Author: Jenny’s Brave New World!

It was a long and challenging drive to Underberg in Natal today. My cousin’s husband is very experienced in navigating his way through the Transkei and Kwa Zulu and I was more than happy sitting in the back seat chatting to my cousin.

We arrived in Underberg early in the evening and went to the local supermarket to stock up on water, meat, salads and other essentials (like beer for the men). We decided to have a braai (barbecue) tonight as we didn’t feel like getting dressed up!

It was a beautiful evening albeit quite chilly. We unpacked and my cousin and I had a gin and tonic and relaxed, ready to help with the food preparation when required. The woman working on reception seemed to be a ‘Jill of all trades’. She arranged a trough with a grate so that we could build our fire. We had found gluten free boerewors (a delicious South African sausage) so I was really looking forward to the meal.

But there was a delay in cooking the meat! We first had to watch a rugby match between Western Province and Northern Transvaal so had to get our priorities right! Food came second but was well worth the wait! It was delicious!

The following morning we woke early to go on a trip up the Sani Pass into Lesotho. There were ten of us in the mini bus when we made our way to the South African border patrol to present our passports. A few miles along the dirt road we arrived at the Lesotho border post and repeated the exercise.

Then the adventure began in earnest! Up and up we went along winding gravel roads. We stopped occasionally for photograph opportunities, sometimes having to reverse to get around very tight bends with sheer drops on either side. I sat in the middle so could stare ahead which helped relieve travel sickness and prevent me from peering down into the abyss!

We reached the top and, after a talk by the local pastor, we went for lunch at the highest pub in Africa. Many photographs and a nice meal later, we made the even more perilous journey back down the same gravel road. It was even more challenging than the drive to the top but we eventually reached the South African border in one piece!

What an amazing adventure and this was only the beginning! My husband and I went for a walk before our evening meal. The weather had been very kind to us. It was clear and bright and not too hot. We saw birds never seen back home and watched monkeys darting through the trees, some with babies on their backs. A perfect end to a perfect day.👠

On Tuesday morning my cousin arranged a family get together. I visited South Africa eight years ago and that was the last time I have seen any family member other than an aunt, slightly younger than my mother, who has a daughter living in England. Our two families met up regularly as children and her eldest, a few months younger than me, has remained a good friend.

Time doesn’t stand still. Life also doesn’t always go according to plan. My uncle, who played cricket for his country and provincial rugby, has been in a wheel chair for a number of years. He is only seventy three so he was in his late fifties when his health began to fail. His wife is only two years older than me and his carer.

We take for granted our holidays abroad, trips to the theatre, and meals out with family and friends. My uncle can do none of these. Someone looks after him during the day while his wife holds down two jobs. But she never complains! When I asked my uncle how he spends his days he replied that he ‘sleeps a lot’. So sad.

On Wednesday we drove up the East Coast to spend a night with another cousin and his wife. He is recovering from major surgery but doing really well. He has his whole life ahead to enjoy his children and grandchildren. His house overlooks the sea. He has a telescope set up to watch dolphins and whales as they swim by, which happens regularly and must surely have aided his remarkable recovery!

Our walks along the beach were magical. Huge waves crashed over majestic rocks sheltering pools filled with exciting marine life just waiting to be explored. Impractical for surfers and fisherman but perfect for us strolling along the beach with all the time in the world!

On Friday I met an old school friend for lunch. I have known her since we were ten years old. Even though we lead very different lives, we had so much to talk about and the time sped by. A lot of happy memories came flooding back once we had caught up with current news. We laughed a lot and by the time my husband came to fetch us we hadn’t finished reminiscing! He was happy to sit with a cup of coffee and pass occasional comments when the need arose. He discovered things about his wife’s childhood that had long been forgotten!

So that was the first week of what is going to be a most unforgettable holiday and a trip down memory lane. We head for Natal and the Drakensberg mountains tomorrow. The excitement is mounting as we plan meals and ensure there is enough beer and wine for the trip! We are going to stay in a self-catering chalet which suits us far better than a hotel room. My cousin’s husband has kindly offered to do the driving and going through the Transkei is a huge challenge! We are very grateful to him!

We have another week stretching ahead, filled with more exciting adventures and plenty of walks to keep my Fitbit happy! South Africa is such a beautiful country and this leg of our journey will not disappoint!👠

After twenty four hours ‘on the road’ we have arrived in East London, South Africa. It was very windy but not cold. We left Manchester under similar weather conditions but not typical for this time of year.

