Friday's Fave Five 23/10/26

Well we are feeling the force of Storm Austen here today and Storm Boelo is set to hit on Saturday.  Thankfully we are only under a yellow warning here in London of strong winds and heavy rain but some parts of the country have seen disruptions for travel etc and in Brighton, (where one of Nick's sisters has a house) part of the derelict pier was washed away into the sea. (Details here.) Storm Boelo will also mainly affect northern parts of the UK so hopefully we will be ok.  It is a bit disconcerting when your Prime Minister starts telling us all we should have a 3 day supply of water, food etc in our homes ready for any disaster.

Thankfully it's not all doom and gloom here and Susanne reminds us each week to find the good things from our week and then we link up here.  Thanks Susanne.

1)  Well firstly I'm thankful for a safe and warm home when the weather is like this.  It's nice to be able to settle into a comfy chair with a cup of tea, a cozy blanket and either a book to read, knitting to do or TV to watch.

2)  Of course I could also do a jigsaw.  I managed to pick up 4 1000 piece jigsaws yesterday for £8 after spotting them on a Facebook local group and the person selling them was just around the corner from me.  Always nice to get a bargain.

3)  Family time this week - we babysat grandchildren Nathan & Ella on Saturday and then we had them and their Mummies here for dinner on Tuesday.  It was parents evening at their school and both of them got good reports from their teachers.  

4)  Getting out and about.  Nick and I went out for Sunday lunch last weekend which was nice.  Then on Wednesday I had a Knit and Natter group meet up which was nice.  I have a new project started. And today, despite the weather, a group of us met up for lunch at a local restaurant.  This was a group started by a local organiser for people who wanted to meet up for coffee/lunch in the local area.  We signed up via the library.  There are a few members that are also part of the Evening Book club plus some others and it's nice to meet up with different people and have a good chat.  We're planning a Christmas meal next.

5)  Being retired.  Not having to get up at a set time.  Being (mainly) able to enjoy my hobbies when I want.  Going to bed when I want.  Staying healthy.  Things I probably take for granted and shouldn't.  So many other things too and it's good to stop and think about all the blessings I enjoy.  We have been part of a child sponsorship scheme for many years now and this week we were given a new child to sponsor who lives in Malawi.  Reading about his community and their struggles reminds me of how fortunate I am.  

Have a good weekend all.

Read then Write - 22/10/26

Well I decided to give up on The Ministry of Utmost Happiness by Arundhati Roy as it was not making me happy at all.  I'm not sure many from the Book Club will have read it when we next meet.

That freed me up to read a couple of +books of my own choice.

Firstly I read this one:

How to Age Disgracefully by Clare Pooley
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Lydia imagines her new job running a senior citizens' social club three afternoons a week will involve drinking tea while playing gentle games of cards, listening to Beatles tracks and reminiscing about food rationing and the Blitz. She does not expect to find a failed actor addicted to shoplifting, a woman who's been hiding from a mysterious and very chequered past, and a prolific yarn-bomber. It turns out that their ideas about how to spend their afternoons are very different. After a tragic accident means the council threatens to sell the community centre where they meet, the social club, aided by their friends in the nursery next door and a geriatric orphaned mongrel, set out to save it. They might not be able to save the hall, but they might just save each other - if their pasts don't catch up with them first.

Loved this one. It's very contemporary and very real. I found myself turning page after page. (Helped by having ordered a large print version from the library!)

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While I was in the library picking that one up I found they had the second book in the Nicci French series featuring DCI Maud O'Connor.  Well of course I had to take that one home too.

The Last Days of Kira Mullan by Nicci French
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Nancy North is ready to put her life back together. After suffering a psychotic break that ruined friendships, stalled her fledgling restaurant, and forced her to move out of her comfortable flat, she’ll do anything to get back to normal. She and her partner Felix—who has been a saint through her recent troubles—move into a new flat for a fresh start.

Nancy is taking her pills, seeing her therapist, and avoiding unnecessary stress. She’s doing absolutely everything right, but something is still very, very wrong. On the first day in the new flat, she hears them again; the mysterious voices that triggered her first episode. It could just be the unfamiliar sounds of water in the pipes, or the screaming baby across the hall, but deep down she knows something more sinister is going on. Her fears are confirmed when the young woman in the downstairs flat, Kira, is found dead. Felix, her neighbors, and even the police insist it’s a tragic suicide, but the pieces aren’t adding up for Nancy. Can she trust her own instincts, or is it all in her head?

Meanwhile, Detective Inspector Maud O’Connor has misgivings about her colleagues’ investigation of Kira’s death. The boys club at the top seems intent on closing the case as quickly as possible, especially since the only person who thinks it could be anything other than suicide is known to be unreliable. But Maud knows what it’s like to be dismissed as an overemotional woman and isn’t so quick to discount Nancy’s claims. As tensions reach an explosive breaking point, the line between fact and delusion becomes dangerously blurred, but Maud will stop at nothing to ensure that the truth comes to light.

