31st May 2022

With the arrival of May, the family’s determination to ‘get sorted’ has gathered pace, keeping everyone busy both indoors and out. In Rothwell, Newbold Verdon, and Waltham on the Wolds, walls have been papered and painted, gardens mown (or even hoovered), beds planted up, and a great deal of carpentry and construction work completed. Here at Willow Bank, efforts have been more modest, focused on keeping the house and garden tidy, with most of the activity centred in the greenhouse in preparation for the summer months.

On the 1st, the whole tribe gathered in Waltham on the Wolds to visit Jamie and Ruth’s new home and enjoy Sunday lunch at the village pub, the Royal Horseshoes. Since the start of the pandemic, I can’t recall a time when so many of us were able to meet up. The only absentees were Joey, who was spending the weekend with his dad, and Harry and Mia, as the pub wasn’t dog-friendly.

The following day proved to be eventful at Willow Bank. It was a warm and dry Bank Holiday Monday, ideal conditions for sealing some flashing that had leaked during the winter storms. The problem area was on a small flat section of the roof between the two parts of the house. As I was up there, busy with a can of expanding foam, I heard banging in the alleyway below. Some of the fence panels along the footpath had recently been vandalised, and it was happening again. I could hear two youths punching holes through the panels, though I couldn’t see them clearly because of the trees. Unfortunately, from my position on the roof, I could do little more than shout a warning. At that, they bolted, sprinting down the path towards the new housing estate.

Once I’d descended the ladder, I inspected the damage and contacted the police to report the incident. Sue and I then posted details on several local social media sites, asking for help in identifying the culprits. I described their clothing and offered a £50 reward for names. Later, I put up two posters along the alleyway with the same message. The response was swift. Within half an hour, I had the name of one possible miscreant. The following day, four schoolchildren turned up and provided the names of two others who had apparently been boasting about it at school.

Disappointingly, the police had not followed up on the original report, so I emailed them again with the new information, hoping this time for a response.

On the 4th, we finally had our first rainfall in over a month, and Charlotte seized the opportunity to ask her dad if he fancied doing a spot of decorating. Lucas had requested that one of his bedroom walls be wallpapered, and fortunately, he’d chosen a straightforward brickwork pattern. I arrived just after 9 a.m., and with Charlotte’s help, along with Harry providing supervisory support, the job was done shortly after midday.

However, my fatherly duties didn’t end there. We headed into Rothwell to fell a tree with my chainsaw for one of Charlotte’s gardening clients. Naturally, I kept the wood for our burner. On the way home, I made a brief detour to see Roger. Last month, I ordered a new phone system for him online and wanted to check that it was up and running. He had only just returned from staying with his sister in Bristol and hadn’t yet installed it, so I spent ten minutes getting it connected before heading back to Willow Bank.

Sue had spent the day playing in a U3A croquet tournament. Her return was jubilant; she and her partner, Nicky, had swept aside all opposition and won the event. However, as it was ‘just for fun’, she was quietly disgruntled that no prize was awarded for their efforts.

At the crack of dawn on Sunday, the 8th, the Newbold Verdons arrived with Mia. Sue had already gone out to browse a local car boot sale, and I was still snug under the duvet. It took several knocks on the front door and a phone call to rouse me. The family were heading off early to catch a flight from Luton to Portugal for a fortnight’s R&R, hoping to beat the much-publicised security queues that had dominated the news all week.

As soon as I took charge of Mia, they were off, leaving me with one very excited and bouncy dog! Thankfully, their flight departed on time, and they had no trouble boarding. Later that morning, after Sue had returned, I attended an appointment at Specsavers to have my vision checked and to order a new pair of glasses. The examination was extremely thorough, and I was genuinely impressed with their professionalism.

Jamie drove down to Harborough in his Lamborghini and spent the day with his friend Walker in the Cotswolds. The highlight of their outing was a visit to fellow petrolhead Jeremy Clarkson’s ‘Diddly Squat’ farm.

