Say Cheese For Nanny

I spent a lot of today with granddaughter Rose. I took her to her dance class in Cupar this morning and , amongst other things in the fun filled hour, enjoyed singing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star (as well as doing all the actions) and doing a toddler caterpillar conga where I, as both the only man there and the only person over thirty five, must have looked slightly incongruous. Fortunately nobody asked me if I'd missed my way to the bowling green and Rose had a lovely time.

She's grown up in the two months since we were last here in St Andrews. She's not that much taller but she's got more teeth (as demonstrated in her photo for Nanny above) and her talking has come on in leaps and bounds. I haven't experienced a child so small holding a proper conversation and speaking in sentences of half a dozen words or more before (and she's grammatically correct too). It must be in the genes. Or there again it could be because Sarah and Duncan have been such attentive parents. She's going to be a wonderful big sister when her new sibling arrives in the autumn.

After we got back from Cupar I did a further short stint of babysitting. Rose enjoys being read to whilst sitting on a huge beanbag that Sarah and Duncan have in their lounge. Sitting in the beanbag and reading the story is fine but getting out of the beanbag is another matter and, enveloped in it's folds, I felt like I was drowning in a giant blancmange and had visions of having to call for assistance to get out of the damn thing. Fortunately a puzzled Rose, who is used to her parents springing out of the bag in a trice, offered me a hand and I somehow extricated myself from its clutches. I think we'll read tomorrow's story on the sofa.

After that it was another three hour bike ride before returning to the caravan for tea. I was going to watch TV but there's nothing on that I fancy. Last night I started to watch The Fall on BBC2. I only lasted five minutes. The sadistic sexual assault and murder of a young woman and her subsequent immersion in a bath for some sort of ritual cleansing made me wonder why everyone is surprised when people like Stuart Hazell and Mark Bridger do the sort of things they do. I am certainly no prude but to go into such detail was simply uncalled for at best and voyeuristic at worst. 

Missing My Pal

For complex reasons that I won't go into here, I find myself alone in the caravan in St Andrews while Marion is five hundred miles away in the south east. I know that for some blokes  this would be their idea of heaven - an opportunity to drink beer, play golf, browse the least salubrious sites on the internet and eat fish and chips in their y fronts. Not me I'm afraid. SInce our big retirement adventure began in 2010 we've seldom been apart for more than a day and now there's the prospect of being separated until Sunday at the earliest. 

If you know me you'll know that I'm a pretty upbeat sort of person but I really find it hard to enjoy this solitary sojourn. Which may sound strange for someone with the solitary hobbies, of reading, writing, metal detecting and cycling. And yes I do enjoy all of those insular activities but it's not the same when your return to an empty home with nobody to share the joys of a muddy hammered penny or news on the state of the roadside verges in Strathkiness. 

To keep myself occupied today, I went on a very long cycle ride. I have about four routes around St Andrews each covering about an hour of riding but, with no need to return, I combined all four of them and rode for about four hours. It was a good way to relax and think and it had a beneficial effect on my blood pressure which was as low as it's been for ages when I got back. I rode along the valley of the river Eden on a route that I've not taken since last year's floods and saw for myself the damage done near Dairsie when the floodwaters took the road and half of this house away. The road is still closed to cars and, looking at the damage and the lack of remedial work going on, I imagine that it's going to be that way for a long long time to come. 

I've been looking out for the wildlife around the caravan. There are still scores of rabbits but there is no sign of the red squirrel I spotted in January and the owls have been notable by their absence but on a positive note I've seen a great spotted woodpecker two or three times now and hope he's still around when Marion gets here.

Tomorrow I've got a busy schedule taking granddaughter Rose to her dancing class in Cupar and baby sitting later in the day. There are similar plans for Wednesday and Thursday so hopefully the time will pass a little faster and I can look forward to the drive to Leuchars Station to pick Marion up from her long and no doubt exhausting train journey. I can't wait.

We Got Knocked Down - But We'll Get Up Again

It's strange how life can change and turn on its head in just seconds. That's what happened on Saturday morning. We were happily awaiting the arrival of Mark and Nita, some good friends from up north. I'd spent the previous day preparing Gordon Ramsay's Beef Wellington (the middle class equivalent of killing the fatted calf) and we popped into Framlingham briefly to stock up on some last minute goodies.

