Family and friends

 

Charlton Hawthorne

19 June

The last few days have been spent with the family, who have now departed.

Apart from visiting Dad in the nursing home this afternoon (who greeted me with “I am glad you are here. Can you put my motor bike in the back of your car?”!), I had a blissful day on my own, sorting through my possessions, which now require at least 3 back packs, and watching the tennis. It was a beautiful day and the house was calm and peaceful.

Sherborne

20 June

I packed up the house as, unfortunately, I had to leave it today, did one or two errands in Sherborne and picked Mum up for an appointment at the bank. After lunch, we went into Yeovil to visit Dad, who was mostly coherent, but had the odd wander on one or two occasions!

I was staying at a hotel in Sherborne for a couple of nights so, after checking in, I went for a lovely long walk around the old haunts on a beautiful June evening.

Sherborne

22 June

After breakfast, I walked around the very attractive gardens at the Eastbury and then checked out. Before going to Mum’s, I had a walk around the town again, which was very quiet as it was a Sunday morning.

After stopping to listen to the end of the service in the Abbey, I then wandered through the Boys’ School and up to the gardens that had been made from my old school tennis courts and which were in much better condition than the poor building itself.

Then it was off to Milborne Port for lunch, after which we drove into Yeovil to see Dad, who talked total nonsense for the first 20 minutes but then rejoined us in the real world. A quiet evening was spent at Milborne Port.

Weymouth

23 June

Some gardening and a little light housework for Mum took up the morning. The afternoon was passed with a visit to a solicitor and a drive through the Dorset countryside to Weymouth to stay with very good friends, who wish to remain anonymous (henceforth referred to as ‘The Anons’).

Female Anon and I sat in the garden drinking wine, whilst Male Anon finished teaching guitar lessons, and then we all had an enjoyable dinner, unwinding from our various tensions and stresses.

Weymouth

24 June

I was woken at 4.40am by Mia, The Cat, hurling herself at the door handle attempting to open it. Luckily, I had experienced this phenomena before and had taken the precaution of wedging a door stop underneath the door so she was thwarted in her attempts. However, it didn’t prevent her from trying for quite some while. Also, luckily, I managed to doze off again so that it wasn’t until much later that I got up and joined the Anons for a leisurely breakfast.

We then decided to go for a walk along the Promenade and into town. Having parked the car part way, we wandered slowly (Male Anon’s pace) through the gardens and down to the beach playing the ‘Who can spot the most mobility scooters’ game along the way.

As it was such a beautiful day, the beach was full of white and red ‘grockels’ (seaside visitors). There were various typical beach activities, such as donkey rides, Punch and Judy Show and mini putt, strategically placed along the beach, to encourage parents to part with their money.  Many people were parked in the deck chairs that were lined up along the Promenade and which could be hired for use on the sand.

We walked around to the port and then back through the town, stopping at one or two shops, where I made a couple of purchases with the aid of my personal shopper, the Female Anon.

Afterwards, we stopped at the upturned boat cafe on the beach for a bacon sandwich, (one each) and this was followed by a large ice cream from Rossi’s, as no visit to the beach is complete without one. The sun was so hot that it was a struggle to eat them before they melted and dripped onto the pavement, but we managed. (Female Anon had hers in a tub, so cheated at this game!)

On our return to the house, a cup of tea was followed by an hour or so sorting my exponentially growing possessions, with the result that a rubbish sack sized bag is being left in Weymouth, to be sorted on my return in August.

The Anons’ teenage son arrived back and we all had dinner (and more wine of course) with a lot of chat and laughter, which is what happens when you are with good friends you have known for ever. A lovely day!