April Showers

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St. Peter's Hall and brewery

The busy last few days added to a high pollen count made me feel quite unwell yesterday so I not only couldn’t enjoy the Bank Holiday I also wasn’t able to post anything on my blog as I had hoped.  Yesterday morning was very humid and hazy so my washing didn’t dry very quickly.  I had to take A to Diss station as she was returning to Sheffield, and saying goodbye to her always makes me feel sad.  I tried to hurry through my numerous Monday chores as R and I had thought we might go for a walk in a local bluebell wood in the afternoon.  By the time I was ready to go out I was very tired.  The sky had clouded over, the temperature had dropped suddenly by about five degrees and the air had become much fresher.  I found R busy in the garden and reluctant to go out.  He had planted potatoes in the vegetable plot and had earthed them up and also planted pea, runner-bean and tomato seeds in the greenhouse.  I was half relieved that we weren’t to go out as I didn’t think I would have fully appreciated the beauty of the wood feeling as I did.  It then started to rain so that was that.  Rain continued on and off all night.

I have had another busy day today with more washing, a trip to the surgery in Halesworth to collect my medication and a visit to the supermarket for groceries.  I then drove to Bungay to buy bird seed for Mum from the pet shop.  I had only been home five minutes and was still unpacking the shopping when our electrician called by.  We are to have lots of work done this summer and he had visited to discuss this with me.  A new box for the external electrics which power our waste treatment tank, new lighting in the kitchen and new outside lights.  There will also be lots of new wiring and a few unnecessary things to remove.  A big project and one that has needed doing since we moved into this house in 2006.  We had a cup of coffee together and a chat – he will call again in about three weeks and give us a start date for the work and an estimate of the cost.  I had a quick lunch, then went to Mum’s house again to collect her and take her to Norfolk and Norwich hospital to have her eyes checked and scanned.  The news was very good – the left eye is absolutely fine with no sign of macular degeneration after the series of injections she has just had and the right eye is doing well with no return of the disease.  Unfortunately the damage caused cannot be repaired but with care and regular check-ups she should do well.  I took her back to her house and I eventually got home at 4.45pm, half an hour before R got home from work.

I am really looking forward to spending time in the garden.  I haven’t done any gardening since before we went away for our holiday in the Lake District.  I haven’t been able to check on all the bird feeders as regularly as I should either, as housework and Easter preparations have taken all my time.  Tomorrow I will be taking Mum out for her usual shopping trip to Diss and E has asked me to help her start sorting out some cupboards in her room.  She wants some money to buy things and thinks she can sell some of her unwanted possessions for cash.  She also needs a desk and chair but there is no space for it in her room.  R says he will get her a desk if she gets rid of all the clutter.  So…. she has asked me to help her!  I think really she will just need me to get her started – the thought of having to do the job is much worse than the actual job itself.  I have a hair appointment on Thursday and my monthly blood test on Friday as well as some more shopping.  So things are improving and gardening beckons as long as the forecast rain and showers aren’t too prolonged.

This evening, we booked a table in a local restaurant for Saturday lunch.  R has worked for his company for forty-two years and was complaining some weeks ago that no-one at work had acknowledged this.  His boss got to hear of his complaint and to belatedly celebrate over forty years service R has been told to have a meal out with me and we will be able to spend up to £100 at the company’s expense.  (We will have to spend the money and then claim it back on expenses!).  As I can’t/don’t drink I think we should be able to have a really lovely meal locally for that amount.  We will also take E with us if she feels she can manage the trip.  She doesn’t usually eat much in restaurants but her favourite whitebait is on the lunchtime menu so I’m hoping she decides to join us.  The restaurant we have chosen is St Peter’s Hall and Brewery where I went for lunch with my friend W in February.  The hall dates from the 13th century and is supposed to be haunted.  The beer from the brewery is something special, though I haven’t been able to drink it for many years now.

No pictures today.  I also plan to do one post with highlights of the past week and another post where I talk about our holiday in the Lakes.  I should be all caught up then.

Friendship and Other Matters

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buzzards, friendship, greylags, Norwich Cathedral, ravens, skylarks, St. Peter's Hall and brewery

When we awoke yesterday our house was enveloped in thick fog and there was frost on the grass and our cars.  (Like a lot of people we have a garage full of rubbish and no room for even one of our cars!)  However, by 7.40 when R left for work the fog was clearing, the sun coming out and the birds singing loudly.  The geese had got visitors – I counted eighteen geese on the field behind the house – and the couple of muscovy ducks which belong to one of our neighbours were having a stroll together round the big pond.

I had to take E in to Halesworth for a hair appointment at midday and afterwards I shopped in the supermarket.  On the way home, in fact only a quarter of a mile from home, we saw something flapping at the side of the road and as we approached we realised it was a large bird with prey.  As it took off we saw it was a buzzard.  This is really exciting, as until just a very few years ago they were not to be found in this part of England.   When we lived for eighteen months in Somerset near Wellington we saw them every day and I got to love their mewing call.  The only other time I had seen them was when visiting the North or West Country on holiday.  I then remembered having seen a couple of buzzards soaring over us as we worked in the garden on Sunday.  How could I have forgotten this?  Are they here to stay?

  Thinking about our short residence in Somerset, reminds me that we had a couple of skylights in the roof of our house and I used to love to sit under them, looking up at the sky, watching clouds and buzzards and ravens.  Yes, ravens too, with their deep croaking bark of a call.

A busy but fun day today.  My dearest friend W has come to East Anglia for the week as her husband is working in the area.  We met in Norwich and walked to the cathedral which we wandered round and then had coffee in the refectory.  I then drove us to St Peter’s Hall, here in ‘The Saints’ and we had a lovely lunch, talking all the time.  The last time we had met was at her eldest daughter’s wedding in 2012 but naturally we weren’t able to talk much then.  We heard skylarks singing above the brewery next to the hall as we left to spend the afternoon at my house.

  W was so supportive when my first husband left when A was thirteen weeks old.  I had also just been diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis and could hardly walk.  She used to visit every few weeks bringing food as well as her own baby (my god-daughter) who was five and a half months older than A, kept me company and cheered me up.  Thank-you W.  I love you.