This weeks training - 16th -22nd Jan - bumper edition

I can't believe it! Where has January gone.  February is less than a week away and I'm still wondering what happened to Christmas? Don't tell me, its an age thing I know. Also, is it just me or are you wondering where has the winter gone in the UK? Hasn't it been unbelievably mild. I've been walking the dog in the morning wishing I had put my shorts on. What's going on? The birds have been singing as though spring is just around the corner. Its January, it should be freezing cold and miserable for Pete's sake (who is Pete?)

    

Stop press - Update! It has just snowed (27th Jan) all's well!

The wind last Saturday - we have palm trees in Hayfield....honest!

Well it might have been mild recently but wow was it windy on Saturday. I had decided to do a training ride down to Chelford in Cheshire. Its pretty much due west from where I live in Hayfield and about 22 miles by the hilly back roads. The weather forecast had predicted 60-70mile per hour wind from guess which direction? Yes! Due west. It was like cycling into a wind tunnel. I could not believe how strong it was. I had to seriously battle to stay upright let alone make any headway. In the end I managed to struggle round and it was a good workout, but boy was I goosed.

Hayfield to Chelford - looks easy on a map

Sunday morning Rosemary and I went on our secret walk with Monty. We call it our secret walk as we never see anyone whilst we are out. The hills around Hayfield can get really busy on a weekend but not on our walk for some reason. It is very peaceful and we love it. So we keep the precise route details a secret. We had to blindfold Rosemary's cousin Susan and husband Graham once when they wanted to come on our secret walk.

Our secret glade - on our secret walk

This shot might give things away if you know the area. If you know please don't tell anyone

Rosemary's cousin Susan with husband Graham - just before we blindfolded them

'A Winters walk' in Hayfield - a short film (not our secret walk)

you might need to watch this on a desktop or laptop due to new Youtube rules on music for smartphones and tablet devices

I had arranged to go mountain biking with my friends after our walk. We had a visit from Seb or Sebastien Lefebvre to give him his full title. Seb is French Canadian and from Montreal. He has been mountain biking with us for years now whenever he is over on business. He has also joined us on our two expeditions to the Alps. Seb shares the same unfortunate nickname of 'crash bandicoot' with myself. We are the only two members of the group who have ended up in hospital on our expeditions.

Meet Crash Bandicoot 2

Crash bandicoot 1 & 2 with errrrr.... ice tea - honest!

The gang! left to right - Jon, Seb, Mark, Adam, Bob, Steve, Me and Alex at Les Arc

You may have seen one of my earlier blogs concerning a little trip I made to hospital in a helicopter. Well Seb had a nasty accident on our last Alps trip too. However, instead of stupidly crashing on the first day of the holiday (like myself) Seb was far more considerate and made his fall the last day of the holiday. Unfortunately he quite badly hurt himself, breaking his collarbone in two places. The French mountain rescue team couldn't get a helicopter for Seb, so he had to endure a bone crunching ride down the side of a mountain in a Land Rover. Luckily he received very good treatment at the medical centre in Tignes. They strapped him up and he got on a flight home to Canada the very next day. We actually reckon he crashed on purpose to get a flight home. The reason being, we'd driven to the Alps in a van with no air conditioning. 19 hours in a van across Europe is hard going, especially when one of the lads had had a curry the night before (Jon).

Journey to the Alps - a short film

again sorry if you can't watch this on your mobile or tablet

The point of impact - ouch!

 

French mountain rescue - we know the drill by now

No helicopter for Seb 

Anyway Sunday was Seb's very first attempt to ride a mountain bike in nearly 18 months since the accident. He was understandably a bit apprehensive as we all chatted in the street. The talk was of being careful and to take it easy for the first couple of miles. So it was a bit of a surprise when he got on the bike and promptly fell straight off. Of cause we all thought this was hilarious. I then found out that it wasn't due to lack of riding time but the four bottles of wine he had shared with Mark and Fiona the night before. This wasn't going to be a fast ride.



Anyhow it was a really enjoyable couple of hours out on the hills with the lads. No one fell off and we were greeted by Fiona with steaming cups of tea and bacon butties when we got back. Lovely!

Left to right - Steve, Bob, Alex, Seb and Mark

Thanks to Fiona for making bacon butties.....................................what?

Ok Ok Rosemary just told me off. I've got to explain the picture above.

