Week 12 2026 - One Daily Positive and Project 365

The negatives

It's been an emotional week feeling isolated from family and friends. But knowing we're only a short drive away. The trouble is we're the ones that do the driving.

The positives

I got the dining room table cleared and the back room sorted and my desk tidied and everything back in the rooms where it should be ready for a major tidy up next week.

Saturday 21st March I had the best day. After a great sleep, I packed the van and drove to the Barry island and parked up over looking the beach and headed down the steps to the start of the parkrun. it was chaos. I missed the briefing as there wasn't any clear direction, but everyone around was super friendly and I was pointed in the right direction. It's easy to work out, I just follow. Loads of spectators out on the route cheering everyone on, 2 laps. My usual 35+ mins and a coffee at Marcos, a walk on the beach and back to the van for breakfast and a lie down and a read of my book. I got changed and spent some time in the 2p slots winning a duck and a gem stone. Afternoon spent at Jenner Park where my father was the goalie in the early 60's for one of their most famous games with 7000 supporters. FA first round against QPR. They beat Caernarfon 2-1. After the match I drove to Newport where I set up camp for the night and was in bed by 9pm.

Sunday 22nd March Had a great sleep, packed up after breakfast and headed out to Malpas to visit my nephew, his wife and my great niece to drop off a gift and an early easter egg, then off to Monmouth to drop of my friends 50th birthday gift as she'll be in Disney for her actual birthday and I won't see her until after the actual day. Stopped in town for a coffee. Home by 5pm watched the football on my phone while unpacking the van and putting everything away, had tea and a bath, washing machine on, got everything ready for work in the morning, uploaded some more items onto vinted and parcelled up some more items that had sold over the weekend. Watched more TV and bed by 9pm.

Monday 23rd March A good day in work, reasonably quiet and got lots done. Forgot about a staff meeting and din't get home till 5.30pm so didn't go out for a run. Dropped off a Vinted parcels off then went for a coffee as my neighbour messaged me to say they were putting their house on the market and I felt really sad about them moving. Coffee shop was closing early so I jsut came home. had tea and a bath and phoned my friend and had a good cry about life in general. Tidied up, got ready for work in the morning and went to bed.

Tuesday 24th March Work and off to Worcester afterwards to buy some running shorts, had a coffee and did a food shop. I didn't have any shopping bags with me so everything was loose on the front seat. Got ready for work in the morning, had a bath watched TV and uploaded some more items onto vinted. There was a torrential downpour just after I got in that took me and the cat by surprise and it was really windy and I had to move the chair and table outside as it was nearly blown over. went to bed at 10.30pm which is late for me as I stayed up to watch the Huw Edward program. 

Wednesday 25th March Work, home, changed, parcels sent with vinted and a run to the retail park to meet my friend for a coffee. Bumped into 2 ex colleagues, had a good natter and catch up and a lift home. Had a bath, uploaded more items whilst watching TV and baked a batch of cakes for school on Friday for fundraising for their prom.

Thursday 26th March Work and home. So much more to say. Did some batch cooking when I got home, walked up the local shop to collect a parcel and send more off, then drove to the retail park for some gluten free shopping, a coffee and stopped at Lidl on the way home as we were low on the basics. decorated the cakes for school in the morning. More uploading, some reading, TV, bath and bed. 

Friday 27th March The able sale raised over £120 for Prom. I left on the bell and home to pack for the weekend. Finished uploading everything onto vinted, no sales today. Nothing much to watch on the TV so an early night after a bath. Got everything ready for Pushkins 18th birthday on Monday.

It snowed during the week, not just hail, but proper snow.

On the blog this week:

My garden in March.

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Word of the Week - Rollercoaster

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Word of the week - Rollercoaster

I've had a bit of a rollercoaster of a week with a lot of things.

Mostly things out of my control.

But I have had control over how I've dealt with them.

Initially I've not dealt with some things very well, but I've been on my own for the week. I've had work, I've been places, I've been able to speak to people over the phone, but I've spent a lot of time on my own and in both ways it's helped and me process and it's also given me a lot of time to over think things.

