Curiositeas.

 

So many High Street shops have closed but I've noticed one type of establishment continues to flourish, and that's small, independent eateries.   We've got a lovely one in Brigg called Shipley's Curiositeas.  It's a tea room and cake parlour (that's their own description). 

Curiositeas has gloriously kitsch decor.  Bunting, old china cabinets, lacy tablecloths and wonderfully mismatched china all set the scene for some great local food.  It tend to appeals to an older clientele and both staff and customers are friendly and chatty.

Yesterday I met with a cousin and we went to Curiositeas for a lovely relaxed lunch.  We each had salad followed by Lincolnshire Plum Bread with cheese but we could have had soup, sandwiches, toasties, baked potatoes and fantastic cakes.  There's nothing very fancy or "messed about", just simple home cooking beautifully served.

When I first retired Shipley's was a greengrocer's but it struggled to compete with the likes of Tesco.  Shipley's Curiositeas has a special place in Brigg.  Long may it serve.

Alone

I enjoy my own company which is fortunate as I live alone.  I accept lots of invitation but not all.  I know that my supplies of energy are not as good as they used to be, so I plan how much I will do.  Last week I did very little: this week I will be doing some dog sitting so I shall be more active.

A couple of years ago someone said I was turning into a hermit, possibly because I had declined an invitation to a very noisy family lunch.  And that made me a little defensive so I now record my contacts and make sure that I maintain an interest in the outside world.  

I use my phone and make voice calls but these days FaceTime is often how I keep contact.  I don't write as many letters as I used to but I email and send e cards.  I use zoom a lot: I was in a group chat on zoom last night and have a one-to-one with a friend this morning.  I find this to be great.

But the solitary life isn't easy for everyone.  I phone several people who really don't like alone-ness and experience it as loneliness.  I feel deeply for those who are widowed and who remember days when "alone" meant being with their husband/wife and who find really being alone to be hard.   

The Postie

 

I shop on line - a lot!  I have at least one grocery delivery a month especially when I want frozen food.  I get most of my clothes on-line.  The list could go on for quite a long time.

Most delivery staff are good but both Sainsbury and the Royal Mail are brilliant.  Sainsbury came Saturday and for £1 my groceries were delivered to my kitchen.  Their delivery staff are always cheerful and helpful.  I'm well organised and ready for them and we always have a cheery chat.

The posties from Royal Mail are always lovely too.  They know mine is a dog free house  and there is a seat by my front door which is good as it takes me a while to get to the door.  My recliner chair can be a bit slow getting me to ground level.  I always apologise and they always tell me not to worry.

I had a little giggle on Saturday as when I went to the door the postie was half way down the drive.  Apparently the cat from Number 12 was lurking.  It is known to all the local posties as it attacks them.  I suppose it makes a change from dogs.  

I am most richly blessed.

 

I asked for strength that I might achieve;

I was made weak that I might learn humbly to obey.

 

I asked for health that I might do greater things;

I was given infirmity that I might do better things.

 

I asked for riches that I might be happy;

I was given poverty that I might be wise.

 

I asked for power that I might have the praise of men

I was given weakness that I might feel the need of God.

 

I asked for all things that I might enjoy life;

I was given life that I might enjoy all things.

 

I got nothing that I asked for,

but everything that I hoped for.

 

Almost despite myself, my unspoken prayers were answered;

I am, among all people, most richly blessed.

Source: unknown.

Getting the hang of it

Yesterday was chilling mark three.  My third consecutive day without any appointments, any "must-do's"

And I'm getting the hang of it.

I binged on YouTube and iPlayer.

I had a favourite lunch.

I let myself play spider solitaire for longer than I'm actually prepared to admit to.

But that's it (for the moment).  I'm out at (yet another!) birthday party today, leading worship tomorrow, swimming Monday.

It was lovely but I'm glad I now have things I really must do.

Chilling day: take 2

 Wednesday chilling didn't really happen but how about Thursday?

