Jenny Burrell

Monday morning dawned, grey but warm. The weather forecast had predicted sunshine having experienced the hottest ‘end of August’ bank holiday since records began! My cousin and her daughter were coming for a two day visit from South Africa and I needed good weather to show off our beautiful countryside.

The sky was still grey with no hint of blue when we collected them from the station. ‘The sun is going to come out’ I promised my cousin. ‘Our weather forecast has predicted another beautiful summer’s day!’ I sounded a lot more confident than I felt!But, a few hours later, we were wandering alongside a canal, suntan lotion liberally applied and admiring our surroundings, another new experience for them.

Tuesday morning’s forecast was less positive but we spent the day travelling up to and around the Lake District in the hope that we would have a few hours without rain or mist and some good photo opportunities. My husband and I had forgotten that it was still school holidays so, even though the weather was on our side, the seriously heavy traffic and lack of any parking certainly wasn’t!

So we spent most of the day driving around the lakes and not getting out of the car to stretch our legs! Fitbit was at his annoying best, reminding me to feed him and when was I going to take him for a walk! Luckily we did come across a hotel with parking available and sat outside in a very pretty garden with a cold drink, eating a light lunch before driving up to the last couple of lakes. We needed to leave before impatient office workers clogged up the motorway, delaying our two hour drive back home.

Once more the weather came up trumps as, that evening, we were able to walk the one and a half miles to our local pub for a meal. We didn’t realise that Tuesday night was quiz night so, another experience for my South African relatives, we stayed for the quiz and walked home long after the sun had set. It was pitch black, no street lights and the only help we had to navigate around horse and cattle ‘residue’ was my cousin’s young daughter guiding us with the light of her mobile phone! The brilliance of youth! I would never have thought of that!

On Wednesday, after we had taken my cousin and her lovely young daughter to the station, my friend and I headed off to the care home for their weekly exercise class. The couple of new residents were very enthusiastic which set the tone and we both left on a high, very satisfied that it had been a job well done!

It was back to the gym on Thursday and a meal with friends last night. Summer is slowly moving on with autumn lurking in the wings. The first day of September is the meteorological first day of autumn! It seems like yesterday that the clocks went back and the giddy anticipation of long hot summer days brought a ‘spring’ to our step!

But, I do love autumn. It’s the time of year to start the winding down process. Plants stop growing and the evenings draw in. I can feel the change in the air. Even the birds dawn chorus is less frenetic.

However, this year my husband and I head off to New Zealand and Australia in October. It will be springtime in the Southern hemisphere so we’ll miss the leaves turning from green to beautiful shades of red, orange and gold! But there is always next year! And spring is also magical, new beginnings and, for us, seeing a whole new world! Bring it on …….👠

I need to write a happy, upbeat blog. Over the last few weeks life hasn’t been all that great but it could have been a lot worse! I need to count my blessings, be grateful for everything I have and build a positive attitude about the future!

This is easier said than done. I come from parents who were often stressed and quite serious! They did have a sense of humour so not complete doom and gloom, but there was little spontaneity and a lot more of a measured and organised lifestyle. I know that I am old enough to make my own decisions and the time has definitely come to stop apportioning blame, but old habits die hard! I am a product of my upbringing and unfortunately have perpetuated the stressed, worried gene!

I am sitting in my conservatory with the sun beating down. The garden still hasn’t quite lost its sparkle although beginning to fade. A neighbour is mowing his lawn and will carry on for at least another hour! It always amazes me how long it takes him to mow. He must go over the same little patch again and again, just in case he has missed one blade of grass!

Now that is the pessimistic side of me! If I had been more upbeat my paragraph would have been different. I’ll try again, changing my attitude and see what happens.

I am sitting in the conservatory with the sun beating down. The garden is still looking good. A few butterflies are tasting the delights of the flowers on the budlia tree and the smell of freshly mown grass is wafting through the open windows. My bird feeder is alive with blue tits, long tailed tits and a nuthatch has just joined the party, pecking away at the peanuts.

The neighbour is still mowing his lawn!

The phone rings in the kitchen. Our main telephone line is seldom used by anyone other than nuisance callers. My husband, who always answers, is outside so I’m ignoring it. We have an answer phone if it’s urgent. I can also dial 1471 which gives the last number called.

