Deja vu once more

Not quite what it seems

So here I am sitting at my computer wondering what to write. I've been here before. I know I have. There are a million things twirling around in my head that are totally disconnected and that really doesn't make for good reading.

So for starters, this week I have been scammed and my credit card and account are now blocked. That is an inconvenience I really don't need. It happened when I spent an age trying to book my train to Hampton Court and then, what I thought was Trainline, wanted me to pay £1 to set up my credit card. I should have been suspicious but as I have a new phone, I have had to reset every other app and many of them are now updated on a newer system and operate differently, it didn't seem wrong at the time. 

My credit card company instantly wanted to talk to me. I spent a long, long hour on the phone talking to the fraud people and had to go through my credit card habits and exactly what I did. Apparently there were four attempts to use my credit card details after I gave up getting my ticket. I now have a plethora of very rude words for those scammers. D*****h*****ds to a man.

I have also stayed at home for two days this week waiting for my very thorough but unreliable handyman to turn up. He has finally arrived and all will be well in his own good time. Meanwhile I missed a trip to the orchard and two swims. These swims are very important as I am now on my second round of swimming the Thames. I have 58 miles to swim in about 10 weeks... I have been here before and 58 miles doesn't seem so bad once you have swam it - honestly.

To counter all my exertions, I am drinking loads.... water that is. I fill my old fancy gin bottles with water and cool them in the fridge. They hold about two glasses of water and they look nice.  Funny thing is, I walk into the living room in the morning and there is an empty gin bottle and one empty glass on my coffee table. This looks very suspicious indeed. Even Ezra-Mae asks for more gin when she comes over. 

Meanwhile back at the ranch, I have been walking Lucky round the village twice a day. There are a limited number of options regarding routes and I have done all of them more than once both ways. Sometimes I collect blackberries and sometimes I don't. Sometimes I pop out for a quickie and other times I am out for an hour. Inevitably, I have to go through the horse tunnel. Lucky doesn't like this and nearly knocks me off my feet so he can get though as quickly as possible. I now know to race through there as well, just so I don't get barged into the wall. 

Manikin on barge and interested dog

Walkies 

I have picked more blackberries than I know what to do with. My last bit of cooking was blackberry muffins. With the impending rains, I am guarenteed to find kilos more. I can easily make some more and you are welcome to try one or two. I have even picked plump beans from my veggie patch and not for the first time this summer.

So I have managed to cobble together some stream of consciousness. More Cock and Bull next time!

I got Lucky

This is true... He is mine, but for a short time, as Sammi is on his travels. I actually forget that I have got Lucky. He is such a quiet dog that I even go walking off and then realise that he is sniffing around in the hedgerow a long way back. I have even been cycling with him. He lollops along at a leisurely pace and frankly behaves like a tart when people pay him attention. So I am lucky that I have a dog around and I am doubly lucky that he is so good.

Lucky doesn't feel so lucky. I took him away from the pub before Sammi left for his adventures and twice he has popped round to look for him. So I know that for Lucky things could be a bit better. At least he has been treated to a nice juicy knuckle bone to gnaw on so not all is lost. 

As you know, saying that I got lucky has got two meanings and as some of my friends well know small things with words set me off on creative paths that probably leave normal people cold. For example,  in this part of the UK there are some very strange place names. Near Buckingham is a small village called Preston Bisset. I personally think this would be a good name for a private eye in a 1920s whodunit. I can imagine a slightly quirky man with a small moustache, monocle and brylcreemed hair driving around the country lanes in a coupe. Naturally he would have a plummy accent - he couldn't have anything else with a name like Preston. There is a really good nursery garden at Preston Bisset and each time I go I expect to bump into him.

As for me, I'd like to demonstrate what a loving Grandma I am. The other day while Sammi was fixing the trailer to the back of his bike, Ezra-Mae played in my courtyard garden dipping a paintbrush in water and then soil. She painted everything with mud including herself. She needed a good hose down before I applied sunscreen so that is what I did. I got the garden hose with spray gun attached and hosed her bare bod. Once she was mud-free, I dressed her and told her to keep her hands up. Each time she lowered them I told her, "hands up"... She duly obliged. So eventually when Sammi had finally sorted out the bike, my relatively clean grand daughter set off for her adventure in the trailer. Loving Grandma... so apt, don't you think?