We received a warm welcome from my cousin and her husband, followed by a superb meal. My cousin’s son, daughter-in-law and two beautiful little grandchildren joined us and it was so good catching up on all the family news.

My husband and I had an early night so were refreshed and ready for our visit to a local shopping centre. I have seen some disturbing Facebook postings about the violence and general decline of this once much loved city where I was born and spent the first fifteen years of my life. So, despite all the negative press, I was surprised to see the number of new motorways and bypasses built to link suburbs and improve travel links between schools, businesses and shops.

We arrived, albeit with some trepidation on my part, at the shopping centre. I expected to see the place in varying degrees of disrepair. I was also concerned about the safety aspect and clung onto my bag for dear life as we walked towards the entrance.

I was not expecting a state of the art shopping mall fit for the twenty first century! Designer shops, windows filled with the very latest fashions, dotted the arcade. I became very nostalgic seeing the names of departments stores still trading and Checkers’ and ‘Pick and Pay’ well stocked with groceries and obviously doing very well!

It made me wonder why there is so much negativity. I fully understand that there is an escalated violence in certain areas. Houses do have high walls, burglar bars and security companies patrolling the streets. But these are safety precautions, justified, but not debilitating.

We walked to the beach, which was almost empty. I didn’t bring jewellery and probably wouldn’t have gone on my own during the day outside of school holidays. By 4:30 pm the beach fills with surfers and dog walkers so safety in numbers always brings extra security. But I was still able to go for a walk on the beach! I remembered the pathway leading to the mouth of the river where my father used to fish. I saw the sand dunes we clamboured up and slid down on toboggans well lubricated in candle wax.

There is still a good quality of life if you stay aware. My cousin regularly walks her dog around her neighbourhood. She goes to the beach in the early evening when she knows she won’t be on her own. Shopping is a pleasure. There are a number of good restaurants if you want to meet friends or treat yourself to breakfast, lunch or an evening meal. Coffee shops are in abundance and there is a delicious array of mouthwatering cakes to chose from.

So it is with pleasure that I write this blog. My old home town still flourishes. Life definitely goes on. There is still a good quality of life. I live in hope that one day this beautiful country will be the jewel in the African crown!👠

My cousin is an optimist and makes the most of every day. Living in East London isn’t perfect but could be a lot worse. Dwelling on the problems won’t fix them but getting out and doing what you want to will go a long way to making you feel a whole lot better! 👠

Yesterday I awoke to another grey day. Until yesterday my journey into this ‘brave new world’ was going well but I had a momentary lapse! I panicked, nothing unusual for me, but totally unexpected!

I haven’t been sleeping well. I need eight hours and when I only get four, small niggles take on lives of their own. They morph into unattainable challenges! This is a relatively normal phenomenon and not unique to me, but it’s up to me to resolve!

So when I opened the curtains yesterday morning to another grey, dank day, I had only buried my new optimism in a shallow grave. It saw a means of escape and went for it!

I suddenly felt the same as I did, almost twenty eight years ago, when we had decided to leave South Africa. This was a very stressful period! As hard as I focussed on the many reasons why we were leaving a beautiful country and all our friends and family to find a better life for our children, the more I would experience sudden, overwhelming panic attacks! I’d see an image of my face staring out of the window of a small terraced house as ‘mizzling’ rain fell on dark grey buildings from a mottled grey sky. Grey outside and grey inside!

As the days turned into weeks, we sold the house, our possessions went into storage and our two dogs into kennels. My husband left for the UK to find a job while the children finished their last few weeks at school and we stayed with my parents. Gradually I found a way to deal with this potentially debilitating image.

I was determined that I would not look back! I can’t pretend that this was easy but practice eventually made perfect! By the time the children and I boarded that plane on the 31st December 1990, those panic attacks had lost their crippling hold. I had a new vision! As a family we were walking through the crispy white snow, blue skies overhead and we were all happy and relaxed! I used to keep hold of this image for as long as possible. And I never did look back!

The move was hard and not without problems! Thankfully I never did live in a small terraced house and I never sat staring out of the window at grey ‘mizzling’ rain falling on dark grey buildings from a mottled grey sky! My husband found a good job, we had a lovely home, the children went to excellent local schools and I started working for the company I finally left after twenty seven years!

