Week 24 2026 - One Daily Positive and Project 365

The negatives

I went to the theatre to see Abigail's Party. The end scene was distressing due to the sound effects used. The whole play eluded to the fact that the leading male character was going to die from a heart attack. References to smoking, drinking, stress from being a white collar worker etc. There was no need to issue any warnings etc, this is life, but the use of guttural breathing sounds and the actors drawing our attentions to these sounds was not necessary. When you've sat with someone and heard what they call the 'death rattle' those sounds and the memory never leave you and it is very disturbing and distressing. Even more so when there is no medical support to explain to you what is happening, just as what was happening in the scene on stage. 

The positives

Hoping on a plane and flying to Paris to meet a friend for the Weekend will never be taken for granted in terms of costs, ability and friendship.

Saturday 13th June Off to the Three Counties Summer Show for the day. Well we reached 1pm and my mum and aunt were tired, so we met up with them and brought them home. Peter and I had gone off and done our own thing and as we'd taken a picnic with us we'd saved time queuing for food and had pretty much covered most of the show ground and seen everything. But at £25 each for entry it's quite pricey just for a few hours. Afternoon and evening spent around the garden, weeding, watering and just chilling out. Peter watching the football.

Sunday 14th June Off to the retail park for coffee and some shopping. Home by 11am and I went back to the Three Counties to meet up with child 2, DIL, and the grandchildren. I've got annual membership so for £80 a year I can go as many times as I like to the Spring, Summer and Autumn Show and this was my 4th trip so it's paid for itself and we've still the autumn show to come. We spent time with animals and I saw children from my school showing their sheep. Granddaughter was really interested in this. Back to ours for a roast dinner and the neighbours children came round to play. Another late night for after watering the garden and a bath and sorting the washing. Peter watched more football.

Monday 15th June Into work and absolutely shattered after the weekend. I need more sleep. Home, changed, washing machine on after stripping the beds and met my friend for a coffee and a catch up. Then some shopping and off to the gym to legs, bums and tums getting home at 8pm. I had dinner, a bath and into bed and bringing the washing in and watering the garden. Peter took my mum and aunt home and popped in to visit child 2 and family.

Tuesday 16th June Awake at 5am and sat downstairs in the back room to repack handbag and catch up with blogging. Meeting after work and nipped into town quickly before coming home to change and straight back out to spin class. Dinner, bath, watered the garden, watched some TV then bed.

Wednesday 17th June Home from work, fell asleep on the sofa for an hour, made myself some dinner, sorted some clothes for my weekend trip and went out to the theatre to see Abigail's Party. My friend Jenny who had arranged the trip was taken ill during the day, so I ended up going on my own. Home, watched the second half of the England game, had a bath, did some blogging and bed.

Thursday 18th June Into work and met Peter at the retail park for a coffee then home to pack for tomorrow, had dinner, a bath and an early night.

Friday 19th June At Birmingham Airport for 5am flight to Paris at 8am. Massive queues for security starting downstairs towards arrivals and it took 1 hour 45 mins to get through. No queues at Charles de Gaulle they seems to have abandoned the finger printing. I'd arranged to meet my friend by the ticket machines for the RER (train) she had flown in from South Africa and we made our way to the accommodation. After dumping our bags we went for lunch and did some shopping, then took the train to the Eiffel Tower to sit by the river and eat ice creams. It was so hot around 36c, we got back to the accommodation around 7pm and just chilled out eating fruit, cheese and crackers and booking some attractions for the morning.

On the blog this week:

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

Word of the Week - Missing

My Garden in June - Part One

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19th - 21st June 2026 Post Comment Love. Bonjour from Paris

Bonjour and 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.

Please leave a comment with the host you link up with and we'd also appreciate your help spreading the #PoCoLo word on Twitter/X tag us and we'll RT. You can find us here: Stephanie - @BosworthLife and Suzanne - @ChickenRuby Please also add our badge to your post.

