Doubly fortunate

Bedlam still reigns at Morrisons, our usual supermarket. We did manage, though, to get more or less all we needed. I had to hazard passing a bored kid swinging her basket from side to side, more or less covering the whole width of the aisle. Her parents were totally oblivious of the situation. Roll on next week. By then the children should be back at school, many of the adults back at work, at the times we shop. I’m longing to get back to normality.

Afterwards we popped down to the village pub. We met up with some acquaintances who’d spent Christmas in a self-catering cottage in Boot, in Cumbria. They’d had a wonderful time. We reminisced about some of our visits there.

We were also joined by our alcoholic friend & her partner. She was in a bit of a state as her father had died at the weekend. It was quite a shock for her as he’d died from leukaemia. She hadn’t even been told he had the problem - or maybe she just hadn’t taken it in. She apparently doesn’t get on well with her stepmother – know the feeling.

We’re feeling pretty lucky ourselves. So far we’ve heard of two deaths over the festive period. Even the man who came to fix our boiler had had to go to A&E on Boxing Day with severe chest pains – pneumonia. Hopefully he’ll be feeling a lot brighter by Friday when he returns with the parts to make a more permanent repair. As for the state of our alcoholic friend she was so upset upon hearing of her father’s death, she went to the pub for alcohol & drank sufficient to slide off the seat onto the floor & had to be carried home.

More cheery conversation began as the friends & acquaintances talked about the “joy” of life in the village centre. Heysham is an old, quite picturesque village, many of the houses dating from the 17^th century. It seems there are hazards of living right in the old centre. One recounted leaving her front door open on a hot day to return to find strangers in her front room. They’d just come in to look around the “museum”. They were politely shown out with the news it wasn’t a museum it was someone’s private home! As for the other pair, they had had their door knocked on to be asked for two ice-creams for the children. There is a stall next to the house selling ice-creams, drinks & snacks which was closed, so the people assumed our acquaintances were just late opening up so they went to the house. The fact is the stall has nothing to do with them. They’ve even had people asking to be let in for teas & coffees. We’re suddenly glad we live out of the centre, in the more modern part of town. We may feel a bit remote from village life but there are definite compensations.

There's just one more thing to say

 HAPPY NEW YEAR TO YOU ALL