Hello to you and to stick with the established format, health aspects first. There was some tiredness, but following what we crammed in up to last Sunday, to be expected. The main prevalent issue, is the side discomfort, which is more notable. I have simply no idea as to whether that is a ‘good’ pain, or not. Right now, all bets are off, as to what may be going on with my disease. I have booked a blood test for the 22nd, which is 1 week ahead of the chat with Dr, Rahman. My lower left back is also increasingly tight, but we did postpone our last planned physio, a while back, as I was in the midst of the radiotherapy; a new session is booked for Monday afternoon.

I managed to undertake two walks this week, with the first one on Thursday. That produced a time of 13:29 - my first sub-13;30 in a while. The second one was Sunday morning, which was 13:36, but that was after a couple of hours of housework and other chores, so I’ll take that!

Despite the mental distractions of what may be going on with the disease and the side / groin discomfort, I continue to try and focus on what I am trying to get done in all other areas.

Whilst I was in Normandy, Sandra’s sister Gail, and her husband Nicky, arrived for a few days; their second trip since my AD world unfolded. I caught up with them on Sunday evening and they remained with us through to Tuesday morning. It was great to see them again and I am also appreciative of them making the sizeable detour to the East coast of England, to take time and spend with us (they were on the West coast and some other areas, over the previous week). Besides spending time catching up and lots of banter going on, we had the chance to enjoy a nice meal at one of our proven favourite eating establishments (this week’s photo).

Me being away for 4 days was hard for the family - Sandra and I do not often spend time apart from one another. The grandkids made a short visit on Monday afternoon, as they wanted to see me (I did a couple of phone calls whilst away, but that’s not the same). They returned on Tuesday evening, as part of the changed swimming lessons routine - so we got the chance to spend more time with them.

After Gail and Nickly left, Sandra and I spent a few days catching up on various necessary tasks, but also just taking it easy. Sandra had the week off work and it was nice to slow things down and spend some time together. The weather in the Southeast, up to Thursday, was very poor and more like winter, instead of June!

Thankfully, the weather improved notably from Friday morning. Sandra and I took a trip over to the north Kent coast and had a very pleasant few hours there. We repeated that on Saturday morning and visited a local beauty spot not far from home, but one that we do not often think of. Quality time together is an immeasurable commodity and it was superb to be able to do that, with the nice surprises of where we visited.

Whilst over that way, we took the opportunity to call in with Alanna, Dan and the grandkids (we usually see them on a Saturday, but they had a changed routine that day). On Sunday, we got to spend time with Karl, Rachel and Grace (and Alanna’s dog, who Karl had ‘temporarily taken possession of’). A nice way to round off the week, and nice to have time with so many family members, in different settings.

The book focus took a back seat this week, but a little work was done on the Münkemer project, alongside the ‘117’ project, as I received some key files from the archives in the USA. Writing is a key passion and I find that I have an inbuilt need to spend time researching every week. Whilst the time spent on that was much less, being able to do some, was good for me.

In summary, a non-routine week, and one filled with family time, which was great for the soul.

Your comments and input also provide that ‘food for the soul’ and I thank you for them all.