I woke with more pain than usual so that limited my activities, although by mid-morning the pain had largely subsided.  I fancied doing a little cooking so I made soup and froze it, made mayonnaise and coleslaw.  I'd got dwarf beans in my "Waste Not" box earlier in the week so I cooked those and a couple of chicken thighs and made a chicken, carrot and green bean cheesy bake and froze that too.  I find a certain "housewifely" satisfaction when I put meals into the freezer.  I think Mother may have had a similar feeling when she surveyed the fruit she had bottled when I was a child.  

I finished my food prepping around lunch time and celebrated with freshly made soup which was very yummy.  Those boxes of tomato soup are definitely the promise of summer sunshine in mid-winter.

The afternoon was much more leisurely.  I had a snooze.  I knitted.  I did a few puzzles. I had a video call with a friend, and did a WI course in the evening.

I think my legs took out of my control the decision as to whether to chill out.  Thank you, legs.

What happened?

 

A visitor on Tuesday had brought me some flowers so I arranged them.  I have never claimed that flower arranging is one of my talents.  

I had a leisurely time doing puzzles.

Then I had a call from a friend who was very sad so I suggested she put the kettle on and I went to her.  

I had a couple of hours there just listening and came home in need of a snooze.

And somehow I just couldn't relax so I made soup.  A lot of soup.  

I remembered I had two hours of half price electricity so I did the laundry.

Then one friend rang.  And another called.  Then another rang.

So my day of quiet chilling didn't work out quite as planned.  But I am grateful to all my friends.  I felt loved, needed, appreciated. 

And guess what?  There's nothing in my diary today.  I can choose how to spend each and every minute.  😉

Who's a lucky girl, then?!

There's nothing I must do today!  Nothing at all in my diary.  I can choose how to spend each and every minute.

I know I will eat and I know there will be a couple of phone calls but basically no-one else is expecting me to do anything and there's nothing really pressing which I have to do.

So today is a luxury!  I could craft, cook, pamper myself.  I could read, listen to an audiobook, knit.  I could stay at home or go out.

I had a tricky day yesterday helping a reconciliation between two women so I feel rather happy about that.  I've got most of the preparation done to lead worship on Sunday.  I've got a dog sitting stint booked but that's not until next week.

These days don't happen all that often.  How would it make you feel?  Would you want to undertake a project, go visiting, or just be?  Does it ever happen for  you?

Tealby

 I don't often go to Tealby.  Or rather I don't often go to Tealby Church.  The King's Head at Tealby is one of my favourite eateries.  

The King's Head

On Sunday I lead a Holy Communion service there for the first time since January 2020.  It was great fun, especially as we were visited by a scatty cocker spaniel which ran several laps around the church before deciding to settle down in a pew and have a snooze.  The congregation was greatly amused, as was I.  (It had come to check on its humans.)

Tealby Church is rather nice.  It's got associations with the Tennyson family whose vault is under the chancel.  

And the congregation is rather nice too.  As well as welcoming a cocker spaniel they welcomed this stray vicar too and fed her coffee and chocolate bikkies.  I don't know what the spaniel got but I suspect she was happy too.

And so to September

 

I suppose it's autumn now but maybe we can enjoy summer  a little longer.    I've got plans for September.

Swimming is planned for several Mondays.  I don't want to go when there are fewer than three mermaids so we don't often know before Sunday whether we'll be having a splash.  Today the dip is on!

I've got a fiftieth birthday party to go to.  I'm rather looking forward to this one as there will be three of my cousins plus lots of other relatives so a lot of talking will get done.

I'm booked to lead worship on a couple of Sundays.  

I'm hoping to get my Christmas cards made.  I can't remember when I left that job so late in the year.  I've also been collecting the ingredients for puddings.  The list for those gets longer every year.

I'm hoping to do a few craft classes with the WI on line.  (The picture above was from a course last September.)

