In the film, Goodbye Mr Chips, as he lies in his bed dying, the group gathered around him tell each other how sad it was he had never had any children. Mr Chipping, as a school master for 60 years, replies: "I did, hundreds of them!" And so it is for me. I have never had children but that doesn't mean they haven't been a huge part of my life. Two beautiful nieces, nine godchildren for starters!
Now, in my rural idyll I have lots of children!! The smaller ones walk past my cottage on their way to and from the village school. Sometimes on their way home their little bladders get the best of them and there is an anxious cross-legged knock at the door asking to use my loo!! Some come in and we have creative afternoons. I have a big box of all things glittery, gluey, papers, feathers, paints, pipe cleaners, etc etc. My kitchen door is covered in their wonderful works of art.
All of them love little Crumble and if we meet them in the village they love to play and run with her. Some of them come up the track on their bikes and go blackberry picking with me. Only half the picked blackberries ever make it home as they stuff them into their little faces, returning home to their mothers with blackberry-stained faces and hands!
I have tutored several of them to pass the 11+ from their state primary schools to get into one of the many excellent private schools around here. All passed and one got a scholarship. My pride in them knew no bounds.
The littles then grow in to teenagers. Many is the front door that is slammed in the face of their mothers with the words "I'm going to see Lucy"!! I'm impartial and have no rules in this house and so they pour out their teenage angst and - hopefully - return to their homes having now seen both sides of the argument they had walked out on! I am on best friend terms with all their Mummys so if there is a big problem I always tell them - but otherwise security is assured! I become a part of their lives without the responsibility. They come and talk about their schools, friends, first loves, broken hearts (quite often this cottage is sponsored by Kleenex!) and then almost - it seems - in an instant, the teenagers leave to go to Uni or travelling the world and their dramas go with them into the grown up world out there.
And so it is that today one of "my" door-slamming teenagers departs for Kenya for 4 months as part of her *gap ya*!! I shall miss the knock on the door, her bright beautiful face full of drama waiting to tell me all her latest news. I shall miss the times we spend on the computer on You Tube checking out our favourite songs (This week, Adele). I shall miss her taking Crumble out with her dog on LONG walks (longer than I am capable of!).
I haven't given birth to any of them....but they are all my children!
Friday, 25 February 2011
Sunday, 20 February 2011
It's Illegal, It's immoral......
The twee singing group of the 40's/50's/60's etc , The Beverley Sisters, once sang a song "It's illegal, it's immoral or it makes you fat..." Pretty well sums up how I've lived my life in the fast lane!
Take tonight for example. I've had a heavenly lazy day. Walks with the dog yes, but no visitors. So in between walks I have tweeted, read, watched films (just watched on ITV4 Field of Dreams with Kevin Costner - perfect for a lazy afternoon!), slept on the sofa in front of a roaring log fire.....dreamy day! About half an hour ago I wandered through to the kitchen to contemplate what I would cook myself for supper.
There's mince in the fridge. Nah don't fancy it. There's chicken breasts....nah! There's bacon, eggs, cheese, pasta, rice, tins of stuff, nice veggies, potatoes that could be baked. Nah! Oh yessss......BINGO! there's a cake tin full of millionaires' shortbread!!! So that's my supper sorted then.
It isn't illegal but it is immoral and it does make me fat. And no way does it contribute to my 5-a-day. So to make up for that I'm having a bottle of Apple and Mango J20 which is full of fruit..........and sugar!!
Elizabeth Hurley tweeted at 8.30 this morning that she had just eaten two Cadbury's Cream Eggs.........so how the hell does SHE stay so bloody thin then?! I only have to LOOK at a Mars Bar and I put on 2lbs!
Still, I am happy in my own skin - and there is lots of it! - so I shall sit down with the tin and watch the Antiques Roadshow until the sweetness takes over and I fancy something savoury. That'll be a packet of crisps then!!
Take tonight for example. I've had a heavenly lazy day. Walks with the dog yes, but no visitors. So in between walks I have tweeted, read, watched films (just watched on ITV4 Field of Dreams with Kevin Costner - perfect for a lazy afternoon!), slept on the sofa in front of a roaring log fire.....dreamy day! About half an hour ago I wandered through to the kitchen to contemplate what I would cook myself for supper.
