13th - 15th February 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. 

Since last week I've been up to Birmingham twice to the football.

It's been nothing been rain and floods and road diversions this week, but it hasn't stopped me with my marathon training.

I'll be out running tonight and tomorrow we're going to attempt a drive to a National Trust property.

Sunday I'm off to Birmingham to watch them play Leeds in the 4th round of the FA Cup and afterwards I'm driving up to Liverpool for the overnight Ferry to Belfast to visit my grandsons for the week for my half term. Their's was last week, but as the eldest doesn't start school till full time school till September there's still plenty of time to be spent together.

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The best bits of January 2026

In no particular order.

The cat claimed the kids bean bag after their visit.

I've been reading a book a week.

I camped on my friend's drive.

One of two football matches.

Fun with the grandchildren.

Garden doing well despite the cold and the rain. Nice to see some sunshine.

Getting out and about raising awareness.

A couple of parkruns.

New Year in Portsmouth.

Ice cream on New Years Day.

A weekend in London for the Winter Marathon Walk.

Snow day.

Non stop rain and floods.

Found some jigsaws instead of scrolling through my phone.

How was your start to the year?

Word of the week - Floods

I should take up gaming. I think I'd be good at it.

Every day when I drive to work I feel like I'm in a live video game and each day is a new level with remembering where the pot holes are, looking out for new ones, learning the difference between surface water and flooding on a hill. Remembering where the road edge has collapsed but is now under water and mostly guessing how deep the floods are and trying to make sure I'm not the lead car (I prefer to take the van) and trying not to get annoyed with drivers behind me who have the easy drive as they can just follow my lead but tend to drive too close. 

Over the previous few weeks I've got to know the roads really well as we've had a lot of closures due to localised flooding which has been mainly small streams and brooks and water drainage off fields and road works.

This week we're on flood watch. Major river flooding which is going to cause big problems. I'm updating my Facebook groups and keeping an eye on the local council and agencies.

We don't have any rivers in the town where we live, but we have major rivers near by. The Avon in Tewkesbury, The Severn in Worcester, Upton and Gloucester and The Wye in Hereford and Monmouth.

Places you'll see on the news regularly, towns hit severely by flooding.

The Severn in Worcester this week. From the train.

The racecourse.

In 2007 Stephanie was living in Tewkesbury only 20 mins away. I did the route plan today, our normal route closed due to the Severn flooding at Upton, the alternative route is through country lanes.

The flooding was that severe, it took us over 2 and a half hours to reach her to bring her home for 2 weeks

We've not had flooding like that since, but we regularly get cut off from accessing Worcester, Gloucester and routes in the Forest of Dean where our family live. It was touch and go getting down for our grandsons first birthday this weekend just gone.

Two local lanes were closed over the weekend due to flash flooding, thankfully they had reopened by the time I needed to go to work on Monday, but it means now that if it happens again my options of getting to work are greatly reduced as my route via Worcester takes me on two roads with smaller rivers that have already flooded severely and involves detours on lanes only wide enough for one vehicle and if the Severn floods in Worcester it will be mayhem with all the traffic trying to reach the M5 and me travelling inn the opposite direction.  My route to Hereford is almost blocked off completely with The Frome and The Wye already in flood and road closures on the Malvern Hills, blocking my access to Ledbury and with Upton being flooded all that traffic is being diverted that way also.

The amount of water flowing down the hills made it tricky to walk down.

It also caused this road to collapse.

We had a break in the rain today and some sunshine today for a couple of hours, but more rain and flooding is due.

Week 5 - One Daily Positive and Project 365

The Negatives

Hard work running in this cold, wet and miserable weather. Only 10 weeks till the Brighton Marathon and 6 weeks behind with my training.

The Positives

We were able to celebrate Stephanie's birthday on Wednesday without any major upset. there were some tears and sadness, but we've come to terms with not having a final resting place for Stephanie, she's with us everywhere we go and in our heart and our memories all the time.

I've got through to the 3rd round for volunteering at the Commonwealth Games.

