Whoops! Just noticed that this has been languishing unpublished in Drafts for a week. It's therefore out of date but you're having it anyway as I did type it!!
The sun has been
shining and what a difference it makes. My old garden is looking lovely
- mowed, trimmed and floral although there is still some cutting back to be
done. My new garden is terrible - a mass of 8 foot high weeds and barely
passable pathways. The landlord has long promised to landscape the front but
done nothing and I'm damned if I'm going to spend money on the side garden given
that he's now selling the house and chucking us back onto the streets(!).
Hopefully though, now that he is trying to sell the property, he will get his
finger out and do the landscaping works as I doubt it'll sell without them. So,
you never know, we might have a useable garden for the last couple of months of
the summer...you never know!
I am brown from all
the gardening and golfing so, despite the terrible early summer, I look as
though I've been abroad!
My golf handicap is
also changing, and for the better too! I played in a competition on Sunday and
played beautifully. It was probably the smoothest round I've ever played - only
2 poor holes and even they weren't too bad! I won it with 4 under par
although there was only a small field, it being a Sunday competition. My
handicap came down by 1.5 points which will be a bit of a shock to the
system! Most satisfactory though.
In another change,
for the worse this time, Richard's grandmother died last week so it was her
funeral on Tuesday. She was very elderly (well into her 90's), lived in a home
and was totally blind and increasingly incapable so her passing was not a tragic
surprise but still sad. The funeral was, as far as they can be, lovely. As I
only knew her briefly as a very frail and incapacitated woman in a nursing home,
it was good to get a glimpse of what she was like in her prime. The family
memories and obvious love everyone had for her shone through and competed with
the bright, hot sunshine. Rich's brother gave a moving tribute in the church on
behalf of the 4 grandchildren which got most people going and had
Richard sobbing away next to me, the big softie.
Rich's grandfather
died back in the 70's and she later married a Polish chap from the village we
live in. Frank has been such an inspiration in terms of loving dedication.
When she was, overnight, struck blind and it became apparent that he could not
cope with looking after her in their home, he visited her almost every day,
taking 2 or 3 buses and trains each way to do so. Only heavy snow or illness
would stop him and even then, we have seen him trying to get there in
ludicrously inclement conditions! He has been a common sight on the side of the
Valley's roads either walking from the bus stop or waiting - so much so that
half the Valley must have given him lifts on a regular basis. I certainly
have. I'm sure he will be lost without her but hopefully his family, allotment
friends and dominoes pals will rally round.
In other news, work
has changed too - it has been very hectic recently with trying to sort out
various issues to do with Rotherham United's new football stadium - The New York
Stadium but that is coming to an end and work is settling back down again.
Thankfully. Our new working patterns of working from home have well and truly
bedded in now and I'm enjoying this more relaxed and accommodating way of
working in the main. There are some downsides (our team is less cohesive as we
see less of each other for example) but overall, the benefits outweigh the
downsides.
So, what hasn't
changed? In a word - my weight! Since I consciously stopped going to SW a few
weeks ago, it has stayed exactly the same. With no effort. While I would
prefer that I was losing weight, staying the same while so much is going on in
my life is the next best thing.
This week, I'm going
to have a go at cutting out some of the bread-based meals which have crept back
into my repertoire and also to doing some more aeroblic exercise. I'm not sure
if I'll be able to make it to Zumba tomorrow but, if I can, I will. I have a lot less golf on the agenda too
so might be able to make it out for a run on Thursday, or, at the least, a
hilly dog walk. So, maybe next week I will be able to report on an actual
loss?! I wouldn't hold your breath but you never know.
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