It's our Peter's birthday today, he's 24. He rang me, earlier, to say thanks for his card (money in it). He and Claire were on their way out for a Chinese with his mum and stepdad.

He's turned out OK, our Pete. He's a clever lad, got a bursary to go to Manchester Grammar School, went to Salford Uni to do Graphic Design. He's not working in IT, though he's looking for something in his line, he's on the cooked meat counter at Sainsburys. All that money and effort (his mum brought him up on her own) and he serves boiled ham! - but, as he says, it helps to pay the bills. Anyway, he's intelligent and good natured and baby faced, he's very tall and thin and he's looking for work in his field.

Twenty four years ago...

I looked in the mirror, earlier, and I hardly recognised the woman who looked back at me. Her hair was limp, her face was pale and puffy and her eyes were red. This was a woman who looked every day of her 66 years - and a good few more days too.

A cold can wreak havoc with anyone. Nik's had this one and she was quite poorly last week, worse than when her employers diagnosed her symptoms as Swine Flu in August. In my case, as I have COPD, colds can be fatal if you're very unlucky. I don't think I'm going to pop my clogs just yet but it's not just a case of sneezing etc. for a few days. My energy levels have reached zero and my bones appear to have evaporated. I'm not coughing as much as Nik was but, when I do cough, it's...

My granddaughter-in-law elect was 21 last week and she had her party on Saturday night at a firm's sports and social club in Warrington. Nik, Laura and I were duly invited.

We decided to get a taxi there and back. Gordon Bennett what a price! The single trip was £11 - twice. Still, it meant Nik and I could both have a drink.

We arrived at 8 o clock and were met by the birthday girl and Peter when we got into the room. We handed over the present (gold earrings) and found our Jo and John, sitting at a table near the bar. Pete came and sat with us and we chatted for about 15 minutes until the disco started. Oh my ears! I mean, I've had my moments with Rock'n'Roll, jived to Elvis, twisted to the Beatles, gyrated...

The bowling party went well. Saturday was Laura's birthday so it was nice to have the party on the day. The girls enjoyed themselves and the food was plentiful so that was fine. There's a dodgems stand, near the bar, and Nik had paid for them to have a go just before the end of the party (6.30). By the time they went on, parents and siblings had come to collect them. The staff arranged another turn, free, and the siblings all piled in too. It was the hit of the afternoon.

A photo of the party animals below, Laura is 2nd from the right in the black and red prom dress. It's a bit blurred because my hands were shakey due to 2 hours of a very uncomfortable seat.

It won't be long now until the clocks go back for the Winter. I hate that, wish we kept on BST all year, and just keep counting the days 'til we put them forward again. I'm definitely a Summer person.

We've had some lovely weather this week, a couple of wet days but mostly beautiful sunshine and I've got the grass cut, hopefully the last time for a few months.

I love the Autumn colours. My virginian creeper is blood red and it looks gorgeous next to the white pampas grass plumes. The plume on the new pink flowering pampas plant (I only got one plume, its first) broke in the wind 2 days ago.

I had a little walk over the fields this afternoon, along the public footpath - very slowly. The 2 big fields...