So, I am really trying to be upbeat and positive! I’m sitting staring at my iPad. Blank. This is awful. I look out of the window. I have four hanging baskets, all filled with begonias. For umpteen years I have had them planted in three colours, red, orange and yellow. There is a cluster of what can only be described as salmon pink begonia flowers peering out between the yellows and reds. I’m feeling annoyed and look away.

When I collected my baskets from the nursery in June I had also ordered red, orange and yellow begonias to plant in tubs within the garden. That was when I noticed five trays of this strange salmon pink. ‘I don’t want those,’ I told the owner waiting to take my credit card to settle the bill. You know that I only want red, orange and yellow!

‘I know, she says in a patronising tone, ‘but they have introduced a new colour. It is really pretty so thought you might like a few plants to try.’

‘No’, I immediately retort. ‘I don’t like pink. I hope you haven’t planted them in my hanging baskets!’

A silence ensued. A young lad walked past carrying two very full baskets containing begonias.

‘Are those mine?’ I ask.

‘ Yes,’ came her prompt reply. ‘I’ve only put one of the beautiful pink plants in each of the baskets so you’ll hardly notice them’.

But notice them I certainly do! I tried to ensure that the pink plant was at the back, next to the wall. Unfortunately this must be a particularly robust strain and they have, over the last couple of months, become the predominant colour. But there are no pinks in my garden tubs! I changed them for reds!

So, I’m looking at a large bunch of salmon pink begonias with a small yellow flower trying to make an appearance in the front of the basket. Our maniac neighbour still hasn’t stopped mowing and is now right outside my window! Try as I might I can’t find any humour in the current situation. Our land line rings again. If I answer and it’s a nuisance caller I’ll probably explode!

So, best I try not to be too positive today. Maybe I’ll try again later! Or maybe I’ll go for a walk. By the time I get back every blade of grass will have been cut to within an inch of its life! I won’t look at my hanging baskets overrun by those awful pink flowers and the nuisance callers will have all gone home!

I get my trainers from the porch. I shout out to my husband, who is putting the umpteenth layer of varnish on the floor of our ‘teak house’ in the garden and leave the house. ‘Anyway’, I tell myself, no one’s perfect! I’ll try again tomorrow …..👠

The relationship I’ve had with my grandchildren has always had to be quality over quantity. I have never had the luxury of being just down the road to babysit. I have worked throughout the years they lived in England so was never able to help with childcare either.

When my two grandchildren lived in Nottingham and were quite young my husband and I used to periodically meet at a roadside cafe near Uttoxeter on a Saturday morning. We’d take the children back home with us and return them on the Sunday evening.

We’d plan outings for the Saturday. My grandson supported Liverpool and Manchester United football teams so he was able to visit both grounds. Luckily these cities were within an hour’s drive from where we lived. There were a number of museums, which always had educational areas for children and other places of interest we could all enjoy. We also lived about the same distance from Chester and a beach in North Wales so these were other options.

Chester zoo had to be a favourite! I remember pushing my granddaughter in her pram as she sat, relaxed and contented, watching the animals while periodically holding her hand up for a drink or something to eat. Eventually my grandson decided that he had done enough walking so they swapped places! My granddaughter’s little legs didn’t take long to tire so the rest of the afternoon I pushed the pram and grandad carried his granddaughter on his shoulders. A good time was had by all!

My son relocated to Kent and then to the US so we have seen even less of our grandchildren over the years. But that does not mean that there is no bond between us or that we meet up again as strangers. On the contrary, we take up where we had left off and our relationship is as strong, loving and happy as ever!

My grandson is now a teenager. A very normal teenager living in this technology driven world. My son and daughter-in-law have ground rules but boundaries are pushed at every opportunity! Much like his father when he was a teenager! I am eternally grateful that my two children lived in the pre-technology era where all we had to hope was that they steered clear of drugs and alcohol. Peer pressure, however, remains the same but on-line bullying, hacking and grooming were thankfully never part of that generation.