So this isn't Fiona's normal make up. It was all part of our 10th anniversary street party celebrations a couple of years ago (10 years since the street was built)

Fiona being made up..........

.........and me too

I'm a tiger gggrrr..........with Ben from next door

I'm sure that must be worth a donation? If you think so too you can donate very simply to my charity at JustGiving - Brianslejog

Memories of my Sisters part4 - Pranks in the woods

Do you ever get sudden memories of events that happened in your past that make you stop and shudder? Something you would rather forget about or that maybe you are not proud of? I Do! I try and shake them out of my head but they usually just sit there in the corner of my mind, tapping at my conscience and bugging me for ages. It usually takes an important task or conversation with someone to clear it from my mind. Luckily I may not get the same memory again for months or years. Well I just had on of those memories!

How my mind works! - Actual x-ray of my head. There are one or two cogs missing. Apparently Omega 3 fish oil is good for that

This particular memory has to do with our back garden. We had a really magic garden at home. Nothing posh mind you. It had a flattish section of lawn that was about fifteen yards long and twenty yards wide and then slopes quite steeply down a banking of about another twenty yards to a fenced boundary. Beyond was a large wood that led to farmland and the river Goyt.

Dad had been very lucky in getting the end plot with such a great garden. At the time he was an electrician working for Wimpeys the builders. My Mum and Dad wanted to move from the two bed terraced house in the centre of Marple, as Janet was two years old and Mum was expecting me. That house was going to get crowded very soon.

Outside our house - Janet and Erika with my cousins Derek & Jackie with Grandad and Auntie Barbara

Dad had spotted the large garden at the end house of semis that was part of the new Marple Hall estate. He had been first fix wiring it and decided that was the house for us. We moved in in 1967 (well I say 'we' - I had very little to do with it as I wasn't born till the June) It was to be our house throughout our childhood and Mum and Dad still live there today.

Over the years I noticed our house seemed to have a lot more plug sockets than our neighbours...funny that!.... err moving swiftly on!

"Friends Romans, Countrymen" - Grandma and me in our new back garden

The back garden was like an adventure playground. I think most of the neighbouring kids preferred our garden as they always seemed to be round there. Sometimes there would be ten children running amok. It used to get a bit of a mud fest when it had been raining and Dad would go spare when he came home from work and saw the state of the grass. "Why don't you go and play in another garden for a change" was a regular one or "how come they always come round here?"

A long lost photo of Janet, Me and Erika with ice lollies at Lyme Park

The truth was that our garden was just ace, so we didn't want to. You could roll down the hill in the summer and skid/sledge down it in the winter. We could climb trees and have crab apple fights. We made dens in the bushes and dared each other to go into the woods beyond. Some say they were haunted. whhhhoooh (that was a scary ghost noise)

Mum in her Manchester airport uniform - in our ace back garden

Janet and Erika used to join in with me and my friends. They were both rough and tumble types, especially Janet. Erika was a bit more of a 'girly' girl but still liked to be outside playing with the boys. We used to tease the girls about the woods being haunted. I would make up stories about the ghost of Marple Hall that roamed the woods. Erika especially, would get a bit frightened and go and tell Mum. Janet didn't believe the stories for one minute and would tell me to stop messing around. One day I decided I had to convince Janet there really was something in the woods. So I hatched a cunning plan.

Marple Hall before it was pulled down in the 1950's. 

Marple Hall was home to the Bradshaw Family since prior to the English civil war. Judge Bradshaw who owned the house, was famously a signatory on the death warrant of Charles the 1st. It is said that the ghost of the horseman that took the warrant to London, rides through Marple Hall once a year.

Anyway back to my story. A few days earlier I had broken the pedal reflector strip off my Raleigh Chopper (remember those). I was just as clumsy an oaf back then as I am now. It had shattered into little squares and was beyond repair. I liked the way the bits reflected when light shone on it and an idea came to me. I must have been about seven or eight years old so god knows how my mind was working.

The next day I sneaked down the garden after school. I think it was just before dark as I climbed over the fence into the woods beyond. I have to say I was a little bit nervous of the ghost myself, so I hurriedly took out the small reflective pieces from my pocket along with sellotape and scissors. A minute or two later and I was done and quickly running up the garden.

