My hopeful future

 Dear Marmite

After what seems like months of looking, I have finally decided on the place I would like to live. It is just 2 miles away from where I am now provided I cycle along the tow path but 5 miles miles if I go by car. This means I can hop on my bike, cycle for a swim and back without breaking into a sweat. The swimming, of course, depends on the whims of Big Bad Boris.

Before I started looking for a home I made a check list. I wanted something that was not on an estate or a main road. Somewhere I could wake up in the morning and feel like I was on holiday. I also wanted a big kitchen, eco credentials and a garden to potter in. Sadly this place doesn't tick all the boxes but it ticks enough for me to feel excited about moving. The small problem remains of sorting out my finances now  - oh the stress!

This stress has given me sleepless nights where my thoughts limp from the legal bits,  to the money to the packing of the bits I unpacked just over a year ago. I am sure all this is perfectly normal in the process of moving. Even Billie Bump AKA Ezra-Mae who is now over two months old doesn't make enough noise to wake me up. I can't blame her for the bags under my eyes. 

She is and getting big and bouncy. She has also sharted chortling so the moniker - The Mighty Waa no longer fits. It is lovely seeing a child grow up without having all the worries that accompany this endeavour. I remember feeling overwhelmed at trying to be the ideal parent and doing most of the jobs alone. Looking back I am surprised I wasn't on my knees with exhaustion more often. 

Over this past week, I have helped Nasser reshape his garden - he has done lots of the heavy work and I have added the finer touches. On Friday we started to build a shed. The instructions said it would take two people two to three hours to complete. We have so far built the same shed at least three times over two days and it still needs the roof fixing on. That is today's treat.

At least we have the sunshine of Spring and today is the Equinox so summer is just around the corner. I have survived my first complete British winter for 25 years. Happier and hopefully warmer days lie ahead - what joy!! 

So, as you see Marms, my life is filling up with bits to do and soon there will be places to go as well. 

I was sorry to see you so emasculated dressed in pink, by the way. Next time you end up the victim of a play date - my advice is to ask for more manly drapes.

Love you as always,

Love

XXX

The world is slowly opening up

 Dear Marmite

In the UK the government have taken the first steps to opening up our small existence. The schools are back after a fashion and the kids at the secondary school close by are back to being their old feral selves. face masks looped to each ear and stretched under the chin is de rigueur for all students who bother to wear one. Groups meet in no less than four either so this is truly a testing time as the daily death rate due to covid is under 200. 

to be honest, who can blame these poor souls who have been locked up for almost 10% of their lives  - I would probably be much the same in their boat. The sun has also taken to shining more often and the world is definitely warming up. This too has lifted my spirits. I kept my precious rhubarb under a bucket for the winter and now I have lifted said bucket, it has come out beautiful and pink. What a wonderful world!!!

The world was less wonderful the other day when Danielle, noisy Billie and me set out to sort out the family graves in Leighton Buzzard. The rain came at us at right angles and as you can see from the photo. I am leaning into the wind to keep my hood up. It is almost Spring, I told myself. 

As you know, I have become part of a group - Refugees Welcome, Wolverton. The plan is to raise £9000 and help resettle a Syrian refugee family in the locality. We have a big fund raiser coming up online.  It is a quiz of the pub variety adapted for Zoom and the launch of an art auction. I know you will probably be asleep at 8pm GMT on 31st, March when the quiz goes live, Marms. I just hope you will be cheering us on in your dreams. If anyone else wants to be part of this, entry is £10 per team and all are welcome. Making it international will not be a barrier. 

I popped to see Rachel in Chippenham last week. Claude says "hi" or woof. Rachel who is now well settled in the UK is rationalising stuff from three different homes so she has generously donated some furniture to help us set up the refugee home. It was lovely meeting up at a distance and the only downer on the day was a two-hour jam on the A34 on the way back. A lorry had been silly and parked itself at an angle across one lane so it felt like the whole world had come to a standstill because of it. What is remarkable is that there is so much traffic around during lockdown. 

I am also house hunting. This is for my forever home and I can't make a decision. I have looked at places that need heavy duty sorting and places that I could move into and tweak. I have a long check list of things I want - non-estate, on a quiet road or cul-de-sac, full of character, enough space to entertain, a kitchen large enough to swing a cat or even a cooked bird, and bedrooms that you can walk into and not step straight onto the bed. I want all this and not too far from where I am now. I loved Dairy Farm. You could watch doggie TV and we had space. If only I could replicate that here but perhaps without jungle or the swimming pool.

Since starting to write this the sun has now disappeared and there is a squall with heavy rain once again. I retract joy of seeing the sun. I will dream of the sunnier times I had with you. 

As always, I love you and miss you.

XXX

Mine's a Boris!!

 Dear Marmite

You remarkable old man. It was lovely to see you up and walking just a week after your operation. I just hope I can look as good as that when I am well over a hundred!! Things are looking up for me. I have suffered mightily from a really painful hamstring for such a long time and I have tried almost everything to alleviate the pain. 

For much of the time it has felt like someone has hit me across the back of the left thigh with a cricket bat. You could say it felt like I had been knocked for six. All this pain suddenly disappeared when I got some anti- inflams from the NHS doctor. All this time I have been suffering from sciatica - a trapped nerve. Now I am medicated I could dance the night away, if only!!!

I said that mine's a Boris. I of course refer to my current hairstyle. It hasn't looked right since the first lockdown started and of course the longer my hair gets the more like Coco the Clown I look. In the past certain hairstyles have trended - the mullet, the bob, the beehive - and now most people like me are cherishing their very own Boris. The major characteristic of this style is the asymmetric, lop-sided look with variable lengths of hair jutting out. My latest version was courtesy of Danielle. 

As with hairdressers, plumbers are also elusive. The plumber who sorted out the house I moved into last year has told me on eight separate ocassions that he was coming round to sort out things he didn't do quite right first time round. I contacted him on 22nd July last year and since that time I have contacted him more times than I care to recall. 

He rarely answers so now I think it would be useful to publicise how little pride he must have in his workmanship. The biggest problem is that the thermostat on the heating system is a few degrees south of being accurate. This is OK when the weather is warm but not in freezing conditions when the automatic system should kick in. So when it gets cold, I wake up thinking of Effin Faisal the distrait plumber and his sidekick, Bilal of the wobbly doors!

On the home front, The Might Waa, AKA Ezra-Mae is now 6 weeks old and growing fast. I have threatened her on numerous ocassions with the possiblity of me singing to her. I can get her to sleep but she wakes up almost as soon as she is put down. So anything that happens in the house happens while holding a baby or passing the baby around. 

So Marms, this is my life as we head for the first stage in easing lockdown.  I have lots to look forward to. A vaccination, a potential visit from a plumber, sunnier days and tennis on March 29th. 

Love you

XXX