Word of the Week - Ferry

I took the camper van on the ferry from Birkenhead to Belfast this week to visit child 4 and family. Usually I fly when I go on my own, but this time I needed transport to literally ferry the grandchildren around.

I booked an overnight crossing after work last week. I drove up with a stop on route for coffee and arrived 2 hours early at the port.

Loading of vans was delayed until after all the freight lorries were on board and we didn't sail until gone 11pm (half an hour late)

There were no cabins available, but with Stena we have gold membership and I had free access to the Stena plus lounge.

It was packed, but I managed to find a seat and armed with my blanket and pillow I did manage a couple of hours sleep on the floor.

I had a 45 minute drive the other end, so I was able to manage.

Coming home, there were no cabins available again so I booked the day crossing as I wasn't sure I'd manage a 3 hour drive home after a night with no sleep.

It's only the 2nd time I've done a day crossing, I get sea sick and the last time was not a good trip.

This crossing was nice and calm and I bagged a sofa in the lounge again and got my head down for the first couple of hours and had a nap.

I had a packed lunch with me and I bought some chips and took advantage of the free soft drinks, tea and coffee and I'd also had some breakfast, including gluten free flap jacks.

I had a couple of walks around the ferry and I took some photos of the boat for the grandchildren.

The weather was really nice on the way out of Belfast, I sat in the sun until we reached the open sea.

The rest of time I caught up with the soaps on my phone, did some blogging and sorted through some diary appointments.

I had a 3 hour drive home, still in daylight, with a coffee and wee stop, unpacked the van, had a bath and went to bed.

We'll probably travel over again in July for a few days. The next trip after that won't be until October/November for eldest grandsons 4th birthday.

Post Comment Love - 30th May - 1st June 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.

I'm heading home today after a fab week visiting my two grandsons in Northern Ireland. The eldest was in hospital over the weekend (Friday - Sunday) but bounced back and has been running me ragged with playing with his cars, reading stories and baking cakes. 

I bought a slide over with me and despite the rain he's had a fun time playing on it.

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. 

Want to find out more about Post Comment Love #PoCoLo? 

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My Garden in May 2025

I'm not at home this week so the photos are all from the first 3 weeks of May.

There's been a lot of growth in the garden, despite the lack of rain. 

There's also been a lot of things that haven't grown, but I suspect that has something to do with very old seeds and not preparing the ground properly before planting. 

Root vegetables seem to be growing the best.

The tomatoes and chilli are taking their time but I don't have a heated greenhouse or anywhere inside to germinate seeds.

The peas have surprised me the most, planted 5 days earlier after being soaked in water for 24 hours, they popped through the soil in the morning and 12 hours later were like this.

I'm half expecting a giant to be in the garden by the time I get back (Jack and the pea stalk)

I realised that the brown bin was being emptied on Wednesday last week and there was nothing in it, so a mad flurry of activity and lots of pruning took place after work on the Tuesday.

A good job really if I'm away for a week.

We still haven't moved this soil.

We still haven't sorted out the front garden.

And I doubt this side of the house will ever be used for anything other than a dumping ground. However there some old bits of wood that can be chucked and I can dismantle the cold frame now.

The one raised bed only has beetroot growing in it and 1 cucumber plant as well as a raspberry bush. So I've decided to let all these seeds and weeds grow in it while I work out what is what. I know there are poppies and cosmos in there.

I've been using Plantnet app to identify everything.

Week 21 One Daily Positive and Project 365

Can't believe it's half term already, only 4 weeks this term due to a late Easter. How does the weather know it's half term? Typical!

I'm in Northern Ireland helping out with son and his family and getting loads of new born and 3 year old grandson cuddles. 

I've had a couple of headaches this week, but nothing requiring anything stronger than paracetamol. This new migraine drug is so far working, however the nausea as a side effect really isn't pleasant.

Day 139

A very quiet day in work, walked to fetch a student from home and caught up with year 7 assessments and a last minute Lord of the Flies revision session ahead of tomorrows GCSE. Charged the car at work then met Peter for coffee, watered the garden, watched Mastermind Finals, bath then Lockerbie and bed. These 2 photos taken 12 hrs apart.

Day 140 

A good sleep till the alarm and tea brought up to bed. The whole day has been stress free, work was good catching up with assessments and my last GCSE English tutoring session. I am glad to see the back of Macbeth for now. Sorted out car insurance and van windscreen repair, then into town for some shopping and a coffee and home for dinner. I bought and wrapped birthday presents and made cards for the month of June whilst catching up with the soaps.

Day 141

Took the car for a charge and Peter went for a coffee and I went for my medication review before work. A full day of organising and supervising assessments. Home for an hour then out to meet a friend for coffee. A late dinner, I packed for my trip on Friday, did the washing and tidied up my school paperwork.

