MIL and niece to drop off Christmas gifts and cards. The old Severn crossing bridge was closed,  so I diverted off the M4 to Cwmbran to see my nephew, his wife and my great niece then onto my friends in Monmouth for the night.

Things to make you smile:

I can't tell you half the stuff that goes on in work, but it would make you smile and/or your toes curl. My neighbour sent a photo of her car engine. I said to Peter I'll either be back in 5 mins or 5 hours. She just wanted confirmation of where the engine oil was to go.

Things that made me happy:

Getting lots of things done, despite feeling really poorly for several weeks. Spending time with friends, camping.

On the blog this week:

Post Comment Love - Link up with any post written this week

Word of the week - Coffee

My garden in November

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Post Comment Love 5th-7th December 2025

Welcome back to #PoCoLo with Stephanie from Bosworth.Life and I.

Post Comment Love #PoCoLo is a friendly weekly linky where you can link up any blog post you've written this week. If you're new or a regular visitor we're sure you'll find something of interest.

We'd also appreciate your help spreading the #PoCoLo word on Twitter, tag us and we'll RT. You can find us on twitter here: Stephanie - @BosworthLife and Suzanne - @ChickenRuby 

I'll be catching up with reading your posts, sharing and commenting over the next few days. 

How is it December already? The tree is up. All the presents have been bought and wrapped, the cards written and posted.

In the movies, the family stand around the tree with one small box, carols play and the tree gets decorated. I've got 5 boxes, I decorate on my own, the football is on in the background and it takes me two days to tidy up afterwards. I feel cheated every year.

I'm away this weekend in the Cotswold in the van. I've a parkrun on Saturday followed by an annual pre Christmas walk and pub lunch with my friend Chrissie, then a long drive home dropping off Christmas gifts and cards with family and friends and another night in the van.

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Word of the week - Coffee

I love coffee. I drink around 12 cups/mugs a week. I only drink lattes. I can't stand instant coffee, the smell of it will make me gag. I make at least 7 coffees at home. I use my own mugs mostly and get a discount and use my blue light card.

Both of these are from Starbucks and whilst they cost around £20 each, they keep the coffee warm for around 3-4 hours and don't leak, even when upside down.

My favourite is a Starbucks. 

My most picturesque view was my local Costa Coffee in Dubai.

My local now is Caffè Nero in Malvern.

I make coffee at home.

I drink it at home in the garden.

In the car on my way to work.

I make coffee in the van.

Whilst out and about.

But my favourite place to drink it is in the coffee shop, with my laptop or a book or best of all with a friend for a natter and a catch up.

I went for a run on Sunday morning. Peter met me in the coffee shop, he brought my book with him. I had another coffee in the evening and read some more of my book in the garden wrapped up in a blanket.

On Monday I had coffee on my way to work, then grabbed a takeaway coffee from the services on the way to the football.

On Tuesday it was coffee on the way to work and coffee at Nero's in the evening.

On Wednesday there was coffee on the way to work and a coffee after gym.

On Thursday there was coffee on the way to work only.

On Friday there will be coffee on the way to work and a coffee after the gym.

On Saturday there will be coffee as I drive to Swindon and coffee after parkrun and my annual christmas walk with my friend.

My garden in November 2025

I'd put all the pots in place ready to wrap in fleece or put the cloches on back in October, then discovered this chrysanthemum that hadn't yet come into flower, so in November the garden was rearranged one sunny Sunday afternoon.

I'm glad I took the time to move the pots around for the second time as it means I can keep an eye on the watering if necessary and there is room to walk around the garden. It also means the cold frame is a bit more protected from the elements.

All the pots above have been moved onto the patio so they are slightly under cover with the cold frame and the cloche has been added to them now. 

It's made more room by the patio table to rearrange the other pots closer together to be able to wrap up all the more delicate plants and shrubs under one large fleece.

I've tried to see if I can over winter some herbs in the green house along with 'Stephanie's' rose and a couple of geranium and the strawberry plants.

The green house has been lined with fleece, the pots are raised off the ground on wood and the green house is against the fence and gets a lot of winter sun.

We've already had snow and a couple of heavy frost, but when the weather reaches double digits, the end of the week, I'll open the zip during the days and check on the watering regularly.

I picked the last of the tomatoes and had every intention to make green chutney, but failed. Some ripened on the window ledge and I did eat quite a few, but the rest turned to mush and ended up in the compost bins.

Once I'd cleared the remainder of the tomato plants, I covered the remaining herbs with a cloche and added the basil cuttings in my B&Q buckets that I'll be using for a hedge in the other raised bedding to give them some extra protection.

I've added a plastic ball to the over flow bucket. I should have bought a larger water butt. I'm thinking about buying a trough from a reclamation yard.

There's plenty of colour in the garden and I've planted some new bulbs.

The bird feeders are stocked.

I got soaked and dirty.

And I've created an area for hanging wet coats and boots.

I'm not sure there will be much work to do in December and January. I've got some planting planned for February and I've got a few lights and decorations to go outside for Christmas.

 

Week 48 One Daily Positive and Project 365

Trigger warning:

I wish I'd had warnings of these triggers this week. 

The first one was buying cards on behalf of my mum for Christmas. I've accepted that this year there won't be gifts or a card for Stephanie. I've written a card for her care home. I was aware her name wasn't on the Christmas gift list. It makes me sad. The trigger came when I stood in the card shop in front of the 'daughter' section and the reality kicked in that there was no daughter card to be bought this year.