The following evening, Suraj picked me up in his car and, along with Lucas and Ellis, we drove to Waltham on the Wolds to meet up with Jamie. We enjoyed a splendid evening at the same pub where we’d had lunch the previous week. From time to time, the men of the family get together to sample the offerings of a pub’s ‘pie night’, and this time it was the turn of the Royal Horseshoes. The meal was good, and while the pie was indeed tasty, it was something of a let-down to discover it wasn’t a proper pie. A pastry lid with filling does not, in my view, constitute a legitimate pie, it needs both a crust and a base!

Sarah and her family continued to enjoy their time in Portugal. They had hired a car and booked a series of Airbnbs along the southern coast, immersing themselves in Portuguese culture as much as possible, with a toddler in tow. Back in the UK, we were experiencing similarly fine weather, albeit without the intense heat of the Portuguese sun.

Disappointingly, after two weeks, and despite several phone calls and emails providing photographs, descriptions, names, and even a witness to the vandalism of the garden fence panels, the police officer assigned to the case failed to make contact or carry out any follow-up. Sadly, the warnings from friends and neighbours that the police wouldn’t ‘do anything’ proved to be true. Regrettably, I have lost all confidence in our local constabulary.

Building work, well, more accurately, demolition, began in earnest at the Rothwells’ new house. A kitchen wall was knocked down to create a spacious kitchen-diner and to improve the flow of the downstairs layout. However, the other ‘residents’ of the house didn’t take kindly to being disturbed. An agitated spider found its way into a pair of Charlotte’s jeans and bit her, causing a great deal of pain and concern. This led to a frantic search by the family to identify the creature, and the bite remained painful for several days.

Despite this setback, the wall was successfully demolished, and the necessary plastering was completed in record time. While the workmen were busy inside, Charlotte, despite the nasty bite from the False Widow Spider, managed to plant up the front border I had rotavated for her the previous week.

With the warmer weather arriving, the U3A groups have been keeping busy. On one of her many outings with the Nature Group, Sue managed to persuade a friendly robin to feed from her hand. The robin is well known in the area for being quite tame (there are plenty of entries on Facebook to prove it), but that day, he chose Sue to accept a few crumbs.

On the 14th, Jamie took Sue to Stapleford Park Hotel for afternoon tea. With Mia to look after and the fact that a Lamborghini only has two seats, I remained at Willow Bank to enjoy an afternoon of rugby on the TV. From the photos shared on Messenger, it looked like quite a sumptuous meal. Afterwards, they called Ruth to join them and spent time playing table tennis, croquet, and chess in the hotel gardens.

On a more depressing note, there are no English rugby sides left in any of the end-of-season European competitions. It’s a sad reality that the French and Irish club teams play a more complete game and make their own luck with adventurous, exhilarating play.

On the subject of Europe, Ukraine won the Eurovision Song Contest in Turin in 2022. While it may not have been the best song of the night, the citizens of Europe and Australia made a powerful statement with their vote, leaving Russia, banned from entering, no doubt about their feelings regarding the deplorable invasion of Ukraine. It’s unlikely that Russian State TV or media will mention this, meaning their citizens will remain ignorant of the international outcry against what is happening in their name in the ‘real’ world.

Satisfyingly, the rest of Europe seems to have forgotten Brexit, and Sam Ryder’s UK entry, ‘Spaceman,’ was voted top in the studio, though it came second in the public vote.

For the first time in quite a while, I met up with John Lee on the 17th for a ramble in Somerby. We met in the car park of the Stilton Cheese at 9:15 am on what the weathermen promised would be the hottest day of 2022. Mia accompanied us along a route that would take us past the earthwork remains of Burrough Hill Iron Age Fort. It’s one of the nicest walks in Leicestershire, with plenty of undulations and pleasant views at every turn.

I had brought plenty of water for Mia, which she was grateful for on several occasions, slurping it down eagerly. Despite the lovely weather, we passed no one on the route, except for one lone individual spotted in the distance, standing on the trig point atop the Iron Age promontory.

After completing the walk, we returned to the Stilton Cheese, where we enjoyed a filling lunch and a few refreshments before heading our separate ways home.

