And… September, October,
November, December… where did the time go?
Looking back over the
years, I realise how much I am missing by not blogging regularly. At one point
it was frequent, then once a month, then every quarter… and now, not even that.
Still, not too late for a catch up….?
So, September saw us
arrive back in Guernsey, home for a week and then back at Beaucette Marina in
the van while a late booking stayed in the house. It was a little strange not
to be at home, but fun to meet other Guernsey folk staying there, and reconnect
with friends Brian and Ruth over for a visit from the UK in their van. Nice to
explore that part of the island, going on lots of walks.
The guests were a little
problematic… couldn’t find our extensive cutlery drawer, insisting – even after
I told them where it was – that there weren’t any spoons or knives in the
house! I ended up driving home to open the drawer for them….Very funny, but it
wasn’t great having difficult guests and we were pleased to get home.
After that, the rest of
the month passed in a whirlwind. We had celebrated our 40th wedding
anniversary and my 70th birthday briefly before we went away, with a
meal out at a favourite restaurant (the Rockmount at Cobo) and then a surprise
birthday party organised by dear Wendy and Nicholas, complete with trick
candles on a musical box, which carried on playing for hours – all the way
home, enough time to annoy Pickle and then continuing for another fewer hours
in the recycling bin…
We hosted a meal for a
few good friends, before organizing drinks, nibbles and cake for another twenty
or so a couple of weeks later. So spoilt with cards and thoughtful gifts.
October, too, whizzed by,
with socials, another of my monthly ladies’ breakfasts and supply teaching in
various schools. I had joined a WhatsApp group of supply teachers, picking up
quite a few jobs and getting to know different schools in the process – mostly
a great deal of fun, especially with the younger children. Now that the granddaughters
are similar ages, I feel somewhat more experienced in the amazing world of
pre-school and early years….
I like to be busy. I’d
also started volunteering with PACE – a Christian charity going into schools,
doing assemblies, lessons and so on. Rather a change from teaching, to be
almost on the receiving end…Then, too, I volunteered in the church café every
fortnight or so, operating the dishwasher and occasionally helping with the
paninis or soup serving. Great fun.
We spent one Sunday
afternoon helping to gather and pick apples at the orchard of friends of Nicky
and Richard’s, who had kindly decided to donate the proceeds from selling the apples
to the local cider company to the church. There was a breakfast for a group of friends,
and then another in November – the last of the year.
November saw me very busy
with supply teaching, in several schools each week. A lunch with old friends,
on holiday in Guernsey during one of the stormiest weeks of the autumn –
ferries cancelled for days, with high winds and torrential rain….A quiz at
church, in support of Open Doors, supporting persecuted Christians…
I also began to be more
involved with Olio, a national charity dedicated to trying to minimise food
waste. December saw far too much produce ‘thrown out’ by the supermarkets, but I
was delighted to see that the Olio volunteers who collected it often advertised
on facebook for people to help themselves, and so little was, in the end thrown
out. Not the same story, though, for the 68 Co-op raspberry trifles which Rosy
round the corner was trying to valiantly redistribute…This corner of the island
is relatively unpopulated, so it is harder to get people to collect food. It is
amazing how hard the volunteers work – going to the supermarket in the evening
to collect food, photographing it and posting it on the app, then bagging it up
for those who request it. A lot of work.
Christmas came…always a
joy to reconnect with friends over cards and letters. Still catching up on
replying to them all, as, a week or so before Christmas itself, both Richard
and I came down with severe colds and coughs. So much so, that we felt we
couldn’t go to Nicky and Richard’s where we had been invited for Christmas lunch,
since two elderly ladies were also going to be present and our coughs were
still unpleasantly uncontrollable, so didn’t want to pass on any infection. One
of the guests was 101 years old! And still as sharp as a tack! So we spent much
of the week around Christmas resting in bed, barely able to drag ourselves
around the house. However, we managed to get to church on Christmas morning,
ready to leave as soon as we started to cough but, marvellously, made it all
the way through the service. I spent a lot of time watching Christmas movies…
But dear Nicky insisted on dropping a wonderful Christmas feast round for us in
the evening – smoked salmon, a delicious lemon posset, cheese, as well as the
traditional Christmas turkey with all the trimmings, Christmas pudding, mince
pies… we ate leftovers for SEVERAL days.
It was particularly sweet
of her as she had lost her beloved cocker spaniel, Maddie, on Christmas Eve,
after much ill-health. Maddie and Pickle had enjoyed many vociferous barkings
through the fence when Maddie used to live next door – Pickle missed her when
she moved, with Nicky and Richard, into town. Fortunately, just a week later,
Nicky noticed a sweet cocker spaniel on a dog rescue site: rang up to enquire,
and within an hour and a half was on the ferry over to England to collect her!
A whirlwind of serendipitous chance and happy activity.
We finished the year with
lots of lovely social events, including coffee with Anne-Marie and Doug (Pickle’s
lovely dogsitters) and dear Wendy and Nicholas, all down from Scotland. Then
New Year’s Eve at Bel and Richard’s…and we also, very proudly, managed to lay a
new piece of vinyl flooring in the utility, with the help of Youtube. The room
looks much better without the old tatty lino, which must have been at least twenty
years old.
So there we are. 2024
wrapped up and finished. Not always sure what I have spent my time doing… Wonder
what 2025 will bring?
