Visitors

 Dear Marmite

This week has been busy. Not just me - most of the country has had Dudley, Eunice and and now Franklin visiting their neighbourhood.  When guests come, I make special arrangements. Fortunately for me, None of my guests have caused any damage so far! Remembering the impact of tropical storms and hurricanes from my time in The Bahamas, frankly I thought it would be much worse. 

Rail services were cancelled and a RED warning went out for 10am in my area. Tennis was also cancelled. Friday brought wind but not rain. The canal had waves. The skies were sunny, and on Saturday, I took a walk around the Flood Plain Nature Reserve to see what damage had been wrought. Nothing - just a few twigs and small branches across the paths. The sky looked decidedly Gothic and the wind was still whipping around even then. We were lucky. Parts of the UK are without power again. 

While these storms are not hurricanes, they are named because of their potential to cause havoc. It could be rain, wind or snow. Outside even now the wind is whipping up in that noisy way that makes me want to stay put, drink coffee and eat biscuits. My heating has been sorted out just in time. It is easier to control now and, according to the instructions it picks up on what my habits are and turns itself on and off accordingly. Clever!

Despite the weather being a disruptor, I also had nice visitors as well. Gaby from Singapore popped up the M1 for a short visit on Thursday ahead of the bad weather. You might remember her from tennis, Marms? Obviously we talked about the old times, grandchildren and, of course, tennis. More and more I do tend to talk about the old times. We also said that one of our great joys of living in a hot country was; you don't have to wear many clothes. This is something I still haven't got right over here even though I am almost through my second winter. We went for a local walk and once again, I wore the wrong clothes - I was far too warm that time. Other times, I need a hat when I didn't think iof taking one. You, Marms, are lucky you just have a lovely fur coat and you don't have to make such decisions.

On Friday Binny and Ana braved the elements and came up for lunch. We had a cosy time in my local. I never have any issues getting there as it really is next door. This brings to mind the joke: It takes five minutes to walk to my local and about forty-five minutes to get home afterwards - The difference is staggering!!! I seem to recall we spent most of the time discussing when would be a good time for them to leave and which route to take vis a vis the storm. 

Then yesterday it was my time to visit. This was a trip to a cousin of my mother's, Paula. With Danielle and Ezra-Mae -  plus a pile of baby paraphernalia -  in tow, we set off for Aylesbury - not far away -  for a wonderful day out. Ezra-Mae is a crawling dynamo. for the time we were there she never stopped crawling, climbing, playing and smiling. Obviously, she was the topic of conversation for this trip. When I was a child and the world was a very different place, our extended family would get together on high days and holidays and we would always end up playing cards. Paula and I had a few reminisces (is this a word?) about this and times gone by and the family members long since passed. 

Today it is a swimming day! Just another normal run-of-the-mill activity day. I love seeing people - long may it continue.

I only you could visit too.

Lovely you

XXX