Slaying the Dragon

One very smart dragon

Last Tuesday it was St. Georges Day and of course it was also my day at the orchard too. We spent much of the morning cleaning up and preparing for Blossom Day. Knowing that Ezra-Mae just loves the dragon – a mostly friendly beast that lurks in the orchard – I decided to give it a hair cut so that children could see the steps more easily.  I had lots of help. I needed it as most of the shears were better at chewing the cud rather than cutting.  We all kept saying this job would be so much quicker with a strimmer nonetheless we still kept chopping. Suffice to say, the dragon looked very smart on the day – and despite the weather it was well used by young ones.

One of the regulars at the orchard died over the weekend. He was a lovely man and not much older than me. It was a shock to say the least. When something like this happens, we all stop to think of our own mortality. We got to thinking how we could keep his memory alive in the orchard. As you know, I have been making labels for the trees. These are wooden and about A5 size with pyrographic lettering. Those present began to think that they would like a tree named for them too. One day there might be trees named, Alan or George as well as being a Cox’s orange pippin.

Hope's tree- a brown turkey fig

Last year, after Hope died, I bought a brown turkey fig for the orchard in her memory. Over last summer it was touch and go whether the tree would pull through, so I brought it back to my little garden to take care of it. Then it over-wintered in the polytunnel. Recently I put it in the ground near the dragon and now it is beginning to flourish. It has a label that says it is a tree for Hope. Ezra-Mae knows it is her sister’s tree and that makes it all the more special.

My days slip by and I remain incredibly busy. The time wooshes past and I really don’t know where it goes. I have had a visit recently from Diane and Jeremy, and also from Lynne and Johnny. Both sets of friends have a connection to Singapore. Lynne liked my little village so much she came back twice on the same day… she left her phone at my house. As her and Johnny live over an hour away their return home must have taken 3 hours or more. I only realised the phone was still at my place when I sent a picture to her and heard a ping.

Lynne and Johnny at Cosgrove Lock

And so to the beginning of another week – the last of April – the heating in my house has kicked in and the garden remains well-watered. Even Blossom Day at the orchard on Saturday was muted by stormy skies and low temperatures. I am looking forward to the one day we might be able to call summer. It looks might it could be only one day this year.

A Day to Remember - with a certificate to prove it

 

A very special certificate

Way back in February we started to plan a way to celebrate being chosen to receive the Kings Award for Voluntary Service. The Community Orchard in Wolverton is a little gem. I found it within a few days of returning home and I know that I have been blessed to be part of this group. Each Tuesday we gather to keep the place ticking over. When guests come to visit me I usually drag them up there - be warned!

Instead, last Tuesday, 16th April, we all gathered at Wolverton Town Hall with the Great and the Good to be presented with the award by Our Lord Lieutenant of Buckinghamshire, Countess Howe. It was lovely. Everyone was wonderful. I don't have enough superlatives to really give this event a fair description. 

Yvonne giving the guided tour

After the event, I drove Lady Howe up to the orchard, where, with donned wellies we walked round the area. I had especially cleaned my car beforehand and realised that it is actually quite a nice shade of white and not naturally speckled. I have to say I was pleasantly surprised by my handiwork. I had also primed myself to be on my best behaviour while driving. - on that front I consider myself a success. 

I am posing... Not me, really

After a short debrief in the Barley Mow, life has settled to humdrum. So, onward and upward or back to the drudgery of normal life depending how you look at it. I have been without a laptop for a month now. I bought it from Currys just before Christmas but it broke down pretty quickly. I picked it up on Tuesday afternoon and spent two hours trying to open it up. I went from coaxing it gently to getting quite annoyed. On Wednesday morning I returned it to Currys. I was pleasantly surprised by the good service despite the month delay. I now have a new one! Long may it last.

When a friend posted on FB how Singapore repairs roads overnight, it got me thinking about my regular slalom around the potholes on the roads near me. The regulars who use the roads drive down the centre on some stretches so you just slow down to let them pass then you can take smoothest path after they pass. The holes just get bigger and some of them join up with other holes. 

Then after all my hassles with HMRC and the lengthy waits each time I try to sort out my stuff with them, I despair of good ol' Blighty. I probably look back at Singapore with rose-tinted specs but I am sure almost everything worked better over there. Even tax was less punitive and the people who dealt with you were efficient and helpful even though they took a chunk of your earnings. 

I am glad I am back home but I do miss bits of my old life even now. I will wave at all my old friends in Singapore when I transit through Changi next month. Please wave back.

