Sorry for the lack of blogging, we have been away. We stayed in a sleepy village called Wootton Fitzpaine in Dorset; a lovely spacious bungalow with a smallish back garden that backed onto fields. We sometimes had cows for neighbours. My only complaint was that the master bed was too hard, so after a few nights of not sleeping, I decamped to the other bedroom, and managed to sleep a bit better.
The weather, of course, was hot, very hot, so much so that husband decided it was too hot for going out walking, so instead most of the time we visited various places, Bridport, where we also went to church, Lyme Regis , Charmouth, West Bay, Seatown, Sidmouth, Seaton where we rode the small tram, Axminster, Beer, and Budleigh Salterton.
I went to Axminster Library on the middle Saturday to update my blog, and found that the local department store had an air conditioned restaurant-bliss. I have eaten so many crab sandwiches that it is a wonder I am not walking sideways. We ate out 3 times, on two of those occasions I ate locally caught fish, and on the third had crabcakes for a starter. On the middle Sunday we went for an evening walk down the road to Catherston Leweston, and last Wednesday it was a mite cooler, so we walked across the fields to Charmouth.
As usual we were disappointed with the quality of television, avoiding the football (as I predicted England did not even make the quarter final). Most of our viewing was old detective stories, Poirot, Wycliffe and the CSI American series. There was one very interesting programme about food production, where a chap rented an old barn and attempted to reproduce various foodstuffs. It has made me glad that we don't waste money on a tv license
I had a bad moment when I realised I had packed an almost empty inhaler, and the other which I was using suddenly had a red line appear in it. That means that it will soon be empty. The heat and country dwelling meant that I was using it more than usual. It was an overcast muggy day and we went into Lyme, where the pharmacist at Boots directed me to the local health centres, both about half a mile away-uphill! ( almost in Uplyme) Anyone who knows Lyme Regis will know that the hills are as bad as those in St Ives. I eventually reached the second health centre, the one that dealt with emergencies, and was given a form to fill in, and promised that an inhaler prescription would be waiting for me in the adjacent pharmacy at 5pm. Needless to say we drove there.
There were trees at the bungalow and holders for seed and peanuts, so we bought some and were rewarded with visits from many sparrows, tits, goldfinches, and best of all a woodpecker that came every day to peck at the nuts. It was a bit shy though, and not keen on being photographed.
As you may recall, we had a death in the family before we went away. We were quite keen to go to the funeral, so was Mum-in- Law, and in God's providence it was to be held on the second Friday of our holiday. Son and Daughter had offered to help Grandma get there, but we decided to leave the bungalow on Thursday, drive across the South to Bexhill, stay overnight, then drive to Croydon and back on the Friday, then come home on Saturday. This worked out quite well, and meant that we were with Mum-in-Law for part of Saturday, which was the first anniversary of Father-in-law's sudden death. She did say however that she missed him every day, so that day wasn't particularly significant.
On the way over on the Thursday we stopped for a while for lunch at a place called Abbotsbury, a pretty village where there is a swannery, and access to Chesil Beach; certainly worth a longer visit if we go to Dorset again.
The funeral went well. as funerals go, Aunty J had requested that we all wore bright colours, and had planned the service herself. We had some good hymns too. Her Granddaughter bravely and sweetly sang a solo. Our Son came, but our Daughter had spent 2 days moving into their first house that isn't rented, and was exhausted. Being heavily pregnant she is also feeling the heat. The good news is that her husband passed his test on Friday morning, so I am now less likely to get a call in the middle of the night to drive her to Watford. I was good to see all the cousins again, and some of their families. We all used to meet up on occasions, but these days it seems to be only for funerals.
The main 'downside' to the holiday was the lack of T mobile signal in the village, so husband could not use his stick to access the internet. One evening we drove up to Coney's Castle car park to try and get a signal. he did manage to get on-line when we went to places where there was a signal, to download e-mails. I had packed my spare Vodaphone, so that was ok if anyone needed to reach me. Oh the joys of modern technology! However did we survive before the days of laptops, mobiles and netbooks? I hope to post some photos later. Must go the garden needs attention after 2 weeks of only being watered 3 times. Thank you I and L, you did your best. One casualty has been my beautiful Winston Churchill fuchsia. There are raspberries, tayberries loganberries and balckberries to harvest too, and the honeysuckle to cut back. I am going to be busy.
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