Over the weekend I was at the top of the rollercoaster, the weather was perfect, lovely and sunny and I combined it with a trip to the seaside, camping, football and running. But it brought some upset and a few dips as the football took me to Barry Town where my father was the goalie in the 1960's and I was sad that I never got to go there with him before he died.

The highs of the rollercoaster continued with a visit to see my nephew, his wife and their daughter and a visit with my friend and her family on my way home, but the low kicked on the long drive home to an empty house where I felt sad to be so far away from our family and friends.

Work isn't a good place for me, I'm not enjoying the job. I don't have any friends there, but I am building some good working relationships with staff. I am looking for other jobs, but I want to be doing something that excites me and I really need the long school holidays due to one of children living in Australia and another in Northern Ireland, even more son now our son in Australia got his citizenship last week which has me on a high for him and a low for me and my emotional rollercoaster is all over the place as I think about the fact the the chances of him ever returning to the UK have now become 0%.

Our very good neighbours have put their house on the market, which sent me into a dive on Monday when they messaged me to let me know the for sale would be going up later this week. They have been talking about moving for over a year, so not really a shock, but I shall miss them being there, the kids randomly knocking on the door, the chats, the calls for help with fixing taps (them) random help putting up shelves (them) locking themselves out (them) cat sitting (us) burst water pipes (us).

The rollercoaster dropped a bit further as a call went unanswered to a friend and by the time she called back I was a blubbering mess, but I picked up some speed and by the end of the hour, I was climbing back up with plans firmed for the weekend and I'd been given a big talking to about how I just didn't like change and maybe I was just feeling that my life was too static for me. 

She reminded me that all the time she'd known me - 28 years - I'd never sat still. I'd been raising kids, studied, worked, divorced, been a single mum, remarried, blended two families, moved, raised 5 kids, had a career, dealt with kids leaving home, moved abroad, given up my career to focus on supporting the children and Peter, moved country, dealt with the death of my father, lived between 2 countries, was separated from Peter during covid, relocated to the UK, Stephanie died and still grieving. 

I felt more positive after the call, but I was much further down the rollercoaster and had further to get back up and after an early night and a good sleep on Monday night I woke feeling a lot more positive, but the weather turned and was wet, windy and cold and after work and a food shop I miserable because I couldn't go out for a run and wasn't feeling sociable for the gym and I fell asleep for an hour which set me back even further, but I decided I needed to take control and I set about getting on with a few jobs that had been dragging me down and I ended up getting to bed late and couldn't seem to get myself out of the ups and downs of finding the right balance.

A coffee with a friend on Wednesday motivated me to apply for a job at a school where I'd been turned down previously.

By Thursday I found myself on the right track. I'd uploaded all the things on Vinted and had a system going of parcelling items and everything was nicely stored out of sight behind the sofa with easy access. The dining room table and craft room has finally been sorted. I'd done some batch cooking and a food shop to stock up on some of the basics we were low on. 

I baked and decorated cakes to support fundraising for the school prom and stopped stressing out about my own fundraising. I have other plans for that. I plucked up the courage to send a whole staff email with the link to my fundraising page.

I've got two weeks to go before the Brighton Marathon and can now start running in the mornings as it's the Easter holidays now.

I feel that I'm travelling along on a straight line at the moment and I'm happy with that. I have some highs to look forward to this weekend with family and friends and my ultra challenge with a 29k walk/run in Bath and I'm going to try not to focus on the lows, unfortunately the reason I'm running the marathon is because Stephanie died and I can't get much lower than that, it's hard not to think about it, even when I focus on all the positives, the happy times, I'm just aware how short life can be now so every time I see family and friends, I'm always so sad when I say goodbye, aware it might always be the last time. 

So what I have to remind myself of now is that I'm just further down the rollercoaster than I was before and it's just taking me a little longer to get back to my original starting point.

