Monday 1^st August and Tricia was able to hand over Brownie Hall accounts. As part of her moving on from Winslow Brownies she was keen to hand this particular task off… and someone had volunteered.

The previous week, I was leaving the house one evening off to do some task  when I reversed out of the drive and straight into Fran’s car. Fran was visiting Tricia as a part of the handover for Brownies, and even though I knew her car was there, I still clipped her bumper, and scratched mine, so on the Thursday I was having a little repair done. Work was done just in time for me to leave and go to see West Ham play at their new home, the London Stadium, as it is now called, but to everyone else, the OIympic Stadium. I took the train in and was at the ground very early, met up with Steve, Justine, Alex and Luke who were also there, before taking my seat in the ground. A great stadium…. But not really a football stadium, the distance between the players and the fans means some of the atmosphere is lost. Having said that, the noise when Bubbles was being sung was terrific. The game itself was a bit slow, but West Ham eventually came out on top. We beat NK Dromzale in a Europe League Cup game, to win the tie 4-2 on aggregate. I went home happy…. Even though it took forever to get from the ground to the train.

Friday saw he start of the ‘Greatest Show on Earth’, the Olympics. I wasn’t as ‘up for it’ as I had been for previous Olympics, and didn’t sit up for the opening ceremony. But over the next few weeks, Tricia, Ellie and myself slowly became absorbed with the sporting drama…. Everything from clay pigeon shooting to gymnastics, cycling and track.

Saturday 6^th saw a ‘decking party’ at Wendy and Robs. This was to officially open their new decking… it wasn’t so much a party as a little gathering. Rob did a bbq, Deb was there but no Carlos as he was in LA, Trevor and Jan, Ellie Tricia and myself. Sunday was another practice walk for Tricia.

Monday 7^th and I was off with Tinky WInky, Bob, Jack and Adam to see Fairport Convention in Banbury… it was as much fun as last year, really enjoyed the performance. Pity the auditorium seating was cramped… kept thinking my legs were going to cramp up. On Friday Tricia was off to a funeral, her Great Uncle Reg had passed away the previous weekend. Into his 90’s, and something of a character, he was watching the Grand Prix on tv, got up to go across the room, and that was it, collapsed and gone. Sad to lose him, but a man who lived life to the full.

Saturday Tricia and I went into London to visit Kensington Palace. We used a Xmas present Nikki had given us, tickets for the Palace and tea at a local hotel. We enjoyed the Palace, and picked up some small piece of jewellery for Tricia to commemorate the 30^th wedding anniversary we were celebrating. We enjoyed some champagne with our tea, and then went onto the theatre to see Lion King. Tricia loved the show, even I thought it was pretty good :-). We had a lovely day.

Tuesday was the day of our actual wedding anniversary. 30 years. Well done Tricia :-). We kept things a little low key, but had Nikki and Matt, Rob and Amy, Gran and Gramps, Dave and Manda over for a bbq on the Saturday evening. The weather had been good during the week, but didn’t last to the Saturday, and so I ended up bbq’ing in the gazebo at the end of the garden.

Earlier on the Saturday Tricia had been down Newbury way with a Alice in Wonderland wedding cake she had done, Ellie went down with her for the ride. Rob and Amy stayed over, as Rob was off doing a last Airsoft at Westcott on Sunday. Early in the morning Rob went off with Clayton. Tricia went off to do another practice walk, Ellie went to work and I went to church to do a reading. In the afternoon I watched West Ham scrape a 1-0 win over Bournemouth. After losing to Chelsea in the opening fixture, a welcome 3 points. In the evening I drove Robbie back…. He had enjoyed the airsoft.

On Monday I was off to see a physio about my ongoing shoulder problems. The doctor seemed to think I might have some sort of rotator cuff problem, but the physio felt different and seemed to think one shoulder was out of line due to a previous injury. So he gave me some exercises, but also suggested I might take up Pilates as that would be good for my all round core strength. So, Monday night I got into a Pilates class at the gym…. And enjoyed it :-).

On Wednesday, I was due at MK hospital for a ‘bowel screening’. When I got back from the Pennine Way holiday there was a letter from the NHS telling me how lucky I was now I was 55, I got a free bowel screening. I won’t go into all the details of a home based enema, but I got to the hospital without incident after, and the screening, although uncomfortable showed everything to be in good order… so I suppose it was worth it for the peace of mind.

Thursday…. GCSE results day! Ellie had been getting nervous for a few weeks leading up to this day. We went into the school with her, and she went off to get her envelope. Relief, she had passed them all! An A*, some A’s and the rest were B’s apart from Physics which was a C. Pretty damn good. She put in a form to say she wanted to stay on and do 6th Form at Waddesdon, and was also pleased that her friend Jess was coming to Waddesdon for 6th form.

We went off for a celebration lunch at Nando’s (Ellie’s choice). In the evening I was off to the London Stadium again to see West Ham in the enxt round of the Europa League, against Astra Giurgiu, who knocked us out last year. The game was at 1-1 after the first leg. I had a great view, but West Ham were below par, and we lost 0-1. :-(….

Friday was a day off…. First thing for me was a 6th form admissions meeting at the school. Then we were off to Andrew and Louise’s wedding. It was a lovely day, small and intimate church, a lovely ceremony. The reception was just next to the church. At the end of the day it was off to an overnight in Hungerford. Ellie had a large double room to herself! Her bed was bigger than the one Tricia and I had. After breakfast on Saturday morning we went to Wendy and Rob’s, before going to a bbq at Andrew’s new in-laws. We got home late afternoon on Saturday.

Rob came across on the Sunday as he had a driving lesson… he stayed over as he had more lessons on Mon and Tuesday, and then his driving test on the Wednesday. He passed :-).