3, 4 and 5 October 2025

3.10.25

Wet and cool

16 degrees 

Woke this morning fully expecting to feel the full force of Storm Amy, which apparently is going to batter the UK. However, although drizzling from the early hours, it only remained that way for the rest of the day.

Saturday is now "buckle up" time. 

After a restful sleep, I was up at 6.30am and found Peg already up in the kitchen making a cuppa, so I joined her. Julia was probably another half hour behind as she has come down with a bit of a cold.

Enjoyed our breakfasts, as always and before we slipped into our normal post breakfast chats in the lounge, we called Irena and Tony and received the latest news from their front. All good with them and Tony has sold another painting. 

Teas and coffees followed throughout the morning, but at one point we thought we would catch the bus into Liverpool for another look around. No sooner had we decided, the cloud developed and the rain increased. Too miserable for wandering around. 

Around 1pm we had some lunch and after resumed conversation. As the afternoon progressed, the topic of conversation kept changing, but aside from being informative, it was also funny.

The weather was slowly deteriorating. Temperature dropping and wind increasing.

Out in the car to get some food, before snuggling up back at Peg's before the onslaught from Storm Amy. Definitely a day to be very happy we are not in a tent!

4.10.25

Cloudy, cool and windy

14 degrees 

After a good night's sleep, we woke to find everything intact and the Wirral unaffected by the storm.

As is so often the case here, the weather decides not to interrupt this piece of England, instead moving on to other areas where people have obviously been naughty.

The rain although steady at times, was more showers throughout the day, with light winds. It was cool in comparison to what we have been experiencing in Europe however. 

Spoke to Brody and Aimee who gave us the news from their end and their possible plans for the end of the year and going forward. 

The day certainly wasn't one to be out and about in, but Ju and I did take a very short walk around the block in the afternoon, before retiring inside to follow Liverpool v Chelsea on my phone.

Wish I hadn't.

They were rubbish.

To make matters worse, Man Utd won. 

Nice dinner followed and the rest of the day we watched some TV, before bed at 11.30pm, (after Match of the Day), very late for us. 

5.10.25

Cloudy and cool

14 degrees 

Up at 7am after a good night's sleep, with my mouth taped, to focus on nose breathing. I do believe that Julia would be happy to keep my mouth taped permanently, which has nothing to do with nose breathing. In fact tape over my mouth could soon become pillow over my head. 

Had a lovely call with Dave and San and Peg joined in with us. Always great to talk with them and get their news.

Breakfast followed and then another call from Brody and Aimee. After speaking to them yesterday, we were a little anxious about what it was about. Brody had sent a photo of a guy sitting in our lounge drinking a cup of tea. His message read....

"Just had a friend of yours pop in. Said he cycled with you around the South Island years ago. Said you'd always have a spare room for him to use, if he needed it and it was terrible weather outside."

His name was John Meadows and his wife's name was Sheila. 

I looked at the photo and had no idea who it was.

Brody said

"He's just upstairs taking a shower"

I sent back, "I have no idea who that is, you need to get him out."

Brody and Aimee by this time were on facetime as I was checking out the photo.

Suddenly, they began wailing with laughter.

"Don't worry, it's just A I”.

Being totally ignorant of these things, I couldn't figure out how they had got a picture of a stranger, sitting in our chair, drinking a cuppa, inside our house.

I was still trying to see if I'd forgotten the guy as they were explaining it to me.

I still don't get it...! 

Just before lunch, another surprise. Ian and Rachel turned up from Chester.

Enjoyed a chat with them both, before Rachel went around the corner to visit her Dad, leaving Ian to continue the conversation. 

Got some more washing done and then Ian's sister, my cousin, Elizabeth, called on Whatsapp from her place in Northern France.

It was so lovely to see her again after so long and we had a great chat about her life in France, the possibility of her and Phil moving back to the Wirral and cycling with them in France in 2018 for a spell.

So today, it was a day of family overload, in the very nicest way.

Probably the thing I have missed most about living so far away, is not seeing family, so today was great.

Elizabeth was telling us that our old house on Grange Cross Lane in Newton, was up for sale, so we brought it up and checked out what the current owners had done to it. Looks good too. 

Peg, Julia and I settled into a quiet afternoon, reading, before the evening closed in.