Just as I needed to work on a new mental image to get me through the move from midsummer in Johannesburg to the middle of an icy English winter, I need to build an image for my first winter as a ‘Lady of Leisure’! There will be a lot of grey days! I won’t be going to work where I can ignore the weather. I probably won’t be able to go for daily walks but will definitely grab the moment when the clouds break and I can get out to feed my Fitbit and continue my fight against dementia!

I’m gradually forming a picture of me, sitting in front of a roaring fire, cosy and warm, staring outside at the softly falling snow. I won’t wake up most winter mornings and panic that I can’t get out of our drive and up our hill. I won’t peer up at the heavy black clouds filling the skies while at work, checking for signs of a snow storm to prevent me from getting home. My neighbour won’t be on constant ‘snow watch’!

I’m feeling better already! Lesson number one will be ‘don’t look back’. I have already passed that one! The second lesson is the image I need to build and hold and produce if and when the need arises. So I’ll learn to accept grey. I’ll throw in colours! Beautiful autumn shades of red, orange and gold and then the pristine white of a beautiful winter’s day! I’ll keep you posted …… 👠

Yesterday my friend and I went to the care home, my friend to give the exercise class and me to supply the music. Last week had been the best half an hour to date. Everyone in the room had joined in and we both left feeling really happy that we had managed to get so many residents involved.

However, yesterday was very different. One of the residents, in her nineties and only now showing signs of dementia, was in a bad mood and spoilt the class for everyone. Last week she sat next to the parrot’s cage and shouted rude comments as my friend started the warm up session. At first we found it quite amusing but were grateful when she retreated back into her chair and went to sleep. The parrot had, strangely, ignored this tirade, which was a bonus. We’ve had to put up with a shrieking parrot on a number of occasions!

Unfortunately yesterday this disgruntled woman had made up her mind that she was not going away and her comments came thick and fast. A number of the residents shouted at her to ‘stop being rude’ and to ‘leave us alone’. This only added fuel to the fire! Bizarrely the parrot slept through the noise or else I’d have had to turn the volume up even louder!

To make matters worse the activities manager was not in the room. She had taken a resident to the doctor so we were alone. My friend valiantly soldiered on until the lady sitting next to the disgruntled resident had enough. She had finished her tea and wanted to join the class. I was standing at one end of the room so could just make out a woman’s back and flailing arms.

I rushed outside and luckily found a carer in the hallway who managed to separate the two before any physical harm had been done. My friend, being the true professional, continued with her routine as if nothing had happened! The parrot had woken up, shrieked in disgust and immediately dropped forward to continue his nap.

I reported the incident to the care manager. She explained that there was not a lot she could do because, as I am very aware, this disgruntled resident has a mind of her own! She makes a beeline for the chair every morning and, other than physically removing her, won’t budge. Her behaviour disrupts the class and spoils it for all the other residents but I remain hopeful that something can be done to resolve this problem.

Next week will be the last class for a couple of weeks as both my friend and I are away. We understand dementia and how this awful disease can change personalities. We know that some weeks will be better than others! The management, staff and some of the relatives have thanked us for holding these classes. Apparently it leaves residents calmer and happier, so we soldier on …..👠

One of my first ‘jobs’ when I became a ‘lady of leisure’ was to get our house painted. Over the years we have struggled to find good, reliable decorators so I wasn’t looking forward to this challenge!

Residents of our Park often leave names of tradesmen, good and bad, in the club house so that was my first port if call. Only one name was listed as ‘reliable but needs supervision’ and the other three were ‘to avoid at all cost’! A start but I always get three quotes so had to find two others. I had kept hold of a few ‘fliers’ pushed through our door over the last few months so found another one.

The first gentleman I interviewed was the recommended decorator. He was very short and voiced his concern about the height of the two gables on either side of the house. He also insisted that he would need scaffolding over the conservatory as a ‘health and safety’ precaution. He was happy for us to buy the paint so quoted a day rate. I would have preferred the total cost of the job, although he said about four days, so thanked him for his time and waited for decorator number two.

He arrived at 6:00 pm on a Friday evening after I had to telephone him to confirm the time. I had written 5:00 pm in my diary but he insisted that he had told me 7:00 pm. Not a good start. He came covered in paint so presumed he hadn’t gone home. This assumption was correct. He had just come from the pub, which apparently serves excellent cider! He also needed scaffolding over the conservatory and on one side of the house. He would buy the paint and quoted for the complete job. The price had doubled.

