Travelling Jan: Summer 2024

My birthday cake, made by Jeni

This summer has galloped past at such an alarming rate that I feel like I’ve had no time to draw breath, let alone write a blog!

At the same time as doing a cat sit for Jeni, I also looked after my friend’s two ponies and chickens while she was away. Luckily, she only lives a few minutes from Jeni’s house, so I was able to base myself in Shepton Mallet and drive to Pylle each day after I’d fed the cats. I was also being really busy with gardening clients, as the weeds just keep on growing whatever the weather is doing!

Back in May Jeni had lost her job so I recruited her into the gardening business to see if it was something she would like to take on when I feel the urge to fully retire! Within a couple of weeks we had found two new clients, purely by word of mouth, so were busier than ever. But it proved great fun for me to have a gardening buddy and therapeutic for Jeni who seems to be rising to the challenges presented by each garden. Our clients are all lovely and very appreciative of what we do and we even get to do some hard landscaping too, as we have built some rustic steps for one client and are about to take down an old shed and re-model that area of the garden.

The site of the old steps

The new rustic steps

At the beginning of July it was the 75^th birthday of the WI that I used to belong to in Draycott and, as a past President, I was invited to attend the celebration. I was made very welcome and met up with some people that I haven’t seen for many years (and also caught up on all the local gossip!). It was a really fun evening – I had forgotten how much I used to enjoy WI meetings. Unfortunately, the WI in Binegar closed last October due to dwindling membership and the next nearest one is a few villages away. ☹

Rodney Stoke & Draycott WI

Then it was off to London for a long weekend to catch up with my brother and his partner, as I haven’t been to stay at their house for several years! I went up on the Berry’s Superfast coach service which is based in Taunton and picks up in Shepton Mallet in the early morning. A period return ticket was only about £26 for a Senior Citizen and there is courier service and, depending on the coach, WiFi, to make the journey more pleasant. The coach terminates at Hammersmith Bus Station and from there I made my way across London on the Underground, which I now find far less daunting than I used to. We had a lovely weekend, going to an excellent theatre production on the Saturday afternoon in central London and then for a walk around Shooters Hill on Sunday. On Monday, with time to kill before my coach home, I spent some time at an exhibition in the National Portrait Gallery on the six wives of Henry VIII and came home feeling quite cultured!

Less than a week later I was off again, this time to do an eight-day farm sit for the alpacas. There are now 30 alpacas and about 25 sheep plus chickens, geese and ducks plus the 3 Labradors and a cat, so I had my work cut out! My daily step count went up from an average of about 3,000 to about 15,000, which was quite a shock to the system!

This poor alpaca broke his leg a while ago but is now almost fully fit

Meanwhile, back at home, the builders turned up to start building my new porch. This is something that I consider a necessity as, at present, I have nowhere to hang outdoor coats or take off outdoor shoes which is a real nuisance if it is wet and muddy – a frequent event this summer! By the time I got back from the farm sit they had dug and laid the foundations and started on the actual wall building. The porch won’t be finished for a while yet as I am having a new front door which is on a 5-week lead time and a double-glazed window and only then can the builders plaster the interior walls and render the outside walls, but I’m hopeful that by the start of winter I will have a fully-functioning porch.

The new porch under construction

I also asked them if they could make me a hard standing at the back of the house, something that I was initially do myself but realised that it would take me forever to complete! I wanted to re-use the old, redundant concrete coal bunker, that stood outside the back door, as paving slabs. Although they looked very dubious about this idea they said that they would have a go. I went off to work and when I returned they had done a wonderful recycling job - what stars!

My new hardstanding area

Having made the decision to fell my poorly ash tree I had booked the tree guys to come at the end of August. They duly turned up and spent the day climbing the tree and taking it down from the top, cutting the useable wood into rings to be split later and chipping the brash into a big heap at the bottom of the garden. As before, they were efficient, friendly and very tidy so that you could hardly tell they’d been there apart from the missing tree. I’m hoping that my sole remaining big tree – an alder- is not too devastated by the loss of its neighbour. I realise that, as well as a couple of small field maples, in my collection I also have several small oak trees grown from acorns picked up at my favourite farm in the Tamar valley, so I may sneak one of those into my planting scheme for the boundary hedge!

By now we were into early August, which could only mean one thing, my annual trip to the Fairport Convention’s music festival at Cropredy in Oxfordshire. For the second year running I’d managed to persuade Jeni to come with me, so we duly set off in Bunty (who’d come through her MOT quite well earlier in July) and headed to Cropredy via an overnight stop in Cheltenham with my mum. This year we took the awning with us so that Jeni didn’t have to perform heroic gymnastic feats to get into the roof space bunk designed for small, agile children! We managed to put up the awning quite quickly (we’d had a practice at Dave’s before we left) which was just as well as the day was rapidly deteriorating, and it was soon raining and blowing quite hard! Luckily, the weather did improve significantly over the course of the festival, and we had a great time and listened to some good music as well as having the obligatory stroll along the canal and an ice cream made from water buffalo milk. Same again next year? I think so!

Practicing putting up the awning!

My birthday spread

The arrival of the cake!

Once back at home it was full steam ahead to organise my 70^th birthday party on the 18^th August, the following Sunday! I seem to be only able to deal with one event at a time these days, so had really done nothing towards the event apart from invite a few people to come. Eeek! There followed a panicky buying spree of party food from Iceland, the baking of two large quiches, random drinks buying and the tidying of a house already bulging at the seams with boxes still waiting to be unpacked. The hobby room very quickly became the ‘dumping ground’ so that I could turn the spare bedroom into a habitable space for my mum, who was coming to stay. My bedroom was turned over to my brother, Richard, and his partner, Jo, Bunty became my bedroom and Lynda and Paul brought their campervan, too. The weather, which had been wet and miserable, miraculously cleared for my party, which was held in the garden, but not before it rained in the morning fulfilling my doleful annual prediction of ‘it always rains on my birthday’! Nearly everyone came that had been invited, there was enough food and drink, and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves. However, that is the last birthday party I shall host for another decade (at least!) Stressful is not an adequate word for it!

Party in the garden

And now, here we are in September and I’ve just completed a dog sit for one of my gardening clients, attended a market in Wells Town Hall and done a spinning demonstration at a local Village Show – when does this retirement lark start? I seem to be busier than ever, so now you can see why there hasn’t been a blog for a while – if I sit down for any length of time, I fall asleep! 😊