12th September 2011

As they say at Lidl: “When it’s gone, it’s gone.”

Charlotte was the first to fly the nest, followed, after quite a pause, then Jamie. Worryingly, when Jamie moved out to his apartment, Charlotte did move geographically closer… but only as far as Rothwell. And now Sarah is leaving too. That’ll leave just the two of us rattling about the place. What will we do with ourselves? More importantly, what on earth will we talk about?

Last week, Sarah and I travelled to Yorkshire to stay with Nan and inspect Sarah’s future palace of higher education, otherwise known as The Pinnacles. The following day was her campus induction. Annoyingly, her room won’t be available for the first week of term, so she’ll be based at Nan’s and commuting from Thurcroft to Sheffield.

True to form, Sarah has already tracked down her new roommates on Facebook and made friends with one of her course mates, also named Charlotte, who lives in Rotherham. They’ve arranged to travel in together, easy to remember the name, if nothing else.

She’s even done a practice run: up at 6 a.m., bus to Rotherham, met her new friend, Charlotte, then both bused to Sheffield. She also befriended a girl from Bristol who lives just two minutes from her accommodation, and they plan to walk to lectures together. Clearly, my daughter could run the Foreign Office.

Back home, she began stockpiling student essentials into boxes, plus two enormous suitcases of clothes. I recall heading off to college with one suitcase and a holdall for my rugby kit, but then again, my wardrobe didn’t include three styles of boots for “different occasions”.

Friday brought her driving test. Sadly, she failed, the indicator cancelled itself mid-roundabout, and she didn’t notice. Still, she’s rebooked and remains her usual optimistic self.

In between all this, she worked plenty of shifts behind the Rugby Club bar, bought herself (at my expense) a laptop, and allowed me to install Skype so we can stay in touch, whether she likes it or not.

The day before term, I dropped her at Nan’s for her first proper commute. I heroically resisted the urge to text her all day, asking if she was OK. She’s a big girl now… or so I kept reminding myself.

Despite living in his apartment, Jamie still pops into Willow Bank for meals, which suggests Sue’s cooking is either irresistible or free food is simply unbeatable. We even had a game of tennis, though he lost, I suspect he’ll claim the moral victory.

Harley remains in the picture, though sightings are rarer. On one occasion, I visited his flat to let in the window repairmen, only to find Harley already there.

At the weekend, Jamie built some decking in the rear garden for Charlotte. I grudgingly have to admit he did a superb job. My contribution: I had earlier sourced and transported the wood on the car roof, earning my DIY points.

He has changed jobs and now works for the Disney Corporation in Lutterworth as a VNA driver (still no idea what that stands for). Out of 850 applicants, he got the job after an interview and had his induction the very next day. After his first day of work, he was smelling distinctly sweeter than in his last role. They even sent him abseiling for a day as part of his induction. He now works from 6 a.m. to 2 p.m., easily beating the 12-hour shifts he’d been doing for the last couple of years. The company seems very staff-friendly in that American, motivational-poster sort of way.

Sue has now frozen so many vegetables from the garden that I feel we could feed a small army through winter. Much of it has been reduced to soup, the volume of which I think could rival Heinz’s yearly production.

We have the grandchildren to stay often and continue feeding the rest of the family on Friday evening and Sunday lunch times. It’s funny how “leaving home” doesn’t always mean “stopping free dinners”.

There’s been sadness, too: I attended the funeral of Rob Jeacock’s wife, taken far too quickly by an aggressive brain tumour. She was a wonderful woman and a great strength to her family.

Sue also managed to enjoy a couple of days in Tenbury Wells with her sister Philippa. Staying with family friend Sheila, they caught up on gossip, met old friends, and generally had a lovely time.

On Saturday, Sue and I headed to Bourne for a surprise 60th birthday arranged by his wife for my old friend John Lee. I was the best man at his wedding, and he was a good rugby and fishing companion. I hadn’t seen him for the last fifteen years. We had a grand catch-up, a walk in the woods, and a curry with more old pals, including Bharat, another Leicester mate who’s now a freelance broadcaster. We left in the early hours of the following day, promising to meet up again.

Charlotte and Suraj have now become professional car-booters, mastering the art of decluttering and making a healthy profit. For their two birthdays, Sue and I sent them to Legoland for the day. Unfortunately, the weather was grim, but it was reported that they had fun, if not a little soggy. It was also their wedding anniversary around the same time, as a treat, Nan took them out for a special meal while we looked after the boys.

Always keen to turn a pound, Suraj is now doing a bit of private IT work on the side, while Charlotte has been meeting up with Sarah for the occasional “girlie night” out.