South Africa: Reunited!

August 2026

Sam and Zoe invited us to stay with them for a few days starting on the 4th of August. On that morning, we had an email to say that the train had been cancelled! Sam investigated and found that it wasn’t cancelled at all. We took a train from Penrith, changed at Crewe...

July 2026

Apologies for the late delivery of the July blog. I started off the month with a Ramblers’ walk – not too long, not too hot - and a welcome, cool breeze. We started to consider what we needed to do prior to joining our cruise to Iceland. I visited the Post Office to...

June 2026

On the first day of the month, Annabel went swimming in Askam’s open air pool. Darren came to finish painting the porch, the kitchen cupboards and the banister. Unfortunately, we both forgot not to touch the banisters! He made a very good job of painting the porch and...

May 2026

We went out with Tom for the day to Crummock Water in Rannerdale, where there were expanses of bluebells across the fells. Afterwards we had lunch at the Kirkstyle Inn near Loweswater. I then went out with the photography group to Flakebridge for more displays of...

April 2026

We were very pleased that Harriett had wanted to visit us for a few days. We stopped off in Warrington at Steve and Karen’s house before we drove to Manchester Airport. Harriett and her boyfriend, Zak, flew from Amsterdam, where they are both students at the...

March 2026

I joined the U3A photography group outing to the Lakeland Wildlife Oasis at Hale Milnthorpe. On another Friday, I was back out with the photography group, this time at Colbeck. Alan, the group leader, gave me a lift as usual. I try to contribute by paying for the...

February 2026

February 2026 Good news at the start of the month – Sam will be coming to stay with us later this month. The Guardian newspaper online has changed. Previously, I’ve had access to the full paper at a reasonable price but that has changed. I’ve now started to get a free...

January 2026

A very happy New Year to both my readers. We spent New Year’s Eve at the Village Hall, wine tasting, with our Penrith friends, Phil and Deborah. We had an evening meal there and saw the New Year In. We do get on very well with them. They had breakfast with us on New...

November 2025

The month started with a photo in the local paper (Cumberland and Westmorland Herald) and another on their annual calendar. A couple of our neighbours joined us for a Sunday evening roast beef dinner. We went to the leisure centre in Appleby, Annabel in the swimming...

October 2025

I started the month walking with the Culgaith walkers, led by Big John. These short walks are aimed at people’s health and well-being and are supported by the Ramblers. Back at the village hall we were treated to coffee and homemade cakes. What was not to like? The...

Sat 2 April

We continued to explore our immediate neighborhood. The familiar (to us) European architecture contrasted strongly with the brightly coloured African buildings. A local artist’s gallery was a real revelation. We were particularly taken with the artwork formed from recycled materials including bicycle tyres, bottle tops and Coke cans.

We had been looking forward to seeing the family for months and then here they are. A wonderful reunion.

Mike Hollis’ Blog