 I couldn't wait to eat tea and test out my plan on the girls. Sure enough as soon as we had finished I told Janet and Erika that I had seen the ghost down the garden. Janet didn't believe me so I said I would show them. The plan was coming together. I got a torch and we snuck out of the back door and headed to the top of the grass banking where we could see the dark woods beyond the fence. I told them the ghost was definitely in those woods and that I had seen it earlier. Trouble was Harvey had crept out and joined us. He was only three years old. He wanted to see what was going on too, so I shone the torch down the garden and into the woods. There they were! Two really scary pairs of red eyes staring back at us. Erika screamed "there it is" and dashed back to the house yelling all the way. Harvey started sobbing his eyes out which made Janet cry too, as she carried Harvey back up the garden. I was mortified! I didn't think it would be that scary.

The dark woods at the bottom of our garden

The thing was I had only taped one pair of reflective eyes to the tree? But there were two pairs looking at me. I nearly soiled myself as I ran up the garden as fast as I could. I got to the back door only to be met by Mum, wondering what on earth was going on.

I never owned up to my prank. I would have been mincemeat. Harvey was unconsolable and Erika wouldn't come out of her room. Neither of them would go near the garden for ages after that. I am sure Janet suspected me of foul play too.  I felt really bad about what I had done for a long time. I was also a bit scared to go in the woods for a while. What were those other eyes? It must have been a fox or a cat......or was it something else. Whhhhhoooh (that scary ghost again)

The horseman had been at the blue smarties again

Another LEJOGer in Hayfield - or should it be LEJOGLEer

It never ceases to amaze me how generous people have been since I started this challenge. Whether its a donation, someones precious time or maybe the lending of something that will help me on my ride. I have met some great people too.

Naomi & Neil Coverley

This week, Rosemary and I had the great pleasure to meet Neil Coverley and his lovely wife Naomi.

Neil has recently cycled  Lands End to John O'Groats. But what made things even more interesting was that Naomi had followed Neil in a camper van! Just as Rosemary intends to do with me. Neil very kindly invited us round to their house during the week to recount their adventure. It was absolutely fascinating and very helpful. We learned so much from them both. Rosemary was very interested in Naomi's experiences of driving a camper and how they both divided the day into meet points for for food, drink, maps and changes of clothes if it was really wet.

Most people would be more than happy with just finishing LEJOG. But that wasn't the end of it. Neil, with the tireless help of Naomi made it to JOG in 10 days which is pretty good going. He then just turned around and started walking back to Lands End.

Like me, Neil ran a blog before and during his marathon challenge. One post stood out when he got to John O Groats.

"My companion for the last 10 & half days is having a well earned rest!! She has done her job well and has been as reliable as ever! She never faltered once, responded immediately when I called upon her, looked as beautiful today as the day I first set eyes on her! I'll miss you when you go home my darling! I just hope Naomi lifts you down from the bicycle rack carefully!!"

Neil (right) with one of the many walkers at John O'Groats, ready to start the long walk back

Unfortunately, 19 days into the return walk and near Carlisle, he suffered a stress fracture to his shin. Now most people would have just given up at this point, but I get the impression he is quietly 'as hard as nails'. A stress fracture is very painful and requires plenty of rest. But Neil decided he could not give in. So after purchasing a little fold up bike with tiny wheels, he set off on again from Carlisle. Amazingly he made it back to Lands End a bit sore but very relieved a week later.

Neil having been 'There & Back'

Neil showed me the mapping software he used to plot a route. He is a freelance engineer and I could tell he has a methodical mind with regard to deciding on a route. His idea was to draw a straight line between start and end points of a days riding, super-impose that onto a highly detailed road map, then to follow that line as closely as possible using the available roads. He tried to stick to the quieter A or B roads wherever he could, but essentially used common sense. So if the busy A road was the only option without going miles of course then that was the road he chose.

Neil had printed out a hundred of these map sections covering the whole of his ride and numbered each one. He then made another set of copies for Naomi to use, so that they could refer to the map number by phone if either was having difficulty finding a route or rendezvous point. So he only had to carry around four or five of these maps at once. The rest could be safely stored in the camper until required. It made for a very simple but very efficient way of plotting and following the route without need for GPS and navigation equipment. Brilliant!

What is even more brilliant is that Neil has offered to do the same for me. So I am going to decide on a basic route we can and plot it out more accurately. I will then have my definitive route to show you all.