So, not only did I have to find a decorator, I also had to find a scaffolding company! As luck would have it, a house at the top of our road was having new windows fitted so rang their scaffolding company for a quote. The next morning I received a visit from the manager and was shocked to hear the price! He also gave me the name of a decorator and suggested we paint our gutters and facia boards brown to match the garage door and save on cleaning, something we had already discussed. I arranged to meet decorator number three.

I’ll call him Sam. He looked at the gutters and facia boards and told me about their fantastic product that paints plastic and has a 10 year guarantee. This dramatically reduces the cost. They also supply a special paint which they spray on the walls and comes with a 20 year guarantee. He gave me the price which was five times higher than the original decorator but included scaffolding, gutters and facia boards. He told me that he would ‘throw in the garage at no extra cost’. I had taken an instant dislike to the man and didn’t trust him!

My husband came home while Sam was in full swing, explaining how fantastic this new paint from America was in covering cracks and preventing algae and moss build up! He gave us a brochure filled with scientific facts and guarantees. After another half an hour we had to explain that we were meeting friends for a meal or else Sam would have spent the rest of the evening with us!

To cut a long story short and many debates later, Sam was given the job. I still didn’t trust him but I am a cynic and my husband, after researching the products on line, was happy to give Sam a chance.

Sam did not disappoint! The job was unprofessionally handled from start to finish. His staff were not supported and his promise to be involved in everything, from start to finish, just didn’t happen. I saw him briefly on day one and that was it! I became the project manager as Sam hadn’t briefed his staff properly but just left them to get on with it!

Last Saturday, after running out of paint early on Friday afternoon, an older gentlemen joined the younger one and both worked tirelessly to finish while the dry weather lasted. They also had to start a new job on Monday. Still no Sam but, on Saturday evening, after my husband and I were invited to walk around and confirm all was fine, Sam was on the phone wanting his final payment.

I had felt sorry for his staff. They seemed to show some pride in their work. The walls looked okay (although the paint hadn’t fully dried) and the gutters and facia boards were a vast improvement. I paid by credit card, knowing that I could recall the funds if necessary.

Alas, once payment was received, Sam washed his hands off us. I am now trying to get the front wall repainted. It has fully dried and dark spots have appeared which need to be covered. Sam promised to see me on Monday and then last night. He sent the two gentlemen who had worked on Saturday to clear the rest of the rubbish left on the back lawn. They agreed that the wall needed to be repainted. I have still not received the promised guarantee and credit card receipt in the post! Nor have I seen Sam!

I sincerely hope that we get the wall repainted and someone comes to remove the scaffolding soon. I also hope that I don’t have to post a warning on their Facebook page and on the decorator list kept at the club house. However, I won’t be recommending Sam or his company either! I also hope that I don’t have to go through the process of raising a dispute with my credit card company! These are hassles I can do without! I just want to get shot of Sam. My gut instinct has always served me well in the past and will continue to do so in the future! I think I’m going to suggest that my husband does a decorating course at our local college when he retires! I don’t want to go through this fiasco ever again!

The sun is shining. My friend and I are going to the care home to give the residents their weekly exercise class. I’m going for a walk with friends this afternoon and then to the club house tonight for the weekly quiz. On Friday I meet two good friends for lunch. Next week we leave for South Africa. I’m forgetting Sam already …..👠,

I love trains! My dream holiday would be a train journey from our village station, all across Europe, never leaving my cabin! I’d just sit (or periodically have a run on the treadmill next to my reclining, back massaging arm chair) and have all meals served as I watched the world go by. I’d visit the capital cities and chug slowly up mountain passes, down through magical valleys and fun-packed seaside resorts.

But alas, that’s just a pipe dream! So I did the next best thing! A friend and I went to Chester by train. There were no fancy arm chairs or meals served by waiters in tuxedos but we did pass through some pretty little villages and the scenery, on that lovely sunny autumn morning, was lovely.

We decided to start our shopping trip with a cup of coffee and a piece of cake. I left my friend at an outside table (so that we could watch the world go by!) and went to the counter. What happened next was a Mr Bean act that Rowan Atkinson would have found hard to follow!

The tray was set with two large coffees, two small jugs of milk and two plates, one holding a piece of cake and the other my gluten free brownie. The cuff of my jacket, as I lifted the tray, capsized one of the jugs of milk. I was offered another tray, placed on the other side of the counter. I stepped forward holding the soiled tray and didn’t see a small step separating the two counters. I stumbled forward. One of the assistants was making a drink in front of me. She grabbed hold of the tray and I was able to steady myself with one hand on the wall and the other clutching the side of the counter. The rest of the milk and some of the coffee had created a muddy brown mess which had begun to drip down onto the floor. Miraculously the pieces of cakes were not affected!