My granddaughter still has a couple of years to wait before her teenage hormones kick in! She is an artistic, sensitive little girl but very techno savvy! This is because both her parents are aware of the potential dangers and regular checks are made for transparency. Open dialogue is a fundamental part of their every day lives.

I am as protective over my grandchildren as I still am over my adult children but a grandparent’s relationship is different. It is definitely more fun because the overall responsibility of ensuring ground rules are adhered to remains with their parents! Not that I would encourage disruptive or antisocial behaviour but slightly bending some rules here and there without causing any significant disruption must surely be a grandparent’s prerogative?

Yesterday I reclined on a sun lounger and watched my family enjoying themselves in the swimming pool. They took turns trying to get a ball into a net and shrieks of delight or frustration kept the whole family busy for a couple of hours!

So I hold onto these precious moments, enjoy them while they last and keep these happy memories locked away to recall later. This sounds very negative but life has made me cynical and I am constantly reminded to revel in the good times. Like the bad, nothing lasts forever! 👠

I visit my mother in a care home a few times a week. She has Alzheimer’s disease so these visits aren’t easy. I used to take her out but over the last few months this has not been possible. We have now reached the stage where my mother hardly recognises me and the logistics involved have become unsustainable. Even a drive in the car causes upset and she has stopped enjoying the Elvis Presley CD which she used to love!

There is little conversation between my mother and I as she doesn’t remember any family or friends. Showing her photographs produces a minimal reaction but I persevere just in case she does recognise a family member! So I have stopped spending time alone with her in her room and socialise with the other residents. I sit with my mother and include her in our conversations. She used to become jealous if I spoke to the anyone else but now takes little notice.

I have, therefore, made some new friends! A few of the residents can still have meaningful conversations and I find some of them fascinating. Take Gerald, for instance. He was a fighter pilot and flew Lancaster bombers during the war. He is very well spoken, a shocking flirt, to the embarrassment of his granddaughter, but so interesting. As I explained to the young girl, cringing when her Grandad asked me if I was the cabaret act and he’d soon put a smile on my face, not to be offended. Dementia is an awful disease and I am fully aware of how it changes personalities! I just laugh it off!

Gerald told me that his wife has been dead for two and a half years. He loved her dearly and still misses her desperately. Apparently she was paralysed and didn’t recognise him but he made daily visits to her in a care home a few miles away. He has put his name down to move there as soon as a room becomes available. It would make him feel closer to her. In the same conversation he told me that he always felt lucky to have survived the war. With tears in his eyes he said that he still has so many vivid memories etched with so much sadness. Pilots were fodder for the Germans. So many brave young men died yet more went out day after day to face the Luftwaffe! He knows he has dementia and is quite pragmatic about it! Makes me feel ungrateful and annoyed that I still sweat the small stuff!

Nicola is only seventy three. She is still an attractive woman and I find her very amusing! She had a boyfriend who gradually stopped visiting. Like Gerald she is very pragmatic. ‘You just can’t trust men’ she’d tell me when another week had passed and the boyfriend hadn’t called. ‘It’s a case of out of sight out of mind’ she’d shrug her shoulders. ‘Would you like a drink or something to eat’ she always asks? If Nicola is at the door when a relative or friend comes to visit she is the perfect hostess!

But I can report that, within the last few days, Nicola has found a new man. He is Robert, my mother’s neighbour. Robert became a resident about six months ago. In all that time I have never seen him leave his room. The furthest he has ventured was to the door and he was forever pacing up and down, holding his stomach and emitting occasional loud groans. His food was always left on the tray and he has lost a lot of weight.

Last Monday when I went into the main sitting room with my Mother to listen to some music, I was very surprised to see Robert and Nicola cuddled up together on a sofa holding hands. They were both singing along to Tom Jones, happy and relaxed, not a care in the world! Robert looked at least ten years younger! There was no sign of pain or anxiety! I hope his family embrace this relationship and understand the good it is doing and not try to inflict ‘normal’ behaviour when dealing with dementia!

So another visit has come and gone. I helped my mother with her lunch today. She was taken upstairs to have her hair done but flatly refused! She came down a bit later so they served her a meal on her own. My mother played around with her food, moving the sausage from one side of the plate to the other. She ignored the vegetables but ate some of the potato and gravy. I had to chuckle. If we had done this when we were at home my mother would have been really annoyed. We would have been threatened with missing out on the dessert! After some coaxing and even cutting up her sausage I gave up and watched her enjoy a tapioca pudding!