Post Comment Love - 27th - 29th March 2026

Welcome back to #PoCoLo with Stephanie from Bosworth.Life and I. This is our last post before Easter and we'll be back on the 17th April with a reminder over on Twitter/X. Drop me a comment here if you'd like a reminder if you're not already on the list or you can tweet/x us below.

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. 

By the time we're back I will have run my marathon and I'll be updating you on how I got on. Only 2 weeks now to go.

This week I'm in Bath on an Ultra Challenge. 25k with an 600m elevation. I've been training for endurance, but my running has increased in both time and distance.

I was on Barry Island last weekend taking part in a parkrun and spent some time in the arcades. 

I also went to watch Barry Town play football at Jenner Park, where my late Father was their goal keeper.

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My Garden in March 2026

My garden is doing very nicely without me at the moment, which is how it should be.

By now I should've shifted these pots into position and I should've dug these beds over and I should've planted out the hedge row, but do you know what?

It really doesn't matter.

What we did get done though was the patio was cleaned and de spider webbed and tidied up.

We've had a glorious few days in March and did I spend them in the garden?

No I was at the seaside.

The washing spent some time in the garden, but mainly on the patio, under the cover because  you know, I still don't fully trust this weather not to just suddenly rain.

The seeds were finally sown, which meant the back room had a spring clean so I could make room for the seed trays. I spent a bit more on the trays this year from a garden centre. it's a false economy buying from B&M (other stores are available) as they don't store well and crack over the winter.

My temporary potting table worked well, b ut I had to work quick to avoid the rain.

Wishin 4 days my first seedling appeared.

There are still. few days left in March. I'm busy this week with the last few days of term, but with the Easter break coming up I'll be spending the first few days at home and getting the pots into place, potting up the parsley that survived the winter in the covered beds and digging them over and adding compost from the bins. Then sorting out this corner, the plastic greenhouse and planting out the basil that is taking over the kitchen and seeing if I can rescue the magnolia tree. The pear tree is doing well, it's the only bit of blossom in the garden so far.

Pear Tree

Week 11 2026 One Daily Positive and Project 365

The Negatives 

Work really isn't good for me at the moment, it's not the right environment, it hasn't been since day one. I can afford not to be working, but I really want to work and build up my government pension to get the full amount when I retire. There are plenty of other places I could work, but I really like the school holidays so I can visit our children living around the world.

The Positives

I've had a lot of rest this week and not felt guilty that I haven't done anything else. The stuff I've been wanting to do hasn't been important. I've been running further and for longer more importantly. 

Saturday 14th March Awake at 8am so decided to go into Worcester to the racecourse for the parkrun. The entrance/exit was at the furthest point from the start/finish and I ended up running to reach the start on time. WOn't be going there again, had to walk half way round the course when I'd finished to get out the course. it was a bright sunny day, but chilly. Had a Starbucks, then did a food shop and home to put the shopping away, change and catch the 12.15pm train to Birmingham for the football. wrote some letters on the way up. It was a draw, train home and read my book. Had dinner, watched TV and a bath and bed.

Sunday 15th March Up at 7.30pm and drove to the Forest to visit child 2, Dil and grandchildren for Mother's Day left around midday, stopped off to visit a friend and drop her birthday gift off, had a Starbucks at the end of the M50 and home to watch the football, cook a roast and prepare lunches and dinners for the next few days, sorted out some post, did a few jobs around the house, watched some quiz shows and got ready for work in the morning.

Monday 16th March Woke up feeling sick again, realised it's the stress of work that's most likely the cause. Told to F off off, well shouted it in my face, dealt with a fight, some bullying, a fire alarm and some quite vulgar and offensive language all day, apparently it's the norm these days when I talk to others. Straight into town after filling in endless safeguarding and ending emails. Posted son's easter parcel to Australia and birthday cards to Canada and South Africa, had a coffee and a wander round B&M, home for dinner, TV, bath and bed. Did some blogging and watched TV.

Tuesday 17th March Had a full 9 hours sleep and into work, a quiet but full day mainly covering science. home, changed and a walk up the Malvern Hills and ran home, discovered new routes including across some fields. The sun shone but it was chilly. Did 10k. Had dinner, a bath, watched TV and fell asleep in front of the sofa, took myself off to bed and was asleep by 9.30pm.