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

In case you haven't guessed I'm in Paris this weekend for my annual visit with my friend Dorette from South Africa.

2024 and 2025

Yes, it's officially an annual trip every June as it's the 3rd year we've done this and for as long as we are physically capable of travelling, we're planning of making this trip every year.

The weather is glorious unlike last year's trip where it was wet and cold.

We've done all the major tourist sites and have visited Versailles and Disney on other trips. we're off to the Catacombs and going up the Arc de triomphe. We've visited the La Pere LaChaise Cemetery and been on a sewer tour.

I'll let you know where we visited in next weeks post, but if you have any suggestions, do pop them in the comments.

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Word of the week - Missing

I spent 2 days on the case of the missing pants and socks.

I was down to the last few pairs of underwear and put a wash on, then due to the lovely weather we'd been having, got enough stuff together to put another wash on 2 days later for a particular pair of knickers to wear with my white trousers. Then along with a couple of t shirts they went in the tumble dryer with some socks to dry whilst the rest went on the line over night and after that, they went missing. 

They turned up this morning, back in the laundry basket, all of it. How or why it got back there I just don't know.

Car keys - they've been missing on and off all week. I'm blaming this on the fact we've been swopping vehicles. Normally I take the car to work and it's keyless, so they just live in the bottom of my bag and that's that. But with the van I have to physically have the key, so there's been lots of bag dumping trying to find them.

Smoking - I'm not missing the actual nicotine or even the smoking, but I do miss the physical side of the routine, the break, the break from what I was doing to sit outside, read my book, drink my tea. My whole routine has changed since I've stopped and I'm not liking it. I am liking the not smoking though.

Running - Since I started going to the gym 3 evenings a week, I've stopped running. Whilst I very much enjoy the exercises and I can physically feel the difference and even see it in my arms and legs. I've actually put on 3 kg with it all sitting round my middle and I don't like it at all, but it's to be expected with the level of exercise I've been doing, I'm consuming more carbs and not running them off. I need to make some adjustments to my diet and start running again.

Family - We're estranged from our youngest, child 5. Just approaching our 5th year since he cut us out of his life. He's doing well and is in contact with one of his brothers, child 4 and that's all we can ask for. We haven't seen child 3 for almost a year now as he's in Australia and of course there's Stephanie missing from our lives every single day from which there is nothing we can do about, of which we have no control and can effect no change on the situation, not even on the way her death effects us some days. It's permanent, without end.

Cutlery - Missing most of the week. We took it out with us to the Three Counties as I was convinced it has been thrown away and I've been reluctant to take the 'grown up' cutlery out the draw in case I lost that also. It turned up on top of the microwave where I'd put it to keep it safe.

Coffee - Half a cup was missing. This is a constant battle for me. Why use such large cups if they've got no intention of filling them more than 2/3rds. This was from the theatre on Wednesday night and cost £3.80 and wasn't that nice either.

Sleep - with the football, visitors, a late night at the theatre, a new role in work and a stressful environment anyway, plus most of the above, there is never enough sleep for me. I'm asleep by 11pm most nights and I will sleep through to 5am, but it's not enough and it's often disturbed. Peter has been sleeping a couple of nights in the back room when he's stayed up to watch the football and I've gone to bed around 9pm and I've slept much better, through to the alarm at 6.15am. 

My garden in June 2026 Part One

 The pots are doing well, bulbs have all finished and been cut back, autumn bulbs planted and all now weeded. Herbs thinned and planted out into the raised beds.

There are grapes on the vine.

The raised bed is doing really well, this is only two weeks apart.

I pulled the cornflowers up before they went to seed.

Then planted the second bed up.

We've just let the front garden grow, weeds and all, it's now been thinned out a little. It's been fun watching the cow parsley grow, it was a tall as me, before we pulled it up.

The red hot poker came and went.

We've had quite a few strawberries from plants that are 6 years old. The cherries are on their first year and are so sharp.

