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| Jackie with Max |
From one
housesit to another took us from the capital city to rural Gloucestershire in
three and a half hours and to Richard and Judith’s lovely house on the edge of
the small village of Redmarley D’Abitot.
They were
both there to meet us, caravan hitched and ready to go on their three day trip
and we had a fantastic greeting from four dogs, Oscar, Max, Muffin and Flora
and five cats, Fred, Ginger, Lottie, Mollie and Charlie, Fred recognising
Jackie’s voice from his bed in the garage and miaowing very loudly for her to
go and see him.
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| Jackie with Flora, Oscar, Muffin and Max |
After
lunch they headed off to Derbyshire, mainly in search of a replacement caravan,
but also for a mini holiday and we got down to the routine of dog walking
through the nearby woods, cat fussing and relaxation.
It was
the familiar walking tracks through the woods mornings and afternoons, varied
on each walk just to keep the dogs on their toes and stopping them to check
which way we were going, followed by dog food preparation of raw chicken
portions, minced beef and dog biscuits on our return and, in between miaowing
pussy cats who act as though they haven’t been fed for weeks.
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| Watching the squirrel up a tree |
Used to
being let off their leads in the woods and being quite big dogs, their legs
carry them off at great speed and out of sight very quickly, us keeping a sharp
eye out for other dog walkers. They wouldn’t attack anyone, but they do bark if
they see anyone and the sight of three dogs (Flora just isn’t fast enough to
keep up with the other three) rushing towards you, barking would be enough to
scare anyone to death. To be fair, most other dog walkers know the dogs, but it
can still be startling, however the main problem seems to be Max’s aversion to
joggers and I can see how annoying that would be to one.
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| Chopping chicken for the dogs |
Anyway, we didn’t see
anyone or their dogs when they were off their leads, so all was well, the fast
running off being to chase squirrels or foxes and, often we would round a
corner to see them sitting at the bottom of a tree looking up, tongues hanging
out. ‘You’ll never catch a squirrel’ we told them, feeling pretty relaxed about
it, but within a day Oscar proved us wrong, appearing from the undergrowth with
a squirrel (grey, not red I add!) in his mouth. We heard the commotion and
squealing, but when he appeared with it, it was quite dead, but did he look
‘top dog’! Quite surprised he allowed us to prise his mouth open and release
it, him trotting off quite happily and obviously very pleased with himself (and
probably feeling pleased he had provided these useless humans who can’t catch
anything, with dinner).
So after
three days of days like that and evenings of TV with dogs and cats lying across
us fast asleep, Richard and Judith returned. Yes, they had bought a new
caravan, yes, it was bigger and more expensive than they had planned, yes, they
were very excited, but it won’t be ready until next February and Judith wants
in now! They are already planning next years trips to France and in the UK and
want to book us for housesitting whenever we’re available, which is fine by us.
On this three day stay they insisted on providing all the food we could eat, so
we felt very spoilt and, having cooked then lunch for their return and Judith being
very appreciative, we had to remind her that all we did was cook it, it was all
their food!
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| Ian washing up in their temporary kitchen (builders port-a-loo outside) |
From
Redmarley we headed back to Moseley in Birmingham, via the dentist in Leamington
Spa for me, Brian, to have a tooth filled (ouch!) and arrived at Ian and Helens
(me with a numb mouth) at the same time as Phil and Sue, who had driven up from
Poole, for a weekend of drinking, eating, walking and fun.
The
weekend was originally planned to be at Iain and Bev’s house in Bristol, but
had to be changed after the recent death of Bev’s stepdad (hugs to her),
leaving her feeling unable to cope with the boisterousness of us all, so Ian
and Helen stepped in and offered to have it at theirs. It was even more
impressive of them since they are in the middle of having their kitchen
extended, so currently have no useable kitchen and only a camping cooker and
all kitchen stuff in their dining room, carrying water for the kettle and dish
washing down from the upstairs bathroom. Unfazed they still managed to serve us
a cold buffet breakfast and hot drinks on Saturday morning, so well done to
them and thank you!