Wednesday 18th March Home from work, hung the washing out, fed the cat and went out to do some shopping and have a coffee and wrote and scheduled a couple of blog posts. I finally sold my seeds and finished tidying up the patio area and I uploaded some items onto vinted, 

Thursday 19th March Home, brought washing in, changed and dropped off parcels for a vinted sale to discover two of the labels were for Evri the opposite end of Malvern, so off I ran and then hiked into town, grabbed a coffee and had my nails done and ran home. Had another productive evening, packed for my trip away which involved rearranging my entire wardrobe and most of the kitchen cupboards as I sorted out all the Tupperware and drinks bottles, washing and dishwasher on, ironing done, bath, blogs scheduled and bed.

Friday 20th March Up early, cup of tea, packed the van with my clothes and stuff from the fridge and freezer, got everything ready for the cat sitter and off to work. Was out the door as the bell went and drove straight down to the camp site in Barry Island. Drove down to the beach to check out parking for the van in the morning before heading to the camp site. It took 2 hours to set up the van, make dinner, wash up and get ready for bed because I hadn't packed the van properly, just put everything into bags in the back of the vehicle. watched TV and took myself to bed at 9.30pm.

Child 3 got his Australian Citizenship this week and which made me both happy for him and sad for me as it means he'll probably never return to the UK now. It was a very different route for us when we moved abroad as we always knew we'd be returning to the UK because of Stephanie and because we are the parents and grandchildren and started to come along. 

On the blog this week:

Training for the Brighton Marathon in memory of Stephanie

Word of the Week - Juggling

Post Comment Love - Join in with any post written this week

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Post Comment Love - 20th - 22nd March 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. 

There was no football in the week, but there is football this weekend, just not at St Andrew's, so no Birmingham City and no, I'm not travelling to watch them play at Pride Park against Derby. I'll tell you next week where I went.

I did a 10k in the week and a 3k, no where near the distances I should be doing for a marathon in 3 weeks times, but the running is getting easier and I'm running longer and faster and having no after effects and more importantly, I'm enjoying it.

I've also got some beautiful countryside in which to run now the evenings are lighter and it's finally stopped raining long enough for the ground to dry up enough to run on.

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Word of the week - Juggling

It's been a tricky week trying to get everything done that I'd had planned in the time I had to do it all in. I'm now where near finished but I've got loads of time left and I'm not bothered if I don't finish everything on my list, other than keeping up with the blogging and get the garden planted out.

I'm not very good at doing just the one thing at a time, I've always got several things on the go. I get bored just doing one thing at a time and I'm easily distracted. 

I've been juggling a lot of things this week and they've all been running concurrently.

Jobs

With Peter away in Turkey it was easier because I could just leave things out and not inconvenience him. I don't mean just me doing things is an inconvenience to him, but I mean I could leave ... 

the lounge like this:

the kitchen like this:

and Peter's half of the bed like this:

Because I've been juggling all the jobs I've been meaning to do and with going to work each day, the weather being unsurprisingly sunny, I've just been able to walk away from a job half finished and not worry about anything getting in Peter's way when he's wanted to go to bed, sit and watch the telly or get himself something to eat. They haven't been jobs Peter could finish for me.

Emotions 

Mother's Day without Stephanie. Everyone is quick to acknowledge those who are without a mother, but not many acknowledge those who are without a child. It seems it's either too hard for others to talk about or they're worried about upsetting you by mentioning their name. The biggest upset is no one mentioning their name anymore.

Marathon Training

I've fallen way behind with this with ill health and the weather and whilst I joined the gym and have been taking part in park runs, I've just not been feeling it. I've had support from Peter and a friend, but I just don't feel anyone else has been taking it seriously. I've no training plan, no personal coach, no fundraising plan in place. I'd hoped a few more people would've shared my posts or written one of their own, but as I said above, it just feels that no one is really interested in Stephanie anymore, or was that interested when she was alive. I know I'm doing this more for me than anyone else and there's a little bit of a panic as to what I'm going to do when all this training is over, what will fill the gap, the time, my brain space then?

