the humphrey family web site
Sometime during the pandemic
In this section I will be posting about events that have happened or are happening in our lives in more recent years. If I manage to sort myself out the aim is to try and add comments and photos of the trips we have taken in the past.
This section is called ”Bob’s Thoughts from The Man Cave” because my office is in the basement and Lynda saw the sign that is in the header and decided to buy it for me. The highlighted dates are the dates when those thoughts were added to this page, not necessarily when the events occurred.
26th June 2022
The first entry is about our recent trip (May 2022) to Scotland which turned into a tour of Great Britain (the link to this page is Our Trip to Scotland). While looking into adding a flag for use as a photograph mount, I discovered that the first Union Jack was a combination of the English and Scottish flags but nothing from the Welsh flag, so I have created a flag which incorporates parts of the flags from the three countries we visited. Because the first Union Jack was created before Northern Ireland became part of the United Kingdom it didn’t have the red diagonal cross. The photographs are on the page called Our Trip to Scotland slideshow. A lot of the photographs have captions, if you are using a desk top or lap top when your move your cursor over the photograph if there is a caption it will appear below the photograph, on a mobile the caption will appear over the caption if you move your cursor over the photograph.
If you have any comments about anything on this site please email me on bob.lyn.humphrey@btinternet.com and tell me or if you would like to be informed of any additional pages I add, just ask.
Whilst still sorting out our recent trip, just thought I would add that on Friday, 10th June, 2022, Lynda took the plunge and brought herself a vape kit. She started using it Saturday. She did finish the last 2 cigarettes in a packet that she had started but from Sunday, 12th June, she hasn’t smoked any cigarettes just used her vape.
19th July 2022
I have now finished creating the pages of dedications for Darren and publishing the site.
In June I had a follow-up to my diagnosis of Diabetes Type 2. I saw the nurse at the clinic and she weighed me, took my blood pressure, examined my feet as well as taking blood and I had to give an urine sample. My blood pressure was very good and she was pleased with the condition of my feet. I got the other results back and they are still pleased with me, my blood-sugar level although slightly higher than the previous result, is still below the Diabetic line, so I am “Pre-Diabetic” which means I don’t have to go on to medication, just got to keep a healthy life-style.
22nd July 2022
Today Lynda and I celebrated our Golden Anniversary, 50 years together. Michelle and Charlie visited us from Gloucestershire and are staying the night before taking us out on the 23rd. They brought us a picture frame and Michelle took a photograph of Lynda and I cutting the cake they brought. I then scanned a photograph from our wedding album of the two of us cutting our wedding cake. So I printed these photographs out and put them in the frame as seen below. As with other photographs if you are viewing on a desktop, laptop or tablet, hover your cursor or finger over the frame to reveal the photograph.
27th July 2022
On the 23rd Michelle & Charlie took us to Cassiobury Park, Watford, where we set up to have a picnic next to the children’s playground enabling Charlie to play whilst we could still keep an eye on him.
What Michelle also did was to surprise us by arranging for Chloe, Nick and Isabelle to join us. We had a good day, the children enjoyed playing in the playground and also had fun in the paddling pools which were very close by.
On Sunday the 24th, Lynda and I travelled to Tenterden in Kent where we met up with 6 of our friends from the Maidstone SOBS group. They gave us a cake and a bouquet of flowers. The family group photograph taken at Cassiobury Park is on the Home Page, some photographs from Kent are below.
Our Golden Wedding Anniversary turned out to be a very memorable time for us.
28th August 2022
Today I am sitting on a patio at a Retreat place called Manoir Mouret in Andillac, France. We are sharing this beautiful, peaceful place with 8 other TCF members. We arrived Saturday 27th and will be staying until 3rd September. Lynda and I travelled by car, we left Friday, 26th, and used the Channel Tunnel (another tick on the Bucket List), we stayed overnight at Tours and we will stay there again on the 3rd, before travelling home on the 4th.
This is the first time we have travelled to France since before Darren died in France 24 years ago. The time seemed right to do this trip now and we will be here on Darren’s 24th Angelversary on the 31st.
Michelle has also started vaping a month after Lynda and she hasn’t wanted to smoke since as well.
On the 22nd August, Nick, Chloe’s partner and Isabelle’s Dad, proposed to Chloe, whilst they were away at Weymouth. Chloe said yes.
