Home Alone

Pre-Covid, R used to commute to London daily to work. Then there was the period when they locked us all down and it was a huge adjustment for both of us. He developed a severe case of cabin fever and I took a while to get used to him being at home all day. Since 2020, he has had a couple of contracts that involved working from home 3-4 days per week. This seemed like a perfect compromise - he didn't have the daily stress of travel, worked better and more efficiently at home (fewer distractions) and yet still met up with colleagues once or twice a week. I enjoyed it too; it's nice having him around, but absence makes the heart etc. and I relished my day or two with the house to myself. 

His latest contract, however, is virtually 100% remote. That's right ..... 100%. It's not ideal for him and I've developed a twitch in my eye. On the plus side, I suppose it's good practice for retirement! I'm often out and about so he gets time alone in the house, for me though, that's never the case. If I'm lucky, on the days that I go for a lunch-time swim, he will go for a quick post-prandial walk to get some fresh air and, if I time the pool well, I might get 20 minutes to myself at home. Mostly though, the timing isn't that good.

Before someone points out how lucky I am to have someone to come home to, believe me, I know. It's just that sometimes I find it incredibly draining. Once every 2-3 months, he either has to go into London for the day or travel to Yorkshire for a meeting. The latter necessitating an overnight stay in a hotel in order to be there in time in the morning. Last night was one such night and, what can I tell you, it was blissful! It's not that I want to do anything particularly exciting - we had dinner together and, after I dropped him off at the station, my idea of a good night in involved a cup of tea, something entertaining on Netflix and a bit of knitting/crochet. I'm not exactly painting the town red here. What makes it special though, is that it's just me, myself and I, and I'm already looking forward to the next time.

Before I get into my record of this month's happies, apologies again - I still haven't worked out how to rotate some of the photos and quite a few are 90 degrees out! 

My Cosy Memory Blanket is ready and waiting for new squares to be added using my yarny advent swap with the lovely Barbara at Coastal Ripples.

Doing a jigsaw swap with L. I gave her this one following our trip to the Van Gogh Immersive Experience in London. Once finished, she returned it to us to do. It was actually easier than I thought when I initially tipped out the pieces, only to be confronted with a sea of blue and yellow. The direction of the brush strokes helped enormously.

A trip to the Corn Exchange to see this. It was based on a pre-war dinner meeting between Churchill (the lion), Chamberlain (the unicorn) and their wives. The chap playing Churchill stole the show.

An adaptation of M.R.James' play using puppets was equally good:

A trip into London to take L out for a birthday dinner. Sadly, her partner, V, was ill and couldn't make it. We consoled ourselves with plenty of food at a vegan, Japanese restaurant near Kings Cross. The sake and bamboo and buckwheat tea were particularly good:

I think my favourite was the miso aubergine:

Yuzu mochi and matcha panna cotta.

A Hallowe'en trip to Arlington Arts to hear a re-telling of 3 ghost stories for the season: 'The Judge's House' by Bram Stoker, 'The Kit Bag' by Algernon Blackwood, and 'John Charrington's Wedding' by E. Nesbit. It was excellent.

Photo of November's Beaver Moon, with the neighbours' TV aerial in the foreground! It was too cloudy to see it during the night, so this was taken first thing in the morning.

Study of William Henry Fox Talbot at Lacock Abbey:

Lastly, I returned home one lunchtime to discover a baby hedgehog on the front doorstep. I remembered that Snowbird once said that a hedgehog out and about during the day was a bad sign. He looked very small for the time of year, and quite inactive, so I called our local rescue centre for advice. Weighing just 230g, he was well below the recommended 450g needed to survive hibernation. Sadly, the centre was unable to accept animals as the lady running it was due to go into hospital for an operation. She suggested Tiggywinkles Wildlife Hospital on the far side of Oxford. Apparently, if I rang beforehand they would refuse as we are out of area, however if we just turned up they would accept him.

We begged some dry cat food from the neighbour, added a small lid of water and an old T shirt, and then Harvey(!) and I took a little drive. It was a glorious autumn day and we listened to Classic FM en route. Occasionally one of us would poop, but the other didn't judge. The conversation, however, was a little one-sided for the hour long trip. He ate the food and then rolled up in the T shirt and slept for the rest of the way, perking up when we arrived. Thankfully, they took him in and the plan was to keep him over winter, feed him up and then release him in the spring. I was given a patient reference number and told that I could ring in 2 weeks to check on his progress.

Sadly, the tale doesn't have a happy ending. When I called to check on him, they informed me that he had died 2 days after I dropped him off. After bonding with him on our road trip, I was surprisingly upset. 

Anyway, that's all for this month. I'm just off for a quick swim, prior to getting on with a few more jobs before collecting R from the station tonight. I hope all is good in your corner and that any preparations for Christmas are going well.

