Day 161: rest day Southampton

Best bits: chatting with Helen, Emma’s arrival, conversations

Worst bits: walking round the shops without purpose

Distance: 10.3 miles

My first activity this morning was dying my hair. I was half way through when there was a knock on the door. It was the manager bringing me my Amazon delivery at 8:30am!! She laughed and said it was a great start to her day to see me in mid state of hair colour! Finished state below.

I had breakfast with Joyce and did my washing before setting off for my lunch date with Helen from Brainstrust. It was a beautiful day and so I decided to walk.

We had an excellent lunch at the Pig in the wall. It was really great to have a conversation with Helen and we covered lots of topics. She asks really interesting questions.

I wandered round the City Center for a while waiting for Emma to arrive. She was going to be doing some more filming today and tomorrow.

Children fascinated by pink hair

As I was in a city some of the things I noticed were the strong smell of smoke, I’m not used to people smoking. I found negotiating around, through and overtaking people on the street very irritating. Also I was shocked at the number of rough sleepers I came across in the middle of the shopping area and they appeared to be established sleeping places.

While waiting for Emma at a Costa, a different one to where Emma went! Two small girls about 5 years old started circling past me and looking at me. One of them finally plucked up courage and said she liked my pink hair. That made me smile so I gave them a pink heart each and they were delighted.

We walked back to Joyce’s and on the way Emma took the opportunity to film in the sunshine. When I checked my Garmin watch I was surprised that I had walked so far today, over 10 miles on a rest day!

Joyce is embracing TraceysTrek and collecting more things on her mantelpiece.

Then we had some good conversations. I talked Joyce through the photographs of Angela in the book I have with me. I am starting to remember these times with fondness rather than sadness.

Joyce, who is 87, told Emma that she had learned to crochet especially so that she could make the hearts and was enjoying the thought that they were now with people I had met all over the coast. She has made over a thousand of them so far and she has joined the knit and natter group now she has a relevant skill.

We then engaged in a conversation about loss and grief and Joyce’s experiences of this and of living in a retirement complex. Emma took more film and I got my own back and filmed her.