I am lucky. My world is a wonderful place. My days are full of joy, mostly and I have so much to look forward to. 

Waiting For Godot

 

While I am not in peril, I have been waiting for my son to turn up for the past few days. I might as well be waiting for Godot - who, as we all know - never actually appears. Sammi's sense of timing is creative. So much so, that I am writing this and procrastinating about what to cook that will remain appealing whatever the hour. 

Sammi is vegetarian in principle but is known to drop these principles when faced with a kofta. For this reason I am not too fussed about a solidly meat-free feast. I also have bread proving so he won't starve. When he was young he was the human hoover and anything not pinned down was fair fayre. A leopard doesn't change his spots so I have every confidence that he'll find enough to revive his energy after an 8-hour drive.

So... moving on.... Sammi and a friend turned up very late. Ever since it has been a bit of a whirlwind. We have played tennis, taken Ezra-Mae and two dogs out on the bikes. Shadow and Ezra-Mae sat in the trailer and bobbed along behind Sammi; and, we played table tennis, cards and Banagrams. We have meant to go to the pub for a meal and we'll probably have a swim today  - all in good "Sammi" time. 

Ezra-Mae and Sammi on the bike ride

In between all this, Sammi has been stashing his stuff on my mezzanine area, down in the utility area and under things - and despite this my house still looks like the aftermath of a police raid. I am waiting, still waiting for it all to be sorted. I am also waiting, still waiting for the swim too. 

When you get to my age and you have the sort of personality that needs to get things done, there is a growing frustration sitting around waiting. I am being philosophical and telling myself that this is a lesson for my learning. The trouble is the other half of my brain is telling me my life is slipping away while I am waiting. 

On the flip side, I had an appointment at the hospital for my skin cancer at 6:30pm on a Saturday night. They phoned me to come earlier and when I arrived I had barely sat down in the waiting area before I was called. Thank you NHS.

To Fifty of my Closest Friends

 I'd like to share a secret with you. That is what we do with friends, isn't it? Facebook blurs the lines of what being a friend is though and if I told you a secret - absolutely everyone would know too. However,  I would like to think that I have personally met everyone I have as a friend on FB but these days even those lines can be a bit vague.

Having been on a long trip, I have stayed with many old friends and met up with loads more. These are people that I haven't caught up with since before COVID times. Despite this, I felt like I had never been away. Time seems irrelevant in these cases. When I travelled back to the UK from Singapore in 2019-2022 I stayed in hotels. It was winter so in Europe, especially, it got dark early and it was cold. The moment I got back to my hotel room and closed the door in the evening, I knew I was alone.  The nights were long so I felt this loneliness more. Staying with friends this time was so much nicer. It really was lovely to see so many familiar faces -reconnecting.

From my travels

Old friends

Catching up on old times

We are told that blood is thicker than water. Being adopted shifts that dynamic. I was brought up as an only child. Both my parents died over twenty years ago and my only family is my children. Because of my adoption, I have been a square peg in a round hole for most of my life - not quite fully fitting  into any group. I have also been tentative developing friendships and relationships as I fear rejection. Despite having so many friends on FB, I sometimes wonder what being a friend really is. Before FB, our friendship groups were four or five at the most.

How many of us can pick up the phone and call someone who would drop everything to help? I know I am blessed. I have true "friends" who'd drop what they are doing to help. However, I am of a stubborn nature and will battle on thinking I can conquer my travails without assistance. A good analogy of me is the Knights of Ni from Monty Python. One of them battled on after having limbs lopped off and remained game for a fight.  I too, battle on and find it difficult to ask anyone for help and then feel embarrassed when help comes. 

When things fell apart and my marriage ended, having so much support around me made me realise how important sisterhood is. As the saying goes - a woman without a man, is like a fish without a bicycle. Having been snorkelling lately, I saw no fish on bikes... so who really needs men, girls? Actually, we do need men... it is just that my criteria for the ideal relationship gets longer and longer. 

It is therefore so surprising that I have any friends at all - odd adoptee, someone who can't ask for help, fussy about who I like.... an inexhaustible list to be honest. As for the secret, I know I am blessed having you as my friend! Truly blessed!

Thank you

Healthy competition