Anyway as a keen road cyclist as well as mount biker Neil asked if wanted to do a training ride this weekend. Up until now I just have not gone any significant distance on my road bike and have been acutely aware of this. Neil suggested we head out into Cheshire to get some miles in my legs. I had also never ridden with anyone on the road before so have no idea as to how good or bad I am.

It was very cold and we had to wrap up warm. We headed off for Wilmslow and Alderley Edge, which is a reasonably flat route, ideal for a first ride. We set off at a good pace and I managed to stick with Neil most of the way. It was obvious that he was a stronger rider than me but I never felt like I was holding him up.

Next time I will make sure I fully charge the bloomin batteries.

We covered nearly 40 miles and I felt ok at the end. I was really pleased as I think 80 to 100 miles in a day is achievable now. It's just putting 10-12 days of this together that I have to get my head round.

Once again a big thank you to Neil & Naomi Coverley. Rosemary and I really appreciate your help.

Just gone over 3000 site visits

The other week I was messing about with the blog design template doodah when I saw the blog stats section. This allowed me to display how many folks were visiting my site. I was a bit worried at first as I thought it would only be around fifty or so visits. I was gobsmacked when it came up at 2300.

If I had a £1.00 for every visit

Anyway I noticed that we passed 3000 visits this weekend. So I would just like to say a big thank you to everyone who is reading my blog. I hope it has helped to spread the word about Ataxia.

There is a very nifty section of my control panel that lets me see which countries are reading my blog. I was surprised when I saw the list. Have a look. (if you double click or tap the screen it will enlarge the image)

Just trying to think who I know in Russia

If you would like to make a donation to my challenge please click on JustGiving

New Sponsor - InPeakHealth Physiotherapy

I had a really nice email the other day from Allison Winterbottom at InPeakHealth physiotherapy. Allison had seen my article in the Glossop Chronicle and wanted to help in some way.

Over the last few years I have required the expert assistance of Allison on numerous occasions. I don't exactly have a super athletic physique and I regularly suffer from aches and pains, especially in my neck and back due to my height (6'5") I think my body is a combination of John Cleese, Rodney Trotter...and err Arnold Schwartzenegger (same colour eyes)

Not a picture of me

More like me (apart from the bowler)

Even more like me (the one on the left thank you)

Most importantly Allison patiently and skillfully helped me back to full mobility following my Alpine accident. This was through manipulation, ultrasound treatment and carefully implemented exercises.

You plonker Rodney

More recently Allison carried out a bio-mechanical assessment of my cycling technique as well as a thorough general assessment. I had been complaining of pains and a feeling of dumbness in my left leg which was very worrying especially due to my family history. Allison quickly put my mind at rest and following my cycling assessment (on a static trainer) concluded that I was overcompensating for an old knee injury which was throwing my whole frame out of balance.

Allison has very generously donated £100.00 to my fund. I have to say that Allison did not ask for me to promote her clinic. It was my suggestion. It is the least I could do as she has been very kind. In fact I have been recommending InPeakHealth to my friends and family for sometime as she is quite simply fantastic at what she does.

So if you ever have a requirement for a first class physiotherapist, please give Allison a go at InPeak Health

Holiday training- There was some - honest!

You may be wondering where on earth have my training updates have got to? Christmas is always a busy time. What with works do's, parties, visiting relatives and delivering present and having the folks round on Christmas day. I think of the week and two days off work I must have had two days where I could get out on my bike. I also took the opportunity to get my road bike in to The Bike Factory for a winter fettle. The gears had got themselves all out of sync and I am a bit ham fisted at repairing that sort of thing. So I leave it to the trusty spanners of Damien 'Damo' Tonge.

The Bike factory works do.
Damo was warned not to put superglue on his thumbs

Damo is my hero! I take my bikes in to him in all states of disrepair, usually covered in 'mud and bullets'. Damo fixes them for me and gives the bike a good 'minting'. They always look brand new when I pick them up. He is also the most cheerful guy I know (Steve Williams a close second). Nothing seems to phase him. Congratulations are also in order as he and his partner are expecting there first child in a couple of weeks. Good luck and all the best Damo!

So I had to ride my mountain bike most of the Christmas break. Which is fine. It is great for strength and aerobic training. However the weather over the holidays was atrocious. I think we got one full day where there was no rain. The hills were a complete mud bath. So the first day I got to do any riding was how do we say....a bit interesting!

