Exciting times

The buzzsaw whizzes. Branches & trunks come down. In the middle of the lawn a huge bonfire burns. They’re back. The garden is finally getting sorted out. This time they’re staying until the job is completed in 4-6 weeks time.

Our friends, Jackie & Ash, have once more been round collecting timber. They will be back again tomorrow. Their heating costs for the next couple of winters have been solved.

Our home help is having some of the better big fencing panels. She’s also fancying the fuschia & possibly some dogwood & astilbe.

I’m so glad some of the plants & waste is being recycled somewhere, whether in people’s gardens or homes. I feel a little guilty about the killing of so many plants.

However, the garden does need to be more manageable than it has been. Hopefully once all this has been done, it should be fairly easy to keep some control. It should be drier for the drainage. I should be able to get up to the far end on my electric mobility scooter. It should be exciting in the next few years seeing thing grow, bush out, come into flower & generally mature.

Exciting times.

Happiness

AS we drove over to the golf club yesterday, we found ourselves talking over the idea of happiness. The concept, & possible government efforts to promote it, had been raised in “You and Yours” at lunchtime on Radio 4. We’d both had listened to the programme. The conversation continued at the club

Our first thought is that there is a big difference between happiness & contentment. The former is far more dynamic, the latter quieter.

The real problem is how can the government intervene. Life inevitably brings its ups & downs. Inevitably you are unhappy when someone you love dies. Nothing, no amount of money, can change that. The most that can be done is to finance bereavement counselling services & that happens, at least patchily, now.

Equally ill-health, age & disability, limit one’s ability to do all that one may wish. No amount of money will make everyone be able to live as full & happy life as they might wish. However, good medical & social care services do help.

We also couldn’t help concluding that what conduces to one person’s happiness is not the same as what conduces to another person’s. Being sent to spend a couple of hours playing I Spy in a virtually empty room with one other person, as happened once to me courtesy of Social Services, does little to improve my happiness. The taxi ride there & back was the best part of the afternoon!

All this had come about due to the extent of loneliness, & the consequent cost in ill-health, in this country has come to the fore in the news at the moment. It has been suggested it would be suggested it would be cheaper to get people out, socialising, being part of the community. What doesn’t seem to be acknowledged is that sometimes the loneliest place of all can be in a crowd.

I am quite convinced that one does have to adapt to sustain any sense of happiness/contentment. Becoming disabled has meant that many sources of pleasure have become unfeasible. No longer can I hope to climb the Lakeland fells. No longer can I work, paid or otherwise, & get the satisfaction & feeling of self- worth, that that can bring. However, I can still enjoy my books, jigsaws, garden & all its wildlife. I can still support my friends by phone even if I can’t pop round to physically help them as much as I once would have done. I can still use my brain & discover new worlds, new ideas.

I suppose we are lucky in that our greatest source of happiness is just being together. Even after nearly 40 year of marriage, I still get a thrill when I see the Fox when he first gets up or comes in when he’s been out. At that moment contentment transforms into happiness.

In out?

I’m in a bit of a dither. Should I put my washing out to dry? On the one hand the sun is shining. I tap the barometer. It shoots up which would suggest dry improving weather. However, when I got up not so long ago, about 8.15am, it was drizzling & there are some pretty black clouds in the sky. Undoubtedly the washing would dry quicker outside in the sunshine & gentle breeze, but not if it’s going to rain. Equally I’m not physically up to running in & out to get the washing in if it starts to rain. For the moment I’ll wait & see how the day progresses.

I’ll be going out to the freezer later on to get some chicken for dinner. The Fox is doing a stir-fry, Chicken Kung Po, for dinner tonight. If the weather’s looking more settled by then I’ll put the washing on the line. There’s not much so it shouldn’t take long to dry.

Tomorrow I’m going to have to be up bright & early. Linda, our home help, is arriving at 9am. If possible I would like to be up, dressed & breakfasted before she comes. Usually I would be up anyhow, but Sod’s Law, says it will the one day I oversleep. I refuse to set the alarm clock unless it’s really necessary. If need be she will just have to have me semi-dressed, unwashed, in need of tea. She is a carer, not just a cleaner, so she should be able to cope the sight. She may even make the tea – a task I’ve been trying to teach her. (It amazes me how few people these days seem to know how to make tea in a teapot, not a mug, & yet the latter tastes so much better. So much for the British being a nation of tea drinkers!)