Another good page turner from Nicci French featuring DCI Maud O'Connor. Nancy North and her partner Felix have no sooner moved into a new flat in a new area when one of the other tenants, Kira Mullan, is found hanging in her flat. The verdict seems to be suicide. But after the chance encounter Nancy had with Kira on the day she died, Nancy is not so sure. The problem is Nancy is recovering from a breakdown and no one believes her. The more she tries to convince people that Kira's death needs to be investigated the more her partner and neighbours seem to conspire against her. There are some disturbing aspects to the book relating to Nancy's mental health and Maud does not really feature until part three of the book but that proves to be a turning point. I read this in 2 days because I wanted to see how it would end and I wasn't disappointed.

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Wednesday Hodgepodge - 21/10/26

Joyce provides the questions for this each week.  We think up our answers and then the link up is here.  Why not join the fun

1. This week's Hodgepodge lands on 'Back To The Future Day'. October 21, 2015 was the date the movie characters (Marty McFly, Doc, and Jennifer Parker) travelled to in the future in the 1989 film Back To The Future Part 2.

Did you see the movie? Tell us a something about what was happening in your life in the fall of 2015.

I vaguely remember seeing the movie.  Back in 2015 I was still getting used to not being at work and preparing for this:

L - R Elizabeth, (son Michael's wife) Matthew (our son), his wife Amy, Nick, Rebecca (our daughter) her wife Vicky, Me, Maureen (my MIL, RIP) and Michael.

Our daughter's wedding.  They'll celebrate 11 years on Sunday.

2. Which -ber month is your favourite? (September, October, November, December). Explain why.

September is probably my favourite - it's often still warm like summer and the days are still fairly long.  I don't like it when the clocks go back and we have such short days and the weather makes it harder to get out of the house.

3. Red, yellow, orange, bronze...your favourite fall colour to wear? To eat? To see in nature?

Well of those colours I'm more likely to wear red but not very often.  I do love watching the leaves change through all those colours.  Not sure about a favourite food in those colours.

4. What do you miss most about being 20?

Not a lot although my Dad was still alive then - he died when I was 22.  Probably not having responsibilities.  

5. We're roughly three quarters of the way through the year. What's one goal, habit, or mindset you want to purposely carry into the final weeks of the year? Elaborate.

Less procrastination.  I have several things that make me get up at a reasonable time in the mornings, (foodbank, keep fit etc.)  but on the days when there's nothing in the diary I can find myself wasting time on unproductive things.  I need to start getting up at the same time each day, before the dark mornings are here when it will be even harder.

6. Insert your own random thought here.

I don't usually do anything about Halloween but my Nottingham Grandsons will be here for it this year so I need to up my game!  I might even have to get some pumpkins.

Waffling on - 20/10/26

Not sure where the last few days have gone.

Saturday was quite busy - I was at the Foodbank in the morning and then in the evening we babysat our grandchildren Nathan and Ella.  Their Mummies were off out for a meal to celebrate their wedding anniversary which is next week.

We watched Strictly Come Dancing and the kids had a great time trying to copy the dance routines.  They were very excitable and very noisy but they were doing something together and having fun so I left them to it.  Hubby wasn't so impressed - he finds the noise levels hard to cope with but at least he can take his hearing aids out to turn it down lol.

I did manage to get them to sit for a bit before the end and calm down a little which I think helped with bedtime.  Ella can often chat for ages before going to sleep but I think all the dancing had tired her out so it didn't take too long for her to settle and drop off.

Nathan was still awake when the Mummies got back but I don't think he would have been awake for much longer.  At least I hope not!

Sunday was a fairly quiet day but we went out for Sunday lunch for a change.  I blogged about that here.

Yesterday I caught up on a lot of chores at home before we picked the grandkids up from school and dropped them home.

After dinner I went and picked up the foodbank donations from our local supermarket and then did my usual session at the foodbank taking in deliveries from other collectors.  Thankfully everyone got back to the Hub fairly quickly and we didn't have too much to sort out so I was home by 10 pm.  

Today has been more babysitting - the grandchildren both had parents evening at school so we picked them up at the usual time and brought them back here.  We then made dinner for all of us including the Mummies when they got back from seeing the teachers.  We just thought it would make their life a little easier if dinner was taken care of as they didn't get back until just after 6 pm.  All they had to do then was take the kids home and put them to bed.  Hubby actually cooked the dinner (bolognese sauce with pasta) and I'd made banana bread earlier in the day which we had for dessert with custard.

Tomorrow should be a quieter day!