Steve, Mark and I had planned to ride over to Edale. However with the rain almost sideways outside, the general consensus was that 16 miles over some of the most difficult MTB terrain in the country was a no go. The vote was 2-1 against Edale.

Steve and Mark on a previous Edale trip. 

So we decided on a loop of Hayfield. The good thing about this ride is that at any point you can break off and go home without being too far away. Its also a really good ride (in normal conditions). However these weren't normal conditions, as you will see in the photos below - (taken through a plastic bag btw)

Me at the top of Coldwell Clough - a wee bit wet

Mark and Steve in some mud -  also a wee bit wet

Mark and Steve at Broad clough - now very wet

Some bits are just unrideable in the mud - unless your name is Nick Craig.

Notice the reservoir at the bottom of the climb. It was absolutely brimming.

 At the shooting cabin - the track was more like a river by this stage.

 Next stage was across and down to Carr Meadow.
Note the 'Do not trespass' sign. It was on these hills that the famous Mass trespass of Kinder occurred in 1932
which eventually led to the Countryside and rights of way act 2000

Famous plaque at Bowden Bridge car park Hayfield

This is normally a gentle little stream that we ride across. 

We all chickened out on this occasion.

and used the bridge.

At this stage the lads had had enough and peeled off home. I decided to carry on and ride the steep climb up to Matley moor. The rain was horrendous and so was the climb. It's a nasty long hill that doesn't give up.  I've no pictures as the rain was so bad I feared for my camera and left it in my pocket. From the top of Matley moor I carried on along the flanks of Lantern Pike and headed home.

Map of area we covered (double click to enlarge)

Needless to say, we were all glad to get home and dry. Riding in this sort of weather is ok as long as you can stay warm. You are always going to get very wet. It's a case of keeping moving so your core doesn't get cold. There is nothing worse than being cold when you are wet. Things can quickly turn nasty and hypothermia can set in very easily. The correct kit is vital for safety.

   

Kinders' 2000foot Plateau - the wind is so strong sometimes the waterfall goes up

I was chatting to one of the Kinder Mountain rescue chaps the other day. Some of the stories he was telling me were unbelievable. Incidents where people have gone onto Kinder Scout and the surrounding hills in jeans and a summer jacket in similar weather to our ride day. Kinder is a mountain and it can really bite. We regularly get the RAF rescue helicopter scrambled when the weather is bad.

My Aunty Joan - a war hero with my Uncle Stanley!

Some of the more eagle eyed amongst you might have noticed that the £895.00 we raised with the raffle was made up to £1000 by my Aunty Joan. This was very generous of her, especially when she had already donated £200 back in October. I am very fond of my Aunty Joan and I would like to tell you a little about her.

My Aunty Joan in WAAF Uniform circa 1940

My Aunty Joan is 91 years young and is very sprightly for her age. She can tell quite a story and I never tire of listening to her wonderful recollections of the war years. Aunty Joan was married to my Uncle Stanley for 70 years until his sad death a couple of years ago. They were married during World War II. In fact they got married during leave and had to report back for duty the next day. They didn't see each other again for months.

Uncle Stanley & Aunty Joan on their Wedding day

Uncle Stanley was a warrant officer in the Royal Engineers (REME) during the war and saw a great deal of action. He was often at the vanguard in Europe, making sure the tanks and the machinery of war were always in serviceable order. Unlike Aunty Joan, Uncle Stanley rarely went into detail about his war years. From the stories I have heard, he endured a great deal and saw some terrible things. Uncle Stanley was the last man dragged aboard his rescue vessel at Dunkirk. He'd been there six days with no food and very little water, having watched many from his company die on the beaches.

The mass evacuation at Dunkirk

He was also on the beaches during the D-Day landings, having helped devise an ingenious method of keeping the British tanks afloat, whilst unloading from the landing craft. This gave the British, Canadian and ANZac troops the much needed cover when trying to secure the beach heads at Juno Sword and Gold. They had offered the Americans the intel on this but had it rejected. In the end many of the US tanks sank whilst trying to come ashore, killing the crews and losing a lot of vital cover the American troops needed on Omaha and Utah beach. Anyway that is a story that others more qualified than me must tell. My Uncle was always very complimentary of the Americans. Lest we forget, we would have lost the war if it wasn't for them.