There's mince in the fridge. Nah don't fancy it. There's chicken breasts....nah! There's bacon, eggs, cheese, pasta, rice, tins of stuff, nice veggies, potatoes that could be baked. Nah! Oh yessss......BINGO! there's a cake tin full of millionaires' shortbread!!! So that's my supper sorted then.
It isn't illegal but it is immoral and it does make me fat. And no way does it contribute to my 5-a-day. So to make up for that I'm having a bottle of Apple and Mango J20 which is full of fruit..........and sugar!!
Elizabeth Hurley tweeted at 8.30 this morning that she had just eaten two Cadbury's Cream Eggs.........so how the hell does SHE stay so bloody thin then?! I only have to LOOK at a Mars Bar and I put on 2lbs!
Still, I am happy in my own skin - and there is lots of it! - so I shall sit down with the tin and watch the Antiques Roadshow until the sweetness takes over and I fancy something savoury. That'll be a packet of crisps then!!
Saturday, 19 February 2011
5 THINGS THAT MAKE YOU FEEL GOOD!
"I have seen lots of posts about what we struggle with, or things that we like to do, and I’d like to find out a bit more information about all of you. This is my way of doing it. I am looking forward to visiting some of you on the blog hop."What you cannot choose. The Rules are Simple
We all know that blogging/facebook/twitter is in our arena of what we like to do, so I am going to rule them out as one of the 5 that you can post about. They really are not very girly. Likewise, phones, computers, ipads are all out of the running. I am challenging myself to this, as I am really not a girly girly type of person, and I want to find that within myself. It’s not all about power suits, filofaxes, ipads and designer phones.
If you want to pass this along, pick bloggers that you want to find out more about, and challenge them to write up their 5 secret passions that make them feel good. The idea is to lift our spirits this week. The fact that there is a linky added, just makes it all the more worthwhile in doing.
If you want to pass this along, pick bloggers that you want to find out more about, and challenge them to write up their 5 secret passions that make them feel good. The idea is to lift our spirits this week. The fact that there is a linky added, just makes it all the more worthwhile in doing.
So.....here are my top 5:
- Living in an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. The countryside that surrounds me, The Cotswolds totally lives up to its tag. Every time I step in to it it lifts my soul and makes my heart soar. And every day I am amazed and grateful that I am living in the middle of it.
- My friends. Having had a terrible two years of ill health, I have learnt what having real friends mean. I would not have been able to deal with it without their love, help and support. They made ME feel good but also taught me that human kindness is still out there and irrepressible.
- Fresh Bed Linen! If I won the lottery I would have fresh bed linen every day! I love my bed but the best night's sleep is on Tuesdays. There is something so luxurious about slipping into freshly washed and ironed pillow cases and sheets.
- Jam Making. There was a joke amongst my London friends (from whence I came) that once I moved here I would join the WI and make jam! I didn't join the WI but I do make jam! The garden must have once been an orchard - full of apple, plum and damson trees. My BF has raspberries and so every summer I boil away fruits and sugar! I have store cupboards full of little jars neatly lined up, labelled and covered. I do a mean marmalade too but obviously have to buy the Seville oranges as the Ozone Layer has yet to widen big enough to cause The Cotswolds to become an "Orange County"!!
- My Dog. I know I know!! But she DOES make me feel good! I Eat, play, sleep with her. We go on wonderful walks together which is good for me - and I wouldn't bother if I didn't have to! - and share amazing adventures. I am at my happiest sitting on the sofa in front of a roaring log fire with Crumble cuddled up beside me! Ahhhhhhh!
Friday, 18 February 2011
Communicating
My father died in 1976 at the tragically young age of 45. I often wonder what he would think of the technical revolution that has occurred since then. I am a Secretary/PA of the old school. When I started it was with a manual typewriter. I remember at Secretarial College in London, learning to type to the rhythm of Cliff Richards' Walking Talking Doll!! Years later, the Tech Rev gave us the Olivetti Golf Ball typewriter. Whooo!! I remember back in the 80's being very reluctant to change my state of the art IBM typewriter to a computer!
