Just received an email from my brother David's wife who live in Cheshire UK.
It's from someone on the ground, so birds eye view of UK life!
QUOTE:-
Dear Billy,
Just reading back through the last message and remembering our time with you out in the bush - what a brilliant time we had, whenever I tell anybody about it I always say it was something we would never have been able to do without you and a time we will both remember for ever, thank you for the best time and brilliant memories.
Emily has just gone back to school, the new school year starts in September here - she’s a big galoot - fourteen in a couple of weeks - where did that time go? I’m attaching a photo of her and your big brother taken in August, Emily had come to stay for a couple of days during the school holidays so we had gone out to buy her some books - she absolutely loves reading - but she also needed refuelling so we called into the Costa Coffee shop, I took this photo of them in the queue - which is why it’s the back view - just wanted to get on record that at 13 she’s almost as tall as her Granddad�� The school and her swimming and horse riding clubs had been hit by COVID restrictions and are only just opening up again really so she couldn’t wait to get back into it all, she really missed school and although they went back after Easter it was only on a part-time basis. They went back properly for a couple of months before the six week break (end of July to beginning of September- allegedly summer ��) but they all had to wear face masks. The swimming club was closed completely until July and horse riding only opened up again a few weeks before that. Manda and John are both ok, Manda started a new job earlier in the year, think it was June - jury is still out on whether she will stay there, some days she thinks she’s getting into it, then it driving her nuts, but for now it’s a job and pays her bills. John has only just been able to go back to work now that the government have allowed pubs to reopen, people are happy to be getting out and about again and getting back to some version of normal. We’re still a bit cautious - going out for shopping and walks and suchlike but not bothering with much else just yet. We’ve both had two COVID vaccines and are due to get our annual flu vaccine on 21st so we’ve done all we can and it is good to be able to see Manda and John again and to have Emily to stay and be able to get out if we want to.
END QUOTE;-
PS:- Manda is my niece, Emily her daughter,John is stepfather!
Cheers Billy
