23rd March 2013

Still so very cold and no sign of any change. Really frustrating as we cannot get anything done on the allotment until the ground temperature picks up. Over the next week it will feel like -7, many parts of the country are covered with snow so we are at least lucky to survive that.

Last weekend we went to our first function up here since moving. It was a St Patricks Day event and was with Andy and Janet Moyle. I met Andy at a school event and it turned out that Helen works with his wife Janet, at Greyfriers Primary School.

Anyway we went along, a little unsure what to expect, as it was a large gathering. At first I thought it would be difficult, Kirsty was a bit whingy and it was like a party with people standing around drinking.

However once the food was served we all went and sat down in a large room and stayed there, playing games, singing songs ( I mimed of course ), and just chatting. It was really comfortable and before we knew it 4 hours had passed.

It would be nice to think that we have now made some friends up here and in fact we have been invited back for a BBQ in May.

I was over the allotment the other day. I had divided a fuschia and was taking half of it over on my bike, when I turned up I found a massive tire mark in one of our turfs. I stood looking at it for a few minutes and must have looked suspicious as I was approached by 2 policemen who were patrolling the park. Obviously I explained who I was and we chatted for a few minutes and it was nice that they investigated.

Earlier this week I was not well at all. The rest of the family have had a sick bug and I thought it had finally got me. I went to bed Monday night and was so cold that I was shaking. The night was disturbed, hot and cold, aches and pains. For the next few days this continued but I was not sick. I had no energy so house work took a back seat, but it did not last long and by Thursday I was back to normal.

The old owner of our house, Graham, was in the area Thursday and it was good to see him and hand over the post which had accumulated. We chatted for quite a while and I finally asked him how much they would have sold for. He said lowest would have been 180k, but that would have been a push. He said they had a buyer the year before but they mucked them around for 17 weeks, so took it off the market and put it back on when we were looking. Before us they had someone interested but they had not sold their house, so we timed it just right.

Whilst he was here I asked him how to get the top of the toilet off, when he asked why I mentioned the slight leak in the pipe work and without hesitation he offered to repair it free of charge. I will of course pay him something but that just shows what nice man he is.

We are off to Downham Market today to buy some dining chairs off our friend Sarah as the ones we have are just too uncomfortable.

3rd March 2013

What a lovely day I had today. Not a great day weather wise, we woke to an overcast day but not too cold for the time of year.

We had toast for breakfast which we had in the conservatory. There was no rush we had nothing planned, so we took our time and watched the birds feeding on the bird feeder.

We then got the washing out onto the line and I then went off to the community allotment. It is starting to get to the busy time of the year, loads of digging to do but so much easier than last year when it had not been touched for a while.

I was joined by Felicity and her dog Dickens. She kept me company and we chatted whilst I dug over one of the vegetable plots. Just before I was due to leave and return for my roast dinner which Helen was cooking, Herbert arrived from church with his dog Hugo. Further chat took place and Felicity left us, Herbert went home to change and I began to tidy up.

At this point Simon and his son Sam came over and we had a brief chat before Herbert arrived again. At which point I had to go as my dinner would be ready.

I got home 5 mins late, but dinner was nice and after this we took ourselves off to Brancaster beach. It's a lovely drive up there and so relaxing. There was no car park attendant so that was a bonus. When we got to the beach we noticed the sea was a long way out. Equipped with our wellies we started walking towards it. We got halfway but the little estuaries were getting deeper. We walked for abut an hour before returning home for tea and cakes and a play in the garden.

So nice now the weather is getting warmer, I love it up here, everything is so accessible, calm and peaceful. Wish we had been able to move earlier but we are here now.

1st March 2013

It's exactly a year ago today that we met our buyer of our house in Enfield. 12 months ago they came round for their first viewing and on the 2nd March came back for second look and then put in an offer on 3rd March.

We are getting ready for Kirsty's 9th Birthday. She is very excited already and we have booked a party for her at Frankie and Benny's next Friday. She has 6 friends definitely coming, although as normal we have had to do some chasing.

On Saturday the family and Marion are coming up for the day and we are going to have fish and chips.

Have stripped the gloss paint from the hall, sanded down and waxed the wood. It looks really good and was helped by the purchase of a sander. Only found out later that I had a sander in the shed which still works.