Second half of summer holidays 2026

Now I've had time to mostly do the laundry, I should also take time to recall what we did in the second half of the holiday, when the weather got a little better. (It also took me this time to get round to reducing the size of the holiday photos so they don't take up too much of my storage.)

As some glimpses of clear sky and warm sun emerged, we went to a National Trust nature reserve whose name escapes me, where there were two breeding pairs of ospreys and Son could tick ospreys off on his birding journal.

To make us feel like home it was a very boggy area and there were walkways bordered with metal curbs. They must have been warm, because Daughter and I found this handsome chap sunning himself on the rim.

They're just called 'common lizards' but I've never seen one before in my life, so they can't be that common. I didn't even think we had lizards in the UK.

(To be fair we only have three species of lizard in the UK and one of them - the slow worm - has no legs and kind of counts with the snakes.) A neat thing about common lizards is that they bear live young rather than laying eggs.

So that was very satisfactory. The next day we went to Kendal Pride and took part in half the procession. It turned out to be quite long, and I find walking hard, though the physiotherapy has been working. Still, I bugged out half way through and went to a cafe to wait for DH to finish. (He was taking photos of everything.)

The children stayed with me (they're very kind), and when DH got back we had lunch at the cafe, then I completed the course and found the event, where there were stalls and a stage with various performers. An excellent turnout.

The next day we went to Beatrix Potter's house, which was very comfortable and filled with antique furniture which she bargain hunted herself. It was plenty large enough for one person, or even a couple, but nothing like the enormous, prideful, historic stately homes we'd been touring, and I liked her much better after seeing it.

They did tell us that there was an infestation, but clarified that it was an infestation of ten felt mice scattered around the house for people to spot. We found all ten, including the one who was in a hole in the floor. One was singing in the piano, and two were in the dollshouse arguing about the bed.

Obligatory photo of Son in the window seat at Beatrix Potter's house taking a photo of the very nice hearth set-up. Surrounding her fire she had a bread oven and a compartment that heated water, with a tap attached. We were impressed.

The garden was lovely too, and contained several spots that appear exactly the same in the books.

For lunch that day we went to a pub near the cottage. The most unimproved pub I've experienced ever since they started to get family-friendly. Bare boards, bare tables, a bar and not much more. They were not having with this 'gastro-pub' lark! But they did do an enormous bowl of tomato soup and bowls of chips so large we shared one between three.

And that was it! On the way home we diverted to see one of the largest prehistoric stone circles in Cumbria.

It had sadly been vandalized in the 18th Century (blown up with gunpowder!) so some of the stones were cracked and all of them were lying down on their sides. But it was so peaceful there - peace that pressed into you like a great weighted blanket. The sun shone and the quiet and calm was astonishing.

And then we came home :)

Friday Five

1. What is your biggest waste of time in your home?

The computer, 100%. When I'm not at the computer I'm usually doing something useful.

2. When at work, what is the activity that you find wastes the most time?

I work at the computer, so it's very easy to just check what's been posted on Facebook or Tumblr, and then I'm back to wasting time scrolling social media.

1. When getting busy with a date or significant other, what ritual could you do without?

I don't know what this one means. Is 'getting busy' a euphemism? Do you mean 'when going on a date?' I don't go on dates these days, and when I did I didn't have a pre-date ritual other than deciding what I was going to wear. (And you can't do without that.)

1. What is the biggest waste of time on the Internet?

Instagram, I think, or maybe TikTok. Although I personally waste most of my time on Tumblr.

1. What do you do at a restaurant to waste time when waiting for your meal?

...talk to the people I am eating with? Is that a waste of time? Or is that a big part of going out to eat?