Second year with the apple tree, first year we may get some apples.

Second year for both the tree and fruit. 

Stephanie's namesake rose on the left, highly fragranced and 'In loving memory' on the right.

Finally the pesky squirrels are back digging up. their nuts.

Week 23 2026 One Daily Positive and Project 365

The negatives

This bloody weather, geez winter clothing on Monday and localised flooding and by Friday back into spring and this weekend it'll feel like we've moved back to Dubai. 

The positives

A lovely relaxing week with exercise, friends, family, coffees, time in the garden and video calls with the grandchildren.

Saturday 6th June Off to Seaford Parkrun, bloody hell it was so wet and windy, I was drenched through before I arrived and it was so windy I nearly took off having my photo taken with the sign. The rain felt like I was being pelted with needles. 2.5km out and a turn round and back. Then back the same route into the wind and rain again to the town to meet Peter for breakfast, then off to visit my 94 year old Uncle and raid his chocolate tin. Back to my Aunts for a shower, lunch get into our wedding attire and off to my cousins wedding in Eastbourne. Another cousin was there in the evening with his wife. We usually only get together at funerals these days so it was nice to see them at a happy event. We were back in Seaford by 9pm with aunt and mum.

Sunday 7th June we left around 9am to beat the traffic and as we had a 5 hour drive ahead of us dropping mum and aunt in Lydney before driving back to Malvern. We were 2 miles short of the M25 on the M23 and came to a stand still for almost 2 hours due to an accident. We got home at 4.30pm. Chilled out watching TV and reading and had an early night. I also hung the summer curtains to block out all the light in the bedroom.

Monday 8th June Staff meeting after work, home and changed and off to the gym to legs, bums and tums. I was early so had a coffee first and a long chat with my niece on the phone. Home to dinner, bath and bed after I spent time photographing items to upload onto vinted.

Tuesday 9th June Peter out for the day visiting child 2 and family. I came home from work, had dinner then out to the gym for a spin class. I then spent some time in the gardening weeding the raised bed and weathering out some plants I'd grown from seed in the raised beds.

Wednesday 10th June After work I had dinner, got changed, met my friend for a coffee and went to a new class at the gym 'stretch and mobilise' I spent over an hour talking to my cousin on the phone in the states, had a bath and got into bed at 11pm. The squirrels are digging up their nuts and leaving holes in the lawn.

Thursday 11th June Coffee out with a friend straight from work. Home via a food shop and I didn't get in till gone 7pm. I put the fridge stuff away and just left the rest on the dining room table and was in bed by 9pm after a quick dinner and a bath. 

Friday 12th June Peter collected mum and aunt as we're all off to the Three Counties Show in the morning. We met in town for a coffee, did a bit of shopping while Peter went home to cook dinner and after a bath and watching some TV I had an early night. Checking out the weather for my trip to Paris.

On the blog this week:

The best bits of May 2026

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

Word of the week - Variety

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

12th -14th June 2026 Post Comment Love. The World Cup.

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.

Please leave a comment with the host you link up with and we'd also appreciate your help spreading the #PoCoLo word on Twitter/X tag us and we'll RT. You can find us here: Stephanie - @BosworthLife and Suzanne - @ChickenRuby Please also add our badge to your post.

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

Now I love football and I'm happy to have it all over the telly. Some of the timings are going to have my sleep patterns all over the place. I'm going to try and watch as many games as I can. 

England have two 9pm kick offs on a Wednesday and a Tuesday and 10pm on a Saturday, but Scotland have a 11pm on a Friday and a Wednesday and a 2am kick off on a Sunday morning. 

Will you be watching? I'll support all the UK teams, then if we get knocked out, I'll go on and support the team that knocked us out and so on and support the team that took the route we could've been on.

The weather has been manic this week. It's felt like winter a couple of mornings and I've been driving through flood waters some mornings to get to work.

