A walk to the moor

To keep warm I went out for a walk this morning. It was dull, damp and grey. The snow is still hanging around on Simonside and the Cheviots. “Waiting for more” my mum would say. But with any luck we’ll be in warmer climes by then.

When I got back Brian the Rayburn man was here. He’d called last night to have a look and said he’d be back today as the problem wasn’t obvious. But he loves a puzzle and had it taken apart. The problem was the fuel pump which had a worn bit so it was pumping in a variable amount of fuel. He put in a new pump. It is so much quieter and the radiators are much hotter. Phew. It’s so old that every year we wonder if it’s the last. Brian says it’ll be going longer than him.

I went to Carey’s for stitching group. We had interesting chat while we got on with things. Alison did a tapestry, Vivienne was working on a beautiful foxglove for her quilt, Carey was making a cuddly rabbit from a kit, Katy was crocheting squares for a cardigan for her daughter and Ros was knitting. We talked about Hong Kong, local eateries, singing and yoga retreats, churches with interesting artefacts, a Netflix crime drama set in Paros where Carey has a second home, the Zoe health app - she is wearing a monitor to check her glucose levels at different times of day - and of course the vile effects of #47.

I hurried home for WhatsApp with Bev who can’t come to visit in April as she’d hoped. Her young husband will be 60 this year and he hopes to leave NT and do something different, their daughter who had a still birth last year is having a baby in May and they are hoping to sell their house in Dorset and move near her in Somerset. It’s all a bit much for her.

We’ll be discussing the family summer holiday with the daughters tonight. A date has been established. Now we need to sort where. We suspect a week in a German CenterParcs which will accommodate the children better, and give opportunities for interesting visits too. A week in CenterParcs will be more than enough for us