welsh hills again

Time to generate a bit more energy.  While things have opened up a lot in England, life here stays pretty much the same.  One change still to come in Wales is the reopening of the housing market which should happen tomorrow, 27th July.  Will that mean that we get viewings after such a long fallow period when Ian and I are the only people who  have been coming in through the door?  Part of me is excited about that because selling the house is a necessary step on the big adventure of building our new house.  Part of me doesn't want it to happen.  We have always loved this house and it has sheltered us and given us a beautiful refuge during these last months.  Incompatible priorities.  I want to stay and I want to move on.  I can't have it both ways! So I am shaking myself up a bit as I often do when I feel stuck.  Since much of day to day living is necessarily the same here I have to look around for ways of doing that which are compat...

Well now we have achieved it: all our children and grandchildren have been seen again and I am once more comfortable in my own skin.  This last week we made our longest journey since February and drove down to Devon where we had a meal with my sister and her family and inspected the amazing progress on the new house they are building and then carried on and spent two nights with younger son and his family.  We took the campervan so we could sleep outside and most of the time was spent outside in the garden because the sun shone and Ian was installing two new gates he had made for them.  It was simply lovely to see everyone again and to find that the children, aged six, four and two, were excited and delighted to see us and did not seem to have forgotten their connection with us over the four months since we had seen them.  It was strange to be out on the motorway again, to be stuck in slow moving traffic in Birmingham, to feel as though life had gone back to normal a...

On Monday 6th July the rules in Wales restricting travel to the local area were lifted and we set off down to South Wales to visit our elder daughter and her family.  It was February since we had seen them although very frequent facetime or other calls had made me feel very much in touch.  The thing is that virtual contact is fine for adults but works much less well for children.  And the younger the child the more you need the real in-the-flesh communication.  I was longing to see them.   Of course it has not really gone back to normal.  We spent the day at Emma's outside, only going in to use the bathroom.  This was helped by the fact that they have just had a stone terrace built outside the sitting room with loads of room to play, sit, eat and chat.  It was just so lovely to see them, to catch up and walk round admiring their lockdown achievements, with the construction of a shelter to sit in or sleep in and a fire pit in the field.  ...

Well tomorrow is the day that we in Wales are released from the "stay local" restriction which has generally been taken to be five miles with a little leeway for those people living in rural locations.  We already have trips planned to the three of our four children who do not live locally.  We haven't seen them and their families since February which feels like a very long time.  In Wales other restrictions remain in place with hospitality businesses, hairdressers and many non essential retailers still closed although schools reopened on a part time basis here at the beginning of this week.  In practical terms this means that ten year old grandson had one day in school this week and another one planned the week after next before school breaks up for the summer.  Nearly five year old granddaughter will have two days in school this week.  While it is nothing like full time education it is a start and a way of being back in touch with friends and teachers bef...