So this week I've juggled posts across social media sites, I've run and started several jobs and left them half unfinished. But I'm ok with that. It's the weekend. it's time for a parkrun, the football and a visit to the seaside. 

Running Preparation for the Brighton Marathon for Stephanie

I don't know how this works for others but I sort of feel the novelty has worn off, not for me but for everyone else and I'm hoping it'll pick up again as I feel I really am doing this all on my own.

I signed up to run the Brighton Marathon to raise funds and awareness for Bowel research UK and for our daughter Stephanie who died in October 2024 from an Ischemic Bowel which causes the death of around 3000 people a year in the UK.

I've no training plan, no personal trainer, no special diet, no training buddy, no special gear.

Just a desire to raise awareness and to run in Stephanie's memory. 

I'm moving out of running leggings this week into skorts and I'm trialling a camel pack.

I had a free trial with Apple Music that has come to an end, but I found listening to just music boring and I prefer to listen to the radio and have a variety of chat, news and music. I have the free version of strava that I just hit 'record' on and don't check until I get home. 

My wireless ear pods are a little temperamental with my ear piercings and if I tap them more than once when I adjust them they need putting back in the pot to reset. So I'm going back to wired ones and I've been threading them through a hook on my bra strap. 

I also hook my glasses through my bra when I'm running as I need them to set my phone and watch at the start and end.

I've been doing park runs and going to the gym, but most of my training has been endurance training with a mixture of walking and running up and down the Malvern Hills. The furthest I've actually run is 10k which I did this week and it took me 90 mins. 

My 5k times are improving.

I also did a half marathon walk/run around Malvern a couple of weeks ago in 3 and half hours with an elevation of 493ms. 

Next weekend I'm taking part in my 3rd Ultra Challenge in 6 months. I started with a 25k hike in the Chilterns which I completed in 5 hours 30 mins. A 42k walk in London in January completed in 7 hours 44 mins and next weekend I'll be in Bath attempting to run/walk 25k with an elevation of 600ms in under 3 hours.

Week 10 2026 One Daily Positive and Project 365

The Negatives

I like to get the negatives out the way first. Been feeling sick for a couple of weeks now. In fact I've been feeling nauseous since I've stopped smoking. I googled it, it can be a symptom of nicotine withdrawal. It's awful. I've actually been physically sick on a couple of occasions. If it carries on much longer I will see the Dr. I thought stopping smoking would make me feel better, I would be able run more, but it's actually hampering my running and training and my marathon is only 4 weeks away now.

The Positives

Bumped into a friend twice in two different coffee shops in different parts of the town this week which was nice. Work have given me the off after my marathon to recover which is only 4 weeks away now. An early Mother's Day gift from Northern Ireland in the post. Signs of Spring in the garden are really cheering me up despite the recent rains and cold spell.

Saturday 7th March Woken at 6.30am by Granddaughter. Peter took her downstairs and I managed to go back to sleep for an hour. After breakfast we headed down to Keynsham to visit MIL to drop off Mother's Day gifts and popped out to a garden centre for coffee. I had a packed lunch with me being gluten free and the other grabbed a Greggs that we all ate on the go. I left our great nephews 5th birthday gift and an easter treat behind. We stopped at my mums on the way back to drop off her Mother's Day gifts also and picked up tea from Tesco to have with her, then we dropped granddaughter at home, cuddles with grandson and home around 8pm.

Sunday 8th March I took myself out for a half marathon walk/run around Malvern. I managed 21k in 3 and a half hours with an elevation of 493km. I'm rather pleased with myself as this is the same as my last time which was purely on the flat. After a cup of tea and some lunch, I was in the garden moving pots and repotting some house plants. I had a bath, did some washing and we spent longer trying to find something to watch on the TV than actually watching anything before I went up to bed at 9pm.