Missing out on a meal won’t be detrimental to her general health and well-being! I wasn’t going to try and force her to eat. Life is just too short …..👠

Life can be a ‘funny thing’. Not funny as in ha ha! Funny as in unbelievable! One minute life is good and the next, a disaster!

Discussions can be fun, can get quite heated, but the important thing to remember is that we are all entitled to our opinions. Even if we can’t change anyone’s mind, then let it go and move on. That is what often happens around our dinner table or when adults are broadening their minds and communicating positively as part of a healthy debate. But there are other occasions, especially within families, which don’t follow this path and disintegrate into arguments which can have adverse effects.

I have come to realise that all too easily sensitivities within family units can cause friction, throw away comments cause pain and a relationship breaks down, sometimes irrevocably. There is rarely a single reason and what is the saddest of all, years can go by without a resolution. Sometimes it goes with the family member or close friend to their grave.

Extended families are very complex. When they get thrust together it is the hope that they try to get on. We can have a common upbringing, even share the same values or be partners of family members, yet we are all still different people.

I have found that breakdowns may happen when an individual’s perceptions aren’t fully understood. Out of love someone can try and help or advise and, because of the sensitivity of the issue, this help can be misconstrued as criticism. In an ideal world, possibly with a mediator present, both sides would have their say. Comments would be clarified and the issue resolved. But, alas, when passions take over a red mist rushes in to cloud all logic and common sense. Families get ripped apart. There are no winners, only losers. Once blame sets in, this becomes the final nail in the coffin!

It’s the speed of these fallouts that surprise me. All positive family history is wiped out in an instant! Good times, or when families have stuck together and leaned on each other for support, is forgotten. It is astonishing how fast these positives melt away and only the difficulties and differences of opinions take hold. It becomes an all consuming force to bring the most pain and retribution.

I’m not an expert in relationships nor am I a psychologist. Being able to take a step back and be objective is the best advice but this is definitely easier said than done. A conscious decision to build a bridge over the troubled waters has to be made as every argument has two sides. None of us are islands. What we do and how we behave has a ripple effect. Sometimes these ripples cascade out and bring joy, sometimes they do the opposite.

That’s why life is such a ‘funny thing’. One minute you are sitting around a table with your loved ones, enjoying their company, happy in the knowledge that things are going really well and grateful for the time spent with them. The next minute all the positivity that has built up over the years and all the trust is lost. In an instant. 👠

Every year my son, husband and I go hiking for a few days. We’ve been to the White mountains for the last two years so decided that it was time for a change. The Green mountains of Vermont seemed the obvious choice, a three hour drive and the weather forecast great.

We booked into the Inn at Manchester and were very impressed. The rooms were spotless and the service first class. We wandered into the town and I was really lucky to find a Kate Spade handbag less 80%! A good start to the holiday! Over our evening meal a hike of thirteen miles was suggested. Seven or eight miles would have been nearer the mark! It’s summer in Vermont. This equals heat and high humidity. We had both!

So, after a fairly hearty breakfast I was told that we were hiking to a waterfall, walking back about half a mile and then on to a pond. This sounded simple and hopefully straightforward! All paths would be marked and the hike was listed as moderate. I can do moderate! I do, however, struggle with snakes, spiders, bears, bobcats, lynxes, coyotes and the many other forms of wildlife not found in the UK!

But, I needed to be brave and not let the side down. If I was that scared I could stay at the hotel! I needed the steps and wanted the experience and to spend some quality time with my son. Biting the bullet I prepared for the journey! We found car parking in the shade. I adjusted my knee straps and shoe laces, sprayed enough insect repellent to wipe out most of the midgies, mosquitoes and ticks within a five mile radius and we set off.

The path to the waterfall was well trodden and easy! I could stay out of the longer grass and only had dead leaves to contend with, hoping I wouldn’t inadvertently tread on any snakes! We passed a few people, some with their dogs, so I began to feel braver and quite excited about the forthcoming adventure.