11h September 2022
We have now been back from France a week. Whilst out in France it was Darren’s 24th Angelversary, the 31st August 2022. Our TCF friends cooked for us that evening and we sat down with them and our wonderful hosts, Margaret and Jack. At the start of the evening they raised a glass for Darren then we raised a glass for all of our children and siblings, later they placed t-lights in a heart-shape on a tray and lit them. The whole week was a very supportive one and our friends encouraged us in our decision that on Sunday, after spending a night in Tours, to take a trip to where Darren had been staying and then on through Mayenne (the nearest town) to Saint-Lo, where we believed the unicorn statue that Darren was last photographed feeding a chocolate bar to it was situated. We did undertake the trip and we did find the unicorn. Travelling the route we did we added another 450 miles to our journey but it was worth it just to be able to say we saw and touched the unicorn that until now was just a photograph taken 24 years ago.
This week I have been sorting this site out because I was led to believe that from a main page I could have 2 sub-domains, one would have been for Darren’s story and the support we have received and the other one for My Family, so I could keep the two separate but in the end I found out that it couldn’t be done.
23rd September 2022
I have finally got round to sorting out the slideshow for the Cyprus trip that Lynda and I took in March. Hope you enjoy looking at the photographs.
On 13th September I had a diabetic eye screening test, which apparently I should have had soon after being diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes which was in January 2020. Fortunately I have managed the condition through life-style changes (diet, portion sizes and exercise) without resorting to medication and I am now classed as a pre-Diabetic and I received the results of the test yesterday and they have given me the all-clear. I should have another test in a year’s time.
Yesterday Lynda and I joined 5 other Compassionate Pals and Ted the dog for a walk round Polesden Lacey, Great Bookham, Surrey. It was a very pleasant walk and lunch afterwards.
27th October 2022
Finally I have manged to get round to sorting out the slideshow for the trip to France and have added it to the Our Trips section. Hope you enjoy looking at the photographs.
Lynda and I have both had our autumn booster covid jabs and flu jabs. We didn’t suffer any side-affects.
Charlie’s school held a Harvest Festival event in their school hall and for the first time since the 1st Lockdown they decided to let people come and see the children perform. They decided, though, to limit it to grandparents only, so we went.
4th December 2022
On Tuesday, November 29th our grandson, Charlie, turned 11 years old. Because it was mid-week Chloe, his sister, wasn’t able to see him on his birthday so she invited Charlie, Michelle and ourselves to stay for the weekend before. So we all went to Milton Keynes on the Friday. Charlie’s favourite burger is a McDonald’s which unfortunately, because where he lives there are no McD’s nearby, he doesn’t get one very often. So Saturday was planned that we all would go to nearby Stony Stratford for their turning on the Christmas Lights. Stony Stratford organised various events, including a mini fair ground, lots of stalls and a Lantern Parade. Charlie enjoyed himself there, then afterwards we went and got food from McD’s which we took back to Chloe & Nick’s house. I did add a video of the lantern parade but on looking at it again I am not that happy with it, so I will try and look into adding a better one in the future.
Then from Chloe & Nick’s Lynda and I followed Michelle and Charlie to their home in the Forest of Dean so we could be with Charlie on his Birthday. This took rather longer than expected owing to an accident on the M5 which meant we sat in a traffic jam for about an hour. But at least we got there safely.
Christmas 2022
This period turned out differently than planned. First of all the plans for Christmas was for Michelle and Charlie to come to us then we were all invited to Chloe’s future in-laws for Boxing Day. Unfortunately due to one of Michelle’s storage heaters packing up earlier in December and her Housing Association couldn’t book anyone in to fix it before the 29th of December and then also the fact that both Michelle and Charlie not feeling very well, they decided not to come to ours or Chloe’s, so it was agreed that Lynda and I would go to them on the 22nd or 23rd to spend Christmas with them.
Then on the 20th our boiler, which supplies both the heating and hot water, packed up. The first firm I phoned said they couldn’t get anybody to us before the New Year, the second firm I phoned was able to come and have a look but then came the bad news, it wasn’t fixable, a new boiler had to be fitted but fortunately he had planned a week off and he was willing to do it for us straightaway. It turned out more complicated than we first thought and it wasn’t finished until the 23rd. So we travelled across to Michelle’s on Christmas Eve and stayed until the 28th.