Day 142

Windscreen repair done and Peter cleaned the van for my trip to Northern Ireland tomorrow. Bags and car packed and I found some time to fill up the new flowerpot Peter made and get round to planting the azalea we bought a couple of weeks ago. Evening spent in front of the tv.

Day 143

A day at work which went well. I then popped in home for a cuppa and swop cars before driving up to Birkenhead to catch the overnight ferry to Belfast. It was a long drive but passed without incident. No cabins available so I got my head down in the lounge and managed a few hours sleep.

Day 144

Arrived off the ferry after a couple of hours sleep. Eldest grandson had been taken into hospital on the Friday night, so plans all changed. I unloaded the car which included a Little Tykes slide one of our neighbours was giving away free. Walked the dog and fed the baby while DIL got ready for the hospital. Spent midday till 4pm at the hospital. I was exhausted so came home to rest. Outlaws collected DIL after their visit and I had baby cuddles when son returned for the night shift.

Day 145

A long day starting with baby duty which I bloody loved, walked the dog, made dinner for the evening and headed off to the hospital to spend the day with our 3 year old grandson. We read books, went for a walk, got him off to sleep for an hour, did loads of colouring in and played with his cars. He was discharged early evening and we came home for dinner, a play on the new slide and lots of bedtime stories. I watched TV and went to bed around 10pm

Things to make you smile:

Grandson telling me I'm not his favourite anymore when I told him off. I was no longer his best friend either when I said I wasn't reading all those books at one bedtime.

I was being tooted at on the ferry but the cars behind couldn't see the vehicle in front of me was driverless and they park us so close on the ferry there was no way I could get past.

Things that made me happy:

Thank you cards from my students ahead of their last day in school for their GCSE's. Memories, gluten free cakes, the ferry trip, dog walks (in the dry), baby cuddles (photo captured by 3 yo) decent hospital car park charges.

On the blog this week:

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

Word of the Week - Battery

What I'm reading 2025

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Word of the Week - Battery

We bought a new car on Saturday, it's a hybrid, it needs charging and we don't have a charging point fitted at home yet (one has been ordered)

In our quest to charge the car, we've ended up with so many apps for different places around the town.

We've got 2 charging points in work so all I have to do is book a slot, then email whoever is in the space to remind them move their vehicle before lunch so I can fetch the car from the car park and plug in.

We also investigated the local supermarket where we took the car on Wednesday for a charge. I went onto work and Peter went for a walk and a coffee.

We also own a camper van and we have to keep a close eye on the leisure battery and make sure we charge it once a month.

We're obsessed with the battery life of both the vehicles, checking them daily, reporting in to one another and ensuring we haven't accidentally knocked a light switch on in the van (me) or forgotten to switch the fridge off after a food shop (Peter).

We were warned once we owned a campervan and an electric vehicle we would become obsessed with the batteries, we just didn't realise how much.

Post Comment Love - 23rd to 26th May 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.

I'm making my way to Birkenhead after work this evening for a 7 hour crossing to Belfast. There are no free cabins, so I'll be taking my pillow and a blanket out the van to make myself comfortable in the lounge.

We dock at 7am and it's a half hour drive to my son's house where I'm staying for the week, I can shower when I get there.

Super excited to be spending the week with my son, DIL and 2 grandsons.

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. 

Want to find out more about Post Comment Love #PoCoLo? 

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

What I'm reading 2025

I started challenging myself to reading a book a week in 2023 and continued into 2024.

Our daughter died suddenly in October 2024 and my love for reading among so many other things just stopped.

And like so many other things, it's taken a long time to get going ago, to do the things I loved to do when I had 5 minutes to them.

I wasted so much time after Stephanie's death, so much time with 'We could be with Stephanie now, but we can't' and I spent hours in the first few months, doing nothing, staring into space, lying in bed, doing absolutely nothing.

I returned to work, part time initially, then slowly a routine, with elements of our old life starting filling our time again, days out, going places where we took Stephanie became visiting places that we couldn't take Stephanie due to her disability. We didn't find things to do to replace her, we found that we just started living again without her.

I tutor English in a secondary school from year 7 up to GCSE, I supported a student with English Literature at A Level from 2022-2023.

I read a few books from October 2024 till March 2025, but in April I started again with a book a week and here we are, the middle of May on book no X and raring to go for the rest of the year.

There has been lots of reading with the grandchildren

And new books bought

I've taken to buying my books from National Trust properties and after I've circulated them around family and friends they'll be donated back there.

One of the things I enjoy doing is looking for unusual titles in the National Trust properties.

It's now Week 20 of 2025 and the number of books read is - 18 books, including the re reads for work.

Books read for work - re reads:

Treasure Island - Tutor Read in School
Macbeth
The Tempest
Romeo and Juliet
Lord of the Flies
A Christmas Carol

New Reads:
Julius Caesar - William Shakespeare 

I tweeted the author after finishing this book in the DI Claire Mackay series, I was pleased when they responded.

My current read, should be finished by the end of the week.

What are you currently reading?