It is my birthday next week, but it also my son's best friend's birthday so we went away for four days Thurs to Sun for an early celebration. We took the folding caravan to Onich on the west coast of Scotland, in the gloriuos sunshine. We slept, ate, fished and read books. It was wonderful. This time the I managed two books, on was "The Ramblings and Rant of a Middle Aged Mum" by Molly May and Phillip Kearney -a good laugh and "Miss Minimalist, The inspiration to Downsize, Declutter and Simplify" by Francine Jay. This was thought provoking and has inspired me to look at some of our possessions with a new critical eye. I do find that things are kept just in case, sometimes with justification, but it does result in a cluttered household which is hard to keep tidy and clean. We need more space. So this morning the bin went out full for the first time in ages.
Ironically this weekend away had been done on a minimal packing budget to try and give us more space in the folding caravan. It worked really well, and the unpacking was done in no time
The kids are at a Dance School this week, so we have been juggling transport. I borrowed my parent's car on Monday today we cycled the 10 - 12 mile round trip, for me twice. My legs aren't used to doing 20 - 24 miles, especially on a mountain bike tandem. It hurt.
Talking of bike. We bought new paniers after our intial trial run to the dance school at fortnight ago, my husband's 30 year old ones kept jumping off the frame. This has resulted in moving panier frames round and buying a new one, I also bought a two legged stand for the tandem, which is great as it is heavy to hold upright or lift when fallen over.