Linda has recently retired. She now has the time to embrace life, laugh a lot and do all that she loves. Discover what that looks like for her and let her adventures inspire you…

LIVE

Fascinating night out tonight as the guest speaker at the Rotary Club was Brian Bernie. He set up Daft as a Brush. This caring charity organises travel from door to door so that cancer patients can be taken from home to hospital. After his wife had cancer treatment, he saw an opening for a charity to transport patients to their treatment. Lively anecdotes about his early life in the East End of Newcastle were amusing. His passion for giving and helping is rooted in his early life. From this, he sold Duxford Hall, bought an ambulance and expanded to a fleet of twenty two ambulances. The volunteer drivers, with a great personal touch, transport patients for chemo or radio therapy from the Scottish Borders, Northumberland, Yorkshire, West Cumbria and local areas. This fantastic help allows people to arrive for sometimes daily treatments. He is driven and passionate about helping and caring. Great night!

LAUGH

Well I never thought it would happen, but Homes under the Hammer has been replaced by My Dream Home and then further relegated by Fixer Upper, my latest obsession in house programmes. For those of you looking bemused, the first is set in GB and renovates houses for rent or sale. The second takes a doer upper house, priced well under a budget, leaving a healthy amount to complete the house reno to a top spec. It is set in the USA. The two brothers who deal with the sale and building work have a comedic relationship with constant competition for oneupmanship. My latest favourite is Fixer Upper. Set in Waco, Texas, a married couple transform hovels to stylish homes with a country ranch/farmhouse flair. They make me laugh, specially on demo day. This is when he guts the house ready to fix and for his wife to design and develop or decorate to a fab style. They truly look amazing. However when he kicks walls down, literally, through sheet rock or plasterboard and often misjudges it, he falls through floors, jumps up and over anything. He does anything for a dare, even eating a dead cockroach, yuk! It makes me laugh when she takes him to a reclamation yard for antique architectural delights, whilst he appears in crazy outfits. His antics are hilarious at times.

LOVE

Poppies are a glorious flower that symbolise WW1. Creative ideas have exploded over the past few years to raise money. The visual sea of red from the ceramic poppies outside the Tower of London was echoed by the Weeping Window sculpture of red poppies at Woodhorn Colliery. Both are stunning. On a smaller scale, an individual poppy can now be sewn, knitted crocheted, made from metal, plastic or enamel. It is such a creative way to raise money. I love it.

I try to live, laugh and love each day xxx

Linda has recently retired. She now has the time to embrace life, laugh a lot and do all that she loves. Discover what that looks like for her and let her adventures inspire you…

LIVE

I always judge restaurants by their signature meals. If a chicken tikka masala is good, then it is a good curry house. Similarly, a cafe can always be judged by its carrot cake. So when I decided to check out an artisan bakery, it had to be carrot cake to accompany my green tea with lemon. The Running Fox at Felton is nine miles north of Morpeth and opposite a beautiful bridge. The carrot cake was divine. My other half loved his coffee and walnut cake. Despite being a Tuesday lunchtime, the bakery was fully booked. They only had a half hour free on one table. We were served straight away and had ample time for tea and cake. I can recommend a walk to the very old church and round the art and craft gallery, Studio 5, to burn off any calories. We shall definitely return for afternoon tea at some point but will be sure to book this time.

LAUGH

This is the week of five close family birthdays. After presents are bought and wrapped, it is time to think about my husband’s evening entertainment. We gather together and share a meal. Then the fun begins. As this takes place the night before Bonfire Night, we always have fireworks in the garden. Each year is slightly different. Two years ago, we bought boxes with continuous multiple bangs, which were hilarious. One year, the box of goodies created huge clouds of smoke. We could barely see two feet in front of us. Last year we had crazy rockets, which were very loud. They also shot up erratically. The description on the box is never quite what happens. Who knew that a Catherine wheel could mark the fence? One year, we had a faulty rocket, which was not fun. To add to the general air of fun, each year we find different glow sticks. We have had bangles, necklaces and sword-shaped glow sticks. These started off as a source of light. Now they are a source of fun. It is a hilarious night that gets a mention throughout the year.

LOVE

In 1972, my family moved to Bath in Somerset. A new clothes and home designer had set up a shop called Laura Ashley and I fell in love with her ideas. I made clothes. I bought clothes. I decorated rooms. I still do, although the dressmaking days are over. I still shop there but most of my purchases are now wallpaper. Although the clothes are very different today, a recent retro shirt was a replica of a pattern that I had made a dressing gown from during 1972. Haha! I know she is not to everyone’s taste and not every garment has her trademark flowery patterns any more, but I am still in love with Laura Ashley shops after all these years. It is almost a lifelong obsession.

I try to live, laugh and love each day xxx