When we reached the waterfall we took our photographs, my son and husband doing their usual pose at the edge of a cliff (they are so predictable!) and we set off to find the track leading to the pond. It was well signposted so we took a right and began the one thousand six hundred feet climb! The track looked fairly well trodden and the blue markers on the trees visible as we passed them by.

I’m not sure when I noticed that the path was beginning to deteriorate. The dark blue markings on the trees had faded to a light, almost white hue. I was looking down at where I trod, climbing over fallen logs, leaping over stones to avoid swathes of thick black mud and trying to prevent decapitation from low hanging branches. My son remained cheerful, calling out the miles reached. ‘PB, Mom’ he’d shout! Soon going to be a personal best! What an achievement at your age!’

Our first sortie into jungle bashing began as we turned a corner and the shrubs and grass on either side of the trail had suddenly grown way above our heads! We needed machetes to clear a path. Of course, we never had any! I could see almost nothing of the ground and my walking stick soon became a weapon to force my through the thick foliage! However, there were still signs of a track which my son followed, shouting warnings. ‘Log’ he’d yell, or ‘swamp’ as we tried to manoeuvre our way through the mire!

Finally we reached a clearing and took stock. My son’s phone had periodically been our guide and we had been following a marked track. However, we now found ourselves out on a limb, a blue dot flashing in the middle of nowhere! We’d gone off piste! There was a thick impenetrable quagmire on three sides and an overgrown jungle straight ahead. My heart sank. I dared not think of snakes swimming towards us, or bears rushing out of the jungle, followed closely by lynxes, bobcats and packs of vicious coyotes! Then there were the insects 🐜 🦟 🕷! I could sense them hovering, their battle cries gradually becoming a cacophony of buzzing, chirruping and shrieking!

My heart was sinking, deeper and deeper. Even my positive, pragmatic son and husband were quiet. Suddenly my son shouted ‘Look there, Dad, there are red bows tied on those two trees! Perhaps that’s someone showing us a way out?’ It was worth a try. My son led the way and my husband and I followed. Thankfully we were able to manoeuvre our way out and pick up the rough track we’d been following. With a huge sigh of relief we marched out of the ‘valley of death’ and on towards the pond!

Seventeen miles and eight hours later we got back to the car, still cool in the shade! I had burst blood vessels on both legs due to the tight knee straps, heat and perspiration! We had drunk all the bottles of water and eaten the few packed sweets and health bars. We were ravenous and totally exhausted!

But we had survived! Seen no snakes or wild animals! We didn’t have our fancy planned meal out that night but settled for a takeaway! We had all achieved our ‘personal bests’ and been left relatively unscathed! ‘A lucky escape’ was the general consensus! We lived to hike another day! 👠

I have written about our gang of six in an earlier blog. We are all so different and yet we get on really well. Two of the couples live in Cheshire and the third lives in Devon, relocating about ten years ago.

Our Devon friends have bought a boat. When they visited in March we discussed meeting up later in the year to go sailing if our hectic lives and busy schedules could accommodate. We are all retired but that is what happens when you become ‘people of leisure’. There is time to do so much more than just going to work every day!

Our reunions are always fun! We catch up on family and friends’ news when the three of us girls go for walks along the beautiful esplanade and watch the yachts bobbing merrily in the breeze. Tiny waves gently wash up on the shore and the sea reflects the azure blue of a cloudless sky. That was the weather this week. We are not always so lucky!

Weather Apps were studied and compared to the BBC and other reputable weather forecasts. The decision was made that Tuesday would be the calmest at sea and the tide in the river Dart would be perfect to get us to Dartmouth and lunch at a pub. One weather App did forecast late afternoon thunderstorms but could not be substantiated so we decided that it was a rogue site and best ignored!

We caught the bus, carrying our bags containing sunscreen, fresh milk for coffee and tea and cameras for those not solely reliant on their mobiles. The fridge on the boat remains stocked with beers, Prosecco and wine so we didn’t have to be weighed down by bottles! We nursed our hot drinks when we reached the boat and were given a brief safety lesson before all helped to prepare for the journey. Driving a car is nothing like sailing a boat! It took us a good hour to prepare for ‘sail off’ and then another half an hour getting life jackets fitted to size and shape!