Photocopiers didn't exist, we used Gestetner machines which were filled with purple ink - you typed the document onto 4 layers of paper, each letter puncturing the paper which then filled with the lurid ink. This was then put into the machine on a roller and - voila! The copies were manually rolled out!!
My cousins lived in California and at Christmas we had to book a call with BT (or whatever it was then) who would then make the connections for us. There weren't dialling codes 9 digits long - our phone number in London was Park 9051. (Originally 051 but the 9 was added in the 60's).
Now, I wander around fields in the middle of nowhere talking on a mobile phone to someone in Australia! I put a photograph of Crumble into a machine that is plugged into a wall in my cottage and magically it appears simultaneously on another machine plugged into a wall in South Africa. My printer photocopies.
If you needed a general knowledge question answered you rang the Daily Telegraph Library in Fleet Street and some nice woman would disappear for a moment, research your question and return with an answer - free! Now I type in a phrase and whoosh the info is in front of me.
Now I have access to everything on the computer, I Twitter, Facebook, order food, have 24 hour news and sport and can even watch television on it.
But the thing that would most surprise my Father is that I haven't communicated with my sister for 2 years.
Sad.
Photocopiers didn't exist, we used Gestetner machines which were filled with purple ink - you typed the document onto 4 layers of paper, each letter puncturing the paper which then filled with the lurid ink. This was then put into the machine on a roller and - voila! The copies were manually rolled out!!
My cousins lived in California and at Christmas we had to book a call with BT (or whatever it was then) who would then make the connections for us. There weren't dialling codes 9 digits long - our phone number in London was Park 9051. (Originally 051 but the 9 was added in the 60's).
Now, I wander around fields in the middle of nowhere talking on a mobile phone to someone in Australia! I put a photograph of Crumble into a machine that is plugged into a wall in my cottage and magically it appears simultaneously on another machine plugged into a wall in South Africa. My printer photocopies.
If you needed a general knowledge question answered you rang the Daily Telegraph Library in Fleet Street and some nice woman would disappear for a moment, research your question and return with an answer - free! Now I type in a phrase and whoosh the info is in front of me.
Now I have access to everything on the computer, I Twitter, Facebook, order food, have 24 hour news and sport and can even watch television on it.
But the thing that would most surprise my Father is that I haven't communicated with my sister for 2 years.
Sad.
Thursday, 17 February 2011
Peaceful Rural Idyll? I think NOT!
I sat staring at an empty Blog page over breakfast this morning wondering what on earth I could spellbind my dear readers with. Nothing came to mind. (Partly due to the fact that my brain had been numbed by sharing a bottle of very expensive white wine with my BF in the village last night!)
As I have previously mentioned, it is Crumble's 21st birthday today (in dog years) but looking at her curled up in her basket in front of the fire there was clearly little excitement to report on that!
We left the house at about 11.30 to walk to the village shop. This can sometimes take us a while as I stop and talk to other wandering villagers and Crumble sniffs their dogs! We can only have been gone 40 minutes and as I turned the corner into our lane there were police everywhere. MOST unusual. a) because nothing ever happens in this quiet corner of The Cotswolds and b) because, what with budget cuts etc, we don't have the services of the Police Force readily to hand.
The cottage next door to me has long been a property owned by an absent landlord who rents it out. Shortly before Christmas a couple moved in having, I learned in conversation, come from living in a caravan somewhere in the east of England. They were there to refurbish the place for the owner who in return would provide them with solid housing during the winter. Wise move considering the winter we just had.
A quiet unassuming rather - erm - simple couple. Their first no-no was to repaint the outside door frames and window frames a hideous shade of red. NOT in keeping with a Cotswold environment and leaving the poor 18th century cottage look as if it was in a back street of Liverpool. They had 2 dogs which Crumble enjoyed barking at.
Today he allegedly tried to kill her by strangling and assaulting her and has done a runner with one of the dogs, leaving one locked in the cottage and leaving her locked out. So, we are to be questioned as neighbours. I know nothing except what appalling taste in paint he had.
Poor girl. She is now being looked after by medics. The dog has been rescued from the house. And life in this peaceful idyll rolls quietly on..........
As I have previously mentioned, it is Crumble's 21st birthday today (in dog years) but looking at her curled up in her basket in front of the fire there was clearly little excitement to report on that!