Saturday 31st January Woke around 7.30am made a cup of tea and got dressed and ready for parkrun. Really wasn't feeling it and had a bit of pain in my hip and lower leg and ended up walking most of it. Felt a bit low about it, but my friend reminded me I was doing it and I wasn't a quitter. A cuppa and natter afterwards and back to. her house to pack up the van and dropped in at mums for a catch up, picked up granddaughter, played with grandson and then home via dropping off a travel cot with my old neighbour and lent another neighbour some ski boots for her trip to Lapland next week. Got home around 6pm after a a granddaughter wee stop at Starbucks and of course I grabbed a latte. Peter had dinner ready when we got in. Evening spent dancing to Kpop, playing games, starting a jigsaw puzzle and reading stories. Once granddaughter was in bed, I had a bath and finally managed to get hold of friend who hadn't been responding to calls. My fears were justified, her partner lost his battle to cancer on Thursday. He was diagnosed the week before Stephanie died. I knew we were near. I got to bed around 2pm.

Sunday 1st February Awake early and the plan was to drive to Monmouth, but friend had to go to visit her partners elderly father, so we took granddaughter shopping and ended up buying her new boots. Round the neighbours for her to play with the kids and I helped with folding washing. home to put lunch on and get ready for work in the morning while Peter watched the football. He took granddaughter home and I went back to bed for a couple of hours. Evening spent in the back room blogging, reading and doing a jigsaw puzzle.

Monday 2nd February Into work and drove straight down to Monmouth to spend the evening with my friend. Home late via a very convoluted route with the M50 being closed, bath and straight to bed.

Tuesday 3rd February Cold, wet and miserable, both me and the weather. I forced myself to get changed and go out for a run. Only 10 weeks till the Brighton Marathon, time to take this training seriously, with 3 runs a week now. Peter collected me from the retail park, I was soaking wet and freeing cold. I did a bit of shopping and bought flowers and a helium balloon and Peter bought me a coffee, home and Peter cooked me dinner, ran me a bath and brought me up a cup of tea. I watched episode 7 of the final season of Stranger Things. 

Wednesday 4th February Home from work, collected Peter and off to Mcdonald's for Stephanie's birthday tea. I took a gluten free bun with me to swop out my burger, we had milkshake and a McFlurry and home for a slice of birthday cake. Evening spent in front of the TV and I watched the final episode of Stranger Things.

Thursday 5th February Home and changed and a brisk 1 mile walk into town to the Post office to send a gift to son in Australia. Peter drove into town to meet me for a coffee and collect my bag after a picked up some cat food. I ran home. I was absolutely soaked through. It was a 40 minute run over 3 miles, most of it down hill and in the dark. I had dinner, Peter ran me a bath and I took a hot chocolate up with me and enjoyed a long soak watching the last episode of Stranger Things. Evening spent doing mum's food order, reading and blogging.

Friday 6th February Had a really difficult and emotional work related day. Carried the stress home which wasn't good. Took myself out to do some shopping, have a coffee and spent an hour in the gym. Came home, had a bath. I've only 20 minutes left of Stranger Things to watch. Watched a bit of the Winter Olympic opening ceremony. Read some of my Book Club and went to bed at 11pm and fell straight to sleep.

On the blog this week:

Days out in the campervan in January

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

Word of the Week - Birthday

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Post Comment Love 6th - 8th February 2026

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've only got 9 weeks now till the Brighton Marathon which came as a bit of a shock, but I've kicked my arse into gear and I've picked up the training plan and been out running in the dark, the rain and the cold 3 times this week. Surprisingly it's been easier than I thought and I've been enjoying it. I've not been doing anything else other than reading, blogging and watching TV and I'm ok with that.

It was Stephanie's 38th birthday this week. We went out for a McDonald's her favourite meal and bought ourselves a helium ballon and flowers.

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Days out in my campervan in January 2026

I'm aiming to camp every month of 2026 and I just about managed to fit one night in, in January with a night on my friends drive in Monmouth to save an early morning drive for the 9am start for parkrun on the Saturday.

Despite the cold weather and the rain, the van is very warm and I only put the diesel heating on for half an hour before bed and half an hour in the morning when I was getting ready. My friend gave me a lift to parkrun so the windows had cleared by the time I had to drive off, otherwise it takes an age to clear and is a bit of pain if you have to pack up and go.