Omaha Beach June 1944

Being at the front, pushing forward to Berlin, Uncle Stanley was part of the regiment that first came across the concentration camps. When they found the sickening camp of Belsen, the local people in the towns around the site were in complete denial of its existence. Uncle Stanley's company were ordered to round up the locals and bring them to the camps to show them what had been going on under their noses. It must have been a truly terrible, life changing time for him.

Bawdsey Manor in Suffolk - Top secret headquarters of Radar 

Whilst my Uncle Stanley was fighting in Europe, Aunty Joan, who had joined the Women's Auxilliary Air Force (WAAF) had been posted to Bawdsey Manor in Suffolk. Now if there was one thing that can be singled out as giving the Britain an advantage in the early stages of the war it was RADAR and Bawdsey Manor was the top secret headquarters of radar defence. Britain led the world in this pioneering technology. Many have said that it was not the Spitfire that won the Battle of Britain. It was Radar. It gave us the vital early warning required to scramble the fighters in time to intercept the huge German bomber squadrons turning the sky black over the channel.

The famous Radar array towers dotted across our coastline

WAAF Radar operator

Bawdsey radar team of WAAF, WREN & ATS

My Aunty Joan did

At Bawdsey, Aunty Joan was a specialist radar operator and as she was WAAF she reported to Fighter Command under Hugh Dowding. Each radar post had two WAAF, a WREN (who reported to the Admiralty) and an ATS (who reported to Anti Aircraft - or Ack Ack) You will have seen the many films of the Ops rooms where all the aircraft positions were plotted and pushed around by uniformed men and women. My Aunty Joan provided the intel for the decision makers to make those plots.  Time after time Radar thwarted Operation Sea Lion, Germany's secret code name for the invasion of Britain.

It wasn't long before they connected the strange steel towers, erected around the east and channel coastline with our secret technology. Bawdsey and many of the radar installations were heavily bombed. My Aunty Joan recounts one particular tale where she was trying to get transport back from an evening out in the local town near to Bawdsey. All the WAAFs WRENs and ATS were getting into the military trucks provided, Aunty Joan was one too many for the particular truck and was asked to get on the next one. They had just set off along the coast road when an air raid came over. Bombs were dropping everywhere and they all got there heads down in the truck. When they eventually got the all clear they jumped out to find the truck in front had taken a direct hit, with all on board killed.

Dogfight over Englands south coast. A sight Aunty Joan would watch over a radar screen daily

Aunty Joan has told me of many an occasion when she was watching dog fights over the channel. Spitfire and Hurricanes up against ME109s. Watching as a Spitfire went down, quickly reporting to the Admiralty to scramble rescue boats to pick up pilot's who'd parachuted into the channel, before the cold or the Germans got them first.

My favourite story is of an occasion when she was working on the surface shipping radar called K.T. (or katie as it was known). There were four levels of radar. Above 2000 feet, 1-2000 feet, up to 1000 feet and K T surface radar. On this particular occasion Aunty Joan and a WREN operator had noticed a strange signal emanating from the end of the needles, the series of rock stacks at the westerly edge of the Isle of Wight. At this time there was a top secret convoy of Allied ships making its way into the English Channel and radar sweeps of the whole channel were constantly essential to warn of enemy ships and aircraft. All vessels in the convoy were told to stick together as they passed through. My Aunty and the WREN were adamant there was something fishy lurking near the needles and had informed their superiors. After some deliberation the superior had decided it was nothing but a ghost signal from the rock stacks nearby. Aunty Joan and the WREN were having none of it and stuck their necks out by calling into question their superiors judgement. They risked being put on a charge for insubordination. They must have caused enough uncertainty as a decision was made to send a destroyer to scout the area, where low and behold they picked up a strong sonar signature.  It was a U Boat, lying in wait for the convoy. A disaster had been averted.

German U Boats were a constant curse to Allied shipping

Months later the Captain of one of the ships in the convoy, a vulnerable straggler at the rear in fact, visited Bawdsey to personally thank my Aunty and the WREN for their skill in spotting the U boats and for having the spirit to believe in what they had seen.

 My Aunty Joan certainly has spirit I can tell you. Something my Uncle Stanley came across on many an occasion during their happily married life together.

Aunty Joan with Mum

and with Moo (who'd stolen Rosemary's shoe)