March 2017

Back here in the faint hope I can get here regularly.  Let's try.

Did a walk taken from a local magazine.  We started in Wharf Lane, Sheepway near Portbury on a dismal, in fact cold, day.

Just 4 miles but we took our lunch having set off a little late as we both had our feet done by Jenny this morning.

We saw a good 20 + House Martins, first this year.  No swallows amongst them sadly.

Oh, we also say a Roe Deer,

Sunday 9th April 2017

Well our weekend has just passed in a manner quite unexpected.  The plan started Friday evening when I was to chair my home group meeting.  Great start to the weekend. Saturday morning we would, as most Saturdays, walk into the village where we would pick up a Telegraph in the Coop and any bits of veg we needed from the veg shop across the road, then make our way up to Hill Road and so on.  I've mapped it out, our Saturday morning circular walk, to about 6 miles, more if we include Poet's Walk. That's us done then for the day.  We sit and read or listen to a play on the radio in the afternoon during which I always, and Wendy will sometimes, fall asleep, only to wake just as the play finishes.

That was the plan.  However.  On Friday morning I woke with a hit of a sore throat.  By late afternoon I had sneezed, wheezed and blown my way through the day and was feeling pretty sorry for myself.  As I had the key, I had to go over to Nailsea so I stayed for a while but Maggie didn't want to share in my woes so she suggested I make my way home, asap.  I did.

Friday night was awful, sore throat, couldn't breath, permanently thirsty. 

Felt pretty sluggish Saturday morning but decided a walk would bring about a cure, or at least a brief reprieve. It didn't really.  By this time Wendy had rustled up a gratingly sore throat and a pounding head.  We got the paper and returned home.  Fortunately it has been one of those magical few days in early Spring when the weather feels more like summer so we sat on the patio until an early dinner then, energy spent, we crashed out for the evening.

Today hasn't been considerably different.  A beautiful day again so, on return from our Tesco run, we collapsed onto sun loungers on the patio. Wendy improved a little throughout the day as did I although neither of us had any energy. A vegetable curry prepared then cooked and once again, that was us for the day.

How lives can change in an instant

This time last year we were both blissfully unaware of what the coming twelve month would bring.

Following a terrific walk on a glorious summers day the day before, Wendy suffered a stroke.  This was Monday, 22nd July 2013.

A busy summer

Well so far it's turning out to be a pretty good summer and what a busy one for us.

Following our return from our winter vacation in Spain it stayed cold for a couple of months and it was not until late May that temperatures began to suggest summer was here.

We had decided that, if we had a summer similar to last years, ie. very wet and quite cool, then we would leave for another winter in Spain.  If however we had a decent summer, and we managed to get away in the caravan a few times then we would stay home for winter but take an extended holiday in France, in September. And that's what we're going to do.  I will book the Eurotunnel, as for the last few years, with our Tesco Vouchers.  Every little helps.

So what's happened to us since our return from Spain?

Well, we'd only been back a week when we were invited down to Geoff and Anitra's to see the snowdrops.  We met Maggie and Dave down there and the six of us started with lunch at the Blue Ball Inn, at the top of Countisbury Hill, after a delightful drive across Exmoor.

As we began our wander through the Snowdrops the day became dank and dull although not particularly cold.

After an hour or so we returned to our starting point

Autumn's knocking at the door

Five months now of retirement and continuing to love every minute of it.  Still plenty to do though.

We're almost at the end of August and wondering just where the summer went if indeed it ever arrived.  Oh yes, we've had a few wonderful days and we managed to be away on those days and both of us have picked up quite a good tan this year but it's been a very on and off summer.

What a busy day!

The rain has stopped and the sun's shining.  All around are the sounds of lawn mowers, hedge trimmers, the clip clip of garden shears, even a whiff of barbecue during the afternoon.

And so I joined them. I cut the grass, front and back, trimmed two Euonymus', cleaned and polished the front windows and finally brought the window boxes round.

Our back garden is waiting for a patio to be laid, meantime the self seeding Love in the Mist or Nigella damascena have taken advantage of the lack of maintenance and put on a spectacular display.




























We've not put the window boxes out the front of the house before now as it's been so windy and we wanted them to firm up a little from planting.

Our only concession to The Jubilee this summer has been to bring a patriotic  RED WHITE BLUE flavour to our window boxes. We planned to have red geraniums, white Petunias and blue Lobellia but the Petunias got severely eaten by the slugs and snails following the recent torrential rain.  Petunias should be labeled "Slug Feed" they just love 'um. They do however dislike geraniums and so we've doubled up on them.

Summer's here?

 Almost 10 weeks of retirement under my belt and loving it. Kept saying "Oh, I'll be fine, just need to settle into a routine"  That's what I thought! Couldn't be more wrong.  Perhaps I will change my mind at some time in the future but for now no routine is best.  Being a newcomer to Pensionville I hadn't given thought to there being any other course in retirement for keeping me content than routine.  However, on a walk last month, a friend suggested to me that routine was almost as bad as being at work. It removes the ability to be spontaneous, to push off somewhere for the day when the sun shines, to stay in bed just that little bit longer after a late night, or to just do what you want to do.  It has been suggested to me I might idle my time away in (part time?) employment rather than at home as I've just lost out on a few weeks temping at my old firm.  50 years is enough but thanks for the thought.

It's early June and it seems we may have had our summer.  It's 15° C outside and raining steadily and it's been like that most of the day.  We've just booked 5 nights away at Sturminster Newton to coincide with Janey's party.  We're away Thursday to Tuesday so will drive back to Sturminster after the party on the Saturday.

Talking of the weather. Friday morning brought heavy rain and strong winds and, combined with a Spring Tide scheduled for 10.30am we decided to put our wet gear on and go off down the seafront.  This is what we saw.Look out for Zak (in the shorts!!) Wendy and Becci walking past.

Nearly there

Can't quite believe it but in exactly one week I will be unemployed, retired. On Thursday 15th March 1962 I started out on a journey that was to continue for another 50 years. Eight employers over the years from engineering to policing, cinema management, pub management, retail office management, sales representative and finishing as a basic office bod.