And that leaves quite a bit of time for deciding to do something on the spur of the moment.  

A Favourite Poem

If you can start the day without caffeine

~~If you can get going without pep pills...

~~If you can always be cheerful, ignoring aches and pains...

~~If you can resist complaining and boring people with your troubles...

~~If you can eat the same food everyday and be grateful for it...

~~If you can understand when your loved ones are too busy to give you any time...

~~If you can overlook it when those you love take it out on you when, through no fault of yours, something goes wrong...

~~If you can take criticism and blame without resentment...

~~If you can ignore a friend's limited education and never correct them...

~~If you can resist treating a rich friend better than a poor friend...

~~If you can face the world without lies and deceit...

~~If you can conquer tension without medical help...

~~If you can relax without liquor...

~~If you can sleep without the aid of drugs...

~~If you can say honestly that deep in your heart you have no prejudice against creed, colour, religion or politics...

then, my friend, you are almost as good as your dog

That was August that was

It's been a gentle month.  Some of the time it was too hot to do anything and sometimes I wasn't too bothered about doing anything so I didn't.  These are a few of the things I did.

Worst first.  Annie-The-Home-Enhancer went away on her holidays so she wasn't here for four weeks.  I welcomed her back with very open arms!

I went swimming three times. Early in the month I couldn't walk much but I've improved as the month has gone on.

I studied some Shakespeare on-line with the WI.

I'm taking a service tomorrow but that's the only Sunday worship I will have led.  I took a Home Communion to a housebound lady and arranged for others to join us which she greatly appreciated.  I also conducted a funeral for which I was requested.  Funerals like that are always an honour.  

I had a couple of lunches out with friends.  And I went to the Bomber Command Memorial with a women's group.  

I did nine nights dog sitting.

I went to two birthday parties: one was a barbecue and the other afternoon tea.

Maybe you would like to know what happened next.

 

I spent a week recovering from the journey before I was fit enough for surgery.  My left patella (knee cap) was totally shattered and was completely removed.  I was frightened that I would never walk properly again.

My right leg had been badly ripped in the accident and gangrene set in so the affected flesh was sloughed away and I was scheduled for a skin graft a week later.  Unfortunately I had brought an unwanted gift home with me - malaria!  I had to wait until that had gone before I was able to have the second session of surgery which involved collecting skin from my thigh and grafting it to my shin to cover the sloughed area.  

Then it was bed rest.  Total bed rest for a further month.  Eventually the plaster casts were removed and I was allowed to go to the hydrotherapy pool.  I was so excited.  A week or so of water supported exercise and other physiotherapy and I was allowed to walk for the first time in two months!  I was so excited.  I was shuffling along supported by two nurses and my Mother arrived to visit me.  She burst into tears at the sight of me.

I stayed in hospital for a while longer, learning to walk with sticks.  I had nearly three months hospitalisation all told.  Then home and working hard to build up my strength.  

For the next thirty five years I was able to walk and run fairly normally.  But as time passed my legs complained and I had to use first walking sticks, then mobility scooter and walker.  My left knee joint has been replaced.  I have an adapted bathroom and ramped access to my home.

However I am profoundly grateful for what I can do, thanks to the skill of doctors, nurses, physiotherapists and so many more.

28th August 1974

28th August 1974 was a life changing day for me.  On that day I was in a motor cycle crash and then dragged along the road by my motor bike resulting in a broken malleolus, shattered patella and badly ripped leg.  (I could see my bones.)  And I was a VSO (Voluntary Service Overseas) in a small town in Nigeria.

I was taken to the local hospital and patched up enough to be sent home to the UK.  My legs and feet were enclosed in plaster from my toes right to the top of my thighs so I was pretty helpless.  

A week later my repatriation began.

First Shell-BP lent a small plane for the day so I was flown across Nigeria.  I was met at Lagos airport by two representatives from the British High Commission who were there to make sure I had my passport.  If I hadn't they would have produced a new one for me.