The radio crackled into action as ropes were removed from the moorings on the jetty. We slowly sailed out of our parking bay and headed towards the open sea. I had my supply of travel sickness tablets just in case and watched as our captain masterfully steered his boat between some spectacular cruisers as we left the harbour behind.

Feelings of trepidation were instantly replaced by excitement as I made my way up to the top deck to get the best possible view. All of us were on the lookout for seals and dolphins. I settled back, cold drink in hand to feel the warm sun on my face (50+ sunscreen lavishly applied) cooled by a gentle breeze.

We didn’t see seals or dolphins but we did have a wonderful day! Memories were made spending quality time with good friends and doing something new and exciting!

This is what life should be all about! I grab these moments! Long may they last! 👠

As an incentive for my husband to replace football with another form of exercise we both joined a gym. The same gym so that we can car share! I do the classes and he works out on the sweaty machines.

However, I have travelled solo to at least two classes every week and my husband has only done two workouts in the last six weeks! I’ve given up on the car share idea! It was good while it lasted! Once! Hopefully we’ll get into a routine soon. Urgent chores have been dealt with and the garden can begin to look after itself! Weeding and pruning have become less of an issue and we can enjoy the fruits of our hard labour. And get time to do other things!

I did have a personal trainer, Dan. He showed me how to use the relevant equipment to tone certain ‘problem’ areas and increase cardiovascular fitness. We started with interval training. On a static bicycle! It was awful! Two minutes slowly (I found this really tedious) and thirty seconds flat out, for ten minutes! Not for me!

We moved onto the machines. I have no practical gene. He had to show me a few times how to set them. I needed to load a ‘pretend’ bow and then push with force. Two separate exercises but on the same machine. Both needed different settings. I needed a pen and paper to draw diagrams but didn’t come prepared! I mentally ruled those exercises out!

We then moved on to kettlebell weights doing squats and arms. These were easier to understand. I just needed to remember the size of the kettlebells! There were rows of them. Not wanting to sound even more aged and pathetic I tried to make a mental note by checking the physical sizes and seeing where they slotted back on the rack. Somewhere near the front …..

We moved onto the floor work. This was a doddle! No weights, just a sponge roll which I used for reverse curls, rolling backwards and forwards to strengthen my back and sit ups. I had found my comfort zone. I finished with an impressive plank and, shaking Dan’s hand, I left the machine room, never to return!

I enjoy the classes. I do ‘body pump’ and have learned how to slide the weights on and off the well worn bar in the allotted time. I have finally ‘got’ the dance moves and don’t knock into the ladies closest to me sashaying the wrong way! I have even stopped tripping over my step and finished with the same leg and facing the same way as the rest of the class this morning!

I need to enjoy exercising. That has been my motto for years. I have to set my alarm two mornings a week and I’m not working so it has to be worthwhile! I am paying to go to the gym and this is another incentive. I jog on the treadmill after my classes so won’t panic if the summer continues to be a washout. I enjoy walking with my friends when we don’t have to carry paddles to get back home!

I’m doing my bit to stay healthy and keep fit. It’s Friday tomorrow. I’m looking forward to the weekend when I can relax and enjoy a G&T and wine with my meals. It’s all about balance. A rich, full-bodied Shiraz with delicate tones of blueberries, cherries and spices is always well balanced and always good ….. 🍷 👠

This is day six of virtual non stop rain! I can’t remember when or if we have ever had weather like this! Even during the bleakest, coldest winters when I worked and had limited time in the evenings, I was able to walk or jog most days! People in this country are suffering from a critical vitamin D deficiency! The tell-tale signs are becoming apparent!

We’re fast losing our sense of humour and our joie de vivre! Even those friends whose positivity under all circumstances sometimes really annoys me, have succumbed! Grey can only be tolerated for so long! After a few days it becomes debilitating. Feeling damp and cold inside and out has a devastating effect on mood and well-being.

Residents in my mother’s care home have turned into dormice! Maybe that’s the way to go! My friend and I went to the care home this morning to give the weekly exercise class. Unfortunately the staff had problems getting residents out of bed. The poor activities manager was running around trying to get everyone into the sitting room but had no support. We finally gave up! Sad, but maybe it’s the weather? Or maybe just apathy on the part of the staff!

