Author: Garry

Garry McGivern September 2017 update. Well, the time just seems to be flying by, and yet another month has passed. We’re now into October! September was a good month though, with a trip to London. And I managed to get away for a weekend on my bike and a few days away camping with Julie in Oxford.

London

The beginning of the month started off with a trip to London for the “Radio 2 live“ concert in Hyde Park.

It must be about 40 years since I last went to a concert! But this one was ideal as it was aimed at our age group. Middle-aged grey-headed old people! So there was no pushing and shoving to get to the front. Most people took chairs to sit on or a blanket to sit on. And generally, they brought a picnic! All very civilised! We, however just took a groundsheet and brought some food there at extortionate prices!

The Concert

The concert itself was very good. It featured the Stereophonics, Rick Astley, James Blunt, Shania Twain, Blondie and Take That, to name a few.

It was a very enjoyable day which was wet at times with outbreaks of rain. But that didn’t dampen things, and it was still very enjoyable, albeit a rather long day!

Cycle touring

I finally managed to get a weekend away on the bike! Every weekend throughout the summer, I seem to have either been working or had something on!

Seeing as it was only the weekend I had, I headed down to the New Forest to my usual campsite at Brockenhurst.

The campsite was very quiet, as you’d expect for this time of year. But what people were there were a real pain in the proverbial!

There was a rather large party that had set up fairly close to me while I was out getting supplies! (Or rather down the pub!) They were up nearly all night playing music and starting cars! If it wasn’t for the fact that I would have had to get out of my cosy sleeping bag and get dressed, I would have said something! Also, I remembered some of those Isle of Wight trips that we used to do, and we would be sat up talking into the small hours. We, too, probably annoyed a lot of people! Although we never started any cars and the music wouldn’t have been from us either, that would have been coming from the bikers do in the next field! In the end, I just lay there thinking that surely they’re going to go to bed soon! Which they did at about 3 am!

The Isle of Wight

My second night away I went to the Isle of Wight, again at one of my regular campsites.

After just two nights away I had to go home due to work commitments once again! But it was still nice to be touring again, even if it was just local and places that I frequent on a regular basis!

Oxford

Julie was on holiday at the end of the month, so we decided to go camping for a few days and ended up in Oxford.

It was a nice few days away, wandering around the streets of Oxford, exploring a lovely old indoor market and all the old college buildings and stopping off at some of the old pubs that were hidden away down lanes and alleyways. My particular favourite was the White Horse on Broad Street, which had been featured in several films and TV series, notably Morse.

We also had a nice ride along the river Thames to Sandford Lock where we stopped off for a pint.

August has been another busy month with a day out sailing trip, loads of days out and a broken bone!

Sailing

Well, the month got off to an excellent start with a boys day out sailing to the Isle of Wight. Although we never actually made it! It was a bit too windy! Because of the wind we just had a sail around Chichester harbour for a few hours before mooring up off East head beach where we ate our sandwiches and drank beer! After lunch, the wind eased off, so we decided to venture out into the Solent to see what it was like! It was still a bit too rough for us, so after having a bit of a bobble around in the waves, we headed back into the calm of the harbour and sailed around there.

Holiday

Julie had a weeks holiday, so I took the week off as well. We had intended to go camping for a few days, but in the end and for several reasons, we decided not to go and just went out for days. One of the reasons for not going away was that on the day (Sunday) we had intended to go away on, the weather was just too beautiful, and I didn’t fancy sitting in a car for a few hours trying to get somewhere!

ARUNDEL

After deciding not to go away, we got on the bikes and cycled the nine miles to Arundel and spent the afternoon milling around shops and bars. Or rather Julie did the shops and I did the bars!

Doctors

We didn’t do very much today (Monday) as I spent the morning at the doctors! Which was the other reason for not going away! I’d been feeling unwell for the past couple of weeks, and things didn’t seem to be getting any better. I kept feeling hot, my skin was all clammy, I was short of breath, had a chesty cough, was feeling confused (nothing new there!) and just generally felt unwell. The doctors were excellent and gave me a thorough examination. In fact so thorough that after the first doctor had done her examination, she got another doctor to examine me for a second opinion! Surprisingly or not after all their tests they didn’t know what was wrong with me! They did give me some antibiotics for my chest though!

Bosham

After spending the morning at the doctors, we decided to stay local and drove to the historic village of Bosham for a wander round and a late pub lunch.

Brighton

Our second day out was a cycle ride to Brighton. We initially got the train to Worthing then cycled the remaining 12 miles along the seafront into Brighton. Once there we parked the bikes up had lunch and sat outside a bar, drinking and people watching for a few hours. Later on in the day, Julie had to have the obligatory trip to the shops, which suited me fine I just went and sat outside a different pub! After having supper, we caught the train home and got indoors at around 10.30.

Portsmouth and Gosport

On Wednesday we headed in the opposite direction and went to Portsmouth to see the new aircraft carrier “Queen Elizabeth.”

At home

Thursday was a day at home pottering around.

Hospital and farmers market

Well, at least the week finished the way it started with me being in the care of the medical establishment! I somehow managed to break my thumb! Well, I think I know! The day before I fell off my bike (don’t ask how!) anyway I knew that I’d grazed my other hand and thought that was it. It was while sitting having breakfast the following morning that I noticed just how swollen my thumb was! And it was getting blacker and blacker! When nurse Julie saw it, she decided that I needed a trip to the A&E department to get it checked out. After being assessed and x-rayed, the doctor told me that I had broken it! It wasn’t a bad break as it was at the top and not on any of the joints and should heal in six to nine weeks!

Facebook

I found a new app for my phone which enables me to make videos, so I’ve been having a bit of fun with that. Here’s a link to one of the videos that I uploaded to my Facebook Page.

 Rest of the month

The rest of the month has been spent working the same as most of the summer has been! I can’t believe that the summers over and I’ve not been away on any tours!, Hopefully, Autumn will be nice, work will ease off a bit and I’ll manage to get away!