I opted to pop the roof to sleep. A decision I'm slightly regretting now as it hasn't stopped raining since and I'm a bit concerned that the canvas wasn't fully dry when I folded it away. I just need an hour or two without rain when I'm at home or in work.

I didn't sleep downstairs as it's difficult to move around with the roof down and navigate the table and the bags as they're usually stored behind the bench seat which folds flat to make the bed.

If I'm only sleeping for one night, I don't bother with the window curtains on the front, I just hang a blanket for privacy. I also used my friend's house to shower and change and spend the evening so I didn't need to rotate the front seats for extra space.

The kitchen is in the back of the Ford Transit Westfalia which makes life a lot easier than a Volkswagen. It means we can access the back area without having to leave the van and if we do want to go round the back the up and over door provides additional cover from the rain and if the bed in the back is folded down it doesn't obstruct the kitchen area and we have access to to the vehicle through 2 sliding doors.

I made myself a cup of tea and a hot water bottle before bed and we have a water heater which doesn't use a lot of the battery which runs off solar panels when we're not on the mains. It also powers the diesel heater. 

I didn't fill the water tank for this trip. I just refilled a water bottle and made sure the leisure battery was fully charged before I set off.

My next trip is February half term on the ferry to Northern Ireland to sleep on my son's drive. Now they have 2 children there is no room in the house for us. Peter doesn't fancy spending the week in the van at this time of the year so he's staying at home to look after the cat and keep warm and dry.

I'll be plugging into the mains, using the house for the bathroom and showers and spending the days and evenings in the house and other than a cup of tea in the van and sleeping in it, all the cooking will be done in the house.

Our eldest grandson loves it when Granny brings the caravan and loves to help make the bed and run the little hoover round after a day out and we'll set the table up and have a picnic when we go out for the day.

Word of the Week - Birthday

It's Stephanie's 38th Birthday today.

Stephanie may not be here with us to celebrate it, but it is still her birthday and always will be.

Her last birthday in 2024.

In 2025 we couldn't celebrate, we marked the day by visiting her old school in Bristol where we had many happy memories of her childhood.

One of Stephanie's favourite meals was a McDonald's. The last meal I had with her was a McDonalds in Gloucester.

We all had a McDonald's after her funeral.

And today Peter and I went down the retail park for one, we bought helium balloons, flowers and a birthday cake to celebrate her birthday.

The day passed well and it was a happy one. It was only towards bedtime that that the sadness kicked in when the reality of not being able to visit her this weekend kicked in.

Week 4 2026 One Daily Positive and Project 365

The Negatives

Blisters

Aches and Pains

The Positives

Completed a walking marathon and now that I can physically and mentally I'm ready for the Brighton Marathon in April.

Saturday 24th Up at 6am and on the train from Wandsworth to Vauxhall and a short walk to The Oval for the start of the Winter Walk. 26 miles round London. The first half I walked with another woman and finished in3 and half hours along the Thames taking in all the sites with a rest stop after 6 miles to refuel and use the toilets. Peter met me back at the Oval to cheer me on. The 2nd half I mostly on my own and I hit a wall physically and mentally around 20 miles. I had some grit in my boots under my insole and once I took my boot off once, I had to do it several times, I had a massive blister, which then popped and I slowed down. I kept going thinking about all the things Stephanie was determined to do and cried when a mile from the end I spotted Peter who was waiting for me as he'd seen on the app that I was slowing down. I completed the walk in 7 hours and 44 mins finishing 320 out of 849. Evening spent back in the hotel in bed after a shower nursing various aches and pains.

Sunday 25th Awake at 7am and it took a while to get moving. After breakfast we took a little walk to the river and I realised we'd right past the hotel yesterday. I couldn't get shoes on so was in my slippers all day, spent the car journey home catching up with yesterdays messages of support from friends and a long chat with my mum. We did a food shop on our way home as I knew I wouldn't go out again and after unpacking and getting ready for work in the morning, spent the afternoon and evening on the sofa watching TV and reading.

