Paris 2024 Olympics

For the first time in 2024, I feel able to leave my parents for a couple of weeks. Dad’s been in hospital for most of the year with a stroke, falls, emergency surgery, and one infection after another. He’s really had a rough time. This has obviously been difficult for mum too, worrying, visiting most days and living on her own for the first time in almost 60 years. I’ve done my best to support her, but this means most of our retirement plans haven’t come to fruition, with many trips shortened and cancelled. Our trip to Paris is the first that’s going ahead as planned. I’m not sure either John or I can believe it’s actually happening.

Back in 2012, John and I missed out on visiting the London Olympics and, when we had to cancel a trip to Jordan for our Pearl wedding anniversary because of the war in the Middle East, heading to Paris 2024 seemed a suitable and exciting alternative treat. We bought tickets to see a new Olympic event, kayak cross, almost a year ago, in August 2023. Campsites were booked in the autumn as soon as places became available, then we later bought tickets to see weightlifting and sport climbing. These are all sports that we agreed we’d both enjoy and which weren’t too expensive.

Dad is currently stable and will, hopefully, be coming home soon. We had a last minute panic this week on receiving that news though, because a heavy sofa bed needed to be removed from mum’s front room to make space for a hospital bed. I didn’t want mum to have to deal with this while I’m away, and I didn’t think John and I could manage to move it without damaging doorframes and paintwork. Thankfully, some strong friends from our CrossFit gym, helped John manoeuvre it into mum’s garage… quickly and without causing any damage! I’m praying all goes smoothly if and when dad does come home.

In the meantime, having popped to visit mum and then dad, we’re currently driving to Northampton to spend the night with our friends Nick and Ann. Tomorrow we move on to Canterbury, ready to catch the ferry from Dover to Calais on Monday and meet up with Tracy, Mark, Daniel and Izzy in Chantilly, just north of Paris. Then to the games exciting! 🇬🇧🛶🏋️🧗‍♂️