In other news, the pesky squirrel is back digging up his nuts and ruining our lawn. Actually we find it quite amusing and we're trying to guess where it'll dig up next. 

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

Word of the week - Variety

I've really struggled with what to put as this week's word of the week.

It could've been coffee. I've had one every day this week after work. But then it could've been friends as my coffee as has been with a different friend each night.

It might have been gym or exercise as I've been to Legs, bums and tums, spin and stretch and mobilise and run a 5k.

It probably should've been family as we spent the weekend at my cousins wedding and got to spend time with an aunt and an uncle. And there have been numerous calls with family near and far.

Timings might be more appropriate as there is a lot on over the next few weeks and there are a few things to fine tune.

So I went with variety or it should have been food, yes, food, would've been the best choice.

The best bits of May 2026

The best bits of May in photos in no particular order.

A visit to Northern Ireland to see the grandchildren.

I waved a cheery bye to the vet and said 'see you next year' after Pushkins jabs. The vet looked at me hopefully as Pushkins is now 18.

A visit to Fairytale Farm with our granddaughter.

New lights in garden and everything in full bloom.

A visit to the RHS Malvern Spring Festival and some ideas pinched for when it finally stops raining.

Some weird and wacky floral displays.

A long weekend in East Freshwater and surrounding areas in South West Wales with beautiful coastal walks and stunning views.

We had a great month out and about in May with family and friends and there is even more planned for June.

Week 22 2026 - One daily Positive and Project 365

The negatives

Always sad to say goodbye to the family. We should be used to it after years of living abroad and our children choosing to live in Northern Ireland and Australia, we could choose to move to Northern Ireland but then we'd be leaving parents and another children and their family behind plus all our friends, my job and have to move house again and I just can't be doing with all the stress, the travel, the cost, the change in identity again.

The positives

Now our son has moved to a bigger house I should be able to get on a plane and go over for a weekend visit more often without the cost of a hotel, car hire etc. I'll still take the campervan for the longer holidays and Peter can come with me more often as we won't have to camp on their drive the whole time and now the grandchildren are getting a bit older, maybe one of them can come away with us for a night or two.

Saturday 30th May Woke around 7.30am and realised it had started to rain so quickly folded the roof on the campervan and packed the electric cable away. Son went off to the new house to wait for the TV guy between 8am and 5pm (turned up around 2pm) Dil out with the baby and her mum shopping. Grandson off with grandad so I went for a coffee and then back to the new house to clean skirting boards, window and door frames and put the oven back together. Oldest grandson and I went to both the parks in the village stopping for an ice cream which we ate on a bench in the rain. Back to the outlaws for dinner and my sad goodbyes as I won't be back for 4 months. Grandson has no concept of time and he was happy at his other grandparents where he spends so much time and is used to seeing so little of me, it doesn't phase him at the moment. It's good for him though. Youngest is only 13 months old, too young to make judgement on. I was at the docks by 8pm, got washed and changed into my pjs in the van, had a cuppa of tea, caught up with the soaps. Boarded at 10pm and got myself a spot to sleep for the night. Talked my son through where the bolts were for his bed over the phone.

Sunday 31st May We docked at 7am, but I was woken at 5am with bright lights and tannoy announcements. A two and a half hour drive home with a brief Starbucks stop. The roads were quiet with everyone driving in the middle lane. Campervan unpacked, fridge cleaned and tea, sugar etc restocked, washing on and in bed for a couple of hours. Migraine developed full swing and I was really ill and had to take maximum meds and by 1pm I was incapacitated. Second dose of meds at 11pm and straight back to sleep.

Monday 1st June Back to work and head still hurting. After work I went to the gym for legs, bums and tums and felt a lot better for exercising. Ate dinner in front of the TV, bath and in bed by 8.30pm. Door wasn't opened in the right place for the cat.

Tuesday 2nd June Straight into town after work to get my nails done, dropped a birthday present off with a friend, home to get changed then a spin class and dinner. We moved a chair into the loft, that then required a bit of tidying up, watched TV, bath and in bed by 10pm.

