The best bits of April 2026

In no particular order:

Our next cat. Been hanging around our house and garden for quite a while now despite Pushkins seeing it off on a regular basis, although at the time of writing not seen for a week or two.

Enjoying the sun, but why she has to sit here, I do not know.

Watching us while we do the garden.

Not helpful at all.

A visit to Brockhampton Estate.

A day out at countrytastic with child2, Dil and the grandchildren.

An easter party in our old neighbourhood with our oldest friends.

Three football matches this month. It all went a bit Peaky Blinders for the game against Blackburn.

Attendance was low against Preston North End. I'm in the yellow coat.

Last home game of the season against Bristol Rovers and I got whacked in the head by one of their players.

Great to get the washing out on the line. There has also been a lot of gardening done but too many photos to choose from.

Kath turned 50. She is the one responsible for me running the Brighton Marathon. I've got to blame someone. She is also my motivational coach who kept me going when I didn't think I could do it.

Flowers and good luck card from Kath the day we travelled down to Brighton.

Fundraising was probably the hardest part of the marathon and I'm grateful to each and every one of you who dropped something in the pot, with almost £2000 raised since last September.

Nails painted in the colours of Bowel Research UK. It's a great way to get the conversation started and now I can casually drop in 'oh did I mention I ran a marathon for them to raise funds in memory of Stephanie?'

And finally the Brighton Marathon.

Before:

During:

After:

And my final finally my support crew - Peter. He's not a big fan of featuring on my blog. In 2024 I insisted on taking a selfie a day for a year and he moaned like mad about it. At Stephanie's funeral he acknowledged how grateful he was for all the photos I had taken over the years of us all as a family as we had so many photos of Stephanie to choose from, he's just not a big fan of me sharing them everywhere.

Week 16 2026 One Daily Positive and Project 365

The negatives

Have been feeling down in the dumps since the marathon. Had focused so much into it and now it's passed I'm wondering what now? So much of my life has been been filled with adrenaline, the kids, work, studying, moving abroad, another relocation, dealing with my father's death, living between two countries, repatriating during covid, returning to work and Stephanie's death. It's easy to say just enjoy life for a bit, switch off and let things happen. I'm not sure what I'm frightened of, other than being bored I supposed.

The positives

I had my nails redone on Monday as they were lifting. In mint green and turquoise, the colour of Bowel Research UK, when people comment on them it gives me the opportunity to casually mention 'they're the colours of the charity I ran the Brighton Marathon for last weekend' 

Saturday 18th April Up early and off to Chippenham playing Fields, Monmouth Parkrun. We arrived with 10 minutes to spare and I struggled to run. I need a good hours walk to warm up before I can run. it's not stretching, it's aerobic exercise I need. My friend who helps run the parkrun had her 50th birthday last week we went for a coffee. Peter joined us, he'd gone for breakfast. We then went on to visit the grandchildren and took our granddaughter to the park. We got changed at their house, then headed back to Monmouth for an early dinner before going back to the parkrun where my friends surprise 50th party was being held. We had a lovely evening and got home around 11pm and straight to bed.

Sunday 19th April Had a lie in then headed out to the retail park for a coffee and home to clean the house. I had all the windows and doors open. I did upstairs and Peter did downstairs. Beds were changed and three loads of washing went on. I then spent the afternoon in the garden moving all the pots into their new homes, I did a lot of weeding and transplanted some seedlings. I also cleaned out the van and restocked the tea/coffee/sugar pots and t towels.

Monday 20th April Into work, a quiet day and I left at lunch time as I had a chest X-ray to check on my hiatal hernia. Nails redone as they'd lifted, a coffee and some blogging, books returned and renewed at the library and home to tidy up the front garden with some simple pruning. Evening spent reading and catching up with messages from friends.

Tuesday 21st April Went out for a coffee after work to meet my friend for a coffee and a catch up. We used to work together and she's a hairdresser and does my hair at the salon where she now works. I got home at 7pm. we had the boiler serviced int he day, all is well. Evening spent in front of the TV, bath and an early night.

Wednesday 22nd April Straight home from work and the train to Birmingham to the football. I read my book on the way up. Had a coffee in Starbucks and as it was still light, walked up to the ground. Numbers were low, especially the away fans, less than 100. I was easily spotted on the telly by Peter and my friend. I'm wearing a yellow coat. We won 2-1. It was cold once the sun went down. Home at midnight and after a quick bath it was straight to bed.

