What an interesting couple of weeks!

This is the first time I’ve blogged for two weeks. The last fortnight has been a really frantic time with lots of ups and downs to challenge me.

It started with my lovely mum-in-law falling down the stairs at her dentist’s surgery two weeks ago today. She hurt her foot, banged her head and passed out! After visits to the doctor, the hospital, two X-rays and the great news that nothing was broken, Jeanne still couldn’t walk. The old ‘executive-type’ office chair on casters improvised as a good means of transportation to the bathroom, bedroom, etc until we managed to borrow a wheelchair from the Red Cross. In the end Mike bought a self-propelling wheelchair which Jeanne could manage herself to some degree.

What astounded me was the fact that at the grand age of 87 (88 next month), Jeanne has never once moaned. She just says how fortunate she is – even on the day she fell. What a fantastic attitude!

The week, as always, was busy, but with kind friends who popped in when Mike or I couldn’t be there, Jeanne was cared for. And it’s amazing how you adapt into a new routine and how, if everyone co-operates, you cope. Now Jeanne is progressing well, walking a little and getting better.

There has been an unexpected bonus from all this. I have had to walk up those 38 stairs to Jeanne’s flat probably 10 times a day with the benefit that I feel fitter and my jeans are positively loose. Every cloud has a silver lining!

Last Tuesday evening I took a fitness session for around 30 Cubs and Scouts locally. I’d done it last year and I’d been invited back because they’d enjoyed it so much. We had a really fun time doing circuits, hula hooping, stepping up and down off benches, skipping and laughing. The Scout Leader, Adam Tate, at just 18 years old is an inspiration. He ran the whole evening on his own and was brilliant.

Thursday was the evening for the Leicestershire Young Enterprise County Finals at the Leicester Tiger’s Stadium. Six teams from local schools presented their Young Enterprise companies’ activities to an audience of around 400 – a daunting prospect for anyone but particularly if you are aged between 14 – 17! They were inspirational and the excitement when each school won an Award was fantastic. England Rugby star, Martin Corry, was the keynote speaker and he was brilliant. He emphasised the importance of determination and a positive attitude if you wanted to be successful in life. Such a nice guy too.

Then Friday was our Roadshow in Oxford when 250 of our lovely members came together to work out and soak up motivation from Mary Morris, my colleague who is a fitness supremo, and myself. Roadshows are always hard work but always fantastically rewarding. We loved it.

Then Mary and I were off to Portugal for just two days to write a booklet for a social enterprise project we are involved in. So, from having a 5 am start on the Friday to get to Oxford in time, feeling exhausted after the Roadshow, we were up at 4.30 am on Saturday morning to drive to East Midlands Airport. We’d checked in online and were excited about our couple of days away from the normal routine of life to concentrate and create something that we hoped would help a lot of people. As we breezed through the airport to go to security we were told the flight had been cancelled due to the volcanic ash cloud! As we turned around we could see the sad faces of hundreds of fellow passengers queuing at the BMI Baby information desk. Holiday-makers, families so in need of a much-longed-for holiday. It was sad. We were philosophical about it and just turned round and went home. There was no point in waiting and hoping. If we went home now we could work there instead. We did just that and progressed quite significantly. By 5 p.m. we were shattered and were glad to pack up our work and Mary went home. I was in bed by 9 pm.

And then, on top of all this, there has been a General Election. I really shouldn't moan about long hours and lack of sleep should I? I feel for those guys.