In early 2021, I was getting bored with lockdown. I came up with the idea of interviewing the founders of Runnymede Royals Pickleball Club which is now the largest club in England. Writing this article acted as a catalyst to do a journalism course and start my blog

My husband attended a fund raising charity event early in the year and returned clutching a day out for two people at the Lee Valley White Water Centre in Waltham Cross.  We had been white water rafting before, but never on a purpose built course. 

To celebrate our 30th wedding anniversary we had a carefully planned trip to the Taj Mahal in India followed by some amazing trekking in Bhutan.  Instead we found ourselves outside on the covered terrace of the local pub watching the rain and eating fish and chips. 

An adventure which took place in 2004 and appeared as a feature in that well-known newspaper "The Highland News" When you tell people that you are going to climb Mount…

When two pickleball friends of ours, Navin Gurung and Leo Gonzalez, showed us a proposed programme of travel to Nepal with an opportunity to play a pickleball match as well, my husband and I jumped at the chance.

The particular trip which we had planned was to take us from Puerto Banus via Gibraltar, past Ceuta and onto the Moroccan mainland where we moored at Marina Smir in Tetouan.  

Having spent nearly two years not doing very much, my husband and I decided that we were long overdue for a bit of an adventure. And that adventure was to be white water rafting.  

We were in the departure lounge at Southampton Port with our fingers crossed that we would have a negative test from the lateral flow we had to do in the car park. There had been so many changes to travel announced by various governments in the run up to our trip, and we were justifiably nervous. Eventually the text came through telling us we were both negative. We were invited to check in, go through customs and finally we were on board.

Opposite Waitrose in Sunningdale on a parade of shops, alongside some restaurants and a hairdresser stands a rather unlikely business. Jo Downs Glass is home to a vast array of ornamental glass ornaments, jewellery, wall coverings and so much more