Thursday 23rd April Work was good, although it was a struggle to get up. Home and changed into running gear, drove into town to meet Peter for a coffee as he'd walked up. Did some shopping, Peter took the car home and I walked up the hills and ran home. I did some gardening, uploaded some more clothes onto vinted and sorted through some things for school for next week. 

Friday 24th April Home from work and a relaxing afternoon and evening reading in the garden and jsut chilling out. We watched some football and it's getting exciting now at the bottom of the Premiership and Championship with it being mathematically possible that teams can avoid relegation and gain promotion right up to the last minute of the final match. My team are mid table so I'm just enjoying the show. I had an early night and fell asleep before 10pm.

On the blog this week:

Post Comment Love 

The best bits of March

Word of the week - Gardening

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24th-26th April 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. 

It's our youngest grandsons first birthday today.

Sadly we're not there to celebrate it with him, we'll just have to make do with a video call later. That's the hard part of being so far away. I left his birthday gifts over in Northern Ireland when I visited in February half term and we're visiting again over the Whitsun week at the end of May.

I've been making the most of this lovely weather and have got a lot of work done in the garden, planting out seedlings, moving pots into their summer position and trimming back the shrubs.

I had a chest x-ray on Monday as all the running has aggravated an hiatal hernia I was diagnosed with several years ago that has never caused me any problems until 2 months  ago and has made me nauseous and physically sick at times.

I've had coffee out with friends, been to Birmingham to watch the football and I'm back at the football on Saturday for the last home game of the season.

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Word of the week - Gardening

We've been taking advantage of the weather here in Malvern. The washing has been on the line and I've finally sorted the pots in the garden, dismantled the temporary metal framed greenhouse and it's gone to the tip (thank you Peter) 

The raised beds have been dug and are ready to plant out the courgettes and beans that I've grown from seed.

The sweet peas will be planted into the pots and can grow up around the trees to add a bit more colour to the back fence.

The tomatoes and peppers have been transplanted into individual pots, the ones in the shops are starting to flower, I must start mine earlier next year and put them on a sunnier window sill. 

The side of the house has stayed tidy over winter. I'd kept the cloche up thinking my seedlings might have been further advanced by now and planted out earlier and needing a bit more protection, so it can be packed away now.

I'm hoping to have finished the front garden by now with pruning some shrubs and getting the weeding done, but I'd rather be sitting in the back garden enjoying the warmer weather while it lasts. 

The best bits of March 2026

 In no particular order.

Pushkins celebrated her 18th birthday with a Happy Meal from Mcdonalds. She loves the fries.

Every now and then she drinks from the toilet bowl. In general she drinks the manky water from the flower pots outside. She demands fresh water daily in her water bowl and stares at you until she sees you change it every morning with her food.

She truly is a goddess.

I had a couple of days away in South Wales. Peter was in Turkey for most of March visiting friends.

I've not seen the tide in at Barry Island since the mid 80's.

I took part in the parkrun.

And won big on the 2p slots. I gave my winnings to my great niece.

It always makes me smile when I watch Gavin and Stacey as I used to work in an arcade which was owned by the Danter's who run the fun fair at Barry Island.

I went to Jenner Park to watch Barry play football. My father was their goalie in the late 50's early 60's.

I spent the second night in Newport and visited my nephew, his wife and great niece.

There was of course football at Birmingham.

We had sand from the Sahara.

The patio/undercover area was jet washed and tided and seeds were sown.

It's been extremely windy and cold and wet.

I'd walked for miles and ran a fair few more.

I completed an Ultra Challenge in Bath.

My time wasn't as fast as I'd hoped for, but I'd underestimated the elevation.

This was my last major training for the marathon. I was training for endurance not speed. I am 54. I enjoy these ultra challenges and I will be doing more of these.

It's been a fun month and I spent most of it outdoors regardless of the weather.

There was also a lot of cleaning and tidying done in March and I read a few books and uploaded the grandchildren's baby clothes on vinted with almost daily sales with some of my clothes also.

Week 15 2026 One Daily Positive and Project 365

The negatives

I'm several weeks behind with commenting and it matters to me, so I will be catching up over the weekend. It['s the same with comments left on my social media sites. whilst I've raised over £2000 over the past 6 months since I started training for the marathon, I've found this the hardest part, the fundraising

The positives

I made some time on Friday evening to read and catch up with comments and I feel so much better that it's getting done. I followed advise and waited till Friday before going out for a run and it felt good, despite the rain and I've had no aches or pains or injuries. In fact my body doesn't feel like it ran 26.2 miles just under a week ago.