We left the house at about 11.30 to walk to the village shop. This can sometimes take us a while as I stop and talk to other wandering villagers and Crumble sniffs their dogs! We can only have been gone 40 minutes and as I turned the corner into our lane there were police everywhere. MOST unusual. a) because nothing ever happens in this quiet corner of The Cotswolds and b) because, what with budget cuts etc, we don't have the services of the Police Force readily to hand.
The cottage next door to me has long been a property owned by an absent landlord who rents it out. Shortly before Christmas a couple moved in having, I learned in conversation, come from living in a caravan somewhere in the east of England. They were there to refurbish the place for the owner who in return would provide them with solid housing during the winter. Wise move considering the winter we just had.
A quiet unassuming rather - erm - simple couple. Their first no-no was to repaint the outside door frames and window frames a hideous shade of red. NOT in keeping with a Cotswold environment and leaving the poor 18th century cottage look as if it was in a back street of Liverpool. They had 2 dogs which Crumble enjoyed barking at.
Today he allegedly tried to kill her by strangling and assaulting her and has done a runner with one of the dogs, leaving one locked in the cottage and leaving her locked out. So, we are to be questioned as neighbours. I know nothing except what appalling taste in paint he had.
Poor girl. She is now being looked after by medics. The dog has been rescued from the house. And life in this peaceful idyll rolls quietly on..........
Wednesday, 16 February 2011
Visitors - AGAIN!
I HATE HOUSEWORK!! Always have. I've always had a cleaner but I was hospitalised for many months and lost my cleaner to someone else so now I have to do it myself. I'm not a slut - I am tidy but maybe I don't polish and wash floors as much as I should!! But....I AM house proud! In the last week I have had three VERY welcome from various friends who have driven many miles to see me. I have therefore had to clean this house from top to bottom 3 times!! One such visitor is due at lunch time today so yet again up and dawn doing the chores!
It amazes me that one little dog can be the cause of so much mess - hair, footprints, chews strewn all over the place. I didn't sign up to have children but she is as bad as one!!
So now the fire is lit, there are vanilla scented candles burning and Febreze sprayed to take away any whiff of dog and fags ..... yeah yeah I smoke - get over it! ....and once again it all looks pretty.
The front garden definitely needed a good weed and I did start to do it but soon tired of the task and so covered it in a fresh layer of compost and dug in some already flowering potted daffodils and some primula - whoosh instant gardening!! Oh and I bought a new doormat! So now the house has doorstep appeal.
All that effort for a 3 hour visit..... bonkers.
It amazes me that one little dog can be the cause of so much mess - hair, footprints, chews strewn all over the place. I didn't sign up to have children but she is as bad as one!!
So now the fire is lit, there are vanilla scented candles burning and Febreze sprayed to take away any whiff of dog and fags ..... yeah yeah I smoke - get over it! ....and once again it all looks pretty.
The front garden definitely needed a good weed and I did start to do it but soon tired of the task and so covered it in a fresh layer of compost and dug in some already flowering potted daffodils and some primula - whoosh instant gardening!! Oh and I bought a new doormat! So now the house has doorstep appeal.
All that effort for a 3 hour visit..... bonkers.
Tuesday, 15 February 2011
Welcome!
First blog! Welcome to my twitterings of life in the Cotswolds with my Jack Russell, Crumble. Crumble will in fact be 21 on Thursday....(3 really!) and I have dismissed any ideas of a black tie dance with a band. Nor will she be getting a diamond studded collar - she would be laughed out of the village by the other dogs. Like my birthday, which was yesterday (and how I wish I was 21!) it will be spent quietly. Probably in the pouring rain as it is now.
But that's the joy of living in this part of the world. It doesn't really matter if there is rain or snow (apart from excess amounts which causes the village to flood or receive heavy drifts and we get cut off for days), it is always beautiful.
I came here 8 years ago having lived and worked in London all my life and I don't regret a single second of that time here - I wish I had done it earlier.
So, a brief introduction but I will be back with gossip about village life and the musings of Crumble. Right now it's time to don wellies and head for the village shop which always has a slice of ham ready for her. She also has a playdate with Alfie - an 8 month old Jack Russell. GREAT way of exercising a dog - they chase each other for hours round the field and we just watch!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)