The ‘bog’ section of my garden is under water! In a previous blog I posted about my garden ‘rooms’. Well, the ‘bog room’ (pardon the pun) is a wet section where I grow irises, arum lilies and plants that like wet conditions. Alas, I haven’t planted water lilies or willow tress that actually grow in water! It looks like a swamp! A heron was in our garden this morning, probably hoping to find goldfish swimming between the arums!

It wouldn’t be so bad if, between the downpours, the sun came out, even briefly and the sky turned blue! I would rush outside and soak in some rays before the engorged clouds scudded back, knocking into each other and spilling their contents yet again. At least I would have a memory to hang on to. I have to look at photographs to remind myself what sunshine looks like!

Yesterday I walked to yoga holding a huge umbrella to protect my bag and mat. Due to all this rain shrubs have taken over the pathways. Weeds have sprung up between the cracks and it has become an obstacle course to get to the clubhouse. Gardening is not high on anyone’s list of priorities so our park will soon become a tropical jungle! Being the inveterate worrier and with this rain showing no signs of abating, we’ll either be overrun by triffids or washed out to sea!

However, there is one huge positive! Not one to be taken lightly! I don’t have to go out if I don’t want to! I am not beholden to anyone! It has been a year since I became a Lady of Leisure! I still appreciate having the choice to do what I want and the glorious time to do it in! So life is not all doom and gloom! Maybe tomorrow the sun will come back. Maybe tomorrow I’ll win the lottery and buy a home where the weather is more predictable!

Or, maybe tomorrow will be the same as today? Only tomorrow will tell …..👠

This week we took my sister and brother-in-law to North Yorkshire. The added bonus was meeting my daughter and son-in-law in Pickering. We celebrated my daughter’s birthday with her godmother (my sister), had a super meal and even managed to get a ‘death by chocolate’ birthday cake! This was presented to my daughter after the main course so there were no desserts required! I’m sure this was factored into the price of the cake!

Once more our Bed and Breakfast was good, a huge relief because I had booked on the internet and just had reviews to go by. We arranged an early breakfast in time to walk to the station and catch the 9:25 am steam train to Whitby. Needless to say the weather could have been significantly better! Luckily we weren’t going up any mountains so had clear visibility, albeit grey with no promise of blue skies and, heaven forbid, some sunshine!

After finding the only four suitable seats in a first class cabin we paid the surcharge and settled down to relax and watch the world go by. The station at Goathland was used in some of the Harry Potter films and, between the stations of Goathland and Grosmont was the ‘village’ of Aidensfield, used in the television series Heartbeat’.

When we arrived at Whitby, renowned for its jet jewellery, Abbey, delicious fish and chips and Captain Cook, we were thankful that the rain had moved up the coast. Also, according to Bram Stoker’s novel, Dracula was aboard the fated ship ‘Demeter’ and washed up on the beach, creeping into Whitby in the form of a dog! We climbed the 199 steps to the church of St Mary then on to the ruins of the Abbey. Rumour has it that Dracula was buried in the cemetery at St Mary’s and the Abbey had been the inspiration for some of the dramatic scenes in the novel!

Whitby has a strong maritime history and Captain Cook, who moved there when he was eighteen as a Merchant Navy apprentice, sailed in two ships, HMS Bark Endeavour and HMS Resolution. Both ships were built in Whitby. Captain Cook mapped the East coast of Australia and circumnavigated New Zealand in HMS Bark Endeavour. HMS Resolution was the first ship to cross the Antarctic circle. There is an ornamental replica of HMS Bark Endeavour in the harbour but the original ship sank in Newport, Rhode Island. The first built replica is in Sydney harbour. This ship was seaworthy and sailed around the world twice!

So, all good things must come to an end! My sister and her husband are sailing around the Dalmatian coast. I am looking outside at rain pouring down on already sodden earth. Day three with no sign of abating! Tomorrow is back to the gym to shed the excess of the last two weeks! Alas, I only have two weeks to get back into shape before we visit friends in Devon. It’s a hard life ….. 👠