Thursday 26 May 2016

getting better..

I am trying to concentrate on activities that I couldn`t take part in when I had dear B.Wiggins.  I always hated leaving him at home on his own as he was such a sociable creature.   
So I have joined a choir in Lewes:  a small unaccompanied group with a brilliant leader.    We sing without words or music written down, she just teaches us as we go along.   There is going to be a whole day at the beginning of July, otherwise we meet every Tuesday morning at 9.30 am which is an unusual time for a choir.    Also with my Nibblers and Scribblers writing group we are now able to meet in dog free zones, like Art Galleries. There are lots of exhibitions on as part of the Brighton Festival and we went to a sort of installation which showed the view from windows all over the world as the occupants woke up in the morning and opened their shutters or curtains.   It was fascinating.   
I went to a Musical called Soul Circus, written, danced and sung by women who were not in the first flush of youth and it was brilliant. It was performed to a packed audience in Hove on a Sunday afternoon, and it made me want to get up and dance with them.
I now go swimming in the mornings which I haven`t done for years, not since I left Winchester really. To my surprise I really enjoy it and I get a bit of exercise which I was sorely missing now that I don`t go for walks twice a day. Ditchling is full of no- go areas because of memories of B.Wiggins, but I am sure I will soon improve.
I am thinking of getting a cat and I am just waiting for one to drop into my lap. I am sure that the right one will arrive soon, but I must get a cat flap fitted first. No walkies of course but at least I will have a furry presence to greet me when I come home.

Tuesday 17 May 2016

sad news

I can hardly bear to write this as I feel so sad and bereft. My beloved Bradley Wiggins is no more. He was out with daughter J in Brighton while I was at a concert on Sunday afternoon,and he ran off,  got disorientated, and was run over.    He was killed instantly so did not suffer, which was a mercy.   . The previous weekend, when I was away up in Cumbria, daughter J walked with B.W. for miles and miles along Hadrian`s Wall and he never left her side, so it was completely out of character for him to dash off. She is terribly upset as you can imagine.  We all loved him, and my home seems so empty without him. 

J. and I don`t know how to get through the days.   Yesterday I went to the pool in Burgess Hill and swam up and down for half an hour. I have hardly swum at all since I got the dog and I wondered if I could still keep afloat but it was a very calming experience and I will go regularly as I used to do in Winchester, in place of the early morning dog walks which B.W. and I enjoyed so much.
In the afternoon, J and I did a huge house clean, hoovering and polishing and mopping which was also very therapeutic. I will have to think of other ways to keep busy and not sit about moping.

Today I am going to plant out the tubs,, and as it is going to pour with rain all day tomorrow (according to the infuriatingly cheerful weather forecaster Carol, on the telly) so this is a good time to do it.   Grand daughter M, safely back from Ghana, thank goodness, is coming to stay with me for a week.   So I am gradually doing what they always say `coming to terms with it`, whatever that may mean.

Someone told me I wrote Crump instead of Trump in my last blog. Thought I should apologise in case anyone else noticed.  

Wednesday 4 May 2016

Sunny Days Are Here Again....

I am about to leave for Cumbria to stay with dear friends M and D, and I am going as before via Winchester so that I can travel  with C and we can face the vagaries of the railway system together, Hopefully,we will have our usual  hot cross- buns- with- cheese and marmalade for out packed lunch, which is another tradition of this annual journey.  It is difficult to work out what to wear and pack as it is positively tropical here today in Ditchling, but it may snow in Kendal.

B.Wiggins is going to stay in Brighton, where he is desperately trying to make friends with the cat who glares at him and occasionally tries to bite him. BW is enjoying the Tour de Yorkshire as he often hears his name mentioned on the radio and cocks up his ears delightedly.

I have just heard on the news that Donald Crump will almost certainly be the Republican candidate. What a ghastly prospect. Suppose he actually becomes the next President. I heard someone say, he is not just comical, he is poisonous. Just think of the `special relationship`  The poor old queen would have to have him to stay.    It doesn`t bear thinking about.   I am just pinning my hope on Hilary.

On my walk this morning,I almost bumped in to a fox who was sauntering along, Then BW had a stare out with a hare who lolloped off, unpursued.   I also saw: horses, rabbits, sheep and lambs, geese, ducks and ducklings, hundreds of free range hens and countless squirrels.   What a brilliant walk and in beautiful spring sunshine too.