Gotta love a thoroughbred @Busy-Lizzie  ... I had some of my first riding lessons from the late Alan Oliver on my uncleâs very gentle steeplechaser ... I didnât know at the time how privileged I was .., to me he was just one of Uncle Johnâs friends who used to ride his horses.Â
Sorry, @obelixx - got busy and didn't answer your question yesterday. Yes, the "rendering men" came, and the house now looks very smart with terracotta coloured windowsills and base to the walls. Not sure they were operating to official social distancing guidelines though, since there were often several together operating on the same small area. Plenty of loud Polish music... and an interesting conversation through the window with one guy who looked like the sort you wouldn't want to meet in a dark alley (roughly triangular in shape, covered with tattoos and looking rather fierce - until he smiled!). He'd lived in Cork for 14 years and had an amazing Irish-Polish accent. They left us some matching paint so we can smarten up the front and back steps once the builders have finished.
So pleased your worries re daughters have been allayed, Obelixx and @Lizzie27. It's hard to be so far away... we just wish we could help our family in York at the end of June when their second child is due...
Only 20C here - still too hot to be out in the sun, but I shall take my book under the beech tree. Â
Since 2019 I've lived in east Clare, in the west of Ireland.
Thanks for the good wishes for my daughter - much appreciated. I slept much better last night after talking to her. Funny isn't it, I don't worry half as much about my son as I do my daughter, but then he's married with children and is far more happy go lucky like me, whilst my daughter lives alone and is a much more complex character. Â
Heaven knows when I'll see my children (4) and grandchildren (13), they all live in France. There were birthdays in April and May but French Amazon was on strike.
Love your description of your "dark alley" guy @Liriodendron.
Dordogne and Norfolk. Clay in Dordogne, sandy in Norfolk.
Canât remember when I last saw @WonkyWomble and her Lovely Hub or my son ... probably January-ish? My family history is that my parents moved away from their âfamily areaâ in the 1950s and for most of my childhood my parents only saw their parents once or twice a year ... they kept in close touch by letter and phone, and as travel became easier and
as Pa had more help on the farm, visits became a bit more frequent.Â
When I married I lived about a half hour drive from my old home and I started off visiting Ma on Saturday mornings on my way back from doing a âweekly shopâ in a little town halfway between us. I soon discovered that Ma found these frequent visits a bit of an imposition ... she wasnât really a âsit down and have a chat over coffeeâ sort of person ... if I was there perhaps I could feed the hens, weed something, dust something ... I cut down on the visits ... it worked out much better ... we went for proper Sunday visits where she could give us pork pie or ham salad and bread and butter followed by trifle and cake ... she knew how to do that, bless her.Â
So not seeing Wonky and her brother doesnât seem strange to me .... we keep in touch by phone ... weâve just been chatting and listening to the birds in each otherâs gardens ... the lockdown hasnât really changed things ... except we canât swap plants as easily đÂ
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
It's hard isn't it @Busy-Lizzie? We should have had Possum here at Easter and still don't know when the border between France and Belgium will open or what's happening about assessing her masters and then graduation so who knows when we'll see her or for how long.  However, I agree with @Lizzie27 about the being alone problem making it even worse when they don't communicate.
However, there are probably people with far more to worry about, especially if their family includes key workers or people whose illnesses and treatments have been "on hold" and getting worse thru lack of treatment.
@Liriodendron we had a mix of Poles and Ukrainian doing the solar panels here a couple of years ago - very colourful and entertaining and very appreciative of their personal pot of coffee and Borrowdale fruit cake (just like a Ukrainian mum's apparently) and biscuits. Â
Night all. As usual we are up very late listening to music etc. probably a late sleeping in the morning. one of you mentioned some pages ago that they couldnât get a song out of theyrvhead. Iâve had Kate Bush Running up that hill for a couple of days,Â
It's been tough not being able to allow our workmen inside the house, @Obelixx. They brought their own flasks and cake this time.
We'd have the same attitude as you, @Dovefromabove, about family visits. Haven't seen my sister since October, though we chat often on the phone. It's just that I had offered to look after son and DIL's two-year-old while she was in labour, and stay a while afterwards to feed the family and make sure they had plenty of time for each other. DIL's parents live quite close to them, but her dad has secondary cancer and her mum can't leave him... Â
Since 2019 I've lived in east Clare, in the west of Ireland.
If it wasn't for the virus they could leave the 2-year-old with some really good friends in the village... not sure what the UK regs will be by the end of June...
Since 2019 I've lived in east Clare, in the west of Ireland.
Posts
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
Sorry, @obelixx - got busy and didn't answer your question yesterday. Yes, the "rendering men" came, and the house now looks very smart with terracotta coloured windowsills and base to the walls. Not sure they were operating to official social distancing guidelines though, since there were often several together operating on the same small area. Plenty of loud Polish music... and an interesting conversation through the window with one guy who looked like the sort you wouldn't want to meet in a dark alley (roughly triangular in shape, covered with tattoos and looking rather fierce - until he smiled!). He'd lived in Cork for 14 years and had an amazing Irish-Polish accent. They left us some matching paint so we can smarten up the front and back steps once the builders have finished.
So pleased your worries re daughters have been allayed, Obelixx and @Lizzie27. It's hard to be so far away... we just wish we could help our family in York at the end of June when their second child is due...
Only 20C here - still too hot to be out in the sun, but I shall take my book under the beech tree. Â
Love your description of your "dark alley" guy @Liriodendron.
My family history is that my parents moved away from their âfamily areaâ in the 1950s and for most of my childhood my parents only saw their parents once or twice a year ... they kept in close touch by letter and phone, and as travel became easier and
on Saturday mornings on my way back from doing a âweekly shopâ in a little town halfway between us. I soon discovered that Ma found these frequent visits a bit of an imposition ... she wasnât really a âsit down and have a chat over coffeeâ sort of person ... if I was there perhaps I could feed the hens, weed something, dust something ... I cut down on the visits ... it worked out much better ... we went for proper Sunday visits where she could give us pork pie or ham salad and bread and butter followed by trifle and cake ... she knew how to do that, bless her.Â
and her brother doesnât seem strange to me .... we keep in touch by phone ... weâve just been chatting and listening to the birds in each otherâs gardens ... the lockdown hasnât really changed things ... except we canât swap plants as easily đÂ
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
However, there are probably people with far more to worry about, especially if their family includes key workers or people whose illnesses and treatments have been "on hold" and getting worse thru lack of treatment.
@Liriodendron we had a mix of Poles and Ukrainian doing the solar panels here a couple of years ago - very colourful and entertaining and very appreciative of their personal pot of coffee and Borrowdale fruit cake (just like a Ukrainian mum's apparently) and biscuits. Â
one of you mentioned some pages ago that they couldnât get a song out of theyrvhead. Iâve had Kate Bush Running up that hill for a couple of days,Â
We'd have the same attitude as you, @Dovefromabove, about family visits. Haven't seen my sister since October, though we chat often on the phone. It's just that I had offered to look after son and DIL's two-year-old while she was in labour, and stay a while afterwards to feed the family and make sure they had plenty of time for each other. DIL's parents live quite close to them, but her dad has secondary cancer and her mum can't leave him... Â
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.