Saturday 3rd October 2020 - Since My Last Blog

So much has happened since my last blog, it’s difficult to know where to start. The prime reason for not blogging was a trip to Bucks where I knew the days would be full, with no time for writing, and indeed they were. We set off early last Friday morning driving through the storm. The wind buffeted, the rain lashed and visibility was poor, but there was no question of delaying or postponing; we had to go. Most were driving sensibly but of course there are those who behave like imbeciles, using the open road as a race track despite the dangerous conditions. Don’t they realise that a number of drivers now have dash cams to record and then report stupidity of this kind? Reaching Brandon, we finally drove into better weather arriving at my late parent’s home later in the morning. Barney was with us, of course, and found it puzzling when he couldn’t find my Mum anywhere in the house. After lunch we started collecting together all the paperwork in the house and setting aside some items which would evoke memories of my Mum and Dad in the years to come. My parent’s house was built by my maternal grandfather and immediately occupied by Mum and Dad on their return from honeymoon seventy years ago. This gives some idea of the sheer volume of documents and possessions they had amassed over the years.

My Mum died during lockdown, resulting in an unattended cremation, denying her the ‘proper funeral’ she would have liked but on Saturday we made this up to her. We were able to have a service at the church where they were married, not a funeral service but a Celebration and Memorial of both their lives, with the theme; their love and devotion for each other. After the service their ashes were interred in my Dad’s parents grave in the churchyard, where they will be together forever. Unfortunately, due to the rule of six, we were not able to have a get together afterwards but we did manage, over two days, to see our sons and their families. They took home with them particular items that will bring back memories of times with their grandparents and great grandparents.

Then came Monday, the day when the contents of my parent’s home had to be cleared in preparation for the sale of the house. Professional house clearers arrived and gradually each room was emptied, leaving just curtains, carpets, lights and assorted shapes of dust that had accumulated under wardrobes etc. In the afternoon, three trucks and a van drove away, leaving us to vacuum before we closed the front door for the final time on the house that had been my home for the first twenty one years of my life. We headed to a nearby country house hotel to relax, eat and sleep before driving home the following morning. Barney was very impressed with the bed provided for him in our room – I think he may be asking Santa for one!

What did we find when we got home? A garden that looked like a whirlwind had been through it and windows so thickly covered in sand smuts you could hardly see out AND Sid, who apparently had been looking very sad during our absence and was delighted to see us back home again. I told him, we would try to never leave him again for so long. The storm has to be the worst since we moved here nearly twelve years ago and has done far more plant damage than the destructive Beast from the East. I am pleased we were not here to see our garden being trashed but after a morning outside clearing up, it now looks a whole lot better. Not just damage in our garden but throughout the village and further afield. Today’s photo shows one of the victims; the broken fence on the corner where the Fishermen’s Shed is located. Fisherman, Andy, told us so much of his gear (crab pots) has been damaged this will probably mark the end of the season, one which with more favourable conditions, could have carried on for another four to eight weeks.