The Lull Before The Storm

I was going to title today's blog "Headless Soldier Found In St Andrews" but thought better of it as I don't want to cynically manipulate my visitor stats by luring readers here under false pretences. It may have been a cynical heading but it was at least true as the remains of this vintage lead guardsman was amongst the pocketful of junk that I unearthed while out with my metal detector this morning. I've not had a great deal of luck with the detector so far this year. Three trips have yielded very little and all I have to show for six or seven hours plodding up and down a ploughed field this week is this.

Plus a headless soldier of course.


So, instead, I titled today's ramblings "The Lull Before The Storm" as that's very much how life feels at the moment. Here in the caravan in Fife, it's peaceful with a capital P. The owners of the nearby mobile homes only seem to turn up at weekends so we are extremely chilled and relaxed watching the hordes of rabbits and listening to the birdsong. But unfortunately, however chilling and relaxing the break is, we can't ignore the fact that when we get back we've got a pretty nonstop schedule lined up and, with our minds working overtime thinking about that schedule, we aren't sleeping brilliantly.


After Mother's Day we've got a decorator coming to tidy up the paintwork around the house in preparation for putting it on the market; then we have to put it on the market. We've sold Marion's Mum's flat so we have to empty that out and sort out all her furniture and belongings next week. We're buying a house in Suffolk and are planning major alterations so have to travel there in ten days for a site meeting with the architect. Then we have to plan kitchen, bathrooms and everything else. Then we have to hope that our house sells as we don't really want to own two for more than six months. Hectic? I think you'll agree there's plenty to keep the cogs spinning.

At least one of the planned jobs has been completed and the caravan is now fitted with a substantial deck . I downloaded a brilliant new iPhone app called Camera  Awesome that allows you to add all sorts of clever features to the iPhone camera. I used it for this photo. Okay, so what's the point? Well there isn't one for this particular picture but there are so many great features on the app such as selective focusing and exposure and I'm sure it will greatly improve my iPhone photography. 

We saw The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel at the New Picture House here in St Andrews yesterday. It's quite a sweet film but the small screen that it was showing in was packed and I could only see three quarters of the picture due to the bloke sitting in front. He wasn't particularly tall it's just that the rows of seats are almost at the same level with very little elevation above the row in front. As a story about growing old, it attracted an old audience and we were amongst the youngest. There are some good performances from Judi Dench, Tom Wilkinson and Celia Imrie but for me Penelope Wilton stole the show with a brilliantly observed performance as a frustrated wife in a loveless marriage. Bill Nighy was, as always, Bill Nighy and Maggie Smith was Maggie Smith; Nighy with his twitches and stutters and Smith with her raised eyebrows and elastic expressions but Wilton looked a natural whilst her illustrious colleagues looked like actors. At 124 minutes the film is 24 minutes too long but, it's a gentle enough diversion and the OAP audience seemed to love it.

Getting Decked

Apologies if my headline mislead you into hoping that someone had finally given me my just deserts - it's not easy coming up with snappy blog headings day in day out. Of course it refers to the decking alongside the caravan which, after several false dawns, finally started to take shape today. The joiners have worked at a cracking pace and I anticipate it being finished by tomorrow. This area faces south and catches the sun all day so we'll have to go and invest in a table and a couple of chairs to take full advantage next time we're here.  

I said how lucky we felt yesterday to be able to enjoy our retirement and get out and about on our bikes while we are still fit enough. Lucky wasn't exactly how we felt today after we cycled to Tentsmuir nature reserve. We somehow seemed to have a wind blowing into our faces all the way there and all the way back and, although flags were only fluttering gently, the breeze was stiff enough to make the twenty five or so miles round trip seem like cruel torture. Thank goodness for the salvation that is the Harbour Cafe in Tayport. Run by local community volunteers, this friendly little place is a haven for cyclists like us and walkers on the Fife Coastal Path and we were able to recharge our batteries with tasty fresh rolls and slabs of cake - at least we could justify the cake, that cycling into the wind must have burnt plenty of calories.

I just finished reading Build A Man by Talli Roland. It's chick lit and isn't aimed at fifty eight year old blokes but some of the people I follow on Twitter were gushing about it and I decided to give it a try. I gave it a five star review on Amazon as it's very well written, funny, original and, unlike many self published books, well edited with virtually no typos. You can read my full review HERE My own novel is a very gentle love story and I'm not the only bloke who enjoys romance - Times columnist Robert Crampton devoted his column this week to his love of romcoms; like me, he enjoyed Love Actually, About The Morgans and other slushy movies and maybe a few more of us should own up to being in touch with our softer side.

No Orange Wednesdays in St Andrews so we're going to have to pay full price this week. We're going to see The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel. With a great cast of 'mature' British actors I'm expecting something light and I hope it doesn't concentrate too much on the downside of growing old.

Marion just burst into tears. No it wasn't at the prospect of proof reading this blog. It signaled her finishing reading Just in Case by Meg Rosoff. She tells me that it's a fabulous book, very original, well written and it has a beautiful ending - the best book she's read in ages. So that's my next read sorted then.