Monday 9th March Up at 5.30pm, drank tea and stared at the ceiling. Staff meeting after work and home at 5pm. Really hungry and had tea straight away, snacked all evening, had a bath. Hoovered the dining room and back room and moved the cat pole outside and set up the chair pod outside with the cushions. Rearranged books and some things on the desk and in the lounge ready for moving some other things in the week. I was in bed by 9.30pm and asleep by 10pm. Gluten free crackers are impossible to spread butter on.

Tuesday 10th March Home from work and straight down the retail park to pick up some gifts for Peter to take to Turkey with him on Friday. I arrived at the coffee shop early to meet my friend and another friend popped in to say hi, so for a while the three of us caught up on the gossip. We all used to work together so it was nice to catch up. I got home at 7.30pm, got ready for work tomorrow, had dinner, a bath, we watched a new TV show and I did some blogging and had a late night. Moved the chair pod back into place.

Wednesday 11th March Got everything ready for when I got home for a quick turn around. Home from work, got changed and train to Birmingham for the football against QPR. Wrote some letters on the train and ate my tea. Popped into Primark for a gift and grabbed a coffee at Starbucks then the bus to St Andrew's. We scored in the 6th minute and spent the rest of the game clinging onto our 3 points. Bus back to New Street and Train back to Worcester and Peter picked me up at 10.40pm.

Thursday 12th March Where did that rain and wind come from? It was winter when I came out of work. Met Peter in town for a coffee. Got home and quickly put the cover on the chair pod, moved the wooden green house and picked up the cloches that had blown around the garden and got a tad wet. We had dinner and watched some TV, an early bath and bed.

Friday 13th March Dropped Peter at the train station at 7am for his trip to Turkey and just about made it home before being sick. Spent the day in bed. Managed to eat around 6pm. Have been feeling sick on and off for a couple of weeks, no idea why. Watched a lot of TV, didn’t really do anything else. Evening spent on the sofa. Bed at 10pm and straight to sleep.

On the blog this week:

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

Word of the Week - Rearranging

Days out in the campervan February 2026

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Post Comment Love 13th- 15th March 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. 

Happy Mother's Day to those of you celebrating in March. 

Mother's Day in March is the 4th Sunday of Lent and was traditionally a day for Christians to visit their Mother Church.

Mother's Day in May started in the US and is a fixed day founded by Anna Jarvis in 1914 to honour her own mother.

We visited our Mother's last weekend and I was hoping for a day of peace and quiet but I've been summoned to child 4's house by my DIL and grandchildren for the morning.

I walked/ran a half marathon last Sunday with a 493m elevation over the Malvern Hills and I'm taking part in a parkrun at Worcester racecourse on Saturday, before heading off to Birmingham for the football, for my 2nd visit this week after travelling up on Wednesday to watch them play QPR.

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Word of the Week - Rearranging

I've been doing a little bit of rearranging this week.

I started by putting the heavier coats, hats, scarves, gloves and boots up in the wardrobe in the loft. Thankfully I'd kept a set in the downstairs loo which I needed on Wednesday at the football.

The patio was rearranged after Peter gave it a Spring clean and the pod was moved into its summer position as in I can now open the doors fully when summer comes.

The cat pole has been moved outside for two reasons: the cat is spending more time outside and it has somewhere to shelter from the colder weather if we go out and I have some space in the conservatory for this years seedlings which will involve rearranging part of the loft to access an IKEA shelving unit to put the seeds trays on (this will be done Sunday afternoon)

The wooden green house has been moved back to get the most of the sun (when it does arrive) and this temporary plastic one is on it's 6th year and still going strong, not the prettiest but it's doing the job.

And the cold frame has been set aside for the time being. I don't need it at the moment, the cover has been put away, but I've kept the frame up ready for when I transplant the seedlings out at a later date.

We built this cover for the kids bikes originally but it's now used for storing the gardening equipment and this bag stores the plant fleeces and cloche covers.

Peter made me a potting table 2 years ago but it's too big to move around easily despite it being on wheels. It's been on the patio over the winter and needs to be moved back behind the raised beds eventually, but first I need to rearrange all the garden pots that have been clustered together for protection over the winter. I won't be doing this next year. I'm going to pick a spot for them and next year just buy enough fleeces to wrap them individually. 

