Rural retreat

 I was supposed to be dog sitting for six days starting last Sunday but Holly Dog had to go to another friend until Wednesday.  Anyway, Thursday I went to my rural retreat.  

Here's Holly Dog welcoming you to my blog.  She likes me to go as I take treats, especially carrots.  We still have to renegotiate each night as to which one of us has most of the bed but we rub along OK.

This glorious sight is the view from the front porch.  It was warm enough a couple of times to sit out there and knit.  

And here's the village post box. 

The notice reads, "Birds are nesting in this postbox. PLEASE DO NOT USE!" followed by details of a nearby box.   

Who wouldn't want to stay in a village with something like this!

My Mass Observation Report

I thought you might like to now what I wrote for Mass Observation.  This is going to be a really dull post but the brief is to write about just this one day in my life and 12th May was really dull!  

"Today I am feeling a little bit sorry for myself.  I was supposed to be taking care of a friend’s dog at her house but I have a lot of pain in my legs so I can’t do it.  I enjoy doing that particular favour as my friend’s house is high on the Lincolnshire Wolds and has magnificent views.  I regard it as a holiday with self-catering accommodation. 

 Instead, I am at home in my bungalow.  I am a tenant of The Church of England Pensions Board and the Board is an excellent landlord.  I am disabled (but usually in better nick than I am today) and my bungalow has ramped access front and back, a wet-room and an accessible garden.  Many older people have gravitated to the cul-de-sac where I live and we keep an eye on each other.  My housing situation could not be better. 

 As today is the twelfth of the month my pension for the early part of my working life arrived in my bank account.  Although I finished my working life as a vicar, until I was thirty, I worked in local government and the civil service.  These last few years have been a period of high inflation and I have had to economise, cutting down on car usage, food and energy bills.  The rate of inflation has started to drop and the latest consumer price index is 3.25%.  

 I wrote a post for my blog: indeed, I wrote about Mass Observation!  Blogging is a declining activity and seems to attract only older people but I enjoy it.  I have met a few fellow bloggers “in real life” and have written letters to a few overseas.  I read blogs about ordinary, everyday life, and people’s hopes and reflections.

 I’m very sleepy today, probably because I am taking pain relief.  The great joy of retirement is that it doesn’t matter how sleepy I am!  However, I can’t be bothered to do anything which is rather unpleasant.  I just keep nodding off. 

 Whilst I’m not able to do much I have had a few video calls with friends.  I think video calls are great.  The idea of being able to see friends miles away seemed like a fantasy only a few years ago.

Normally I enjoy cooking good food for myself from scratch but I don’t feel up to that today.  Breakfast was a sandwich which I had in the freezer and lunch was canned tuna, canned sweetcorn and mayonnaise.  For an evening meal all I could be bothered with was mashed potatoes from the freezer with a scattering of cheese.  I’ll survive.  But I shall be glad to eat properly again.

 This is probably my most boring day of the year!  I can’t move far, I feel “spaced out” on pain relief and my get-up-and-go has got-up-and-gone.  But it’s an honest record!"

In case you are feeling concerned, life is looking better today and the only way is up!

Mass Observation Day 2025

 

I really enjoyed the film "Housewife, 49" with Victoria Woods as Nella Last, an ordinary housewife living in Barrow in Furness.  She contributed a diary from 1939 to the mid sixties, detailing the events of her life and how she felt about things.

Earlier than that, on 12th May 1937, people were invited to record the events of that day.  Why that date?  It was the coronation of George VI.  

In August 1939 when war was already seeming inevitable, Mass-Observation invited members of the public to record and send them a day-to-day account of their lives in the form of a diary. No special instructions were given to these diarists but 480 people responded to this invitation and their diaries are now held in the organisation's archive.

The original project ended in the mid-sixties but was revived in 1981.  These days it is not day-to-day diaries which are requested but responses to specific topics.  The spring topics are post-pandemic reflections, VE Day and Good News.  I am an observer and am writing about all three.

But 12th May is very special each year.  Today is the day everyone is invited to record and reflect on the events of their day.  

And one of the events I shall record is that I posted an entry on my blog!

May I?

This last week has made me feel as though summer is definitely on the way!   I have a few plans.

I'm going to stay with Holly Dog for a week.  That's a bit like going on holiday!

I'm taking the funeral of an old friend.  I feel very privileged as she left explicit instructions that she wanted me.

I am hosting a cousins' lunch.  The other three cousins who come all have birthdays in May and June so a rather nice pub meal is my gift to them.  

I have a lunch out and an afternoon tea planned.  These catch-ups with old friends are such a pleasure.

The Monday Mermaids will be splashing.

Jack is coming again before long so that we can get the garden in the best order possible.  

Those are the definite plans but I also have dreams.  I want to sit in my garden and do some crafts.  I want to try some new recipes.  I want to increase my walking.  And I want to dream dreams.

The delights of April

 

April went undercover as far as this blog is concerned.

I did courses on "MacBeth" and "Dr Faustus".  And my usual monthly sessions on drawing and journalling.  

I led a gloriously noisy service at Easter.  And several other not quite as noisy services throughout the month

I celebrated a friend's birthday with lunch at a local pub and very nice it was too.  

I had my Trundle Truck serviced so I will be able to go places this summer.  

I went swimming with The Monday Mermaids three times.  

I did some doggy day care.

Jack and I made a start on decluttering the garage.  Just a start.

In disgrace

 I don't suppose it's a surprise to anyone that I am in disgrace with Jack.  He came yesterday.

His first complaint was that I haven't written anything on this blog for a month.  As you can see I have remedied that. 

Then he moaned about the number of plants I had acquired.  There were carrots, beetroot, rocket, tomatoes, mimulus, sweet peas, gazania, salvia, begonia, antirrhinum, geraniums and African marigolds.  So he sorted all of them.  Except the geraniums which I have been growing on and they are still a bit small.  

And anyway he added to the quantity by bringing me a daphne, a cotoneaster and something he couldn't remember the name of.  Fortunately I like surprises.  

He planted up my vegetable garden but we have plenty of room for other crops.  The "snake" is a porous hose.  It's the easiest way for me to water the garden.

He filled pots and beds so that I will have a glorious show in the summer.

And he went home with six portions of home-made soup and twelve savoury ducks.

He can't complain about that.  But he'll find something else.