19 March 2023

It’s been a pretty decent week – we’ve had a fair bit of rain so the fields are sodden and muddy but it’s also been very mild, on the whole. I took Daisy across the fields on Friday morning and had to shed my jacket – it was sweltering!

The main source of excitement this week was having Jessie for an overnighter on Wednesday. Her school was affected by the teacher’s strikes so she had the day off! It’s always great fun when we have Jessie to stay, even though it is always full on! Thankfully, Penny does almost all the heavy lifting.

And speaking of public-sector industrial action, there has been a breakthrough in the long-running dispute between the NHS staff and the government. After parroting for months that (a) this was a dispute between the workers and their employers, i.e., the NHS – nothing to do with us, guv and (b) there was no money the government finally agreed to (a) negotiate directly with the unions and (b) compromise. Just as everyone had said they would have to do in the end. And, which they could have done four months ago and saved a lot of people a lot of anguish. What a pointless and useless collection of non-entities.

I went spinning at the gym in Banbury on Wednesday. I have been trying to go once a month or so, just for the camaraderie, really – I am clocking up plenty of miles on the exercise bike. Alas, the past couple of months I seem to have come down with a cold every time spinning came around. I was finally cold free and able to go this past Wednesday. It was a great session and coffee afterwards with fellow spinners and our instructor is always a bonus. Not so great was our instructor’s announcement that she would be leaving in a month’s time! Quelle merde! She is the only reason I would continue to go – she made spinning fun – I know, hard to imagine. She worked us hard but it was always a light and happy atmosphere. I shall miss her and probably won’t be going again – I’ve tried all the other instructors in days gone by and they’re simply not a patch on Liz.

Saturday was our sometimes-annual Moreton Pinkney Spring Clean – a handful of villagers wander along the roads leading out of the village to collect mountains of litter. I must confess – I just don’t get littering. It seems to me that it requires as much effort to (a) wind your window down and (b) chuck your litter to the side of the road as you would need to take it home and deposit it either in a recycling bin (where most of this stuff belongs) or even in your “normal” rubbish bin if you don’t give a toss about recycling. But, I guess if you’re selfish enough to toss your litter to the side of the road you’re not likely to be into recycling in a big way.

We’re off this afternoon to the Hatton Arms to meet up with Nick, Lucy and Annabelle for a Mothering Sunday lunch. In days gone by I used to telephone my mother on Mothering Sunday – I could almost always be guaranteed to remember that occasion. I didn’t do so well at remembering Mother’s Day in the US as it didn’t pop up in my calendar. On those occasions when I did remember the US version, I would also phone her – two “Happy Mother’s Day” greetings for the price of one! When I did not remember to phone her, I would later feel I had disappointed her – imagine, all your children phone on Mother’s Day to wish you a happy time apart from that useless, lazy layabout in the UK. Never mind, I would usually compensate by phoning her a few days later when I finally did remember and she was always very understanding!

Great excitement this week – the carpet runner for the stairs leading up to the Guest Wing finally arrived and was fitted on Friday. That finishes off that project and we are exceptionally well-pleased with the outcome. Get your bookings in quickly – this accommodation is likely to be very popular as soon as the AirBnB listing goes live.

Meanwhile, keep happy, keep smiling, be careful, wear a f**king facemask in crowded places and keep your distance. And keep safe. And be gentle to wasps and bees.

Lots of love to you all,

Greg