Well, I finally
managed to get back home to Brittany after a trip to England which was equally
difficult and great. I spent three nights with friends, Sheila and Paul
in Cornwall, then three nights back in Gloucestershire for the first time
for years and then back to Cornwall to stay with The difficult part
involved many hours over two different days waiting in garages for things to be
done to the Land Rover, still not fixed properly but just enough to get me
back. I am now waiting for a part from England which was on a ten to
fourteen day delivery period. The great bits were having all the family
together for the first time in a while, staying with Sheila and Paul, and
seeing more family and friends in Gloucestershire after so many years while
staying with friends, Lesley and Roy. I then returned to stay with Oli
and Emma for a couple of days. My younger grandchild, Mia, is now walking
and a delight and it was lovely to spend time with my older grandchild,
Charlie, who seems so grown up nowadays at seven and a half. Here we all
are together at a Charlestown restaurant - photo taken on a friend's
'phone in dim lighting.
I drove straight from the restaurant to Plymouth and managed to miss
the boat I should have been on. I returned to St Austell to sleep back at
a family house for the night. The following day I managed to get on the
afternoon boat and drove back to Plymouth, this time managing to get there in
time and actually board. The crossings both ways were rough.
Luckily I don’t seem to be affected by the rolling motion except when trying to
walk a straight line on the way to the shop or my cabin.
When I arrived back in St André at
11.15pm I did over an hour of unloading and unpacking. During
the early hours of the morning, when I couldn’t sleep, I came down and put the
washing in the machine and later hung it up on the kitchen ceiling airer where
it continued to dry in the heat from the woodburner. I love my woodburner.
The moment the cats know that it is lit they come into the house and bask in
the warmth, usually on the table I have in front of my chair with the laptop on
it or in the fabric covered boxes on the floor next to the hearth.
Saturday morning was taken up with unloading the rest of the Land Rover and
trying to find homes for all the stuff I'd brought back.
If the
company in England was good, the weather was dreadful while I was there – rain,
rain and more rain, oh and mist too. I did manage to take one good sunset while I was there and an atmospheric view from Sheila and Paul's house too.
I don’t think my New Zealand housesitters had anything much better here. So - we were lucky on Saturday afternoon that it was dry and sunny for the Horsefair at Kerien.
I don’t think my New Zealand housesitters had anything much better here. So - we were lucky on Saturday afternoon that it was dry and sunny for the Horsefair at Kerien.
My housesitters, Wendy and Patrick and I really enjoyed it. Lots of horses, mules, donkeys, goats, hens, pheasants, quail etc. I succumbed to four little chickens and we each shared carrying the box that they were in.
On arriving home we put the new arrivals in a separate unused house and
run and added a Frizzle cockerel who has been lonely since his partner was
taken by the fox. I hope they all get on in their new home and don’t
fight too much while settling in.
I started this book on the ferry going over to England and finished it
on the journey back.
It was brilliant and unfortunately the only book written by the author, Mary Ann Shaffer, now dead. Due to her ill health it was finished by Annie Barrows. The book has the unlikely title of “The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society” and the story takes place in the first nine months of 1946, after the end of the German occupation of Guernsey during the second world war.
It’s both a funny and poignant book and I heartily recommend it to any
and everyone. One of those books that you want to finish but hate it when
you don't have it to read anymore. I am now part way through a very
simple and gentle book "An Otter on the Aga" written by Rex Harper.
Three things I like:
1. Being back home again and seeing all the animals had been
well cared for in my absence by my lovely house/pet sitters.
2. Having beautiful weather with real heat in the sunshine
for the whole of the weekend.
3. The lovely pea and ham soup I had for supper, made with
the gammon from Heligan Farmers' Shop which I cooked yesterday.
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