Then a hair raising journey across Lagos in a very ramshackle ambulance.  I had to wait several hours for the flight to London so I was taken to rest in an hotel.

Back to the airport and I was carried up the airport steps like a precious piece of china.  The flight crew, the cabin crew and anyone else who happened to be around helped.  Nine seats had been removed from the aircraft and a bed installed for me.  And the High Commision had arranged for a nurse to accompany me.

It was a night flight to London and we landed on a dreary September day.  At Gatwick it was policemen and ambulance men who carried me off the plane.  My mother was waiting with a representative from VSO and off we went to London, King's Cross.  My rail journey would take another post but let's just say I had a reserved compartment and a Red Cross nurse who came north with me and Mother.  

At Doncaster station I had to be taken on goods lifts under the railway to another ambulance and the final leg of my journey to our local hospital.  The journey had taken one and a half days.

And then the serious work of recovery began.  

Using my time

 When I come and look after Holly, I regard it as a sort of holiday.  It's actually more restful than most holidays when I tend to want to see and do things.  When I come here I like to "be" and to be creative.  There's a brilliant craft room here where I can make cards, and there's a porch where I can look at the view and click my knitting needles. 

This time I've been making a blanket for a little boy of my acquaintance.  (I mentioned it in an earlier post.)  I wanted to get it finished as T's granny died recently and I think he needs all the comfort he can get.  I was determined to get it finished for him.  And I have.   But Holly seems to have different ideas about who it is for.  

Mermaids

 

The Monday Mermaids were well down on numbers this week.  One is floating around on a canal somewhere, and one (Holly's mum) has gone to Turkey.  Just three of us.  So one got her phone out and two of us posed.  And we sent this picture to both of them labelled, "Wish you were here."  Neither of them seemed to regret being wherever they were so we had a chatty time without them.  

We are among the most regular users of the pool and have been going for quite a long time now.  Holly's Mum has mentioned to the owner that I have trouble getting into the building and he has now offered to improve access.  How kind is that!

Gluts

 

I'm not complaining!  Figs for breakfast - yum!  And this time I took a picture not only of the figs and cream cheese which I since devoured, but also of a few spares which will disappear over the next couple of days.  I promise you that there are still loads on the tree.

Apparently, it is a good year for figs.  I have no fig tree so I don't know but I do know that everyone who is friendly with Holly Dog's human is fed up with making fig jam and fig chutney.  

What I have is tromboncino.  Like all courgettes it doesn't know what to stop.  Fortunately my neighbour doesn't have a plant but he does have rhubarb which again has no idea that enough is enough so we did a little swap.  I'm picking, cooking, pureeing and freezing tomatoes as fast as I can.

It seems to be an excellent year for apples, pears and plums but not very good for runner beans.  What's done really well in your garden this year?  Or not?  And has anyone tried dehydrating figs?

Poem for everyman

 

POEM FOR EVERYMAN

 

I will present you

parts

of

my

self

slowly.

If you are patient and. tender

I will open drawers that mostly stay closed

and bring out places and people and things

sounds and. smells, loves and frustrations, hopes and sadnesses,

bits and pieces of three decades of life

that have been grabbed off in chunks

and found lying in my hands.

They have eaten their way into my memory

carved their way into my

heart

altogether — you or I will never see them —they are me.

If you regard them lightly

deny that they are important

or worse, judge them,

I will quietly, slowly

begin to wrap them up,

in small pieces of velvet,

like worn silver and gold jewellery,

tuck them away

in a small wooden chest of drawers

 

 

 

and close.

 

 

John Wood, from “How do you feel?”

I was given this poem when I had three decades of life to look back on.  I now have well over seven.

 

Dog sitting again

 Holly and I are sending quite a lot of time together this month.  This time her usual human has gone to Turkey to spend a few days with her brother so Holly has allowed me to come.

