Flying solo

please-let-me-be-lucky

Lots of love on this sad day Xx

Dansmam

Roses sound gorgeous Robin, hope you got a moment to stop and smell them and remember good things - also wonder does CD sing and did she try to sing along with the goodhumoured drunk. Glad it didn't rain, we know what you're like for looking after other people - suspect you'd have fed him breakfast and driven him home too. Just teasing - hugs from me too.

maddiemay

Hugs to you and CD from me and the hairy one too.
xx

*Robin*

Thank you all for your kind words.. :T

Today was poignant, rather than deeply distressing. The grief doesn't really go away, but it's become part of my heart and I've had no choice but to get used to it.
Spent the afternoon arranging roses then meditating by DH's grave until CD got fed up with investigating nearby rabbit holes, so we walked companionably in the woodlands while Divo Four practised his yoga on a grassy knoll next to the van (much of it positions which require balancing on his head, to the astonishment of other grave-visitors and passing dog walkers :rotfl:).

CD ambles along so slowly I had time to read many of the wooden markers. Found a couple near Dear Father which gave pause for thought, in an area dedicated to the burial of ashes. The first read "Ronnie Barker" and close by is another labelled "Joan Crawford <surname>" - surely not?!
My reveries were suddenly interrupted by a stinging pain in one foot; instinctively I kicked out, to see a dying bee flung from my open-toed sandal - poor thing, she must have crawled in and got stuck..
It was obviously time to limp back to the van and leave.. Still haven't got a proper first aid kit, so slathered a mixture of GP and Germ0line onto the throbbing toe which sorted it out pretty much immediately (swelling gone in about five minutes!).

Dansmam wrote: »

Roses sound gorgeous Robin, hope you got a moment to stop and smell them and remember good things - also wonder does CD sing and did she try to sing along with the goodhumoured drunk. Glad it didn't rain, we know what you're like for looking after other people - suspect you'd have fed him breakfast and driven him home too. Just teasing - hugs from me too.

The roses were beautiful Dansmam, they held their scent long after being cut.
CD wouldn't deign to sing with a drunk - though in the past she has joined in if we sing along to music (as did the other three - guaranteed hit at kids' parties, that was! :rotfl:).
You're right, if it had rained the drunkard would have joined us overnight and for breakfast, but we couldn't return him to base as he is homeless - turns out DS4 has spoken to him several times while walking in the NT gardens - so it would have been hard to avoid adopting the poor chap (he won't stop drinking, so gets thrown out of all the local shelters). Tbh, it's his choice; he would have been a complication I really couldn't cope with - so thank goodness last night was balmy and dry!

Third consecutive NSD - wow!

missrlr

Hey Robin shame about th bee but lovely meandering reading of others times.
Glad CD continues to improve. And actually I think the avoidance of complications right now would be a good thing overall.
Hope the weather remains conducive to camping without too many issues and you can avoid wet belonging needing to be dried out.
I have just taken a seriously life changing decision, backed thankfully by DH. Bound to be some stress associated with this to begin with but I think it will all pan out. Fingers crossed.

*Robin*

Hello Diary and MSE Friends, :hello:

Missrlr - ooh, can I guess.. Are you giving up your job? Scary, but liberating if so. Better to spend time with those one cares about than chase the money-monkey and regret it later..

You're very right about my life; it's complicated enough without introducing another random alcoholic who needs lots of support to get his life back on track.. :cool:

CD had a blip today, as did I. Both sick as Lucky's chip, we were; I only really came out of a stupor this evening which is why am still awake now.
Suspect the van's oven might have a fault - hoping Camper-van Dealer will direct us to a local colleague tomorrow who can get to the bottom of it. Don't know how close we came to being gassed, but the bottle which had been half full two days ago was empty this morning (last night was the first time I'd used the oven).
Divo Four looked after us wonderfully, bless the lad (his bed is much higher off the floor which we think is why he wasn't affected).

