Archives for September 2015 | On The Island

Wednesday, September 9th, 2015Thursday, September 10th, 2015

Wednesday 9th September 2015

Our walk took us through a lot of the orchards where, all the apricots have been picked and the crates are now in place for the apples to be harvested.

We also went to the Wingham allotment to dig up some potatoes. Mal is going to keep that one for potatoes and cabbages. It isn’t as big as the Preston allotment. Ellie and I played ball in Elgar’s field while he was digging.

I was also “mushroom” spotting. I don’t know enough about them to even attempt eating them. Better not to.

Mal went off to the local allotment to keep up with the weeding and I cleaned some horse brasses that we bought in Canterbury. We have quite a collection now.

We have been invited to join the Village Society so we went to our first meeting in the pub. Martin, the guy who held “Prestonbury” in his grounds, was there and the Society presented him with a bouquet of flowers. He donated some charity money raised on the day to the Society and offered his grounds if anyone wants to use them for any events in the future. The Society was a real good mix of people. We got through the agenda quite quickly and then carried on drinking! The next event they/ we are organising is Halloween and somehow I have got involved in an action group for traffic calming in the village. We had to laugh at a very comical Chairperson who offered Mal some space in her greenhouse should he require it. He thanked her but said he had one of his own, she then told him hers was 120 foot long!! He couldn’t compete with that but it did make us all laugh. By the sounds of it she has her own indoor pool too. It was a good evening.

Thought for the Day – “If you concentrate on finding whatever is good in every situation, you will discover that your life will suddenly be filled with gratitude, a feeling that nurtures the soul.” ~ Rabbi Harold Kushner

Tuesday, September 8th, 2015Wednesday, September 9th, 2015

Tuesday 8th September 2015

Another very long early morning walk. Ellie just loves running through the woods and seeing all the new horses. We have so many public footpaths around us.

We went into Canterbury for lunch and ate at Chapman’s because we love their fish platter. Delicious.

Thought for the Day – “An early morning walk is a blessing for the whole day.” ~ Henry David Thoreau

Monday, September 7th, 2015Monday, September 7th, 2015

Monday 7th September 2015

About time we discovered more of the footpaths around us, so off we went with Ellie. Some of the footpaths aren’t used so in spite of the fact that I had wellies on, my jeans above the top of the wellies were soaked by the end of the walk. The paths were so overgrown. We walked for 2 hours.

Mal then went off to his allotment.

There is a thick Syrian dust cloud over Cyprus at the moment. That won’t be doing our pool any good.

Thought for the Day – “In every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks.” ~ John Muir

Sunday, September 6th, 2015Sunday, September 6th, 2015

Sunday 6th September 2015

Scarlet and Jack were up early and came in to “see if we were awake”!!

Grandad was playing games with them so Torin and I took the three dogs for a long walk. As soon as they arrived at the common, straight in the river, led by Ellie but I don’t think Millie needed too much encouragement.

Three wet dogs in Torin's car — Three wet dogs in Torin’s car

I can see Ellie has had so much fun but she is also very well behaved for Torin. He walks past, cows, bulls and horses with all three to heel.

After lunch we had to say our goodbyes and drive home. It was really strange, it seemed as though we had been away for a couple of weeks not just 6 days.

In the evening we watched the first of the series Commando School. Now I know exactly what River has been through so far.

Thought for the day – “A positive attitude may not solve all your problems, but it will annoy enough people to make it worth the effort.” ~ Herm Albright

Saturday, September 5th, 2015Sunday, September 6th, 2015

Saturday 5th September 2015

Villa in North Cyprus for sale

We slept really well. It may have been something to do with the two huge glasses of wine I consumed! The plan was to have a wander around the New Forest but it was raining. We know if Ellie was with us we would have put coats and wellies on and just gone out but we didn’t have Ellie with us! We had breakfast and then drove back to Torin’s house. So much traffic and so many hold ups but we eventually arrived there. Scarlet and Jack were pleased to see us. Of course Ellie was too.

Friday, September 4th, 2015Saturday, September 5th, 2015

Friday 4th September 2015

Villa in Cyprus for sale

We chose the place we are staying at for the proximity to the Commando centre, you can walk there. But if we come to something else for River we will certainly find alternative accommodation! It is on a busy main road and every time a car goes by the lights shine in our room window and the noise because I like the window open, is awful! Consequently I didn’t sleep after 2am! When we met at breakfast we discovered Rhys was also awake from 1.30 and we both heard someone walking around. It was a very old building. I think Rhys thought it was us and we thought it was them!

We had to be at the Commando Centre at 7.45. We had such a great day when so much was explained to us and they showed us all around, even to the rehabilitation unit with state of the art equipment that people come from all of the world to see. This is a very elite unit and they are so well looked after,

River’s CO spoke to Lou and Rhys and said River was like a bag of spanners when he arrived but he has confidence in him now after only 4 weeks. It is quite unbelievable their training programme and what they achieve in that time. Apart from all the information we watched a marching display and then people were asked to try joining in. Then we watched 45 minutes of their very tough exercise regime. It really was a brilliant day and so pleased River invited us. Can’t wait for the next one.

We will now have to watch the series Royal Maines Commandos so we can follow what he is in for next!!

Four weeks and River is now hanging from 30 foot ropes! He now has the weekend off, expected back on Sunday, so they headed off back home and Mal and I drove to Lyndhurst to spend the night in the New Forest. We walked around Lyndhurst village in the evening and found a nice place to have dinner in a pub garden.

Thought for the Day – “Kindness is the language which the deaf can hear and the blind can see.” ~ Mark Twain

Thursday, September 3rd, 2015Friday, September 4th, 2015

Thursday 3rd September 2015

Villa in Cyprus for sale

Shirley made us a big cooked breakfast and we were still sitting at the breakfast table chatting at 11am! Finally we packed up and left and drove to Devon. We were booked into a B&B just down the road from the Commando centre ready for River’s Family Day the following day.

We were all staying at the same place and in the evening we ate just along the road at Nutwell Lodge.

Thought for the Day – “If today were the last day of your life, would you want to do what you are about to do today?” ~ Steve Jobs