Another slice of summer midlife lately

It’s another quick catch-up today because I’m immersed in trying to write my book and it feels like time’s running out – my Inbox is full of emails about autumn launches and Christmas so my quieter summer period is nearly over. I’m not sure how I’m going to juggle things over the months ahead but for now that’s a September problem. So just to keep in touch, here’s another slice of summer midlife lately.

The weather here has gone beyond a joke this week. I’ve been trying not to complain about the third non-summer in a row for the North West but it’s getting hard. Just watch this video from one of the local farms – there are so many of them to choose from because the farmers are all facing desperate situations with crops and livestock and yet there’s very little coverage of it nationally because it only seems to be affecting a small area in the north. Rivers are bursting their banks everywhere, the flood defences are up all along the coastline, we just need the rain to stop. For a very small land mass it seems we’re becoming a two climate country.

I’ll stop grumbling in a minute before I turn into a bog witch but it’s so frustrating when you see the news just ignoring what’s happening up here, seemingly because it doesn’t affect the media centres of London or even Manchester. Grrr!

Summer midlife lately – Thursday

Ok, let’s move on. Here’s a weekend in Newcastle a couple of weeks ago. We had a really good catch-up with mum-in-law who is continuing to do quite well. She’s had a few falls this year but somehow she manages to land unharmed. We wonder if it’s partly because nothing will keep her away from the new social life that the dementia teams organised for her. She won’t miss her day clubs and trips out for anything and it’s amazing how it seems to have slowed the progress of her condition.

We worry a bit about people knocking at her door, she’s very easily persuaded into having a new driveway or work done on her trees but we have as many people looking out for her nearby as possible. Some of the books I’ve been reading have talked about the importance of touch for the elderly, especially when they live alone. They experience what is called skin hunger – the need for physical contact and we’re finding she’s always keen to have a bit of physical affection which is something new – Mal always says she wasn’t a cuddly mum. It’s easy to forget that you keep on changing even in later life isn’t it? Anyway I just thought I’d share that in case you know somebody older who lives alone – even just a touch on the hand or the elbow means a lot.

Summer midlife lately – Friday

So it was one of our usual weekends at the flat with an early morning run the following day. I absolutely love having the boys at home but every so often it’s good to get away and feel free again – I always feel fifteen years younger, I haven’t quite worked out why. This was before the run by the way – I wasn’t quite as chirpy by the end!

We have various routes that we can run along the River Tyne and they all end with a lovely breakfast spot like this.

It was Friday so we spent the day working and then headed out for dinner. It was a very rare, very warm day so I actually managed to wear one of my summer dresses, most of them remain unpacked in my summer box because there hasn’t been a reason to get them out.

Mango dress (SS23); silver sandals

But then summer 2024 did its thing and soaked us on the way home.

Mango dress (SS23); silver sandals

Summer midlife lately – Saturday

My brothers and sisters-in-law have been telling us about Newcastle’s long established Saturday daytime disco at Hoochie Coochie for years. We’ve popped in there a few times in the evening but we’ve found the music a bit too heavy on the soul front so we’ve always ended up leaving after a quick drink. Anyway this time we finally agreed to go along and give it a try even though it seemed crazy on a lovely summer’s day but we figured we could just show our faces and then move on. So it gave the gold t-shirt an opportunity for yet another outing – I’m getting my money’s worth out of it!

Gold top; Me+Em jeans (SS21); Arket sandals SS23; Sunglasses

And there’s always something new happening in Newcastle. This time we stepped out of our door to find that the whole of the Quayside had been turned into the Red Bull global motocross challenge. I can’t imagine any other city being willing to have one of their major roads closed and converted into steep sand and mudbanks like this.

So that got our adrenaline pumping as we stood and watched for a while.

This was waiting for lunch at our beloved gastropub The Broad Chare which has a secret city centre garden at the back.

Gold top; Me+Em jeans (SS21); Arket sandals SS23; Sunglasses

And so it was rather reluctantly that we left the sunshine to go to Hoochie Coochie but… we had an absolute ball and we’re now kicking ourselves for ignoring everyone over the last 25 years. It isn’t often that I need to sit down for a break but the music was just so good for dancing that we hadn’t stopped – if you’re a lover of 70s disco I highly recommend it. It changed over to the soul stuff at 7pm so we were home nice and early for something to eat and a relaxed evening on the sofa.

Gold top; Me+Em jeans (SS21)

So that was another great weekend in Newcastle and I should add that if you’d like to experience the joy of the toon for yourself, now that the impact of energy costs has abated on various fronts we’ve been able to lower the prices on our Baltic Nest (for Midlifechic readers only). So if you’d like to stay there you can find all the details along with availability here.