Being positive, today was the fourth NSD in a row.

mcculloch29

Argh, Robin! Oh My Goodness. Well done to CD's and your Guardian Angels who must be on overtime.
TG you don't HAVE to use the oven, and can hopefully get all fixed without another humdinger of a bill.
Praying that is definitely it for mishaps for you. On the up side, you are not allergic to bee venom in the way that some are - including my daughter.

Ballerina57

Hi Robin,

I have sat and ready all of your diary over the past few days (some of it when I should've been working). As previous posters have said you have a natural descriptive way with words and I agree there should be a best seller in the offing!

As I am also "owned" by a wonderful, comical little woofer, your posts about the dogs reduced me to tears on more than one occasion but I am so happy that CD appears to be on the road to recovery.

Please keep on with your adventures to keep me and all your friends "in the box" entertained.

B57 xx:j

Brightspark87

robin, please look after yourself and I so hope that the gas leak is sorted and all three of you are ok?? xx

*Robin*

Dear Diary and Gentle Readers, :hello:

Ballerina - welcome to Flying Solo; thanks for your kind words, am glad you find my rambles entertaining - but please don't let your boss catch you - I'd hate to be responsible for getting you into trouble when you're supposed to be working!

Missrlr - right decision, dear friend. You are only indispensable at home, and although it's scary, the Powers we cannot yet understand will provide when you have trust that you're doing the best for those closest to your heart (including yourself). L&L. Have a dodgy hug: :grouphug:

Mcculloch - thanks for your kind thoughts too. Sorry to read that your daughter is allergic to bee-venom - have you thought of consulting an alternative practitioner to see if there is anything which could help de-sensitise DD?
My DS4 reacted very badly to several triggers when he was young which gave him dangerously severe asthma; I took him to a private specialist who identified the allergies, then a homoeopath prescribed a mixture which sorted it out (took a couple of years but was 100% successful - he's absolutely fine now, even when surrounded by the substances which used to prompt the need for blue-lighted trips to hospital).

Sparky - don't worry, DS4 looked after CD and self very well indeed. :T
Camper-van Dealer responded to my rather incoherent email immediately, arranging for a gas engineer to visit us (at his expense). Whatever went wrong hasn't been fixed yet because the gas bottle had emptied itself which limited the tests the engineer could do, so we've got to wait for a return visit whenever GE can fit us into his busy schedule (managed to swap bottle for a re-fill yesterday).
It's a bit of a pain because we can't make tea in the van, cook or keep the fridge cold, but DR appears to be enjoying our presence* so I don't really mind extending our time parked outside his house.
Meanwhile CD and I are both feeling better, thank goodness.

Clever Dog. Hmm yes, that's a good nickname for her.. She lost around four kilos while she was ill, which means her harness is now much too big and she can remove it at will. So I've been clipping the long-line onto her collar when she's sitting outside (to stop her wandering into the path of cyclists who don't realise she can't see them). Trouble is, CD learned how to release her lead from the collar when she was still a puppy, and she's started doing it again when she gets bored!
Apart from keeping CD next to me all the time, the only solution I can think of is to double to amount she gets fed in order to bring her up to ideal weight for her breed as fast as possible.. That's hitting the budget a bit, lol - but I don't begrudge it (thinking of the alternative outcome).

*DR certainly hasn't eaten so well for years, although he was a bit wary of swapping his ready-meal diet for 'real food' especially mostly vegetarian [:rotfl:] - but seems grateful when full plates are passed to him without requiring any effort on his part in the cooking process.

Broke m' run of NSDs though; simply had to go shopping to stock DR's kitchen with fresh ingredients, and am going to add to not truly essential spends because cooking without benefit of a steamer just doesn't feel right.

Spends:
Groceries [inc. CD's fresh meat] - £63
Gas bottle - £24
DS4, to take his sister out for a drink - £20
ETA: Ordered a steamer - £28