ADDRESSING PROBLEMS

Yet another delivery van has rung through for directions to the house - satnav directions for the postcode have taken him half a mile up the road...  


Another complication is that the road which is included in our postal address doesn't really exist on maps.  


Then came the stumble through the address - 'Byre' causes all sorts of complications - as does the name of the village - and that's a very short word indeed.


I am not criticising, merely pondering on how such a simple little address with short words has become such a problem.  What must it be like in Wales with their famously long and complex names?

Actually I am delighted that he had such a problem because I decided to tell you about it, and of course I had to set up a little photo...  Trying to find some interesting-looking letters I came across some which had been sent to my parents.  A lovely find, but then I was even more delighted to find some written by your Grandma in 1970.  Treasure indeed.


There was nothing especially amazing about the content, it was all about a period of time when we (Grandma, Grandad, Ian and I) had moved back to England after spending three years living in the Outer Hebrides.  We were waiting for our new house to be finished and decorated, one of them was just about coping with life in an old caravan which had just one electric socket and that powered the fridge...  Different days, Jonny!


What I loved about it was the very ordinariness of them and how well they took me back to that period of our life.  The power of the written word - and a huge part of my pleasure was because it was in my Mum's wonderfully familiar handwriting.  She was a great letter-writer.  


I also came across a letter which I had written to my parents when you were little.  It was dated New Year 1986, Dubai, and again made an interesting read.


We obviously had much more energy in those days because after leaving you three children with two babysitters your Pa and I went to some neighbours for a New Year's Eve Party, then we moved on to another where we celebrated New Year, local time and then partied on until 4am to celebrate the new year UK time!!


We got up at 7am and took you children to the beach for an early swim.  It was cool, but sunny and we took a flask of coffee, some fruit juice,  and a pile of bacon sandwiches - we had a great time.  I even cooked a roast dinner when we got home - I must have been mad.


Our housemaid at the time, Latha, had to take a couple of days off sick so I ended up farming out Davina and Tim to friends but had to take you to the office.  I will scan the letter and send it to you sometime.


Going off on entirely different tack

here is an old photo of Pip.  Awfully scary eyes, but look how young she is, I think this was taken when we first got her - little did we know what a handful she was going to be!


She is fine, still plodding along in her stiff-legged way.


I hope all is well with you Jonny - talking of addresses - please do let me have your postal address asap as I really do need to get your birthday card sent over and of course I want to make up a parcel for you for Christmas.


Much love,


Mum
xxx


PS  It was lovely speaking to you this morning, a nice surprise!

HURRICANES AND DRAINS

I am getting a tad bored now, Jonny.  Too much inactivity (resting my foot)  makes even jobs like scrubbing the kitchen floor and cleaning the flue of the Rayburn  seem attractive. 


The weather was a little different today, still warm - but pretty windy.  Apparently we are about to experience some rather Octoberish weather as we get the tail end of a hurricane over the next couple of days.  


October always was the month for gales - remember when we used to live in Cleethorpes and had that very tall house, 'Rooftops', how the wind would come rushing up from the beach and tear into our roof tiles.  We spent 15 years there and each October and March were a nightmare, although I don't suppose you would have taken that much notice.  Perhaps you remember how one year it blew down the back garden wall - six foot tall, made of brick, and we didn't hear a thing because the wind was blowing so noisily!


At least with the Byre being a low building we don't have that sort of problem here - fingers crossed.


Your Pa has been busy working on the drainage system - apparently a soakaway is blocked ...  I do know that he has had to dig a small trench and order some pipes and connectors.  Not very interesting news, but as you probably know the drainage system better than anyone else, I thought you might like to know.


I hope you are enjoying your holiday - I must say you do seem to do rather well on that front - how many days off a year do you get?


Lots of love,


Mum
xxx


PS Will try to have something a little more interesting that the weather and the drains to tell you about next time!

THE CAT IN THE TREE AND BILLIE THE BEAK

Much as we enjoyed our trip to Gunby Hall on Thursday it was something of a mistake to have done it.  My fault, not Gunby's.  My foot just wasn't up to it and I have spent much of the time since then with my foot on a stool to reduce the swelling.


I sneaked out earlier today (before the ogre, who is your father and guardian of my foot, was about) and took a couple of quick photos to brighten up a dull post.

The weather has been amazing, very hot (for England) sunny, beautiful - all of this has left the grass looking dry and parched, but that will soon recover, while the leaves are beginning to take on their autumnal colours and texture.  The trees and hedgerows are dripping in red berries and hips and lots of plants in the garden are having a brief second-flowering.


Even my short walk through the vegetable garden to the woodland gate was crunchy - when the hens came running they made a huge amount of noise as they scattered the dry leaves around them.  Nothing can move quietly through there at the moment.


While I was talking to the hens, as they devoured the chard and spinach leaves, I looked up to find

little Miss Sparky in the fork of a tree watching them, Billie in particular.  There is no love lost there.  I think Sparky regards her as a special challenge - but I think Billie the Beak is well able to defend herself.  Toby is terrified of her again, after she made a very painful stab at him the other day!!

For anyone who doesn't know Billie, I should explain that she is an ex-battery farm hen and she has a twisted beak.  She can't really eat in quite the same way as the others, but she manages pretty well - and she can certainly give a nasty stab with it.


I 'borrowed' this image of her from Vintage Photographer's Blogspot, as I can never quite capture that beak of hers, but I think this photo shows it very well.


So, while your father has been busy about the place - rubbing down the wooden window frames at the back of the house and applying several coats of oil - I have been confined to quarters much of the time.  I haven't wasted my time entirely as I have been doing some more sewing - making origami-style gift bags out of fabric (I enjoyed the challenge) and small gifts for later in the year.  I would much rather have been out and about doing all the jobs which I really should be doing in the garden.


While I have been typing this I have been quietly surrounded by critters - two dogs and two cats.  It is amazing how quickly the cats have learned what time the dogs get fed and have adopted that time as their afternoon feed time too. I must say I am quite pleased really, it saves time and helps to make sure that Pip doesn't have too much opportunity to steal the cat food as she is too busy eating her own!  It takes her ages to eat her meal, whereas before it used to disappear in seconds.


No Skype call today - is that because you have the week off?  I really would like to know whether you are pleased with the new clothes.


Lots of love,


Mum
xxx