Anyone who knows me will tell you that I am a busy person and like so many retired people, I have no idea how I found time to go to work. Realistically we take on many more things in retirement that we would never have had time for in our working life. So when the lockdown started I thought (like many others I’m sure) this is the time to get all those jobs done that I’ve never had time to do! It will probably come as no surprise, that three weeks in only a fraction of those jobs have been done. Maybe motivation is also a factor and not just time. Granted we have had a tidy up in the loft, no I’ll rephrase that, I have had a tidy up in the loft while being given advice from the top of the loft ladder. I had visions of throwing away enough to fill a skip, but that hasn’t happened either, but I do know what we’ve got and where it is and there are some files of paperwork to be sorted in the evening with one eye on the TV.
Next on the list was to label all the photos taken on our recent trip to New Zealand and edit them at the same time. Well I’ve just got to the end of week one of a six week trip. Along with that was to write an article for Grapevine about the churches we visited. You will be the judge of that when the next Grapevine arrives in your inbox, but at the moment it’s all in my head. Let’s not think about the spring cleaning I was planning, that’s not happened either as basically my theory goes that if no-one is coming to visit us, what is the point of a massive clean? There has also been talk of repainting the lounge, but again we haven’t quite made it.
The garden has however benefitted, particularly because the weather has been so lovely. We have dug and weeded bits of the garden that I don’t think have seen a fork or spade for twenty years and some plants seem to be delighted that they can see the light again. Fences have been creosoted (not by me, I’m too messy), and trellis attached ready for the perennial sweet peas to grow. Compost has been dug in ready for the vegetable plants and my reluctance to throw anything away has meant that there are seeds to be planted when the time is right. I now have time to watch the garden and find it fascinating on my morning inspection to see that the peonies have grown a ridiculous amount overnight and can now be coaxed inside the restraining frame. Anyone would think from this that I’m a keen gardener and they’d be very wrong, but I do like the garden to look tidy.
I was very grateful to have a nice space in the garden to sit yesterday at 2 p.m. This was the time that the funeral of a friend, who had died from Covid-19, was taking place in Blackpool. To be outside was perfect as Paul was someone who loved being in the out of doors and would think nothing of a 50 mile bike ride before lunch at the age of 80! I lit a candle and sat looking at the garden, praying and remembering happy times and holidays together. It felt very peaceful and we will celebrate his life together when we can all travel.
Hazel Jenkins