Lovely Bristol, The Midlands and onto housesitting in Welton, nr. Daventry

Drinking and eating in Bristol with Bev and Iain

Bev and Iain arrived home sometime just after 18.00 which was very civilised. Fish and chip take out supper, a little drink and lots of chat, lovely. We continued in this vein on Saturday, a gentle start before Bev drove us into Bristol. We started at the Small Bar for a pint and some Korean fried chicken. Very simple but with flavouring on the fries and Korean coleslaw absolutely delicious. We ambled through Bristol for another couple of pints (or not. Beer gets served in thirds, halves, two thirds and sometimes pints). There are so many independent breweries in Bristol, and so much street food, it really is a fabulous place. It was cooler than expected though, so a sensible number of drinks and home by 18.00. For hot chocolate, with rum, and billionaires shortbread. A balanced diet for the day! Lots more chat, normality? Pretty much, yes. Another gentle start on Sunday before bacon and sausage to set us up for the day. Back to mum’s for about 16.00 after a great weekend, so lovely to catch up.

This is the plinth in Bristol on which the statue of Edward Colston used to stand, before it was toppled and thrown in the river by student protesters complaining about his links to the slave trade. I assumed it was next to the water, but its about 100m away. 

Walking and chatting through Bristol

Mum wasn’t actually there, she was down at Jonathan’s, they’d collected her on their way to see Uncle Martyn, so laziness won out and we went to the Indian for dinner. Lazier than lazy really as this provided dinner for Monday too! Monday although we had nothing planned seemed full. We popped to Ted to get the camera that I’d left when we put him into storage, shopping, new headlight bulb for mum’s car. Files full of paperwork we’d brought down from the loft, finally were gone through before files and TV’s taken to the tip. Dinner, and suddenly it was time for the Monday Club video call.

Now this ship in Bristol harbour, dear reader, is a replica of The Matthew. The original ship was the one Giovanni Cabboto (John Cabot) sailed from Bristol in search of new lands in 1497. He landed in Newfoundland and went on to explore part of the coast of North America, pre-dating Columbus' expedition to discover America. In 1997, 500 years later, this ship sailed the Atlantic with a crew of 18 to re-enact Cabot's journey

Mr. Pickles looks very grumpy here, but he isn't really!

Tuesday I took mum’s car for service and MOT to Andy in the village before we went down to Jonathan’s to spend the day with Caroline. She was meant to be having her induction at Tring school, where I went for 6th form, so we had been booked to collect her. This had turned into an online thing, how? How can you get a feel for a place you’ve never been to decide whether you want to spend the next two years of study there online? I don’t know, it all seems very difficult to me. Anyway it meant she finished earlier, so with mum too, we went into Leighton Buzzard for lunch and, joy for Brian, charity shop browsing. Caroline has found a couple of lovely jackets and thinks this is the way to go. She bought a few things for home, and school. Mum bought some sandals as hers have gone missing, along with bird food, a watering can and other such items, Brian did sterling service walking back and forth to the car!

Brian's walk over the Lickey Hills, just before he damaged his knee. You can just see Birmingham City Centre on the skyline on a beautiful, clear day

Hobbling back into Alvechurch

Wednesday collected mum’s car, what a good man Andy is £70 including the MOT as it was obvious the car has done very few miles. Thought we’d take it for a little run to the supermarket, dropping Brian off at the edge of the Lickey Hills so he could walk back getting in some good exercise. Putting the shopping in the boot and what should we find? Mum’s sandals! Oh well, they possibly wouldn’t have lasted the summer anyway! Got back home about 10 minutes before Brian who actually was not looking very happy. There had been a big snap, then horrible clicking, and then pain from his left knee! He’s now on pills from the doctor and been told to rest it for a MINIMUM of 6 weeks. Pigs might fly, but we are trying! We got halfway to the pub, and he decided this wasn’t a good idea, so I had to go back to get the car. It must have been bad!

Housesitting in Welton, nr. Daventry, Northamptonshire and very fluffy Pandora cat wants some strokes

Thursday the planned gardening didn’t take place obviously, partly as mum was going to Forge Mill, more normality! How fabulous, things actually written on the calendar.

She is exceptionally fluffy, not fat. Her body, beneath all that fur is quite small!

Unlike Figaro cat whose loveable but a bit chunky

Friday we waved her off for her walk with Joan and left for our next Housesit near Daventry. Shorter than originally planned as EasyJet had cancelled the flight they had originally booked, but at least they could still go. We arrived the day before they left to be introduced to the 4 Greek rescue cats. Figaro, Pandora, Oberon and Mollie. Rosie used to live in Greece and this is where they have gone, to see her son and granddaughters. We’ve missed these relaxed meetings with dinner, but with them leaving at 09.30 it was much the best thing to do, and thoroughly enjoyable. Another lovely house, we really are very lucky, and 4 very different cats. Figaro is a real home boy, always hungry and good for a cuddle. Pandora is ridiculously fluffy, it’s hard to believe she even has legs and ears, there is so much fur. She must be happier here than in 37 degrees in Greece. Oberon is out most of the day but creeps up to sleep with us on the bed, Brian didn’t even notice the first night. I did, so happy, we’ve missed cats on the bed. Mollie is only 2 and a bit of a wuss puss, mummies girl. Even Steve only really gets to stroke her when she’s eating, and even then too much movement and she’ll run off.

But really does know how to chill out!

We had a late start this morning as we had three cats upstairs with us, and came down to find a ‘gift’, we can’t be doing too badly then. A short walk round the village which really isn’t very big and we’ve booked into the pub for Sunday lunch, well it’s all of a minutes walk away so it really would be rude not to!

Oberon cat also likes to chill out

And this is two year old Mollie cat, a real scaredy cat

Jackie was, at this point dancing the Time Warp that was playing on the radio. Pandora, sleeping on the window shelf behind the sofa woke up enough to wonder what on earth she was doing

Part of Rosie and Steve's lovely garden that can be all lit up at night by remote control lights. There's a waterfall by the wall that runs all the time and lit up at night. Very relaxing

Images from around Welton village. This is the White Horse where we had a very nice Sunday lunch. It's all of a minutes walk from the house

More thatched houses in the village

And the local church

Saw this old Triumph motorbike parked up in the village. A fine example. Our friend Bill would be interested, he's very much into classic motorbikes