Wednesday 3rd June Home from work and I finally got round to sorting out my clothes for selling on Vinted where they've been hanging over the bannister rail for the past few months. I headed off to the gym to Body Pump and got home at 8pm. I had planned a pizza for dinner only to discover it wasn't gluten free so by the time I'd found something I could eat it was nearer to 10pm when I finished, had my shower and got into bed.

Thursday 4th June Woke around 3am with a massive migraine and feeling sick. Didn't go into work and spent most of the day lying down as when I stood up I was ill. Peter collected mum in the afternoon and I went down to meet them at the retail park. Bumped into a friend for a brief natter, the world always seems brighter after a catch up. After dinner I felt slightly better, I packed for the weekend and was in bed and asleep by 9pm. The cat was also poorly and had to have a bath and all the bedding had to be washed.

Friday 5th June Woke with head pain but went into work, it was a quiet day and I even had a free period to catch up with paperwork. Home and a quick change and packed the car and we headed down to Seaford for a family wedding tomorrow, stopping for a Starbucks and snacks on the way, arriving at my Aunt's around 8pm.

On the blog this week:

Word of the week - Tolerance

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

Days out in my Campervan in May 2026

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5th-7th June 2026 - Post Comment Love

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.

Please leave a comment with the host you link up with and we'd also appreciate your help spreading the #PoCoLo word on Twitter/X tag us and we'll RT. You can find us here: Stephanie - @BosworthLife and Suzanne - @ChickenRuby Please also add our badge to your post.

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

I had a busy week in Northern Ireland with my son and his family helping them move house and after a night on the ferry with little to no sleep and a long drive home, I ended up with a severe migraine that lasted 24 hours with little respite and lingered for the rest of week. 

If you think I'm always busy, just you wait till you see what's happening in June.

I'm in the Brighton area this weekend ready for my cousins wedding in Eastbourne with my mum on Saturday. Straight back home on Sunday bringing my aunt back with us whilst my cousin and her husband go on their honeymoon.

Next weekend we're all off to the Three Counties Show, then I'm on my annual trip to Paris to meet my friend, ahead of my birthday celebrations at the end of the month which will involve a camping trip.

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Word of the week - Tolerance

Tolerance is the capacity to endure, accept, or allow something.

Patience is the capacity to endure without becoming annoyed or upset. 

I had to fight to get a full cup in Starbucks at the services this week. 

I got a grande latte paper cup, poured my latte into it and watched them look at a less than half filled cup and then look at me as if I'd created the problem and then rather ungraciously they topped it up with more milk and handed it back to me without a word, to which I said 'thank you' and walked away.

No wonder so many places have to display signs stating 'We have the right to work in a safe environment' I'd suggest 90% of the time they've created the environment in which a customer has lost their patience and ended up raising their voice.

On the ferry to and from Northern Ireland I wasn't able to get a cabin, so had to sleep in the lounge. The lights didn't go off until midnight and the tannoy was going off until that time asking families to keep their children under control and stop them running around the boat, disturbing others. Personally I wasn't disturbed by any stray teenagers, but I was disturbed by the tannoy announcements. 

Driving home from Birkenhead at 7am I encountered the 'Middle Lane Drivers. Road signs that read 'Don't hog the middle lane' were being ignored.

BTW Indicators show your intent, they do not give you right of way. 

On Wednesday after the gym I thought I'd had a pizza in my gluten free tray in the freezer for a quick tea, but nope, it was a normal one in the wrong drawer and it was an hour later before I ate.

I've had great tolerance in work this week, I have to. I've had little patience, I've had to hide that. I've ended up with a migraine, well actually I didn't get rid of the one from the weekend, I ended up being off work on Thursday and had to tolerate the side effects of the medication.

I find myself having to tolerate things more and more, there is little change I can effect without becoming annoyed or upset. It's not acceptance, it's just called getting on with things.

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