2nd January 2023
Went to an informal bring-and-share lunch in Marlow where we met friends from The Compassionate Friends. Very pleasant afternoon.
15th January 2023
Just spent the weekend at The Compassionate Friends Gathering at Sedgebrook Hall, Northampton. Chance to meet people we have met on our journey and to talk to others who are more recently bereaved.
On the way home from there we called in to see Chloe, Nick and Isabelle and exchange Christmas presents.
29th July 2023
Today our granddaughter Chloe got married to Nick, her partner and father of her daughter Isabelle. It was a lovely day weather wise but very emotional for us. The reception was held at her in-laws house. Chloe sorted out photos of their lives and put them on streamers down the wall and she had a photo of Darren amongst them so he was with us in our thoughts.
Amongst the guests were members of her father’s family who had met Darren during the time when Michelle was with Kevin and they talked to me about Darren.
24th May 2024
I will have to try and fill in the gap between this post and the last one sometime soon, but in the meantime I am going to add what happened after Our Trip To The USA 2024. On the 4th May we went to Harry’s Old Place for a meal, on the 14th Janet sent me a message saying that on the 13th it had caught fire and was closed for now.
As I said in the blog we ordered a home delivery of groceries. The estimated time of arrival home was 5pm so we looked to book a slot after 6pm to allow time for delays, the earliest one we could get was 9pm-10pm so we booked it even though we would have liked to have been in bed by then. The delivery arrived as planned and we were nearly finished putting it all away when there was a knock on the door, this was about 9.45pm so we both thought it might be the delivery driver saying that something was missing. It wasn’t, it was a friend who we hadn’t seen for a while, so we invited him for a cup of tea. Because we didn’t put it on our home page of FB that we would be away he didn’t know. Anyway the reason for the visit was to tell us that another friend of ours was in hospital in quite a bad way and he thought he should tell us.
So, first thing out of the way, then the following day we were told by a neighbour that a lorry had scuffed our car while we were away. The car was parked right outside the house and the lorry driver didn’t leave any information under the windscreen wiper or anything. Luckily for us our neighbour had seen it happen and took some photographs. So started the trouble of trying to get hold of the firm which the lorry belonged to. It was an European firm but who had 2 depots in England, I tried leaving messages through their website but didn't seem to be getting anywhere. Eventually I found an email for the Sales department so I sent them an email and the firm did respond to that. Apparently by this time the lorry driver was on holiday but due back this week and I also received an email from them telling me who their insurance company is and also the insurance company got in touch and said they were investigating it. I was doing it this way because I as far as I knew at that time if I went through my insurance company I could lose my No Claims Bonus because it isn’t a No Blame Bonus. This week I received a News Letter from my insurance company and in it it said that if the other party accepts the blame it won’t affect my NCB but I do have to let my insurance company know, so something else to sort out.
We had found a café in Watford where we used to have lunch once a week but whilst we were away they closed their doors permanently so we now have to find somewhere else to have lunch, the trouble with Watford Town Centre there is a distinct lack of a good old-fashioned café where you can get a decent sandwich without all the extras and at a reasonable price.
Towards the end of March I wanted to add Roaming to my mobile phone for whilst I was away, I was with BT and they recently merged with EE. So I went into their store in Watford and I was advised that because of the merger that BT would be dealing with business clients and EE would take on the personal clients, so I changed my contract to EE. But even though they are the same company I had to change the wi-fi router from BT to EE which they would send by post. Whilst away I kept getting reminders to return the old router but I hadn't received a new one before I left and it wasn’t waiting for me when I returned home, so I phoned them up. It ended up with them phoning me back and I was on the phone for nearly an hour while some guy explained what he was going to do and why and that I should have the new kit within 2 days. It did arrive as promised, so eventually sorted.
To top it all, a few weeks before our trip we had developed a leak from a valve on our central heating system so I had called the plumber that we use and despite calling him time after time and him saying phone back, etc., he never showed up. So after our return we tried again. Yet again he would answer the phone and ask us to phone back another day, and so on. Eventually he said one day that he would call in and see us on his way back from London where he was on a big job and that he would phone as he left. He never phoned and he never called in. I sent him a text message asking him if he was going to help us, he hasn't bothered to reply to that, so we are going to have to find another plumber. So welcome back!!!!
