I'm no keen fan of today's politically correct, over-permissive society, but a glance at these notices taken from a nineteenth century London workhouse shows just how strict and unforgiving society was in those days to the poor and disadvantaged:-

And how about tucking in to this menu from Nelly's Cafe in 19th century Liverpool :-

  Had a lovely day out on the East Coast at son John's house on the occasion of his 42nd. birthday. Daughter Sara and family went along with us, and John's in-laws, who live nearby, came too.

The weather stayed fine, and we all had great fun being entertained by the Grandkids on the back lawn, playing Tigs, playing on the climbing frame and doing various party tricks, after which we enjoyed a delicious al fresco meal cooked up by John's wife Amanda.

Pic below shows John's younger daughter Amy posing on the lawn; videos show Amy and the rest playing Tigs, and Sara's eldest son Sam doing three of his party tricks without his pants falling down. A good time was had by all !

As school holidays arrived once again this August, Madge and I found ourselves host to five of our seven grandkids for a fortnight, when Jake and twins Dan and Lauren came up from the South Coast to join Sam and Tom and cousins Lucas and Jackson. 

We managed to rotate the sleeping arrangements with Daughter Sara so that everyone had regular changes of scene, and managed to cope nicely with regular visits to local parks, fun around the tree house in the garden, barbecues and trips to outdoor pools and seaside beaches on warm, sunny days.

Hard work for Madge, with bathing and bedding arrangements and mass catering with home-made cottage pies and hotbox stews to complement the inevitable kids' favourites of chicken nuggets, beefburgers, sausages and chips. My speciality was breakfasts, with pancakes, fry-ups and waffles on offer.

Pics below show kids enjoying chasing around the garden at one of Sara's barbecues, Lauren busy in Sam's garden workshop making prezzies for her friends back home, Amy, Katie, Tom and Jackson feeding the ducks in the local park, Dan sliding down from the Treehouse in our garden, and Lollie and Katie on the beach on our day trip to the East Coast as guests of son John and wife Amanda.

Life is all about contrasts, and it's nice now to just chill out and  cater for ourselves in true Wrinkly fashion. In fact it's essential !

Just got back from an extra-curricular vacation at a caravan site in L'Estartit on the Costa Brava. (We do not normally go abroad on holiday during the English summer ). This was courtesy of  close relations who kindly invited us to join them for a fortnight,  using one of their two caravans which they keep down there for the use of themselves and close family.

We were made to feel at home and very welcome, with everything set out for us ready to use and enjoy for the fortnight.

Over twenty years ago, we  towed our caravan down to that same site quite a few times, so it was interesting to see how the area had changed over the years. Although much had changed, the whole area is still very pretty, and we had a really good time under the Catalanian sun.

Two pics below show our gang on the site, and a view of the camp outdoor pool

The two videos below show the caravan in place on the site, and the beach area which is only a short walk from the site through the old town of  L'Estartit.

The beach is a perfect sandy beach with a crystal clear sea which remains a safe depth for children (and wrinklies) up to over twenty yards from the shore.

Son John and family booked in May to our regular hotel, the Hyatt Regency at Taba Heights on the Red Sea, and so although we were there by ourselves in March, I thought, "You only live once !" so off we went with them for another fortnight in the sun.

The sun was a lot hotter than back in March, but there was a nice breeze most of the time which helped to make it tolerable, and of course we spent more time in the pools and enjoyed lots of reading under the sunshades.

Pics below show the beach view from our apartment balcony, the interior of the apartment and a view of its beautiful domed ceiling, Madge and I in our favourite occupation, and the family on board the coral reef submarine. Now we have just three weeks before we join other members of the family in Spain for another fortnight in the sun at the end of June. It's a hard life if you don't weaken !