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| Their house so far. Looks good from the outside, just needs finishing off inside |
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| In Diwan Balti. Ian, Helen, Jackie, Phil, Sue and Brian |
Friday
evening was at the Old Moseley Arms (superb real ale), followed by a balti at
our favourite Indian restaurant, Diwans. On Saturday we walked 20km, or 12
miles (at least that’s what it said on my and Phil’s phone apps, Helen reckoned
hers only showed 9 miles) into Birmingham city centre along the canal, stopped
at several canal side pubs in the beautifully restored Gas Street Basin, by
Broad Street, Jackie and I did a bit of Lindy Hop dancing to a band playing at
a makeshift outdoor dance floor in Victoria Square, as part of Birmingham’s
Heritage weekend celebrations, we had a few more drinks and caught the train
back, stopping at another pub near their house (are you getting the picture of
how the weekend is going?).
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| A heron on our canal walk into Birmingham city centre |
A quick
change of clothes and we headed back into the Chinese Quarter of Birmingham to
meet up with Manu and Crystal for a ‘tea club’ evening of more drinks followed
by a meal in one of the many small Chinese restaurants in the little alleyways
that Manu and Crystal know. The main feature of these evenings, apart from the
immense fun and laughter that we always have, is that Crystal takes charge,
ordering all the food in her native language of Chinese, the dishes are spread
out along the table and we all dip in and try everything.
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| Gas Street canal basin Birmingham. See that narrow bit of canal there? A notice outside says 'do not try to jump this canal'. Now when you see something like that, whats the first thing you want to do? Its about 7.5 feet wide and really does look doable |
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| So we practised in the centre. Here's Ian jumping 8 feet. No-one else was close. We couldn't persuade him to try the canal for real though |
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| Ian, Phil, Helen, Jackie, Sue and Monty dog |
We have no idea what
they are, but we recognise prawn, chicken, lamb, and beef dishes, and they are
all so tasty and, in some cases, spicy hot, others cold. It’s a whole
experience of different tastes all washed down with Chinese tea. We could never
go there on our own as we would have no idea what to order, and in any case, it
just wouldn’t be the same without Manu and Crys and all our other ‘club’
members. Quote of the weekend was from Crystal who told us how Manu, who speaks
several languages, but not Chinese, had, some years before, learnt some words
from Crystal and then ordered a meal in Chinese at the restaurant we were in.
Crystal gently took his hand, looked at him sympathetically and said “that was
lovely Manu, but only I will be able to understand you!”
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| Birminghams new library. Iconic building |
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| Saturday evening in the pub with Manu and Crystal |
After
stopping at Ian and Helens for another night we all walked into Moseley town centre
on Sunday morning to meet up with Manu and Crystal again for Sunday breakfast
in the local Weatherspoon’s pub (we had one token beer amongst all the teas and
coffees as it doesn’t seem right to go into a pub without buying alcohol, even
though it is Sunday morning), before heading off in different directions. We’ll
see then all again around May of next year when we return from France.
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| In the Chinese resaurant. Phil, Sue, Crystal, Manu, Jackie, Ian and Helen |
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| Crystal writing out her food order |
We went
to Jackie’s mum, Pauline’s house via the supermarket to cook a roast chicken
Sunday dinner for us all, along with a few glasses of wine. We stayed there
last night, on Sunday and will stay tonight for a visit to the cinema (Victoria
and Abdul) and a meal out, before heading back to look after Sooty again in
Hall Green while Abi goes off to Barcelona for a short holiday.
On the
way, on Tuesday morning, is a visit for me, Brian, to the Queen Elizabeth
hospital in Birmingham to have a bit of skin cancer removed from my top lip.
The biopsy they took in mid-August turned out to be nasty so, although the lip
healed beautifully and looks completely normal, there’s something lurking
beneath that needs removing so, it’ll be more stitches and no laughing for a
few days. Let’s hope I don’t drip any blood on the pillows at Sooty’s house! As
soon as I get the all clear we’ll pack the car and head off to see Jackie’s dad
in Spain, then back to France for another ski season in the Alps. We’re hoping
for a cold winter with lots of snow!!
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| In the pub afterwards for yet another beer. Phil, Sue, Helen, Jackie, Brian, Crystal and Ian |
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| Trying out our winter woolies with Pauline |