We picked up some fine cheeses from Leo's Deli, some great looking crab from Darren the market fishmonger and some flowers from Callender's Florists and were heading back home when the phone rang. It was not good news and we had to cancel all our plans. Mark and Nita arrived but didn't get time to unpack;  within half an hour they were in their car and heading back on the long journey up the A14.

I can't go into details here out of respect for the privacy of others but in months to come I hope to be able to tell you more about what happened, how it will affect us in the years ahead and how we may be able to help others faced with the same situation.

It was a rotten end to what we anticipated would be a brilliant weekend but we're a resilient couple and we will get over what happened. Life will go on and things will definitely get better.

And we did have some good news later this afternoon when Bonhams in New Bond St held their sale of fine Japanese Art. I had a lovely collection of Japanese Satsuma wares that I built up over the last ten years but it wasn't right for the new house in Framlingham. We didn't have room for it all so I consigned it to Bonhams. It was described in their catalogue as "Property Of A Gentleman" - which I am sure some people would dispute. The catalogue was a spectacular affair and my collection, which took up over ten pages, looked stunning in it . I was busy this afternoon as the sale went ahead and when I started to look through the results my heart sank. Some items which had estimates of £1,000 - £1,500 had only sold for a few hundred pounds and some had failed to reach their (very low) reserves. But all was compensated for as we reached some of the the best pieces. They sold for spectacular prices with the vase on the right in the photo above reaching a hammer price of  £15,999 against an estimate of £4,000- £5,000 and a box by the same artist producing a near identical result. Ten of the lots sold and, although five  of those sold at a small loss, the five that sold at a profit did so well that we ended up with double what we hoped to achieve from the sale and will have five or six of the items back to save for another day. 

  

It's Not All About The House

If you've dipped into this blog any time over the last six months you will probably be of the impression that our life has revolved around little more than an endless stream of home improvements and the world's longest ever landscape gardening project. And you would be forgiven if that is the impression you've gained as, in all honesty, it has been something of a preoccupation. But there has been life away from the project and we've been taking in a fair bit of what's on offer locally during the past week.

We've seen two very different films at two very different venues. It was Cineworld Ipswich first. The Place Beyond The Pines is an excellent film about family values and morality. Ryan Gosling is a bit of a drifter -a stunt motorcyle rider whose life changes when he discovers that he has a son. Bradley Cooper is a young ambitious cop whose life changes when his path crosses with Gosling's. It's finely acted by all the cast and is very much a film of two halves - half action movie and half moral drama. The two halves make a very fine whole.

Last night we went to the totally different Ipswich Film Theatre Trust - a small community based independent cinema. It's an extremely friendly place and it shows a great choice of films many of which are unlikely to ever turn up at the multiplex. We saw Love Is All You Need which stars Pierce Brosnan as a sort of Man From Del Monte who owns a lemon grove in Italy. His son is marrying Trine Dyrholm's character's daughter and the action takes place over the long weekend of the wedding celebrations. In a mix of both English and Danish, the film is subtitled in part and has a mostly Scandinavian cast. It's a very warm and gentle movie and mixes comedy, romance and a little drama together to make a thoroughly entertaining couple of hours.

We've also been to have a look at Sutton Hoo - very interesting and well worth a visit even if just to get a sense of what it was like to haul that ship all the way up from the river way down in the distance. We've been to the local book club and had an interesting discussion on Gone Girl and on Friday we had a great meal and very enjoyable time at the jazz night hosted by The Lemon Tree Bistro here in Framlingham

We've been reading plenty. Life After Life by Kate Atkinson was fascinating and I enjoyed Dave Eggers' A Hologram For The King. At the moment I'm reading Karen Campbell's This Is Where I Am the story of a Somali refugee in Glasgow who is mentored by a recently bereaved volunteer - powerful stuff.

And today we went to the Alde Valley Festival. This is a celebration of art and nature held just down the road from Framlingham at Great Glemham. It runs over a few weeks in April and May. There is an exhibition of painting, sculpture and ceramics by some outstanding artists (including Maggie Hambling) together with a varied programme of events. We took in a walk led by artist and farmer Jason Gathorne-Hardy. Jason showed us a huge variety of local trees and explained how to interpret their placing in the landscape. Some magnificent oaks were up to 800 years old. A fascinating couple of hours in a lovely setting ended with some great tea and cake in the old farmhouse. At the weekend there's a big picnic at an enormous 100 yard long picnic table. Highly recommended.