I will try and get back to fill in some of what has happened in the past year.
2nd July 2025
Over a year since my last entry!!!! What has been happening? Not a lot, but it seems I don’t have much free time, probably too much procrastination on my part.I managed to finish decorating the kitchen and reclaim the dining room from kitchen stuff that had to be moved. We got rid of one of the old wall cupboards and put 2 new ones up in its place. I put glass doors on them and glass shelves inside and we have finally put on display the different glass ware that we have had in storage since we moved into this house 30-odd years ago. We replaced the carpet tiles we had with lino, it is a lot easier to keep clean. We had to buy a new washing machine and air fryer.
Whilst we were in the period of time following the Covid epidemic that we were having to wear face masks when we went out I developed a small sore on my nose. It never quite healed, it would scab over but only a “soft” scab which got knocked off very easily. Eventually 30th June, 2024, I went to the doctors. She said it could be a cancer so she referred me to Watford General Hospital and I got an appointment 10 days later. The specialist said it probably was a Basal-cell carcinoma, which is the most common type of skin cancer. She said they would remove it and get it diagnosed. On the 10th August I had the lump removed, the surgeon said he would have to do a skin transplant to cover it originally but when it came to it he didn't and it was just left to heal itself. It healed very well and it was confirmed as a Basal-cell carcinoma, this is a non-spreading type of cancer and that the tests showed they had removed it all.
Earlier this year, in January I went to the dentist for a routine check-up, it was with a new Dentist, he noticed a small lump on the roof of my mouth and he referred me to Watford General Hospital for them to check it over. It was examined in March and they decided to have it surgically removed. Today I got a call from the hospital and the procedure will be carried out on July 31st.
Tomorrow we are setting off on a little tour of the south of England. We are staying on the Isle of Sheppey for 3 nights then driving to Whistable, Kent, where we will be for 3 nights. We are meeting up with some of our friends from Maidstone SOBS.
After that we are driving to Southampton where we will be staying for 2 nights. Then after leaving the hotel we will drive to my sister’s who lives near Portsmouth where we will spend the day before driving home in the evening.
We will be at home for about 5 days before driving to Michelle and Charlie’s, then on Saturday, 19th July, we will drive them to Seaton in Devon where we will be staying in a caravan for a week.
Btw, the lorry driver denied hitting my car and his insurance company refused to pay out.
11th November 2025
First of all, the tour of the south of England went well until we were nearly at our Southampton destination, I have put 2 flipbooks in Our Trips section, one a descriptive text, the other photographs, the links are 2025 Our trip round SE England and 2025 Our trip round SE England Photos. The text flipbook describes what happened to us as we approached our hotel just outside Southampton and also my rather disastrous day in Southampton.
The caravan holiday in Seaton was very good. The site, Axe Vale Caravan Park, was a fairly small, well-kept site, it had a small shop but no “club facilities”. There was a swimming pool, sand pit and children’s play area. We went on the Seaton Tramway, which is a 2ft 9in narrow gauge electric tramway. It runs for 3 miles between Seaton and Colyton. It stops at various points along the way including the village of Colyford, it also stops at the Seaton Wetlands. We also visited Pecorama, which is at Beer and is home to the famous PECO Model Railway Exhibition and the Beer Heights Light Railway (BHLR). We didn’t have time to see the model railway exhibition this year, so we are going back to the caravan park next year and will concentrate on the Model Railway Exhibition before going on the BHLR. I haven’t put any photos on the Our Trip section yet. Here are 2 of the photographs I took.
The surgery on the lump in my mouth went ahead as rescheduled, the surgeon said he would take a sample to have it tested but I think he actually removed it. On the 25th September I had the follow-up appointment to find out the results. The doctor said it was a Capillary Haemangioma or in plain English a blood blister. She went on to reassure me that is was benign and there were no sinister features. Then she went on to examine the site and she said there is still a lesion that looks slightly inflamed on the hard palate, which is not fully healed and I was to continue doing the salt rinses. She booked me in for a follow-up in 2 months. I did have a nurse look at it after a month and she said it was healing and that I needn’t continue with the salt rinses.
Lynda and I had our flu vaccines as recommended and I had a covid booster.