Toodle pip for now. x

Bits and Bobs

Greetings! It's been a while since I popped on here - as made very evident to me by the number of photos on my camera! R is away for a couple of days on business and I had been looking forward to nipping into town today to pay a visit to the library. Sadly, I'm full of a cold, the weather is pretty grim and I can't seem to drag myself away from my lemsip and hot water bottle. Instead, I thought I might do a little update on the last couple of months. There have been days out aplenty, a few crafty projects, visits to see L and E, a couple of plays and numerous walks - not all of which I captured on camera.

I'm going to tax my fevered brain by trying to remember where all the pictures were taken - I've already failed at rotating some of them, so apologies in advance. Here goes:

Attending a bee keeping workshop at Shaw House. We have no intention of keeping bees, it just seemed like an interesting topic ..... and it was free!

R finding a rather large caterpillar on the fuchsia. I failed to identify it, so all suggestions are welcome. We did put him back on the bush afterwards!

L and her partner V came for the August Bank Holiday weekend. We attended the 'Altered States' sculpture exhibition. This one named 'The General' (or was it 'The Colonel'?) was my favourite.

We also saw The Lord Chamberlain's Men perform 'Hamlet' at the Great Coxwell Tithe Barn. It was excellent, although very cold - extra blankets had to be brought from the car during the interval!

A walk in the Savernake Forest. I haven't included the photo of R stood by the 'Big Belly Oak'. I may have positioned him carefully and edited the sign somewhat! :O)

It has been about 8 years since I made a crochet blanket and I felt the urge. It's only cheap Stylecraft acrylic yarn (which is hardwearing and washes brilliantly) in autumnal colours and was inspired by Sarah's Prague blanket shown here . 

Another excellent play at the New Era Theatre:

A trip to the Southern Wool Show at Newbury Racecourse - I said that there were a few that needed rotating! I was very frugal, just buying some mini skeins and a notions pouch showing photos of old Hammer House of Horror films. I kept going back and picking it up, so in the end I bought it!

Winding up some yarn that L and V brought me back from Skye on their Scotland holiday. I haven't actually cast on the socks yet as I've been busy with a few Christmas presents.

An egret in the garden. He (or she?) is often down by the river when I pop to water the greenhouse:

A trip to Oxford to meet L. We spent a happy morning exploring the botanical garden before enjoying a delicious lunch at the Vaults and Garden, then taking a tour round the Ashmolean:

A Japanese tea room in the museum. One day I'd like to visit Japan and experience the real thing.

Finishing a charity shop jigsaw of Gold Hill in Shaftesbury:

A trip to the Watermill to see this. It was brilliant and the actor playing Bertie had obviously watched the film as he sounded just like Colin Firth - no bad thing!

A Sockhead Cowl for L using some yarn that I bought on our trip to Cumbria earlier in the year:

Being inspired by Barbara Hepworth!

A trip to Hinton Ampner:

Harvesting some of my veggies. Only 1 pumpkin managed to survive the attention of the slugs - it's been a rotten growing year.

This is actually a photo of an online photo of Bristol Museum, just to remind me. I went there to see my friend S and forgot to take my camera. It was a lovely day. We started off in the Flour House Cafe (they do a very nice vegan sausage on a GF bun!), then explored the museum at length. Lunch was a falafel bowl in the museum cafe - sadly, the falafel were a tad carbonised. Needless to say, being English I smiled politely and said that they were lovely!

Afterwards I went to E's new house for the evening. If you know Bristol at all, imagine the colourful houses up on the hillside. Her house is near there, adjacent to the steepest residential street in England. I parked and crossed my fingers that my handbrake would be up to the task! We had a lovely catch up and went for a walk in a beautiful old cemetery.

I had a mad 'spring' clean of the bookshelves in the hall and discovered a walk book that we haven't used in a while. We packed a picnic and did the Ecchinswell walk on a beautiful autumn day. It has rained a lot since then!

I dragged R along to a sound bath at Shaw House. It was only £5 per person and very relaxing. He enjoyed it and even managed to stay awake - I think he was concerned about snoring!

A trip to London to see L. I took a photo of the pub which Dickens used to frequent, only because R used to work near here and raved about it. Unfortunately, it wasn't open for another hour, so I wasn't able to have a nosy!

Our destination was The Globe to see 'The Taming of the Shrew'. Sadly, it was dreadful and we were very disappointed. Some people even left early. There were a few understudy substitutions but that wasn't the issue. It was set in a children's playroom and the actors entered the stage through a disembowelled teddy bear. There were puppets galore and it was all just a little too silly for our liking. I read the reviews when I got home and they weren't exactly glowing! 

Lunch at Wagamama's was lovely though!

As was coffee and a vegan GF brownie at Cafe Nero overlooking The Golden Hind:

Finally, a trip to Coughton Court near Stratford -upon-Avon to meet my friend, C. We had had to postpone once, owing to bad weather, but we struck lucky second time around.

Well, that's all for this month. I'm off to have a spot of lunch and then, if the rain stops, I might consider that trip to the library. I hope everything is tickety boo in your corner.