Another Step Forward

When we moved in on January 17th we had nowhere to put all these boxes as the office hadn't arrived and, as the garden was unfinished, we couldn't put any of the outdoor furniture out so the garage was unusable. However, Tony told us on Friday that the back garden is finally finished ( a point slightly undermined by the fact that, as I write, he and his son are still drilling and screwing out there) and we were able to get cracking over the Bank Holiday weekend and clear the garage out.

Here's the result of our labours. For the first time we can walk around in there without risking life and limb. We managed to find a fair bit of stuff that we had forgotten about.

The furniture looks much better outside than in the garage.

We also found time to tidy out Marion's beach hut potting shed. It was finished inside in chipboard that looked really scruffy so decorator Gerald arranged for one of his subcontractors Mark to come and panel it with grooved MDF panels and we got local shop Bill Bustrode to fit some lino so it's starting to look quite comfortable for her. All she needs now is electricity and that will hopefully be in place this week.

When we got to the bottom of everything in the garage we found the stuff in the following photos. It all came with us from Southport but we've nowhere for it now. I asked the local antique dealer if he was interested (it's all Victorian). He was, but not at my (very reasonable and a lot less than what we paid) prices. So I think I'll have to put an ad in the local Co-Op. If anyone reading this is interested do get in touch.

Small Victorian Cast Iron Fire Surround

Victorian Wire Plant Stands

Old Oil Burner Converted To Lamp

Out And About In Suffolk

Although we would like nothing better than to stay at the house and use the garden that has been in the course of development for four months, we're still overrun with workers (electrician doing the lighting now) so we've no alternative but to get out from under their feet and do something else. Fortunately the weather has been glorious for a few days so it has been perfect for walking and, while Marion was having her hair done at Carley Hill the other day, I put on my boots and explored some of the local paths and bridleways. I particularly liked this view as our house is the white one bottom right and we're sharing the skyline with the magnificent castle top left. 

Yesterday the good weather continued and we drove out to Walberswick and did a walk recommended in one of the Suffolk magazines. Walberswick is a picturesque little place full of interesting buildings like this half timbered house.

And the fascinating church which is not a partial  ruin because of some tragedy or Henry VIII's dissolution but simply because the church became too big for the parish so they knocked some of it down and used the stone and windows to build a smaller church inside.

The result is very romantic and the (now tiny) church is a real treasure. (This is not my photo by the way but came from free image website Zippix).

The walk took us out of the village and along the banks of the river Blyth. It was a peaceful and easy stroll interrupted by only the calls of birds that flocked in their hundreds in the surrounding marshland and floated in the many lagoons, creeks and inlets - a birdwatcher's paradise. 

 The walk took us past this derelict place. It reminded us the house in The Blair Witch Project so we didn't hang around. I don't think even Sarah Beeny could do anything with this one.

The walk ended at the always excellent Anchor where we kept things local and enjoyed a crab salad. A great end to a lovely walk. 

Although as I said at the start we would have preferred to be able to be at home, this was a pretty perfect alternative.

Project Update

I was going to call today's blog Almost There but decided that that would be tempting fate. It was anticipated that we'd be finished this week but gardener Tony tells me that it will be next week now. What will he tell me next week?

Our ever reliable and always excellent decorator Gerald Clements kept to his word and arrived bang on time to paint the outside of the house. Aided by fine weather, he (and his colleague James) finished in just over a week and the nasty shade of orange is now banished to our memory. The new colour Dulux Linnet White goes well with the greys of the windows and bi-folding doors and I'll post a photo when I can get round the front which is now a bomb site similar to how the back was for three months.

Speaking of the back, when we got back from a visit to Paul in Rochester last week the plants had all been unloaded and placed in position ready for planting.

And by Thursday most were planted.

By the weekend we had a finished path.

And were finally able to put our furniture out. We still don't feel able to use the garden properly with Tony in and out with his masonry cutter and cement mixer getting stuff prepared for the front but if it's sunny on Sunday we may be able to sit out here.

At least we can see an improvement on what we lived with for months.