It is a very long time since I blogged on here. The whole blogging world has changed since I started blogging eleven years and with so many new social media platforms there seems to be less demand for a traditional blog.

Recently I have been trying my hand at micro-blogging on Instagram and Facebook, charting my chronological re-read of all Agatha Christie’s detective novels. Instagram certainly makes it easier to find and connect with other like-minded people. If you are interested in Golden Age Detective fiction and my musings on it then check out my Instagram account dedicated to this @helenreadsagatha.

Meanwhile, over here, I am sharing some meanderings about our summer, mainly because when I started this blog it was so I could keep track of the little everyday moments, and I still want to do that.

I always panic about 6.5 weeks of unfilled time. Then I set to and fill it, and subsequently panic that we haven’t planned enough downtime.

Actually, we struck a fairly good balance this summer. There were trips to the local playground and library, a picnic with friends in Epping Forest, just down the road from us, and then some mini adventures in wider London, like getting the Thames Clipper boat down the river to Greenwich for a trip to the theatre to see a reimagined Cinderella and hang out in the park. Or swimming in the stunning 1930s Parliament Hill Fields lido on Hampstead Heath and visiting a cat cafe in Holloway. My younger daughter had an intensive course of swimming lessons and really gained in confidence, and she also had the chance to do three days of Forest School, also in Epping Forest, which she adored.

There were also a few pyjama days when we barely stirred from the house, and the Disney Plus subscription really earned its keep.

Then we visited family in Liverpool and Manchester, taking in an animal trail at Liverpool Cathedral, funfair and cake in Calderstones Park, The Catalyst Science Museum and high rope climbing at Haigh Hall. Needless to say, I did not do high rope climbing. Before booking it as a treat for the kids, my lovely sister-in-law messaged to ask me if I thought the children would be happier with two adults doing it with them. My reply was unequivocal. If by ‘two adults’ she meant her and my brother then yes, absolutely, that would be amazing. If there was an expectation that one of the two adults was to be me, then no, hell can freeze over first. Thankfully they were happy to be hands on fun aunt and uncle, so my only job was to look after the bags and take photos.

We had a week’s family holiday in the Isle of Man, which was blissfully relaxing. Lots of hiking on beautiful cliff top paths, drinking rose in the garden of our cottage and watching the children swim in the (very, very cold) burn that flowed through the grounds. Also discovered on a rather rough crossing back that the rest of my family do get seasick, but I don’t. I would be smug, but the person who isn’t feeling ill herself is also the obvious choice to hold the sick bag for the ones who are.

Possibly the highlight of the summer came the day before the children went back to school when w adopted a gorgeous kitten we have named Ollie. A friend of mine is a local vet, and little Ollie was brought in as an injured stray who needed to be re-homed. Knowing my ambitions to become a Crazy Cat Lady my friend asked if we would be interested in taking him. We had a family council, and the verdict was unanimous.

He is utterly gorgeous and very mischievous. I am realising just how un-kitten-proof our house really is. We think he may be a Maine Coon, or at least a crossbreed. If so, our little fluffy kitten may end up as a 9kg giant. Right now, though, we are just enjoying being smitten with our kitten.