Life opens up

Sometimes having a campervan is a wonderful thing.  So here is why: we are allowed over the border into England now, we are allowed to travel within England and to spend time in gardens with another household.  We are not yet allowed to stay overnight in other people's houses but the great thing about a campervan is that you bring your own bedroom with you.  So a week last Friday we set off for Devon to spend time with younger son and his family and then with my sister and her husband.  Devon!  That is the furthest we have been in months!  It is a familiar drive down the M6 and M5, round about a six hour journey including a stop.  A few years ago when my father was alive we did this journey every week.  Doing it again now, especially after a long period of staying home, it seems astonishing that we managed it.  It felt like a long way.  But it also felt like a glorious way.  The sky was a brilliant blue as we drove and the trees and fields were the brilliant, vivid green of early May.  And we were off, on the move, out in the world!

And oh it was good to see more of our people again.  The grandchildren seemed entirely unaffected by the time that had passed since we last saw them, clamouring for stories and games and delighted to be with us again.  We went to the beach.  We walked beside the river.  We ate delicious food and talked and talked.





Devon was doing its glorious spring thing with primroses and bluebells.


And then on to my sister's where she and her husband are building their own house, literally themselves.  It is a marvellous endeavour and we are deeply admiring.


Here is my brother in law helping the digger driver to move a host of concrete panels.  Every where it was so lovely to see people.  I kept finding myself bursting out yet again with "It's so good to see you!"  Did I know how much I have missed seeing my special people, all of our children and grandchildren and wider family?  No, oddly I don't think I did.  I have been sitting on it, keeping the yearning tamped down tight so it would not overwhelm me.  Now it has been released like a jack in a box, bursting out all noise, colour and gaiety.



And since we came home, look, we have walls starting to go up on our building plot!  

Spring is well and truly sprung!

Comments

  1. Pleased to hear you could get away to see your family again. Devon's a long old drive from the top of Wales. We did view two properties near Barnstaple (neither suited) but as my husband can't drive at the moment, it was a very tiring there-and-back again in a day drive, and I realized Devon wasn't going to be a possible any more, because of the Pandemic and no stop-overs.

    We have seen our two "remote" offspring when they came here on day visits, but now we've both had our 2 jabs, and our 3 offspring slowly being sorted with there jabs, hope it's not too long before a proper get-together.

    Grand to see your house starting to grow - you must be so excited.

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    1. Devon really is a long old way! I love it dearly and have a lot of family there even now my parents are no longer with us. I'm very lucky that my husband likes driving and is generally happy to do the drive. When I have done it myself I usually stop twice and that makes it a whole day's worth of driving! Glad you have had your second jab. Mine is on Thursday and even our children are starting to get vaccinated themselves so that is making me feel that there is a real sea change!

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  2. Oh how good is it that we are opening up again. Devon is lovely place - not as wild as wales but always such excellent wildlife; the butterflies there are perhaps the best and most abundant in the UK

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    1. I always feel Devon is my second home. My parents lived there. My sister and her family still do. Our younger son and his family are there. So many ties. And yes, love Wales for its wildness but if you know where to look Devon delivers too b

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  3. So pleased to hear that you can now venture further afield to visit family. Sounds a wonderful trip.

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    1. It really made me realise, as did our trip to South Wales, how good it was to lift your head from home! And I love home!

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    1. It really was Michelle! A narrower life has many delights but being wider afield is pretty wonderful.

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  5. Isn't it a marvelous thing to do what we used to and appreciate more all that seemed so normal before. Using the camper was a great way to visit people, especially your grandchildren. I hope you have many more trips planned.

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    1. We do have more trips planned! We are going to Scotland next week and still hoping to get to France later in the summer. We might not get to Spain this year, and didn't last year, but that is on our agenda too!

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  6. Must have been brilliant to meet up with your family again Elizabeth 😄 Our camper van has only been on local journeys so far this year. Had a nice stroll around Arley Hall a couple of weeks ago and it's most reassuring to have your own personal toilet on board on such occasions 😂 Will be traveling down to Malvern next month for our first overnight trip since 2019 and then hopefully further afield. Enjoy your van, watching your house come together and of course more meet ups with family.

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    1. Thank you Anna. It's an amazing thing to see the world open up. I feel that the lockdown period has oddly not been too strange. Our daily life has adapted. And yet life has been very constrained. Let's hope we can live more freely in the coming months

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  7. Oh, this is such good news! The camper van must be such a boon now, perfect for these strange times. We 're not allowed to do any non-essential travel right now, nor to leave our Public Health region, and it's lovely to get a peek at what might be ahead. And reassuring to know that your little ones didn't seem to be affected by the long time since you'd last met in person. I'm wondering what it will be like with the Three we haven't seen since he wasn't quite Two. . . .

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    1. I think the technology has been a big help in that we have seen the children on facetime and our children have been very good at talking about us and the rest of the family and keeping everyone at the forefront of the grandchildren's minds. I do hope you get to see yours soon. I've been very admiring of the knitted bears you have been making. All these links really matter!

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