Let England Shake

In my last blog entry (dated 13th December) I was luxuriating in the fact that we were sat on a sofa in front of a fire gazing out of a window at the mountains of southern Greece. The novelty of having rooms, a hot shower, a kitchen, a flushing loo, sofas to sprawl on, a fireplace….was great! Our days were mostly spent slowly meandering into the local village – where we would eat delicious food, drink cappuccinos and down cold pints of Mythos with the Mediterranean Sea as our vista. In the evenings we would cook, drink and then collapse into an electric-blanket warmed bed – lying in until late in the morning.

Sounds like heaven? Well after nine days of this we had had enough and promptly booked an earlier flight back to England! (We had already booked a flight back to England for the last two weeks in January to go to my brother’s wedding.) To be fair we also found out that our tenants back in Frome were imminently moving out of our house thereby leaving it unoccuppied. So, after some discussion, we both decided that actually our time would be more productively spent back in England rather than us wilfully engaging in all this wining and dining in Greece! And so it was we found ourselves spending not two weeks in the spare room of my parents house in Dorset; but rather six whole weeks living at our very own home in Frome 🙂

And I have to say we both had a fabulous time! We managed to put into our storage unit all the records and boxes of stuff that my poor-put-upon parents had kept in their spare room, attic and garden shed for five and a half years. We gardened like crazy. Gazed at bonefires. We shopped. We frequented the pub. We dined out. We celebrated Christmas Day. We spent many happy hours with our bestest friends. We cuddled babies and reacquainted ourselves with the now grown up offspring of friends. We supped coffees and chocolate milkshakes in cafes. We went to the cinema (Rogue One). Our lovely wee Sadie visited us. We travelled to London to my brother’s wedding. I tried, and failed, to secure a job in Switzerland. I painted the kitchen. Captain mended the flush on the loo and the doorbell. He chopped up large chunks of seasoned wood with a brand new shiny axe. We bought a lot of new records. We drank a hell of lot of gin. We became obsessed with the birds that lived in our garden. We cleaned the gutters and fascia boards. We sat in front of the fire place on long cold dark evenings. We met our new neighbours. We visited family……

I have to say that after five and a half years of living away it was bloody marvellous to be back home!

Anyway we’re now back in Greece and the fire is lit. Gin is on the table, wine is uncorked and supper is nearly ready. God…… we both can’t wait to be retired 😉