Summer midlife lately – Sunday

On the way back, as some of you saw on Instagram, we’d been invited to review Rothay Manor in Ambleside. It’s a place we’ve driven past thousands of times but we’ve never thought of going in. However not long ago it was taken over by a local couple and they’ve undertaken a painstaking renovation. I can honestly say it’s now the nicest hotel I know in the Lake District. The good thing about it is that it’s located in central Ambleside so you can walk out to the very good bars and restaurants that you find there – and there are pretty little shops and a cinema if it rains, which it did – the heavens opened just as we got out of the car.

John Lewis vest top (SS24 sold out); John Lewis linen trousers (SS24 sold out, gifted)

They’d given us a beautiful suite (The Fairfield – highly recommended) this gives you a taste but it was hard to capture in photos so if you go to my Instagram feed you can see it clearly there on video.

We dressed for what turned out to be a sumptuous dinner…

Boden dress (SS23); silver sandals

…if you’re a foodie you’ll absolutely love this place.

Summer midlife lately – Monday

The following day gave us Lake District weather at its wettest so we were glad of the boot room with a selection of wellies and waterproofs that you can borrow…

Baukjen broderie blouse (SS19); Levi 501 crops; Boden shoes (SS06)

… and later we put our own gear on and headed out for a proper walk across the fells…

Berghaus jacket (ancient); Levi 501s cropped; Converse walking boots (limited edition, sold out)

… so it was good to have a bath and a minibar stocked with cocktails to come back to.

And it was still hammering down that evening but we braved the walk into town for great Mexican tapas at Bar Es.

John Lewis twill jacket (SS24 sold out, gifted); Black vest top (15% off with MLC15); Jeans; Boden sold shoes (SS06)

Summer midlife lately – Tuesday

Of course the following morning, just as we had to check out and go back to work there was blazing sunshine. Grrr again!

John Lewis tee (SS22); Jeans; Boden sold shoes (SS06)

But that’s how this summer rolls – here’s what we left behind, a truly wonderful place to stay in The Lakes

Summer midlife lately – World Triathlon Championships

I’ll leave you with a quick update from Kev and TeamGB over in Australia. This was the message he sent us after his first race:

Well, that didn’t quite go to plan, I managed a 5k pb of 19:13. So far so good. Flew through transition 1. Then crossed the mount line and jumped onto my bike. I went to put my left foot into my cycle shoe (attached to the bike pedal) and realised, to my great horror, that I still had my trainers on!

I had to dismount and walk around to the back of transition to drop my trainers off. This must have taken at least 5 minutes. The race as a race was over for me then

I cruised around for a bit for the first mile or so on the bike until one of the GB guys in my age category came past. I decided to tag on and got my mojo back a bit. We joined another few riders, 2 Aussies and a Yank, I think, and we worked together for pretty much the remainder of the ride. I did too much of the work at the front as I’d decided to keep my powder dry for Sunday’s race, a chance to redeem myself. But feeling quite strong I just couldn’t help myself

Going back into transition two I made sure all of my kit was placed in the box so as not to incur any penalties. It was still super hot. Did I mention earlier how hot it was Given Sunday’s upcoming race I didn’t push the 2.5 k but decided to sprint in the last 250 meters as I’d spotted the Aussie a short distance ahead of me who had been part of the earlier chain gang.

However, even this didn’t go to plan as just as we turned to run downhill to the finish line I ran past an Australian woman who was half carrying a British woman who was hardly able to walk! I turned and ran back to help both of them out. So we walked very slowly back and some 8-9 minutes later handed her over to the medical team just before the finish line so as not to be disqualified!

What I deduce is that I was meant to be there at that time to do just as I did. The last I heard she had been taken to hospital but should be alright once rehydrated

On the whole a good experience. I go again on Sunday

So although he didn’t get the result he hoped for in the first race, we were proud of him anyway – for being a fabulous human.

Sunday went better and he can now lay claim to being ranked 6th in the world for his category. It means he’s through to lots of other races, including next year’s world championship in Spain.

If Kev can do this in his 60s what could the rest of us achieve if we put our minds to it? I’ll leave you with that thought for the weekend. We’re off to another music event – in Yorkshire again. It’s outdoors and the weather isn’t looking hopeful. Bog witch mode here I come!

Disclosure: ‘Another slice of summer midlife lately’ is not a sponsored post. We were invited as guests to review Rothay Manor but not paid to write about the stay and there was no obligation to review it positively

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