I resign from packing duty

I'm useless at it. When we go away, I am responsible for packing the suitcases, ostensibly because I fold things better than Rob does. But at least when he packs, he gets the things he wants.

Bearing in mind we were going to the walking capital of the British Isles, where even in summer it rains as often as it's dry, here are just some of the things I forgot to bring: -

Rob's walking shoes (although we knew this because we couldn't find them at home, so he reluctantly said he would buy another pair)
Rob's walking trousers
Waterproof coats for both of us
Walking socks for both of us
Walking (breathable) t-shirts for both of us
An umbrella
A rucksack

Plus things like shampoo, shower gel and sun cream.

Fortunately, as we were in the walking capital of the British Isles, there was no shortage of shops selling outdoorsy-type stuff so we could fill in the gaps. But they were expensive gaps!

Monday the weather was beautiful, really hot. We went across to Keswick to meet Jen and spent the afternoon eating apple pie/carrot cake, shopping and playing crazy golf - Rob assumed the title of Crazy Golf Master that I had won a couple of years ago when playing that course with Juergen and Eva.

On Tuesday we went to Keswick again - that was when we realised that we had no waterproof coats, and it was chucking down - and today we went on a 6-mile walk around Grasmere Lake, starting and ending in Grasmere Village, where we felt obliged to buy the fantastic gingerbread on offer. My foot held up pretty well on the walk, but it started to get a bit tired by the end. Here I am not long after we started, and still feeling OK. When we got back to the hotel Rob went for an Indian head massage and I had a pedicure - just the thing for my tired feet. Of course, I ruined the nail varnish by putting a pair of shoes on before it had dried properly, so I had to go back and spend a tenner on a pot of polish to re-do my big toes...