Disaster Strikes

Apple blossom

Having a flat tyre is just part of my routine now. Having said that, I think it is remarkable I got yet another flat while walking Shadow and the bike back to my place. The thorn that pierced the innertube was nearly half an inch long and visible through the outer tyre. Having a flat tyre while walking beside my bike has made me feel I have hit a new low with regard to biking.

And so it was that while Shad-the-Bad snoozed in my garden, I fixed the puncture. She is a really chill dog until she she's a cat. There are three cats that regularly visit my garden and they all came at various times that afternoon to annoy Shadow. She chased one under the gate and now I need to repair the gate post as well because she knocked it off the wall. 

Then with all the rain, some of my plant pots with seedlings in have got waterlogged. I don't hold out much hope for seeing them survive. This tale is beginning to feel like the old song about the gas man calling on a Monday morning. Fortunately the bad fortune ended there. Things have got better as the week has progressed even though the weather hasn't really improved much. 

I am also taken to shouting at the radio far too often. Am I the only one that sees a paradox with the way we have reacted to the bombing of the Iranian Embassy in Damascus? I don't like the way Iran deals with its affairs so I am not a supporter of that country, but after all,  embassies are our sanctuaries in other countries and Israel has contravened every rule of diplomacy by bombing the Iranian one. So why is the world supporting Israel and telling Iran not to respond? If Germany had bombed the British Embassy in France, we would not stand by and accept the consequences. This is a parallel senario and not something I could ever imagine happening.

Also the worst offenders for climate change have been named. They are the major oil companies. If people didn't use oil or oil products, those companies would not be so successful financially. I am to blame as well. I drive for starters. We all need to change.

I played a tennis match last Thursday and even now I feel it's after effects. Friday was a day of recovery. I gave my house a quick dust and hoover but not much more. It was all I had the energy for. 

We won! 

There are things though that have cheered me no end. I have, after four months of attempting to withdraw money from HMRC; two phone calls with the interminable hanging on the line; and writing two complaints to the tax people, got my money out.  Finally someone rang me. It was a lovely Welshman with a lyrical voice who told me it has all been sorted. I told him I had been calling the HMRC all sorts of rude names. He said everyone does! What a surprise!

On hoping to become a serial Grandmother

Easter came and went. The sun shone and I thought it was summer! How wrong could one be? Since the holiday weekend it has rained and the wind has kept the temperatures down to the level of being nippy. 

I finally decided on garden furniture just before Easter and then spent many "happy" hours screwing and bolting it together. Any visitors should be warned that I did it by myself and maybe some of the bolts could have been pulled a bit tighter. I am actually sitting on it as I write - brave soul that I am!

I envisaged having my first cup of coffee in the garden each morning - so far the weather has stopped that idea dead. the parasol has even blown over once so far (Storm Kathleen to be blamed for that). - errrr. The umbrella currently languishes on my bedroom floor. I have managed to cycle to swimming and back but again the puddles along the tow path have made this awkward. I returned home on one ocassion with a nasty brown patch on my light grey leggings in a very embarrassing place!

All this bad weather surrounding a very sunny Easter Monday has made that day even more memorable. Nicholas and Nataliia brought baby Philip over for the day to show him Cosgrove. To be honest he didn't see much as he peacefully slept on our walk around the village and the flood plain. He is gorgeous and like most people, I go gooey over babies. I secretly hope I can be a substitute grandma as both the real ones cannot visit. If I were to apply for the job of Granny, I could cite previous experience!

I have planted seeds in my garden and hope that come the summer, I'll have a lovely display. Ezra-Mae grabbed a handful of soil when she visited and threw it in some water... That was some potential rainbow chard gone - oh dear. Then a rather large duck decided to dig away in the soil on top of my rubbish bins. That probably means a fair few seeds have gone from there as well. I stood right next to the duck and tried to shoo him away. He was far too happy to move and not the least bit scared...so much for my attempts to beautify my little courtyard.

I really do need an air rifle! I know it wouldn't have a big impact on the local wildlife. I did paintball some years ago now. My accuracy leaves a lot to be desired so I know that me with a gun would not be a threat to anything I pointed it at! Hopefully I'd just scare the ducks and geese so they would keep their distance - win, win.

And so to London, I popped up to town to visit Peter in hospital. He has had a pretty big operation and has come through it really well. He is wirelessly wired up to all sorts of monitors - technology really has moved a pace. The hospital bears no comparison to MK. It really is closer to the ones I got used to in Singapore. I took the opportuntity to walk the streets and London was mostly empty. The only voices I heard were foreign ones. I could have been anywhere in the world. The roof tops, the statues and embellishments fascinate me - hence the pictures. 

I like to go to the station on my bike and now the days are getting longer I can return home before it is pitch black. Darkness always makes trips along the canal just a bit more precarious.