A Fairly Normal Sunday

Life is beginning to return to normal. I went to church this morning, and there was much rejoicing and many hugs from friends at the news of my completed sale of the flat and permanent move to Tiptree. By the end of the service I was feeling quite emotional, knowing that at last I have come home to where I’m meant to be. Arrangements for days out and other events are already being made - even so, I still can’t quite believe my new-found freedom. I went round Sainsbury’s smiling with relief and, although I don’t usually drink alcohol much - and never alone at home - I bought a miniature bottle of bubbly to celebrate the beginning proper of my retirement, a little over 9 years since leaving work in 2015.

My blip today is a gorgeous hand-made signed William Moorcroft “Pomegranates” bowl made in around the 1920’s which I bought four years ago for a ridiculously low price, and which I haven’t been able to put on display until now. It sits on a round rattan coffee table with a glass top which was in Mum and Dad’s house in the 60’s when I was growing up (see Extra for a photo of it in the only area of the bungalow which isn’t piled high with boxes). When I bought my first flat in the early 80’s with a friend, they gave it to me to help with furnishing the place as we didn’t have much money left after paying the monthly mortgage and bills. I would never, ever part with it - it’s been with me all the time since the beginning. Turns out it’s an original and iconic 1950's coffee table by the Italian designer Franco Albini, and you would have to fork out a few hundred to acquire one now in such great condition. I reckon it’s been in at least 9 homes of ours over the past six decades, and happily it has made yet another house move unscathed!

Anyway, that bottle of bubbly should be nicely chilled by now - cheers!