Don't tell Holly but this time there is an extra incentive - the figs are ripe.  I love fresh figs!  Figs with cream cheese.  Just quartered and eaten with cream cheese.  Nothing as fancy as this picture but I was so keen to eat them that I didn't take a photo.  

Holly is happy too.  Her human asked me to get some cooked chicken to liven up Holly's meals but I roasted a chicken thigh from the freezer.  Holly says I can come again.

The nights are drawing in

 and so are the mornings.   For many years my usual rising time has been around 4am and, although I am trying to push it later, it is still dark when I rise.  It's dark before I go to bed too.  There's no getting away from the fact that winter is coming.  I don't like winter.  I can't get out so easily, the dark makes me feel sluggish.  

So, I try every year to make winter a little happier.  I've got a SAD lamp and that will go on each morning once we pass the Autumn equinox on 22nd September.  I'm harvesting and prepping food from my garden to make lovely soups to be savoured.  I've got ideas for things to make and do.  I'm finding books for those dreary months.  

And I mustn't call them dreary months!  Instead of thinking "I can't go out because it's raining" I could be thinking, "That rain looks like a good reason to have hot chocolate".  Instead of bemoaning the lack of visits from friends I could be rejoicing that I can get on with some of my messier hobbies.  

Great ideas.  Now, where will I find the energy to put them into practice?

International Bomber Command Centre 2

The Bomber Command Memorial Centre has made a real effort to highlight the role of women in World War 2.  There are ten silhouettes made of Corten A weathering steel.  At first I thought it was just rusty iron but it's a steel alloy which forms a crust which looks like rust but is stable and doesn't leave a messy mark on your finger when you run your hand over it.  

One of the women commemorated was Stella Charnaud, better known as Lady Reading.  After her husband died in 1935 she became very  involved in public work and in 1938 she responded to the Home Secretary's request to form a women's organisation in case of war.  By 1942 the Women's Voluntary Service had a million members.  They were key in organising the evacuation of children from the cities to the countryside and providing help to anyone displaced because of the war.  Nella Last (Housewife, 49) was a member.     

Bomber County

During WW2 Lincolnshire became known as Bomber County as so many bombing sorties were flown from RAF stations in the county.  About twenty years ago the (then) Lord Lieutenant felt that there ought to be a memorial in Lincolnshire to the courage of the RAF personnel who served here.  The International Bomber Command Centre in Lincoln is his lasting legacy.  

I've wanted to visit the memorial since it opened in 2017 but never got around to it but yesterday was the day.  I went with a women's group and we had a tour of the site.  I've no doubt that I'll be writing more about the centre but I wanted to share a few photos.  Some are mine, some from other sources where I would not be able to do the subject justice.  

The memorial stands on a hillside overlooking the city of Lincoln.  Lincoln’s Cathedral provided a landmark for crews both leaving and returning from missions and, for those who failed to return, the Cathedral was often their last image of home.  I wanted to show a view of the city and of some of the memorial poppies.  

This photograph isn't mine but was taken from the air.  The aircraft outlined is a Lancaster bomber, used extensively from the county's airfield's during the war.  The red bits are ceramic poppies.

The dominant feature of the memorial is the spire.  It is surrounded by walls engraved with the names of the almost 58,000 men and women who lost their lives serving in or supporting Bomber Command.  

The Tree

 I watch other people's trees with interest as they go through the year and photograph a special specimen each month.  But this tree isn't like that.

This is a tree which lights up.  I bought it one Christmas but left it out when I packed away the other decorations.  I don't often switch on the lights but I do like to decorate it a little.  It has the usual sort of thing at Christmas, small eggs at Easter and I have recently bought these bees.  They made me smile.  

I'd like to make a few things to hang on my tree but I have no idea what.  They need to be 2-4cm high and not weigh much.  Anybody got any ideas?

Birthday parties

 It's years since I went to a birthday party but two came along almost at once.