Toodle pip for now. x

Devon

It's not often that we go away twice in quick succession; even if only for a few days each time. R's contract came to an end a couple of months ago and, whilst waiting for the paperwork to clear and the new one to start, we decided to make the most of the break. He did a few jobs around the house: taking down and repainting the iron gutters; doing some work on Bridget, and doing a bit (not nearly enough! :O) ) on the kitchen. Because he is a contractor, the cost of a holiday usually includes the amount he would have been paid if he hadn't taken that time off. If he wasn't working anyway, any holiday taken suddenly seemed cheaper, so off we went again, this time to Devon.

For a while now I had wanted to visit Agatha Christie's holiday home 'Greenway' on the River Dart near Galmpton. Our B&B was Greenway Barn, a short but picturesque walk across the fields to the estate itself. We set off bright and early on the Wednesday morning. Keeping to A and B roads, we made quite good time and decided to stop at a roadside cafe.

Brightside was a real gem of a find. Situated just outside Exeter, we initially just stopped for a coffee and to buy petrol. One look at the menu, however, and suddenly we were staying for brunch. The menu contained vegan and gluten free fare galore. R went for the full vegan breakfast and I had a vegan, GF sausage on a bun. They were delicious and, making a mental note to pop in on the way back, we set off happy and refreshed.

We arrived at the B&B in the early afternoon. We let them know that we had arrived but our room wasn't ready yet, so after a quick tour we left Bridget admiring the view, donned walking boots and set off to Greenway.

The white Georgian house was used by Christie and her husband, Max Mallowan, as a holiday home from 1938 until their deaths in 1976 and 1978. It features, under various guises, in several of her novels. I bought a copy of 'Dead Man's Folly' from the bookshop as a souvenir of our visit.

In the novel, the body is discovered in the boathouse, shown below, and the Poirot episode of the same name was filmed at Greenway.

A few photos from inside the house:

Although this looks like her writing room, Christie never actually did any writing at Greenway, treating it as a place for rest and relaxation. She would, however, read extract from her works in progress to family and friends whilst here. Apparently, her daughter, Rosalind, was always able to guess who committed the murder!

After closing time, we walked back to our B&B, stopping off en route to enjoy a picnic supper, with glorious views:

The following day, after a good night's sleep and a fortifying breakfast, we headed off for nearby Brixham, a picturesque harbour town and one of the busiest fishing ports in Britain.

The colourful houses reminded me of Bristol and we enjoyed looking at the replica of Sir Frances Drake's 'Golden Hind', although we didn't go on board.

We spent a few happy hours exploring the town. I was particularly impressed with how clean and well kempt it all was - West Berkshire Council could definitely learn a thing or two! Highlights included: a multitude of charity shops (I scored another Christie novel 'Cards on the Table' in one of them); a brilliant health food shop with cafe (excellent coffee) and a pop up yard sale, where I'm still kicking myself for not buying the small leather suitcase. I have a small collection of these that I use for storing sheet music. This one was in excellent condition and a snip at £7. I think I was concerned about having to carry it round all day ..... what on Earth was I thinking?!

We sat for a while on the harbour wall watching these small scurrying birds - are they Turnstones? Whatever they were, they were good value!

The seagull looked on in a resigned manner:

Lunch was the obligatory chippies which we ate whilst boat watching.

Dropping our stuff back in Bridget, we again put on walking boots and walked the coastal path at Berry Head:

Supper was another picnic - this time we raided the local Tesco in Brixham and bought hummus, pitta bread etc. We ate it at the picnic table in the guesthouse garden watching the sun set.

On our final day, we decided on a visit to Coleton Fishacre, an Arts and Crafts style house and garden near Kingswear. It belonged to the D'Oyly Carte family who set up a company which staged many Gilbert and Sullivan operas.

I always home in on a NT kitchen!

This was my favourite corner - a comfy armchair, surrounded by books with a handy side table for a whisk(e)y decanter!

The gardens were gorgeous and the roasted pepper soup in the cafe was delicious:

You could walk to the coastal path and lie in conveniently placed hammocks to admire the view:

We made an impulse buy of a recycled metal duck from the shop. It now sits in the garden next to a similarly made pig called Winston that we bought on a visit to Chartwell. We named her Agatha. Sorry, no photo yet.

We spent the afternoon on the beach at Man Sands. The track down was narrow, stony and quite steep. A few brave souls actually drove down, but I didn't envy them the return journey. The beach was beautiful and peaceful and I enjoyed just breathing in the sea air. I found a hag stone as a souvenir and then we climbed the mile or so back up to the carpark and set off for home.

As planned, we stopped off at the same roadside cafe that we visited on the way down. Beyond Meat burgers were enjoyed and we arrived home at about 10pm.

It was a wonderful three days and looking back, it seems like it was the end of summer. The weather has certainly taken a turn for the autumnal since then. 

R has now started his new contract and the usual routine has been re-established. I'm making the most of our local lido before they close it for the winter, filling the freezer with borscht as my beetroot have gone into overdrive, and am planning a new blanket to occupy me in the forthcoming autumn evenings.

I hope things are tickety boo at your end, anything interesting to report?

Toodle pip for now. x