I made a temporary potting table over the compost bins and if I'm honest I actually prefer this as it's a space saver, it's near the greenhouses and it means I don't have to lug compost around throughout the year.  The only downside is there is no cover so I can't work out in the rain at the moment.

I didn't have to rearrange the pots or tools as I'd put everything away properly at the end of last year and it was all easy to get out and use. 

I've repotted some indoor plants we bought and I had planned to sow some seeds left over from last year. I need to make some proper labels and get the IKEA unit out the loft to put the trays on in the back room so I put that job on hold as I've a busy weekend ahead of me and I'd been feeling a little under the weather and the actual weather on Thursday was too cold and wet to be out at the potting bench.

I almost called this post juggling, but that's to come as at the moment all I've done is rearrange a few things. I think next weeks post will be 'complicated' as I will be having to rearrange things a lot more in the garden followed by 'juggle' as everything slots into place.

I've then to get up in the loft and finish it off as it's become a bit of a dumping ground after we turned one of the rooms into a shared bedroom/craft room for the grandchildren when they come to stay and for me to work in properly. The other room is full of things we need to sell and a little messier than it was before I got the IKEA unit out for putting the seed tray on.

Days out in the campervan in February 2026

I'm aiming to camp out in the campervan every month this year and so far I've camped in January and I've camped in February and I've got 2 camping trips booked for March and 1 booked in April. The only thing that's going to stop me completing the challenge is not having enough days in the year for all the commitments I have lined up.

I travelled over to Northern Ireland for a week and set up camp on child 2's drive. Now they've had a 2nd child there is no room in the house other than an air bed and the bed in the van is far more comfortable plus I have my own space and I'm more than happy in the van. I just pop in first thing for the toilet and make a cup of tea and if they're till sleeping I go back out, stick the heating on and I'm lovely and cosy.

It's annoying being last vehicle on the boat as your'e exposed to the sea water for the full 7 hour crossing.

We've got a convertor so we can plug into the mains and not have to rely on the leisure battery and can use the plug sockets in the van.

There was one morning it was so cold outside that I couldn't open the sliding door and had to run the diesel heater and wait until the door defrosted.

Dry robes were made for days like these.

As there was only me in the van and I wasn't using it for cooking I was able to spread out and I kept my shower bag in the house.

When I travel alone I just pack straight into the wardrobe.

I didn't use the van during the day for the week so I could leave everything set up which made life so much easier, it's not often this happens, in fact I don't think we've ever done this before.

The last night I packed the roof up as it was dry after raining all week, which meant everything inside had to be put away so I could get the lower bed out. it took me about an hour to do.

I had to remember to open a window when I put the diesel heating on for ventilation.

I didn't have a table to work from and I had to keep moving things around so I could move around.

I also lost my head space and kept forgetting when I tried to stand up.

The best thing we like about the Ford Nugget Westfalia conversion and our reason for choosing it over the Volkswagen Campervan is that when the lower bed is is use we can still use the kitchen fully as it is located in the back of the vehicle and although this isn't the best photo we can access the back through the vehicle and not have to go outside to do so as you have to in the VW. The space in the first photo is where the kitchen would be in the VW and you only get one sliding door. In our vehicle you get access on both sides which makes parking a lot easier. Also when the roof is popped up, it pops above the kitchen and not above the drivers seat, giving you full height access above the kitchen.

I think I've camped in the coldest of the weather so far so the rest of the year should be a breeze. I've got a 2 week stay in August which will be my longest stay and challenge as I'm not sure about toilet blocks and shower facilities and I may have to move around to charge the leisure battery if I don't get enough sun light and to fill the water tanks but I do have a portable toilet and and outdoor shower will just need to buy a shower/toilet tent and find a disposable waste point. It'll be annoying setting up and packing away every few days to fetch supplies etc but initial camp site prices for where I'm going are extortinate due to the event I'll be attending.