Saturday 11th April Woke to the birds around 5.30am then back to sleep till 8am. I walked down the road to the East Brighton parkrun for 3 laps round the course and back up the hill to the campsite for a shower and breakfast. I've realised that I need the first 5k as a warm up and I must have breakfast and a coffee at least an hour before I run. we decided we'll stay an extra night rather than having to stress about the parking situation on Sunday and we chilled out and caught the bus into Brighton for the day to spend the kids inheritance on the pier in the 2p slots, wander around the Laines, drink coffee, have a leisurely lunch and catch the bus back to the Marina to pick up last minute food supplies for Sunday. Peter had dinner, but I couldn't eat and spend the evening prepping my clothing  and packing my bum bag and in bed after a shower by 9pm. It was a very wet and windy night, but I had a good sleep.

Sunday 12th April Woke at 7am, had tea and porridge, dressed and headed off to Preston Park. It was cold and windy with some rain and a 3.5 mile walk to the start line. I picked up a coffee on route and on arrival joined a very long queue for the toilets, explored the park, had another wee and the marathon started. I stopped at the first mile to remove my long sleeve running top as the sun came out, then ran non stop to mile 4 for another wee stop and ran again till mile 7 where I met Peter and handed over my running top and jacket. Whilst running through the city I saw my friend Jenny whose son Rob died 4 years ago from Sarcoma and her partners nephew was running for the charity. After seeing Peter the route out the cliff top to the windmill and back to the half way mark was demoralising, it was long, lonely, windy and cold, the toilets was dismal and the road never ending. The road then looped again at the pier, back towards the marina, then I met up with Peter again, but the 6 hour 30 minute pacer was hot on my heals, so I went back into full run mode for 5k into Hove and then it was run/walk lamppost to lamppost till the beach huts and once I composed myself for the finish line as I was getting really emotional, I head Peter yelling my name and I ran for the line. After collecting my medal and meeting up with Peter I spent 20 mins lying on the grass, catching my breath and we had a mile walk back to the City to catch the bus to the camp site, grabbing a coffee and a very hard walk up a steep hill to the camp site. I went straight to bed with a hot water bottle on my hips and apart from a visit to the loo, I didn't move till the morning.

Monday 13th April We packed up and after the drive home getting in at 2pm, putting the hot water on, and having a bath, we unpacked the van and I went for a short walk to post some vinted parcels, we had dinner and I was in bed by 8pm.

Tuesday 14th April Back to work. Several members of staff had tracked my Marathon and the kids already knew how I'd done and asked to see my medal. I drove the van into work to fill it up with diesel as the local garage had been named on Sky TV as the cheapest in the UK. Home, video call with the grandchildren, dinner and bed. I drive by this tank every day to and from work.

Wednesday 15th April Straight into town after work to get my nails redone. Same colours for Bowel Research and when people say they like them I casually mention that fact and shoe horn into every conversation 'I ran a marathon' I did some shopping, home, dinner, bath and bed.

Thursday 16th April Peter went to visit his mum in Keynsham. I went for coffee after work to check on my charity box, there was only a handful of coins in it. I spent some time blogging, watched TV and an early night. 

Friday 17th April Met Peter in town for a coffee. I got changed into my running gear in the car and I walked half way up the hill before running back home. No aches or pains and I enjoyed the run. Peter took the car back and made dinner which was ready not long after I got in. We watched TV for the evening while I did some blogging. After a bath I got everything ready for a full day out on Saturday and in bed around 10.30pm.

On the blog this week:

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

Word of the week - Marathoner

http://www.chickenruby.com/2026/04/how-i-ran-my-brighton-marathon-april.html

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Post Comment Love - 17th-19th April 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 hope you all had a good Spring break. Easter feels like so long ago now.

I had two wonderful weeks off to just chill out. Peter arrived back from his break in Turkey.

I took part in an Ultra Challenge in Bath and spent some time with friends. The cat had her 18th birthday. We had a day out at Countrytastic with our grandchildren. There was a rather disappointing football match, an Easter party, some days out and finally the Brighton Marathon (you can read how I got on in this weeks link up)

And now ... well I'm not too sure. I'm doing a park run this weekend and we're seeing the grandchildren and there's a trip to Northern Ireland booked at the end of May, but otherwise it's just days out, gardening and of course more running and walking. but for leisure as I'm not doing a marathon again, one was enough.

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

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