Fortunately I don’t blush! I turned to face the bemused row of people waiting behind me. ‘I haven’t been drinking!’ I stammered. ‘I just didn’t see that step!’ I repacked the tray and everyone promptly moved out of my way as I sheepishly walked past them to my friend waiting patiently outside.

That wouldn’t have happened in my pipe dream! To add insult to injury the manager came outside to check that I hadn’t hurt myself! Once more I explained that I hadn’t seen the step and was not drunk! This meant that the crowd outside the coffee shop, who hadn’t seen the debacle, were also made aware of the spectacle I had made of myself!

But that’s life! I’ve moved on and can laugh about it and even share it! The train journey was last Tuesday morning. I wasn’t sitting at a desk staring at a computer screen. I went on a train, had a super day out with a good friend and bought some clothes for my holiday in South Africa next month. Win, win!👠

Waking up on a Monday morning and not having to go to work still excites me and it’s almost four months since I became a ‘Lady of Leisure’. No early starts also allows me to go out on a week night!

Last Thursday a friend asked me to go with her to an autumn / winter fashion show held in a department store in the heart of Cheshire. This area is also home to Premier League football players so I had a good idea of the demographic of the audience. But I was wrong!

Looking around I was surprised to see the majority of the women (only one man!), were between the ages of fifty and eighty! I was not expecting this! Neither was my friend. In somewhat curious anticipation we settled down with our glasses of sparkling wine 🥂 and waited for the show to begin.

It started with two young body builders walking down the ramp in short shorts and vests. Not what I had imagined! The eye candy seemed to go down well with only a few sniggers and embarrassed giggles but we all clapped, some very enthusiastically, as they left the stage.

There followed a really good fashion show. The store had done a superb job in catering for the age group of the audience. Times have changed, thankfully! Women of a certain age don’t have to wear twin sets and pearls. Without looking like ‘mutton dressed up as lamb’ we are able to follow most of the latest fashions. With just a few tweaks here and there to allow for changes in body shapes, stores are keen to tap into the disposable income of this large group of the population!

After the show the store remained open and the models and staff were available to offer help and advice. Not working or having any functions planned in the foreseeable future I was not in the market for an outfit. I could hear my husband’s sigh of relief as I walked past the rows of clothes showing minimal interest!

My friend liked one of the dresses and a reversible jacket so we chatted to a model who found a store assistant to help. I was more interested in the shoes. The only downside to not going to work every day means that I would have nowhere to wear the beautiful peep toe high-heeled boots balancing enticingly on a little glass rack before me. I could just feel the love for these gorgeous works of art oozing from every pore and desperately tried to find reasons why I had to have them.

But common sense, sadly, prevailed and we left the store only clutching our little bags of goodies we had found on our chairs and nothing else! But we had both thoroughly enjoyed the evening.

Doing something different, meeting new and interesting people and having fun is part of my exciting journey into ‘retirement’. It’s not the last stage of my life but the beginning of a new one. By keeping physically and mentally active I’ll wage war on dementia! This is one fear that I’ll keep on fighting against and will try to raise as much money as I can to find a cure! I can’t do anymore. 👠

Yesterday was wet and very windy. I decided to bite the bullet and clean the kitchen cupboards. Last year, when we were on holiday, I had given this ‘exciting’ job to the cleaners.

On our return, exhausted from the long trip back from the US, we were met by the kitchen work surfaces covered in bottles, tins, tubs and jars, all past their sell by dates! I was on the verge of gathering them up and throwing them in the bin when my husband stepped in!

Looking at the dates on the containers he systematically began packing them back into the cupboards, muttering under his breath that they were all fine and it would be a criminal waste to bin them!

A year later these cupboards were jam-packed and needed a thorough overhaul! I had procrastinated long enough. I turned on the radio, rolled up my sleeves and opened the first door.

I could not believe some of the sell by dates! I found herbs from the nineteen nineties! There were jams and pickles that were ten to fifteen years old! Fancy packets of tea and spices we had bought when we were in Sri Lanka, twenty years ago, remained unopened, hidden from view at the back of a cupboard.

I was shocked and embarrassed. This was such a waste! I, like my husband, hate throwing food away. The main problem was how the cupboards had been packed. The worst culprits were right at the top, not easy to reach and in no particular order.

