Where does the time go?
In spite of being putatively retired, I seem to have less time than
ever these days.
You can tell the
difference between being a York resident and a visitor to York –
we've been moved in for 6 weeks, and we still haven't been to Bettys!
Mind you, the other York bakery, Thomas's, produces equally good
Yorkshire Curd Tarts. I AM feeling the lack of a Fat Rascal or two,
though.
It seems that – for
us, at least, the house market remains buoyant. We've sold (almost)
my late uncle's old house (owned by my late Mother). Completion
should be next week, subject to “probate being granted”. Then we
only have to wait 6 months before Mother's will can be proved. All
very time consuming, but not, for us, urgent.
The big agenda item for
us though, has been the garden. Being both old and knackered we
decided on raised beds – and I managed to make them out of old
scaffold boards. They are proving great, and the recent spell of good
weather has allowed us to press on with planting and re-potting all
the plants we brought with us from Evesham.
I have made contact
with local friends on the Yorkshire
Hash House Harriers. LOTS of old friends!! The only problem is,
when they made Yorkshire, they made a hell of a lot of it. Also had a
great trip to Macclesfield Beer Festival to join up with old London
friends of the SLASH3. Good beer (246 different ones) and great fun. Bill Turnbull (doyen of the BBC Breakfast Sofa) was very busy pouring beers for us all afternoon!!
Readingwise, its been
busy. Among the bits and pieces left to me by my Uncle was a couple
of old books about Cornwall. One of these, “Deep
Down” by RM Ballantyne was fascinating, and packed with details
about the old Bottalack mine in Cornwall. My Gt-Gt-Grandfather bought
the mine and put it into production again in the mid 18th.
C. Very much in the same writing style as John Buchan and
Ballantyne's other books, i.e. Coral Island, and its free on Kindle.
Many of my lady writer
friends have been living the high-life over in New Orleans for the
big Romantic Times fiction convention. Curiously, I used to stay at the
same hotel where the convention was held, so was able to give them a
few tips re the delights of Bourbon St. I note with interest that
they are all remarkably coy about any weight-gain from all the
amazing food that New Orleans has to offer.
Liz Harris's Blog post
catches a flavour at http://www.lizharrisauthor.com/?p=2191
Life goes on!!