The following Thursday (19th) evening, I travelled to Kibworth with a small group of friends for a steak meal and cheese board at the Coach and Horses. After enjoying an excellent meal, washed down with some very acceptable refreshment, we made our way to the old grammar school assembly hall to see a local amateur performance of ‘Allo, Allo’ by the Kibworth Theatre Company.

Seated French café-style at round tables in front of the stage, we were all set for the show. Although I’m not a fan of the popular TV sitcom, I do enjoy a good farce, especially when accompanied by several glasses of red wine. The performance wasn’t of a professional standard, but the script was amusing, and the enthusiasm of both the audience and actors ensured a good time was had by all. With our laughter glands fully exercised, we rounded off the evening by heading to the Railway Arms in Kibworth for a few more refreshments.

Sarah and her family caught a late, delayed flight from Portugal, arriving home early Saturday morning, leaving Mia to stay at Willow Bank for another night. Keen to see their new kitchen, Charlotte and Harry (the greyhound) joined Sue and me the following morning (Sunday) for the trip to Newbold Verdon to return Mia. Understandably, as we arrived, the family was in post-holiday mode, with the washing machine already in full swing and the garden clothesline creaking under the weight of several loads of laundry.

Thankfully, it was an excellent ‘drying’ day. With the kitchen fully inspected and approved, we left the sun to work on a fortnight’s worth of holiday laundry and walked the short distance to The Windmill Inn for a hearty Sunday lunch. Afterwards, we returned to Sarah’s, staying just long enough for coffee before leaving them to continue with their washing chores.

On the 23rd, I received a phone call from Leicestershire Constabulary. The officer in charge of investigating the vandalism to my fence had finally read my emails and apologised for the delay in addressing the matter. He mentioned that he would check the names against their records and might make a home visit to hear their side of the story. Having already repaired the fence, I have no intention of prosecuting; a warning from a police officer will suffice. He promised to contact me once the investigation was complete.

That evening, Jamie and Ruth attended the Prestigious Awards Ceremony in Birmingham to receive an accolade on behalf of his company, Fx Learning. Naturally, he chose to drive there in his Lamborghini! Our son not only plays hard but also works hard, and he thoroughly deserves this recognition for his efforts.

As the month came to a close on the 29th, Sarah, Alice, and Mia visited. We had arranged to take Alice to a nearby farm park for the day, while I stayed at home and took Mia for a long walk. After a light lunch, Mia watched as I watered the vegetable plots. We all returned to Willow Bank late in the afternoon for dinner. Meanwhile, Lee and his father had travelled to Wembley for the Nottingham Forest vs. Huddersfield promotion game. We listened to a radio commentary and were pleased when Forest won 1-0.

Since COVID-19 ravaged the world, preparing for a foreign holiday has become fraught with difficulties and anxiety. Gone are the days when you’d simply visit the travel agent, and they handled everything for you. Now, you have to check the latest travel and Covid guidance daily, interpret the rules, and jump through various hoops, at a cost. On the 30th of May, we approached the final hurdle of our jaunt to Madagascar with an RT/PCR test at our local pharmacy. Unfortunately, it didn’t go smoothly. We had collected the required forms the previous Monday and filled them out, but upon presenting them, we were informed that we’d been given the wrong ones. Thankfully, all the necessary details were there, and the staff member helped us fill out the new forms.

In a small ante-room, Sue and I administered the test ourselves (under observation), and the swabs were placed in sealed tubes. There was some confusion over the registration numbers, so a senior staff member was called in. Eventually, the tests were sealed in bags (hopefully with the correct paperwork), and we paid £158 for the process. The test was required by the Madagascan authorities before embarkation, and upon arrival in Antananarivo, we would be subjected to another test at a cost of $17. If negative, we’d continue on our way; otherwise, it would be off to quarantine. Initially, we were told we’d receive the results within 3-4 hours, but the timeline shifted to between 4 and 6 pm the following day. Given that we were leaving for the airport just a few hours after that, it added to the stress: Would the results arrive in time? Would they be negative? Were the forms filled out correctly?

Thankfully, the results were negative and arrived by email at 3:30 pm. Phew! After all that, we certainly needed a holiday. If the taxi to the airport shows up on time and we make it through check-in and security, we might just get one.