A few hours later after, thankfully, a number of welcomed interruptions, I had washed down the cupboards, created a sensible storage system and removed the inedible products. I am determined that this will never happen again!

Feeling relieved that I had finally completed this unpleasant chore, I decided to polish the oak doors. This made such a difference and the lovely patterns in the wood became clearly visible. I picked up the kettle to make myself a well-deserved cup of tea and skidded across the hard stone floor. I had created a polished ice rink! The next half an hour was taken up scrubbing the floor on my hands and knees to avoid serious injury!

I have spent more exiting days as a ‘Lady of Leisure’ but this does rank as one of the most satisfying! I spent the next two hours at the yoga class and then had a long walk with a friend, taking advantage of the lull in the weather. I popped in to see Mum and leave money for her ‘petty cash’ so that she can have her weekly hairdos and outings and got home just as the heavens opened.

Yesterday would have been my father’s birthday.He was the same age as the Queen, born in 1926. Rest in peace, Dad. I still miss you. 👠

Yesterday I went solo. My friend is on holiday so I took the exercise class at Mum’s care home. I devised a lesson plan, worked out the amount of time needed for the warm up and cooling down sessions and practiced a routine. I was prepared!

However, my docking station chose yesterday morning to dig his heels in and go on strike! The remote control, fitted with a new battery and working perfectly at home, remained unresponsive! My smooth transition from one piece of music to the next just didn’t happen. Cooling down to ‘Jeremiah was a bullfrog’ was not ideal! We had just finished the ‘hand jive’ so a few of the residents continued with this routine whilst I struggled to find Vera Lyn’s ‘White cliffs of Dover’.

But everyone seemed to have had some fun and most of the residents had joined in, some singing more than ‘doing’ but still involved, which is the aim of this project. Today I am getting a new docking station! Out with the old, in with the new!

When out walking with my friend yesterday afternoon I shared the annoyance of the docking station scenario with her but also the positive outcome of my first foray into ‘teaching’. It was more satisfying than I had imagined, to which my friend, a retired teacher, readily agreed. So we chatted along the quiet country lanes, taking a new route that I had discovered last week. The sun was shining and it was lovely and warm, sheltered by trees on either side. The homes, mostly small holdings, were pretty and well maintained. As we turned into a larger, busier road my friend suddenly announced that we were being followed by a goat!

‘Yeah right’ was my immediate response! But, trotting proudly behind us, was a lovely sable coloured goat! He had confidently joined our gang and was not going to budge. We tried to shoo him away, thinking he might pop back through the hedge, but he refused to move. A car was fast approaching so I stood in the middle of the road with my hand up, forcing it to stop. The driver suggested we take Goat back to a field three telegraph poles behind us where he had seen a few goats grazing earlier. So we turned around as instructed. Goat followed, happy to oblige, stopping occasionally to nibble on the lush green grass by the roadside.

In the distance we saw a tractor, followed by a few cars. I once more went into the middle of the road warming to my new traffic officer role! The tractor stopped and my friend went over to explain. The farmer didn’t know anything about a herd of goats in any field nearby so couldn’t help. He slowly drove around Goat, leaving my friend to speak to the driver of the first car waiting patiently in the queue. The woman was more helpful. She told us that, living three houses down our newly discovered lane, was a man called Dave. He had previously owned goats so might be able to help.

Once more we called Goat to heel and turned down the lane, finding the whole episode highly amusing! Goat occasionally wandered off to forage and seemed to forget about us so needed regular encouragement. I decided to name him Billy, a good ‘goat’ name!

We got to the second house with a car in the drive and decided to knock on their door for advice. The third house seemed a long way away. A man and his young daughter approached from the side of the house, took one look at Goat and raised their eyebrows in disdain! ‘Oh Dave’ the man shook his head, ‘you’ve got out again’!

So the goat’s name was Dave! Chuckling we retraced our footsteps, commenting that Fitbit would be rubbing his hands in glee as we had significantly increased our steps!

To complete the diary of a day in the life of a ‘Lady of Leisure’ my cousin and I exchanged a number of WhatsApp messages and a phone call to arrange some of the amazing trips she has planned for us next month in South Africa. Excitement is mounting!

The sun has broken through the clouds. I’m going out for a quick walk before lunch. I have booked a carer today so Mum can have her tea and cake in her favourite tearoom. Life is good. 👠