Early this morning the house was bustling with unusual activity as we made the final preparations for my sons annual pilgrimage to Avebury and its environs. Even Pa was wide awake and as the taxi arrived to ferry the traveller and his luggage to Paddington station we stood on the door step waving madly as he disappeared round the bend in the lane.
Bread making was next on the list and then a quieter than usual breakfast of pancakes for Pa and I during which we received a call to let us know that he had caught the train without incident and was on his way. I cannot tell you how much I miss his cheerful presence in the house but although I shall be glad to have him home again I would be the first to admit that he has never needed a holiday quite so much as he needs this one. I know that he is overworked, I know that he has not had a pay rise for almost three years , I know that if he leaves they will need to hire at least two people to cover the amount of work he has been doing for so long,and I also know that he could do a damn sight better somewhere else.
He arrived at Marlborough at twelve thirty and got quite a welcome from the staff , he has a special room away from the noise, it is large and comfortable and he loves it .
Today he wandered round the lovely old market town and dinned sumptuously at his favourite resterilise before retiring early. The weather forecast for the week is abysmal but he is a tough northern lad and he cares nothing for that, besides he has a lot of research to do and will use the quiet time he now has to good advantage.
During the afternoon the weather closed in here and it began to rain heavily and the rain was driven by gusty winds, Pa and I and our cat Twiggy were glad to be indoors,safe and snug.
Pa is to have all the special meals he loves this week and tonight I prepared an rich oxtail stew which I served with carrot , parsnip, swede and potato mashed together with butter, when we were first married I would often cook this dish , now we only have it when my son is away as he dislikes oxtail. The kitchen was nice and clean as I had spent some time during the afternoon scrubbing the cooker top and washing the paintwork here and there, so after dinner there were only the dishes to wash.
Tired from our early star we decided on hot baths and an early night, now that the evenings are drawing in I light candles in the bathroom when Pa takes a bath and burn a relaxing incense. Pa spends over an hour in the bath as the warm water relaxes him and soothes his arthritic pain which can be bad at times. My son and I like the candle light too, so everyone gets a treat and it helps to make the longer evenings a little more pleasant.
I hope that my son gets a good nights sleep and that the next few days will give him the rest that he so badly needs, I worry about him so much. I am firmly convinced that these days it does not pay to be honourable, diligent and hard working, all that happens is that people with less of these admirable qualities take advantage of your good nature . My son was once informed that he works far to hard to be promoted, what the devil does that mean.....I bet you can guess what I think it means!
Remember I told you that I had taken some photographs of the masses of different insects to be seen gathering pollen on the flowering ivy. I downloaded them on to my net book today and I was amazed at how beautiful they are in close up. All my life I had adored bugs, beetles bees and all types of insect, excepting only the huge black spiders which are haunting my bedroom at the moment. The photograph on today's blog is of the European Wasp, handsome devil don't you think?
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