A big thank you to all care workers out there, you do an invaluable job.

Absolutely – going back a few years now but we used to have a lad in our Scout group who was at a specialist school due to autism etc, and the school arranged for one of the support workers to come to a jamboree so the lad could have what must have been for him, a life changing experience.

Remarkably, given his day job, the support worker stepped up to being a regular unit helper with another Scout group, he’d enjoyed his own experience at the jamboree that much.

@tjagain

Thanks TJ have sent PM

We are on holiday and are departing our holiday cottage by 10.30 as is usual. My son has a last minute job interview online at 10.30. We’ve bought a new shirt and tie from second hand shop yesterday.

Then dropped into the Village Hotel just down the road last night and asked about basically using the corner of the cafe for him to have an interview today.

We’ve arrived this morning and the staff have given him an empty conference room to himself, set him up with a desk, drink of water, pad & pen and made sure his IT was all working, including plugging him into the fast network.

Properly above and beyond – really generous. 🤗

https://www.village-hotels.co.uk/

^^^^^^ Wow! That’s a really nice thing to do.

Hope the interview goes well

Thats fantastic Matt. Hopefully that support will encourage him to smash the interview!

Well, I know that I’ve had a good couple of days as my iPad doesn’t recognise my fingerprints! This means I’ve been doing what I enjoy most, something manual and my prints have worn off. Yesterday I was chopping logs for kindling and storing it ready for the big event today. This involved having our two year old grandson last night ready for the arrival this morning of “big tipper truck” and three cubic metres of logs! Needless to say last night saw a few short interruptions to our sleep and today has been physically tough but to see him interact with us and our dogs, entertaining himself at times has been a joy as usual. He’s “helped” with log stacking, sweeping (one of his favourite activities) and tidying away, he’s had Sunday dinner (yes I know it’s Monday) and gone home tired and happy. I think how lucky we are to have the chance to pass love and support on to another generation and that really, that’s what life should be about. I could have a fast car and lots of foreign holidays but when l die what would have been the point of that? Much better to help someone along the way and then they will hopefully behave in the same way on their path through life. No one will remember what sort of car you had or your bronzed looks, they will remember if you gave them a hug and support when they needed it.

Lovely. 🤗

Spot on wheelsonfire, you may have found the meaning of life (don’t tell Douglas Adams). Alice Roberts thinks it’s possible that we have evolved to live beyond our reproductive years because child rearing takes so long and is so complex it needs more than the parents’ input

A nice sunny day here in Derbyshire, I took a break from repairing my pressure washer and was rewarded with a pair of bright yellow Brimstone butterflies flying around the garden! They hibernate in cold weather as adults and emerge on warm days, they may well be the origin of the word “butterfly” as the colour reminded people of the colour of butter. Spring is on it’s way!

Spring is officially here in NE Derbyshire! Took a break and wandered up the garden to sit and listen to the birds. Apart from the disproportionately Loud song of a couple of competing wrens I was joined by a Chiff Chaff, this may just be passing through or it may be a resident but I always see it as a harbinger of spring. Later on in the year I’ll probably get annoyed with it but for now it’s very uplifting.

Just returned from a holiday in Cuba (two taxis, two trains and two flights there and back). Everything was on time and just worked.

There’s a lot of frogspawn in our pond. Also the bit of sun we had this morning was heartwarming.

Gorgeous sunshine for this mornings ride, Warren Lane was dry for the first time in months!

Had a great ride yesterday, warm and sunny, birds chirping, trees budding, lovely stuff. Clocks have changed, best day of the year. Winter can piss right off, feeling hyped for a good year!

The last two Saturdays I’ve been out riding I’ve come to the aid of riders who had everything they needed to fix the puncture except tyre levers.

Last week it was a couple of young lads, only 12-13ish, they knew what they were doing but were desperately grateful that I’d stopped to help them. Especially when I suggested that they check all round the tyre after they found the first thorn, and they found the second. We’ve all been there! I said I was glad to help and hopefully they’d be able to pay it forward when they saw someone needing help.

Yesterday was a guy who was actually waiting for his wife to come and pick him up as he was only a couple of miles from home. I could have left him then but he was a lovely guy with an incredibly rich West African accent so we carried on chatting and fixing the tyre till his wife turned up.

😃

Love this thread.

My time in Dawson city has been greatly enhances by the loveliness of folk.  Setting me up with amazing once in a lifetime experiences and being enthusiastic in response to my joy.

Its been a big step forward for me and without these lovely folk it would have been a lesser experience

I had cataract op on Friday. It was awful – complete sensory overload and discomfort off the scale but not really life threatening or that serious

😢

The staff (not the surgeon) were unbelievably caring and nice to me acknowledging it was a feccin awful thing to have at 9am on Good Friday

I managed to mow the lawn yesterday! I take that as a little victory, Lord knows when it will get done again.

Bloody weather’s getting me down.

acknowledging it was a feccin awful thing to have at 9am on Good Friday

There’s kind of precedent for that, if you believe the stories behind the chocolate eggs

My lovely French neighbours know that my wife is away this week, so when they saw me walking past with the dog yesterday morning, they wished me a ‘Bonne Paques’ and then invited me to join them for a roast lunch with all of the trimmings. I’m sure they think that I’m incapable of cooking for myself, but I had actually run out of sensible food, so it was a massively lovely offer. And then I got to watch the Tour of Flanders on their massive TV too…

Got back from the club road ride yesterday, not feeling completely broken and now just that nice tired ache in the legs. Maybe fitness will return

I started this thread two years ago, if I’m honest, as a means of self therapy. On the whole I’m now a lot more positive, stopping drinking at home and limiting intake on the rare occasions I go out has helped – I now drink less in a year than I used to in a month and overall feeling better, although still very tired but I expect that is because I work very hard and think I’m 18! Had my positivity knocked a bit since Christmas as one of my former work colleagues and friend suffered a stroke, he is very fit and active, but has now been in hospital since with a loss of vision and movement down one side. I’ve known him since I joined the fire service on my eighteenth birthday, a long time ago. His wife was severely injured in a collision (caused by someone who’s skills didn’t line up with their expectations) over forty years ago so life has been a long list of operations and hospital appointments for them. Throughout this they both stayed positive and brought up a lovely lad. I’m struggling to keep positive as I’m getting feelings of doom similar to when my younger brother was dying a long and painful death.