The second trigger was a story on Radio 2 and on the news about a dog in Northern Ireland that alerted a woman to her husband having a heart attack. He survived it. The trigger was the wife talking about her husbands breathing 'the death rattle' thankfully I had only just started the engine and I had 20 minutes before I needed to return to work and was able to work my way through the PTSD flashback to the night my father died.

The third trigger was crossing a bridge over the canal in Worcester, the first crossing left me a little uneasy but I couldn't work out why, then as I crossed back to the car, it clicked. We've crossed the bridge a couple of times since Stephanie died but it was the first time I'd been on it on my own. We'd brought Stephanie here in 2019 and I had a physical image of me placing her hands on the rail as I stepped back to take her photo. I struggled to get home, I was so sad. 

The fourth trigger was I was fully prepared this year that there would be no 1st of December box for Stephanie. Peter suggested we stop at Starbucks on our way out on Saturday and I was driving. I was in charge of our route, then I realised we were going to mums first so not down the M50, but via Gloucester and this meant the same route we would drive to Stephanies's. I've moved on with driving this route, I've moved on with going to the Starbucks we used to take her to, but ... the combination of not going to see her, not taking her out for coffee and not taking her 1st of December box all at the same time was too much.

Sunday 

Day 326 I didn't wake until 9am. Made a cup of tea and phoned Peter and at 9.20 I had a mad panic to get ready and pick my friend up at 9.45am as we were going out for breakfast and a wander round the local garden centre. Had a good natter and catch up and we're going out for a few drinks on Saturday with a couple of other friends. Dropped her home then back out to do a food shop. Back to bed for a couple of hours with a migraine and a ton of meds. Then the rest of the day spent cleaning the bathrooms and dusting and hoovering upstairs. I had a bath, watched I'ma. celeb and went to bed at 10.30pm. Painted my nails, updated my blog and asleep around 11.30pm.

Monday 

Day 327 Woken rudely by my alarm. Into work and a good day of classes. English and Maths. I know the subject in the morning, but often don't see the lesson plan until just before the class starts so I have little time to prepare. The resources are always ready but my knowledge often isn't. Home and washing in tumble dryer, cat fed and I got changed and headed straight out to the gym. My arches really hurt so running was a no go. I went on the rowing machine and the bikes and have been advised to use the cross trainer the rest of this week until I can have my running analysed next week and I need to go back to running outdoors as well to see if it's a problem there. Picked up mum's Christmas cards which was a trigger buying cards for 'daughter' had a coffee, then home and a catch up call with my cousin in Brighton. I then ran the hoover round downstairs, cooked my dinner, got ready for work in the morning, mopped the kitchen floor, dishwasher on and emptied, a final tidy round, bath and in front of the telly to watch I'm a celeb, before getting into bed at 10.30pm.

Tuesday

Day 328 Last morning of making my own tea. Into work which went well despite not being able to retrieve students work from the DT room as it was hard tracking down someone with a key. I joked with the students I hadn't passed the test to work be allowed around sharp objects. I ended up with extra students and had a surprise year 10 maths lesson for which I was unprepared for but muddled through. Home to Peter who arrived back early afternoon. I cooked a roast chicken for dinner, unwrapped my presents, lots of yummy Turkish delight. Filled Peter in on I'm a celeb. he wasn't interested but he'll be subjected to watching it and he ends up enjoying it each year. He got gripped on Traitors in the end.

Wednesday

Day 329 Very icy drive to work with puddles cracking underneath. I invigilated two exams, covered science and maths. Home and changed and off to the gym then met a friend for coffee. In the gym I tried the treadmill again but with a gradient but the running was too painful so I walked at a fast pace of 4mph for half an hour. Got home at 7pm, watched Birmingham on the telly, then I'm a celeb on ITV plus 1 and into bed at 11.30pm. A photo of the Retail Park at night.

Thursday

Day 330 Another good day in work. One of the women I'm working with asked me where I went to school, turns out we were at the same school a few years a part, I couldn't remember her, but she knew who I was. Into Worcester after work to buy the last few bits and pieces for mum to finish her Christmas shopping that she can't get where she lives. She'll catch the bus to Gloucester one day, but I can't guarantee a Saturday where I can meet her to drive her home afterwards. We're visiting this Saturday but don't have the time for shopping in Gloucester on our way to visit. Evening spent watching Celebrity race around the world and I'm a celeb.

Friday

Day 331 Work was good. Straight home, changed and out for a run before it got too dark. I ran to the pharmacy for my flu jab, than ran onto the retail park to meet Peter for a coffee. Home for dinner and I put the Christmas tree, tinsel and lights up. Watched I'm a celeb and in bed by 11pm. Peter went to visit a friend in hospital for the day in Swindon, he did some Christmas shopping and bought himself some new saucepans. 

Saturday

Day 332 I slept till 8am, then off to the Forest of Dean, via Gloucester and a Starbucks to drop off Mum's pre Christmas gift of a colour in Christmas tree blanket, she loved it. Then off to child 2 and the family to drop off their traditional 1st December boxes with crafts and Christmas clothing. We stopped off in Malvern for a meal. Peter left me in town as I was meeting friends for Christmas drinks for the evening. I got home around midnight.

Things to make you smile:

My granddaughter aged 6 takes things very seriously. Two weeks ago she licked me instead of giving me a kiss and I gave her a side eye. This week when we were leaving, I licked her back and acted like nothing had happened, she stood there in total shock. 'Granny licked me' everyone struggled to keep a straight face, trying to pretend they had no idea what she was on about. I think I may have just started a war I'm not going to win.

Things that made me happy:

Peter coming home, A visit with the grandchildren, a night out with friends.

On the blog this week:

Post Comment Love - Link up with any post written this week

Word of the week - Gym

The best bits of October 2025

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