September 2023
The month began really well – still in France! Didn’t return
to Guernsey until the 3rd, to glorious hot weather. My birthday was
the hottest I can remember and, in a bonus, I was not at school!
So of course I went blackberry picking and then for a half km
swim in the sea at Rocquaine.
The blackberry picking started quite well. However, the
Pleinmont brambles are among the most unfriendly and inhospitable I have yet to
meet. They tried to hide any juicy, ripe blackberries under prickles and behind
nettles; thorns came at my fingers unseen, swiping hard and leaving thorns
buried deep under the skin; and each spray of berries only yielded one or two
ripe ones, the rest remaining stubbornly hard, red and unripe.
I persevered, but my heart wasn’t in it. I usually love the
mindfulness of blackberry-picking, along with the silence, but that day I encountered
a coachload of cruise ship passengers coming from the gun, a group of serious
elderly men, striding along with walking poles, and a couple of German tourists
I recognised from the ferry over from France. Still, it was lovely to be able
to do it and rarely go to Pleinmont headland, so nice to have a different
adventure.
On the way to the beach, I decided to go down a narrow
footpath to a friend’s field. When we had open air church in July, I had
noticed quite a few brambles in the hedgerows and so thought it would be a good
place to investigate. I gathered a few along the lanes as I went there and by
the time I had finished, had a 2 litre boxful – enough for a start on the Great
Jam Making of the season. So all was going, well, until I took a Wrong Turning
and ended up in a part of the woods I had never ever been before.
It was around midday when I started on My Great Birthday
Adventure. I was lucky to get out before darkness fell….
I knew the general direction to go – downhill – so off I went. The path became progressively steeper and rockier, winding around in circles until suddenly some steep steps appeared. No other way to go – except back and up. No ordinary steps either, but ones made for giants, hewn out of granite and put in at irregular angles. The rain had evidently tried to find its own way down, carving out gullies at the side, but that was of no help to me as I carefully hauled my heavy bike, hand firmly on the brake, down beside me.
It just got worse. Eventually I could see tarmac, but at
that point there was only the narrowest of footpaths – me or the bike, and of
course the bike won – and to even step down onto tarmac was pretty difficult.
Then, on the last metre, as I had managed to step down and was about to lift
the bike down after me – said bike refused. A hefty branch had come out of
nowhere and stuck its fingers between the bike’s spokes, halting it very
effectively.
That took quite a bit of time to disentangle.
Even Richard, who often walks the dog in the general area,
had no idea where I had been.
Otherwise, we spent the first week busily unpacking the
house and catching up on huge machine-loads of washing. The ironing, of course,
is another matter… I may be finished by Christmas.
Not joking. Having got back to school for a day, I found
myself taking on supply in Year 6 for a colleague away ill. Diving in at the
beginning of term wasn’t ideal for me or for the children, disappointed not to
be getting ‘their’ new teacher, but they are a lovely class and we all got on
well together. It was a bit of a juggling act with my usual day and a half, but
the weather was kind and I enjoyed being back in the classroom with agreeable
children, teaching a variety of subjects – including P.E., organised by my
lovely colleague Pete who gave me lesson plans and great ideas. I had taught
all the children before in their way up the school, so it all seemed quite
easy. What was especially lovely was that the management were very grateful to
me for stepping in, going as far as to give me a card and a huge bunch of
flowers. Quite unnecessary, but much appreciated.
All useful pocket money… so we decided to go to Tanzania in
December to see Finn and his parents. Deep breath – the flights were three
times the price we paid for them just after Covid – but it seemed a good
opportunity.
In other news: I hosted a ladies breakfast, after an
eighteen month gap. There were a dozen of us – almost too many to fit in the
dining room, but the weather was so hot that we sat outside, although we needed
to retreat into the shade as the morning progressed. It felt really good to
reconnect with friends old and new, gathering together around the table…
We had an ‘old’ friend, Peter, come to visit. His primary purpose was to experience the Guernsey Air Show, which he was able to do in stunningly clear and warm weather. He was absolutely thrilled by it all and hugely appreciative of everything he did, especially the Air Show, the German Occupation Museum and the Little Chapel. We even managed an evening beach barbeque with a marvellous sunset!
And the swimming! Still ‘warm’ – 18 degrees – and so I
managed quite a few swims down at Rocquaine, even in the evening after work
when it was beginning to get much cooler.
Such wonderful exercise.
The month passed quickly… by the end of it, had almost
straightened the house out after the summer away, although still lots of little
niggly projects to get done, and a mountain of ironing…as well as dealing with
piles of windfalls collected on hedge veg. I expanded my repertoire of apple
recipes very rapidly! The Rugby World
Cup had started, so proved to be wonderful entertainment while I got some of
these chores underway…and more to come next month.
Autumn hadn’t, yet, arrived. The weather stayed remarkably
warm, with some days so hot and sunny that we could sit outside – Wendy and Nicholas
were down in Guernsey from Glasgow and we were able to sit on the patio over an
alfresco lunch all afternoon, catching up and sharing our lives… a precious
friendship. I finished my spell of supply – it had been great fun, with a wonderful
class and the added bonus of being able to feel more part of the school and
connect with my colleagues on a more regular basis than I am able to normally,
only coming in for a day and a half each week. The gardening jobs were slowly
completed and I began to catch up with friends once more.
A very different pace from the previous two months, but hugely enjoyable. Being busy is energising. Yet we still had time to enjoy moonlit evenings and see the super-bright morningstar, our house’s namesake, shining in the eastern dawn.
