MONO MONDAY - KEY

Key : of crucial importance

The key to having good neighbours is to have mutual respect and friendship and we have both those in spades with our next door neighbours, Lynn and Mike.

You may remember that we have been having Afternoon Tea at 4.00 p.m. every day since the lockdown started and I think to date, we have only missed three afternoons.

We get on so well with them and despite people thinking and even asking “Whatever do you find to talk about every day?” we always find something and I don’t think there has ever been a “pregnant pause”!  Sometimes we do crosswords together, or dingbats and just recently, we have been thinking up words to be “the word of the day”, but most of the time we just sit, chat and enjoy one another’s company.

This afternoon Mr. HCB and Mike are “going for a jolly” because having got a slot at our local tip, Mike asked Mr. HCB if he would be willing to go with him and help unload all the rubbish once they got there.  Never one to miss out on an adventure, Mr. HCB immediately said he would, so this morning was spent sorting out the said rubbish.  Lynn and I tore up cardboard boxes whilst the men did the heavy stuff, then there was an almighty thunderstorm, so we just put the kettle on and sat underneath the carports having a cup of coffee, watching the rain. And boy, did it rain!

I felt quite “under the weather” when I woke this morning, the room was spinning and I felt quite dizzy, so I mainly sat under our carport watching all that was going on.  I then thought that it might be a good idea to take a photograph to use as my Blip for today and was thinking around the word “key” and found the meaning above.

Both Mr. HCB and I believe it has been even more important during these months of lockdown to have had a great relationship with Lynn and Mike and I would go so far as to say I don’t know how we would have coped without them - and also their daughter, Rachel and her husband, Paul, who have willingly got anything extra we needed and couldn’t get in our weekly delivery slot.  Speaking of which, I forgot to get a slot for today, so this week we will be using food I have in the freezer or cupboard, but as we have beans, peas, courgettes, tomatoes, cucumbers and blackberries coming out of our ears, I don’t think we will starve - in fact, we have even been keeping Lynn and Mike well supplied.  However, it works both ways, Lynn gave me a huge bagful of apples last night, so guess what we were busy doing?  She also does lots of baking, so often passes goodies over too.  

So thanks to Lynn and Mike for being the best neighbours in the world.  Lynn also makes the best sausage and bacon sandwiches - I think she gets fed up with us saying how good the bacon smells when she is cooking it, so makes us a sandwich as well!   If you have good neighbours, treasure them as we do ours and you may even get a good bacon sarnie on occasions too!  

“A good neighbour is 
     a priceless treasure.”
Chinese proverb