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| Our new bathroom |
The decorating continues! Rooms completed so far include:
back double bedroom, hall, landing, stairs, upstairs cloakroom, dining/family
room, kitchen, bathroom. Outside, the front door has been rubbed down and
repainted, ridge tiles and slates secured on the roof and front garden tidied.
New carpets have been laid in the dining room, hall, landing and stairs. New
vinyl flooring has been put in the upstairs cloakroom, kitchen, conservatory
and bathroom. Not bad for just over 2 months’ work. Currently in progress is
the lounge (stripped to the bare walls and waiting for a plasterer) and the
back single bedroom (rubbed down by me and ceiling being painted by Jeremy as I
write.) We’ve put our own” for sale” sign up in the garden and so far,
we’ve had one viewing and one enquiry.
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| Fiddling on the roof |
So, what else have we been up to? I’ve been to sea again.
I’ve crossed the Irish Sea on board the Isle of Man fast sea cat and spent a
week visiting my Mum, sisters, nieces, nephews and great nephews. The weather
was Caribbean-like and I wore shorts most of the time. Everyone was well and it
was great to catch up with them.
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| The revamped kitchen with new vinyl flooring |
We had a long weekend at Jeremy’s brother’s house in
Cleadon. Gavin and Eileen fed us until we were bursting and took us to the
Sunderland International Airshow, where we spent the afternoon in the sunshine,
on the beach, watching the amazing aerobatics of the Red Arrows and many other
aircraft. There were 12 of us at first including 2 nieces and 6 great
nieces/nephews; then there were 13, closely followed by 15 as another nephew
and great nephew joined us having cycled from St Bees on the west coast of
England to Sunderland on the east coast. It was quite a family reunuion and
called for ice creams all round.
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| Sunderland International Air Show |
We were pleased to hear that Jeremy’s other brother,
Ritchie, is making a good recovery after being in hospital in Berlin with renal
failure, due to contracting salmonella strain D whilst on holiday in Poland.
Never mind Delhi belly and all the nasties in hot countries. It looks like you
have to be careful in Europe.
We’ve been able to see friends in the north east and I’ve
had lunch with one of my ex-colleagues in Lancashire. It was great seeing Ros, Andy, Moyra and Lynda.
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| Gavin, Kathy, Jeremy and marvellous cyclist - Tom. |
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| Nathan, Joseph, Martha and Laura at Cleadon Tower |
Last weekend Emily and Ellie made a marathon 7 hour car journey
from Suffolk to be with us for the weekend. Simon and Erin came down from
Edinburgh and it was lovely to have our own family in our family house once
again. The last time we were all here was probably in 2007 or 2008. It was open
house all weekend. Friends dropped in on both days. On Sunday afternoon there
were 10 people in our front room, most of them seated on chairs we’d bought
from a local charity shop. The lump on Ellie’s neck has disappeared all by
itself, so huge sighs of relief all round.
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| Emily, Simon, Eleanor and Erin at Ivy Cottages. |
Taking a break from decorating today, we decided to go to
our local chandlery and buy some items for Sal Darago only to find it closed
down 18 months ago. Ok, we thought, we’ll go to the caravan place. That had
closed down too. Well, how about going to that pub by the canal for lunch.
Guess what? It had closed as well. So, we had a walk along the towpath and
returned home for lunch.
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| The dining room. |
Enjoy the rest of the summer wherever you are and please
keep in touch.