13th November 2025
A couple of weeks ago I had to give blood for my annual diabetic check-up. I have now seen the practice nurse for the results and for her to check my blood pressure, weight and feet. They were very pleased with my blood results, kidney, liver and cholesterol all come back as good. My sugar count is now down to 6%, which means that if I drop down another point my diabetes will go from being pre-diabetic to diabetes in remission. My weight was slightly up so must try and reduce that, but I just have to keep up with the life-style changes I made when I was first diagnosed with diabetes in January/February 2020. I am fortunate that I have been able to do this without having to take medication for it. Also earlier this year I had my annual diabetic eye test and they are pleased with my results and said I needn’t have them tested annually now but bi-annually.
16th November 2025
Whilst we were on our way to visit Michelle and Charlie in September we saw a poster advertising Forest of Dean Model Railway Club’s annual two-day exhibition being held locally. We mentioned it to them and Charlie expressed that he would like to go. So we arranged to go down for the weekend of the 27th September. The exhibition was being held at Charlie’s school, the Dean Academy. There were over 200 layouts on show, including one in the back end of a car which had been cut in half and converted into a trailer. Whilst Charlie was admiring the layout a local newspaper photographer took a picture of him which then appeared in the newspaper.
29th November 2025
Yesterday it was Charlie’s 14th Birthday. We travelled to St. Briavels yesterday to spend the weekend with him and Michelle.
On our way we went via a Coventry to pick up a custom-made picture frame, which I will explain further in the next post. Between ours and Coventry we visited a café called Gilkes. It is based in what used to be a car salesroom and garage. We found it on our way to one of the TCF Retreats in Bourneville. This café served the best sausage and mushroom bap that I had tasted in years. Unfortunately we have to have a reason for going that way otherwise it is too far to go just to eat and return home.
25th January 2026
As I said in the last post this is the explanation why we went via Coventry.
Some time ago in one of the places we visited with our friends, Karyl and Ronnie, in Tennessee the reception counter was a sheet of glass and underneath the glass were plectrums that various guests had given them. As Darren was into his music we had brought various souvenir picks when we came across them. Seeing this counter gave me an idea of how to display them. We were given a long but narrow picture frame, so I decided to put the picks in to the frame.
Last year I looked at the picks we had that still weren’t in the frame and realised I would need a new bigger frame. First of all I started looking at frames in the charity shops we visited but realised it was highly unlikely that I would find one to fit the exact size I wanted. The existing frame was situated on the side of the chimney breast in what used to be Darren’s bedroom, and alongside his 2 guitars which are on display on the wall next to the chimney breast.
I enquired at our local picture frame makers but it was rather expensive, so I started looking at ones on line. The next issue to overcome was the width, all of the on line made-to-order frames they wanted the size of the picture you wanted to frame but as I said earlier I wanted the external measurement to fit the area. In the end I found one that accepted the external measurements.
So I eventually picked the style of frame (again though I was limited because the depth meant there was a minimum thickness I could have), the styles I was looking at the depth of the frame was 20mm so the width had to be 30mm (these are the measurements of the components that make up the frame).
On ordering it I then saw the shipping cost was going to be nearly half the cost of the frame itself. So, after talking to Lynda, we decided we would make a day trip of a visit to Gilks Café, then pick up the frame, then drive down to Michelle’s.
We found the frame makers and picked up the frame which was nicely wrapped in bubble wrap, so I didn’t look at the frame itself, then drove down to Michelle’s. It wasn’t until I arrived back home 4 days later that I looked at the frame.
So, undid the bubble wrap, then, shock, horror, it wasn’t black like I ordered to match the rest of the furnishings, it was a green colour, but it was the exact measurements, although the frame components were 20mm wide and 30mm deep. So I phoned the company and of course they apologised, because I didn't want the hassle of packing up the frame and sending it back and possibly having to pay for delivery of the correct one, it was agreed that they give me a refund of part of the cost. All I had to do was to paint the frame the colour I wanted, also of course as the frame was thinner I could get a few more picks in it.
So I painted it and then started planning what goes where. I decided to make the word “Darren” bigger to the depth of the new frame, so instead of using 70 in the first frame I had to cut out an extra 29 to make a total of 99. There were 348 other picks to be placed. This took a couple of weeks owing to other things needed doing at the same time. Once I was happy with the positioning I then had the job of sticking them into place, which took approximately 3 hours and 20 minutes. The photographs below show the old frame next to the new one, then one showing the finished work and showing where it is situated.
