Sunday and I wake up in the same strange bed from yesterday. I take my meds and join the rest of the family who are up, which of course includes my youngest grandson. There is breakfast and then I set about replacing the broken power socket in the kitchen which has the new dishwasher plugged into it. Its a strange damage as the back box has shattered and left the front plate in tact. I turn off the power and get to work. It’s fiddly and tricky as the replacement power socket has a deeper back box. All I have as tools are ones I had delivered with the new socket. Its old wiring, still using the red and black coding but it means the wire is solid copper and not flimsy woven wire like the modern Blue/Brown wiring. I finally get the wires matched to the new socket but I have to use the old screws to hold the back box onto the kitchen island wall. Ultimately the new socket is fixed to the wall with a small gap but it is attached soundly and all the wiring is safely enclosed. I plug in the dishwasher, return to the fuse box, cross my fingers and throw the switch. No bang and everything works, job done. I clear the kitchen and then join the family in playing with the array of entertainments that the youngest grandson has.

There is a sleep period for the family except me who sneaks off to watch a rugby match on the laptop. The family go for a walk and later we all dine on the crock pot meal that was prepared earlier. Of course there is only only one thing to do on a Sunday night and that is to watch the Strictly results show followed by the Antiques Road Show. The youngest grandson is asleep in bed and people are flagging so that by the time we have watched the first episode of Show Trail every one is off to bed. I take my night meds and settle down. I tricky night as the young one wakes up full of tears and cries. My partner gets up to help and then returns before the small ones dad returns home from a trip to Poland.

Monday its time to get up and to have breakfast before packing and driving off home. The youngest grandson has just got used to us and is holding his arms up to my partner to be picked up and even gives a small baby kiss to her. We drive the pretty no motorway home stopping just the once for a drink and a comfort break. Once home everyone is tired but despite this my partner and I go shopping to get some food for the evening. Having grabbed provisions we have a coffee and I do a Tesco order before we return home. One thing that I had overlooked when we had the new side way gate put in was that no one could access the emergency key safe at the rear of the house which meant that my eldest daughter could not get in, so it is now relocated. There are always details to attend to that go under the radar. Once in, there is some napping to be done by some, I do my unpacking and do some life admin. With a bit of breathing space I catch up with the blog. This is not the most exciting blog but the very ordinariness of it is a pleasure. For so long the ordinary has been a real test, so to be able to go away for a weekend to be with family has been a real pleasure and reinforces the idea that I am recovering some of my old energy and ability to do things.

There has not been enough energy today to train, so that will be a priority tomorrow. Tomorrow will also be the second day of trying to cut out the sweets, biscuits, cakes, and other sugar based goodies in an attempt to loose weight before Christmas. I find the only way I can manage this is by absolute abstinence, I’m an all or nothing sort of chap when it comes to things like this. It is like when I gave up smoking, I went from 20+ a day to zero in a day, that was the last weekend in August 1981. In the September of 1982 I ran my first marathon. Its pretty much the same with alcohol, the reality is never as good as the fantasy. Only Armagnac lives up to expectations, followed closely by a “medicinal” brandy. However for now the new regime excludes these things. My evening will see me watch some TV, take my night meds and see me go to bed early so I can get to grips with my new regime in the morning.