Monday 26th A slow start to the day as in I could hardly move. It was into work which was just as painful setting up and putting away the table tennis tables twice for 2 lessons, running a dance lesson was like pulling teeth with the boys and 2 science lessons. The first science lesson started with me writing the date, title and LO on the board followed by page number and instructions, followed by whole class instructions, then going round handing out pens, pencils etc, followed by individual instructions and finally drawing examples on the board, none of which I needed to do as it was all clearly written on the board. Pages 167-168. Each time having to deal with long drawn out 'six - seven' with each student finding it hysterical. Home, dinner, bath, TV and bed.

Tuesday 27th Stress is not the right word for my journey to work as I drove through knee deep flood waters and roads closed behind me. I managed to find a route home with least amount of pot holes, accident black spots and cars abandoned. We managed to get the final breakdance routine complete and the boys joined in with a successful beat boxing session. A friend invited me out for coffee and I was supposed to go to the gym after but it was 7pm by the time our catch up finished so it was straight home, bath, TV and bed.

Wednesday 28th I took the van to work and only had 1 flood to drive through. Home, changed and off to the gym and Peter walked to meet me after for a coffee. Evening spent sorting out some stuff for the weekend, updating my diary and work emails. A long bath, catching up with the soaps and Stranger Things and an early night.

Thursday 29th Today's drive was a foggy one. Home via the retail and met Peter for a coffee and I did a food shop ready for the weekend. I spent a large chunk of the evening uploading bolster medication packs onto my Boots app ready for recycling and packing for the weekend.

Friday 30th Up a little earlier than usual to pack my bags into the van and a drive into work avoiding surface water. The usual eventful day but a lot of 1:1 tutoring achieved. Book club in the pub after work to discuss Beautiful Ugly for an hour then a traumatic Drive to Monmouth and a relaxed evening at my friends for dinner and a night on her drive. It was lovely and toasty in the van.

On the blog this week:

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

Word of the Week - Proud

Winter Walk - Marathon Training with Ultra Challenges and Bowel Research UK

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

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Post Comment Love 30th January - 1st February 2026

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. 

We spent last weekend in London where I took part in the Winter Walk, completing a walking marathon in 7 hours 44 mins finishing 320 out of 849 participants.

I entered the walk as I'm competing in the Brighton Marathon in April and there is an 8 hour cut off for a medal and I figured it would be good training for me physically and mentally.

I hit a wall at 20 miles where I just physically couldn't walk any further, but I was spurred on by our daughter's determination to do things despite her profound disabilities and her inability to complain.

I'm very Proud of my achievement.

I'm away this weekend in the campervan on my friends drive ahead of a parkrun in the morning then visiting the grandchildren. Peter is stopping at home, he's looking forward to a rest.

January was a busy time for Birthdays. Child 4 turned 31. MIL, SIL and BIL also had birthdays, as did my friend's twins, the neighbours son and my friend.

This month our grandson turns 1, it's my nephews and my nieces birthday and we will be celebrating Bob the Dogs 'what would have been' 15th birthday on Valentines day and the hardest of all Stephanie would've turned 38.

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Word of the Week - Proud

I'm incredibly PROUD of my achievements this week.

I walked a marathon in under 8 hours.

I didn't hit a wall mentally until I reached 20 miles although I hit a physical wall at 18 miles with blisters due to a boot malfunction.

I'm running the Brighton Marathon in April, there's a cut off time of 8 hours to get a medal. I bloody well want that medal. I now know I'm capable of completing the course both psychically and mentally and in the time I need.

By the time I got back to the hotel on Saturday I could hardly walk, I was crying with the pain and the emotion of the day and on Sunday morning it was a struggle to get out of bed and get dressed.

Peter went to breakfast ahead of me and picked a table far away from the buffet then suggested we went for a walk along the river before a drive home. I realised I'd walked right past the hotel the day before. 

We had an almost 3 hour drive home and I'm glad Peter made me go for the walk before the drive. I kept moving on Sunday by going out to do a food shop, unpacking and getting ready for work before a long hot bath and the evening on the sofa.

Monday and Tuesday had me teaching PE and Dance and I'm back in the Gym this week after a 5 weeks absence due to the Flu and migraines and I'm heading over to Monmouth on the weekend for a parkrun.