Similar to my post on the 9 things I’m excited about seeing and doing in Canada and Prince George, I began writing this before we were able to leave the UK. It emerged out of conversations where sympathetic friends/family would bemoan our situation, I’d try and look on the bright side listing things I would have missed out on if we were in already in Canada. So here are the things, people, days that I’m truly grateful to for keeping me positive.
Watching Florence learning to walk
When you know you are about to miss all sorts of important miles stones, getting to to be around unexpectedly for one is special. My niece Florence was still a baby when lock down began, by the time I secured work in Canada, and we were able to leave the UK, she was a fully walking puddle-splashing toddler.
Walking in Wiltshire
If there was one thing that saved our sanity while waiting and hoping that the border would open, it was walking. We walked and walked. We set out from my Mum’s house in all directions, sometimes for full days sometimes just a quick evening stroll in the hills. Wiltshire is stunning and, aside from dodging protective cows guarding their calves, our jaunts were wonderful.
Spending time with my sister and my Mum
For the first time in twelve years my Mum, my sister and I were living in close proximity this summer. Had I been able to fly to Canada on the 5th of April I would have finished work on Friday 3rd April and left for Canada two days later. Meaning I would have missed out on the giggles while walking with my Mum hunting for old clay pipes in fields. My sister and I had, for the first time in years and years, time to sit a cafe and chat for hours, just the two of us.
Being there for friend’s momentous moments
Quite a few of my friends have been at rather important moments in their lives recently. One finished a PhD, passed her viva and got a job. Another moved into their new family home, after four months living with her parents, husband and kiddies. A brave soul bought a flat and battled building material shortages to get it completed. And one is going through the biggest challenge I’ve seen her take on since she puked up a Screaming Orgasm Cocktail and chased it down with a shot of Tequila. So all in all I’m really glad I was at least on the same time zone while these exciting things were happening.
Roasting marshmallows on the fire pit
And bananas loaded with chocolate wrapped in tinfoil, baked until they ooze. Potatoes, cooked the same way, minus the chocolate. Dampers, a beautifully simple campfire bread, cooked slowly then smeared then with jam. This is all after a huge BBQ which we’d feast on before we even got to the campfire cooking portion of the evening. I’m so grateful to my in-laws for our warm summer evenings, snuggled under blankets, getting the perfect roast on a marshmallow.
Starting a gigantic, historic sampler
During the British lock down, having just left my teaching position, I wasn’t working from home like most people. So I was desperately in need of some projects (other than trying to find a way to get to Canada). I have completed cross stitches before but never on this scale. I would definitely never have taken on something so dauntingly large had I not been locked up with time to kill and my sanity to preserve! I’m set to finish it around my 50th birthday (needless to say the four stitches Jacob contributed when I took this photograph didn’t help much).
Spending time with my grandparents
Of all the blessings big and small, material or otherwise one can have, I had a ridiculously huge one: I had all four of my Grandparents until I was 30. All four of my grandparents saw me get married last summer and danced with each other under pastel lanterns that warm summer evening. What a hugely overlooked privilege that is. This summer, because I was back in Wiltshire and with no work responsibilities, I enjoyed time with my Gran, Babs and Pops. This simply would not have happened if I had got that flight on the 5th April.
Reading Hubble’s Treasure Hunt by Elaine Horseman
Had I not been living with my Mum this summer I certainly would not have picked this book up and finally discovered how bloody brilliant it is. It was written by my Grandad’s sister so there are personal reasons why I enjoyed it so much. The house the children in the story live in is based on the one where my Pops grew up. There are words, such as ‘chunter’, that I have not heard anyone but my Pops, and those whose turn of phase has been influenced by him, use. But even without the personal connections, I loved the time travel, the treasure hunt and the enchanting descriptions of nature. The reviews are not wrong, Elaine Horseman is a master of suspense and I can’t wait to read her other books.
A perfect day at the beach
Living in Britain you know you have all the ingredients for a perfect beach day, if only the weather would work with you. Having passed most of the summer at a laptop trying to figure out a way to get to Canada it was amazing to have one day’s holiday. One perfect day at the beach with Jacob, my sister and her family. The sun shone, we mastered gracefully falling off the Stand Up Paddle Board and my nieces splashed in the waves.
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West Country Wandering 