However, in line with the thread title! A group of former colleagues are supporting all three of them as best we can, we’re going to help sort the house out which is three quarters through a very painstaking and thorough renovation (by my self taught friend who does everything “right” so we won’t tell him), we’re visiting and helping with transport and keeping spirits up although I’m told to #### off occasionally!

I’m also focusing on family and grandson and making sure my paperwork, house and workshop are in order, just in case!

keep up the positivity y’all! X

I spent a couple of hours yesterday outside a beachfront cafe with my wife and son sitting in the sunshine listening to two guys playing acoustic guitars.

The waves were gently lapping behind us, and we were surrounded by people who just seemed happy to be able to enjoy being outside (after what seems like months of wet weather). A mix of youngsters, families, couples, dog walkers, cyclists and scooters all mingling together and enjoying the laid back vibe.

For a couple of hours all life’s problems forgotten!

Really proud of my youngest. They attended a try to row week long course at ASRA last August  in Aberdeen (an amazing club). Two weeks ago they competed on the Thames at the Schools Heads (same course as The Boat Race). Today they are going on a week long training camp in Poland. In three weeks they will race for Scotland. They race as part of a J16 crew. At 14 they have had to learn how to be self reliant, that older kids might not quite see you as a peer, and that they absolutely deserve their seat in the boat. Anyone doing sport at that age at an elite level is amazing.

Got back from the club road ride yesterday, not feeling completely broken and now just that nice tired ache in the legs. Maybe fitness will return

Serves you right for doing a Hilly Inters!

A close friend invited me for a long walk this Easter Sunday, then the whole family and I had a superb roast dinner, this is all because I’m on my own at the moment (and injured).
Then today out walking 2 young children seemed to take a shine to me as I was taking photos of their lambs. They took me into their farm yard and proudly showed me their barn containing four pigs, several other sheep about to lamb and best of all their highland cow that is due to calf today. They were about 5 and 7 years of age, very engaging and knowledgeable about their animals. They then took me up to their field to show me their other cattle. I wondered if they sensed I’m on my own today and was a little sad. These two small beings have absolutely made my Easter.

Also another close friend left me a little gift in the crate on our doorstep.
There are some good, kind people around.

We’ve the whole campsite to ourselves – 10m from the water, overlooking Jura.

And I’ve a sample of Glen Scotia I’ve just opened…

Inspired by Stridsland’s 26” frames (but unable to afford one), I decided to build a bike with some hardly used 26+ dynamo wheels that I couldn’t sell, so had sitting about.

First really long ride today, via The Roaches, and it was great! Surly Bridge Club frameset has worked out perfectly. Saw a hare, lots of calling & displaying Curlews, plus a male Hen Harrier!

Had a nice chat with a lad on a road bike as we both steamed in the sunshine after the mornings rain.  Fantastic day.

Last night I realised a dream / bucket list – I finally after many many years of waiting went to see Beverley Knight sing live.

She brought me to happy tears – amazing voice seemingly without effort.  Thank you Beverley.

After a chilly and wet day in Copenhagen yesterday, with wife and teenage daughter being difficult, today the sun came out, the temperature shot up and Copenhagen turns out to have one of the best zoos we’ve been to.

Suspect the animals were pleased to be out in the sun, but polar bears swimming over your head and 8 week old elephant calfs are pretty amazing.

Park run number 242 – closing in on 250…. incredibly muddy at oakwell but fun nonetheless. Good turn out – not raining but mud lots of it and big puddles……

My second ride today on my Kona Wo fatbike. I was considering my first full suspension but couldn’t really justify the cost and also the extra maintenance so went a bit left field with a 2022 sale model. It’s serving it’s purpose so far which was to reignite my enthusiasm and it makes me feel like I did with my first mountain bike (a rigid Saracen) back in the mid nineties. It’s brought the fun back, now to get my cycle fitness and skills back too!

Watching The Assembly with Michael Sheen on iPlayer, it is a joy.

Our 40th wedding anniversary (Ruby) today – blimey that crept up quickly 😍

Had a grand day out – lunch in Auchterarder, windy (very) walk around the Queen’s course at Gleneagles (course closed so no golfists), coffee and cake in Gleneagles Hotel 😃

@Sandwich just watched The Assembly, very moving, uplifting and excellent.

Cycle commute in the shorter than 3/4  length shorts and thin ls top and thin t shirt this morning. Just shorts and t shirt on way home. Lovely relaxed cycle home.

Had a really good day today, not mind blowing but feeling really satisfied with life.

Day off in lieu for working Good Friday, treated the morning like a normal working day, taking the dogs out at 6am, then popped over to the gym, then had a play on the guitar as well as doing  chores.

Just need to make these days the norm.

The absolutely lovely chap who stopped and then offered an inner tube as I struggled to find and patch multiple punctures in the rain and wind. You star.

(Somewhere near Davidsons Mains, Edinburgh, about 1.30pm, green gravel bike)

Oh, and 64km of 70km in DRY weather with mainly tailwind. 👍👍👍

And mrs_oab made it. ⭐⭐⭐