Even if rather silently so…
Well, I really am still here, and sorry I haven’t been very obviously alive. When I think about doing a blog post, there are so many things to say it is difficult to know where to start. So it’s only too easy to tackle something else that needs doing (in my defence, there is still a lot!).
But at last, here I am. In the nearly 18 months since John died (a close friend warns me it will be at least three years before one feels ‘normal’ again!) I have come to appreciate many things that I previously took for granted. One big thing is that as a couple, one is more than simply two people coexisting.
John was always very supportive and encouraging, and ages ago he would have been reminding me about writing another blog post, and probably offering up some photos if that would help…
So with only me to remind myself, anyway, here goes and it’s not instantly cheerful! We’re all just emerging from Storm Eunice, with more bad weather to come apparently. We are also tentatively emerging from nearly two years of Covid-19 restrictions, sadness and gloom. Newspapers are hardly cheery, with depressing headlines about global warming, Russia’s threats to Ukraine, enormous hikes to the cost of living.
However, closer to home, there is much to enjoy and be thankful for. And the big family news is the safe arrival on January 23rd – after a difficult birth – of Frank Johnny Jack, a son to Sam and Nick! Sam and Frank had to stay in hospital for a week, so poor Nick was shuttling between hospital and home, where big sister, Nell, aged 4 ½, was. Her aunt Ruthie fortunately had been able to ‘babysit’ Nell for the week – but neither was able to visit Sam and Frank in hospital and nor was I or his other granny.
I have since seen him twice. What a real, deep joy!
Meanwhile, since John’s death the support of family and some very very good friends – and neighbours – has been a real life-saver, as has WhatsUp, Zoom and online bridge (I seem to get steadily worse but we’ll gloss over that and my friends don’t see to mind too much…).
As I end, great fat fluffy snowflakes are fluttering steadily down. Eunice hasn’t finished yet!
And I’ll be back soon.
Thank you Marion. Great to have you back and to hear your news and views. Look forward to more. P and D xx
Thank you Prue. How lovely to hear from you. I’m going to be in London, all being well, the (long) weekend of March 10-15. Any chance of enticing you and Diarmid up to meet for lunch one day?
Thanks for your latest post Marion. We’ve been thinking of you during this storm and wondering how you are coping, so it is good news to hear from you. Gill and I occasionally take rides in the car via Elton to Alport, a delightful run and we think of you as we pass close to Winster. We are both well and coping. I bottled 30lbs of stewed apple yesterday. A 1kg jar awaits you next time you pass through Parwich, just let us know when. All power to you Marion with our love, Mike & Gill
Oh that’s very nice of you to write, Mike.I occasionally come to Parwich, and always wonder if you are receiving visitors yet! Maybe if I had just had a negative lateral flow test…?
And I love the sound of your apples, thank you. I do miss our Orchard Farm apple tree, which we planted all those years ago. Now I have to buy ny apples I need!
There’s always a welcome atCrown Cottage if you dare risk it!
Pop in for a coffee and a natter for a short while and we can remain at a distance like Vladimir each end of our kitchen table! We would love to see you. A visit to Crown Cottage would be too much of a challenge for Gill,
Thank you. I will! I’ll give you good warning, though.
Welcome back! Lovely to read. xx
Oh, thank you so much, Debbie. I feel relieved I have broken my silence at last!
My Webster Bubble throughout the lockdown was such a constant joy, as i think you both know. Thank you and Trevor so much.
Hello Marion Good to read your blog
Snow in the Peak District brings back memories of snow drifts and snow ploughs
You sound positive , keep well and keep busy more blogs please
How very nice to hear from you, Alan! I did enjoy our Premier Cottage friendship.
Our snow is now melting; gritters have been out but not ploughs round here. However, there’s more to come, I suspect. How are things in Wales? By all accounts Wales has had a bad time of it.
My condolences Marion. It must be so hard without John. I’m trying to remember which trip to India I met you both on. You were en route to Mumbai for a reunion with old friends and colleagues. It may have been in Kerala, but I know I enjoyed your company.
Life has not been, since then, like any of us could ever have imagined – so much has changed…
I wish you strength and courage and hope there will be some happy times ahead for you in spite of your great loss.
Eileen, how very kind of you to write, and how very remiss of me not to have replied earlier. I am afraid I have been very lazy with my blog, but really do enjoy it so hope I’ll find the energy to perk up my efforts!
We met you in Kerala, stying at that lovely organic farm whose name I have forgotten. It must have been in November 2019. As you rightly remember, we were having a week in Kerala before meeting up with many of the pupils John had taught 50+ yeas previously, during his first teaching job, at the Cathedral and John Connon School in Bombay. He died less than a year later, so the whole experience was a wonderful way of setting a seal on his very rewarding teaching career.
Marion, I’m so sorry for your loss. I’m an old friend of Sara & I’m trying to get in contact with her. Can you tell her Rose is looking for her? And to check her “other” messages on Facebook.
😉