After an elongated start, we eventually got going to a cracking day. There had been a change in sleeping arrangements overnight which meant that I, sleeping in our old bedroom, didn’t wake up until eleven o’clock when Michael phoned me, and John also slept on and/or rested until much the same time in our master bedroom. I had decamped from our room last night, to enable John to ensconce himself in as much of the bed as he needed, (he’s a restless sleeper, don’t you know) and prevent me from waking up, startled, at his every move (I’m a light sleeper, don’t you know), every hour.
Once we were up, we thought we’d better get on with our daily ablutions, beverages and tidy-ups before welcoming our dear friends Dave and Chris and George and Sue to our garden for the afternoon.
Michael had said it was a nice day when he phoned, and I had said yes, it was, but wasn’t sure how long it was going to last. In my current mindset, I expected it to turn cold and imagined us all shivering under the gazebo, like we did yesterday. In the end, of course, it turned out to be a glorious day with the sun shining and browning our skin if we let it.
Dave and Chris were the first to arrive, and we set our chairs out, socially distanced, away from the gazebo in the sunny part of the garden. George and Sue soon joined us and were pleased to be part of the sun worshipping group. A cup of tea was the first stop before the wine came out, along with the picnic sandwiches and…. guess what? Chris’s famous cake! The most delicious coffee and walnut cake. So delicious in fact, that we have put an order in for another one for when we next meet up. Actually, (with a very happy little giggle to myself) I think she’s planning to make two cakes – her extra-famous Victoria sandwich and the coffee and walnut cake. How will we resist??? (Hugging myself with glee).
I have no idea what we talked about. But we talked and talked and talked. We filled our bellies with good food and cracked open first one bottle of wine, then another. We followed the sun from one spot in the garden to the next, drank tea, ate more cake and then opened yet another bottle of wine. We put the world to rights. We planned outings we knew we weren’t going to go on. We commiserated with each other over the current restrictions and chided each other over our health issues. “You really must go to the doctor with that…..”. And the afternoon disappeared just like that.
“Anyone fancy some cheese on toast?” I offered, as we moved our chairs into a newly emerged patch of sunshine and opened more red wine. “Oooh, yes, please!” came the chorused reply. Oh, what bliss. A mound of molten cheese on fluffy white bread is so delicious, isn’t it?
Mum tottered out to say ‘hello’ to everyone. These are people whom we have known since our very early teens and they have a long history in our lives. Dave said “Hello, Hazel, nice to see you. Do you remember us?” indicating himself and Chris. Mum shook her head and laughed. “No, I’m afraid I don’t.” she said. We explained how she might remember them and George. Still mystified, she shook her head again, but was thrilled to think that everyone had crammed into her front room all those years ago, while we were still at school, to listen to music and debate the rights and wrongs of the world as we knew it then.
Mum tottered back into the house for her evening meal and we all started thinking about when we would meet up again. We topped our glasses up once more, toasting each other and celebrating our friendship. We blessed the day we got to know Sue, who fits into our group so very well and we delighted in each other’s company, throwing virtual hugs to each other. And then it was time to say goodbye. What a wonderful time we’d had.
Pleasantly hazy with an abundance of wine and curled up cosily in a nice warm blanket, I watched Downton with Mum this evening, while John took himself into the kitchen to watch the Grand Prix. He should have been at Silverstone with Paul today. How disappointing that it didn’t happen – it would have been a great day for it.
All in all, we count our many blessings and thank God, once more, for our good friends and family – and hope that the weather keeps up for little while longer so that we can enjoy more garden ‘get-togethers’ like this for a few more weeks, or even months.
We hope, too, that we will be able to lift the restrictions on our shielding lives a little bit, soon. That hope is based on fewer people getting sick with COVID-19 or dying from it. Today, the government tells us that 27 people lost their lives and 726 were confirmed as infected. Yesterday, the NHS tells us that 4 people died in a hospital setting and 2 were confirmed for the day before – although these figures don’t tally with previous ones, so I am unsure how accurate they actually are.
However many it is, the figures indicate that there are still families, every day, who are being shattered by the loss of a loved one. Let us all continue to do our bit to prevent the spread of the virus so that families don’t have to go through the heartbreak. God bless, and peace be with you.
Love to you all 😘😘😘
Love to you, too, Phil xxxx