but as of 1st June this will be the view from my front door.
For those of you who didn't get much sleep last night, yes those are horses & yes I'm moving to the stables. Or, to a cottage within the grounds of the stables, to be a little more accurate. Can you imagine ? Horses, dogs, pigs, goats, a donkey and tractors - I will be a pig in poo.
I've alluded to this before, but something my time in NZ taught me was not to worry about 'stuff' too much. I don't mean small stuff, I'm quite happy to worry about that, I mean big stuff, relationships, houses, jobs, emigration - if it's supposed to be, it will be.
For the 1st four months of this year I was being mucked about something rotten at home. I didn't know from one week to the next where I was going to live. It was at this time that the lady whose horses I exercise mentioned that the cottage was to become vacant. If I told you that same cottage hasn't been vacant in the ten years I've been riding there, you'll understand how symbiotic the news was.
Initially when I was showed around it was with the words, 'It's a little grubby so imagine it with a coat of paint and those skylights replaced.' Since then, the kitchen and bathroom have been refurbished and every room has has several coats of immaculate white paint. I am moving to the countryside at the beginning of Summer. Headley Heath is on my doorstep and I will be able to ride every day. How lucky can one person be ? I cannot wait to move in. Photos to follow.
Wales - Part III - Revenge of the Brecon Beacons.
Regular readers will know that occasionally I venture to the land of the druids with other like-minded souls for a walk which I am always woefully ill-equipped to complete. For months now Roger has been warning me that this Monday's walk will be our hardest to date. These are the facts.
1) The distance is 21 miles
2) We start at 0730 (sharp)
3) It starts to get dark at 2030 and he usually has us finishing an hour before it
starts to get dark.
This means he's anticipating us taking 11 hours to do 21 miles.
The hardest walk I've ever done was the 3 Peaks which took 12 hours for 25 miles.
That says one thing to me ... ascents, lots of them.
In February, Milky and I did a really tough week of walks in the Lakes and I told myself I would do 3 hill walks a week to prepare from then on. Did I ? Did I buggery. So, what have I done by way of preparation ? 5 days around Box Hill, no worries.
Again, photos to follow.
St.Alan of the Titchmarsh
Tonight Milky went off to night duty whilst I had my once-monthly domestic blitz. I ironed whilst watching an hours worth of gardening programmes on BBC2. When I was in NZ these were the kind of programmes which I really missed. No-one does horticulture like BBC2. Firstly we were treated to St.Alan, teaching us how to be a gardener and then after that it was sausage-fingered Monty Don. I've never taken to Mr.Don & I can't really explain why, perhaps he's too upper crust to be a real horny-handed son of the soil. It may be just this ; you're either an Alan lady or a Monty lady. Oh yes - and Monty is horse's name, not a mans.
'Don't get mashed or killed'
I get jittery when Milky does nights without me and it's not without reason - he was stabbed during a night duty and no matter how irrational it is, I cannot shake the feeling that had I been there, it wouldn't have happened. We make light of it, but at the beginning of every shift I say the same thing to him - 'Don't get mashed or killed'. I can't imagine being without him now.
On that note, I've been thinking a lot about blogging lately. I see Bloo has knocked his blog on the head and I understand why, though I'm sorry to see it go. For myself, blogging when you're single is straightforward, 'I, me, I, me'. That changes when you start to share your time with someone. It becomes more complicated. Even if your partner gives you carte blanche to blog about them, you become aware that you're opening them up to scrutiny.
On one of my bloglinks, Roxy writes in great detail about her feelings and love life and I've always admired her openness. Her style wouldn't suit me though, I'm much too cowardly to open myself up to strangers like that. She's also had to cope with unwanted attention from people she would rather not, reading her blog. When her current boyfriend found it, he responded admirably but all I was thinking was 'he knows everything about how she feels about him now' and the thought of that scared the hell out of me. Come to think of it, that says more about me than him.
I'm aware that my blog has morphed from 'I think this about this' to 'I went here and did this' and I've considered not posting any more. There came a second prod recently when the Metropolitan Police said in unequivocal terms that they would be unimpressed with any employee found to be posting inappropriate things about the job. I never post about operational matters and, although it's massively tempting I try and steer clear of personal attacks (at least until he resigns) However, 'inappropriate' is such a catch-all, I'm sure it doesn't take too much imagination amongst you to believe that the Met could happen to view just about anything as inappropriate.
Have I decided what to do ? Yes and no.
You may have noticed that I changed the strapline at the top of Q4A a little while ago, to reflect the fact that this is no longer just about documenting my search for employment with horses in NZ during a career break. However, I do see this as an excellent way of keeping in touch with people (especially those whose day is starting as mine is ending)
I've been thinking about which blogs I read and why. Some are by people who interest me. I don't agree with a lot of what they say & reading their blogs exercises my brain & sometimes my fury. Some are by people I miss and I love hearing what they're up to. Some are by people better travelled & more learned, in this way I avoid disappointing holidays to political hotspots. Some are by people I admire. One is by someone who detests their flatmate so much I count my blessings. One is a collection of amusing anecdotes from someone who if they didn't blog would surely spontaneously combust. One is purely a rant against women and the author's continued lack of success with them. You get my drift. The point being, I read different blogs for different reasons so if I can't tell everything I'd like to on mine, I'm sure you'll find one where someone can. Perhaps being anon is the way to go ?
The plan is this. Q4A will run until I do or don't get to NZ. If they say no, I'll consider that the natural end. If I get in, I'll carry on, if only to continue posting pictures of the most beautiful place on earth.
Cx
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