On Saturday I went to a barbecue to celebrate a friend's seventieth birthday and next Sunday another friend is hosting an afternoon tea to celebrate her seventy fifth.  S has recently moved back from France and she's using her three-quarter century to celebrate with the friends who couldn't go to France when she was seventy. 

When I was a child it seemed to take forever for a year to pass and I could proudly say, "I'm seven" instead of "I'm six".  These days a decade seems to take about as long as a year took in my childhood.  I think it's great to have a special celebration every ten years on the day when we once again get a zero as the final digit of our age.

For the years seem to pass so quickly now.  Each day is savoured even though it flashes by.  

Annual birthday parties would come around far too often!

Desiderata

 Go placidly amidst the noise and haste, and remember what peace there may be in silence. As far as possible without surrender be on good terms with all persons. Speak your truth quietly and clearly; and listen to others, even the dull and the ignorant; they too have their story.

Avoid loud and aggressive persons, they are vexatious to the spirit. If you compare yourself with others, you may become vain or bitter; for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself.

Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans. Keep interested in your own career, however humble; it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time.

Exercise caution in your business affairs; for the world is full of trickery. But let this not blind you to what virtue there is; many persons strive for high ideals; and everywhere life is full of heroism.

Be yourself. Especially, do not feign affection. Neither be cynical about love; for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment it is as perennial as the grass.

Take kindly the counsel of the years, gracefully surrendering the things of youth. Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune. But do not distress yourself with dark imaginings. Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness.

Beyond a wholesome discipline, be gentle with yourself. You are a child of the universe, no less than the trees and the stars; you have a right to be here.

And whether or not it is clear to you, no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should. Therefore be at peace with God, whatever you conceive Him to be, and whatever your labours and aspirations, in the noisy confusion of life keep peace with your soul. With all its shams, drudgery, and broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world. Be cheerful.

Strive to be happy.

Max Ehrman, 1927.

Plan B is (temporarily) Plan A

 

I know this will sound weird to most people, but I found conducting funerals to be one of the most satisfying things I did as a vicar.  Making an awful day a less less awful and giving comfort to someone at a very dark time is a privilege.

I don't take many funerals these days.  I find leading a coffin over ancient churchyards (which are always very uneven underfoot) to be difficult.  I'm not the regular pastor for any village these days and if the regular person is available s/he will take the funeral.  I am truly Plan B.

But sometimes I am asked for by name.  I can only take a funeral with the permission of the regular vicar (or rural dean) but it would be very unusual for anyone to say no - they've got more than enough to do anyway!  For the second time this year that has happened and I feel privileged that I am someone's Plan A.

J died very suddenly a couple of weeks ago and the coroner has been involved so the funeral can't take place for another couple of weeks.  As you know I am retired so I have more time to give care than most clergy would have.  I've visited her husband twice and had several phone calls and will have a lot more contact before (and after) the funeral.  After all, this is personal and professional contact.  

And J is in my prayers.  Her husband is comforted a little by that.  

Bliss!

 

Annie-The-Home-Enhancer came to my home yesterday, her first visit for four weeks.  I went home for a while to make sure she was OK.  Today when I go home (my dog sitting break ends today) the house will be clean and tidy and WONDERFUL!

Annie set up her business several years ago and my cousin's daughter was one of her first clients.  She lives about eight miles from me so I didn't ask her to look after me initially but I was given a cleaning session as a birthday present.  Life-changing!

When she came I asked her if I could be a regular client and she agreed.  Once a fortnight she cleans and together we set the world to rights.  I sit and we chat.  My main job is to make sure there's plenty of coffee.

I was the first person to call her my home enhancer and she loved that so much she has it on her business cards.  She is as much a professional as I am.  If you want someone to conduct worship I'm OK.  But no-one in their right mind would hire me to sort their house.  Annie truly enhances my home and my life.  

Weather

 Nearly four years ago I started to knit a temperature scarf and carried on knitting one stripe a day for two years.  I planned it carefully,   I checked temperatures  for the previous two years and bought thirty different colours, one for each degree Celsius up to 30C, a temperature rarely seen here.  There would be so few days over thirty that it wouldn't matter.

Then on 19th July 2022 had its hottest day ever with 40C being recorded here in Lincolnshire.  I had to buy more colours.  I recorded that single day in white.   

Since that day we have had several days over 30C and yesterday, once again, we hit 31C.  Lower temperatures (still hot but below 30C) are predicted over the next few days.

When I look through my wonderful rose coloured spectacles, I remember summer holidays as a child being hot but never so hot that we had to stay indoors.  How will today's children look back on summer in the 2020's??

Holly Dog writes . . .

My regular staff has gone away for a few days so I have graciously allowed Mary to stay in my house.  She can make herself useful.  I shall make sure of that.

My standards are high.  I expect breakfast at 8am and dinner at 5pm.  I have a super blue bowl with my name on it so she can't pinch it.  I always inspect the meal but often decline breakfast.  I sometimes decline dinner too so my personal chef (Mary) adds extra tempting morsels to persuade me to eat.  Sometimes I do, sometimes I don't.  I like to keep her on her toes.

I am very kind to her at night.  I always get on to her bed to warm it for her.  If she really was appreciative she would let me stay there but she is very selfish so I go on a ledge next to her.  That way I can remind to get up and open the door so I can have a midnight stroll.  

If she comes during the winter she brings a heated throw which I rather like.  She lounges on the sofa with it so I lounge on her.  She hasn't brought it this time so I will just sit on her. 

If she's having a snack I make sure she shares it.  Can't have her putting on weight.  Occasionally I fetch a toy to amuse her and give her some exercise.  I am, as you can see, a very considerate dog and make staff welfare a high priority.  

So tired!

 

I went swimming yesterday. I haven't been for five weeks because of health issues or having other appointments but I was determined to go.

I really enjoy my swim but there are steep steps to get into the pool we hire, so, if my legs are unhappy, I can't swim.  It's a really low cost pool which we hire and quite nice once we get in.  (The other four Monday Mermaids are all fitter than me!)

But yesterday I got there and I swam for about half an hour.  I enjoyed it and felt really good when I got out.  I came home and then the fatigue set in.  I paid for that half hour swimming by three hours in bed, most of it asleep.  

But for all that, I'm so glad I went.  

Jack writes

 Hi, everyone.  

It's about time I did another post.  First, thank you all so much for your kind comments when I rang that bell.  

The Vicar's tomatoes are better than mine.

Now for a more important matter.  The Vicar.  As of late she's been reprimanding me for my use of words in the wrong places.  Maybe I'm not learning all the big words she comes out with.  I feel so inferior so I've learnt a few big words (by that I mean more than four letters) so I can at least fire back on the odd occasion when I can get a word in.  Although we talk every morning for 25-45 minutes, I do well to string five sentences together, and I might get some of the words in the wrong places, e.g. I said I was ravishing when she offered me a Christmas dinner.  She's never let me forget it should be ravenous.  On other occasion I've got things wrong and it always gives her great pleasure to berate me when I'm wrong.  She also gets great pleasure when she wakes me up with her phone call.  That doesn't happen very often.

This year all the stuff I've planted in her garden has done a lot better than the stuff I planted in mine and she always goes out of her way to remind me of that fact.

Saying all that, I must let you know that I would miss our chats in the morning and I'm sure the vicar would too.  

I know it goes against the grain for me to be nice but I've got to admit she's always there for anyone who asks for her help, me included.  I lost my wife and as long as I keep breathing I always be grateful for what she did for me

I hope you all keep well and, if my post has brought a smile to your face,  it will make me happy too.  Laughter is better than pills so once again thanks for all your comments not just to me but to my friend, the vicar.

God bless.

Jack

Sometimes all you can do is smile

move on with your day

hold back the tears

and pretend you're OK.