Summer

Whisper this, but it would appear that we may be getting a summer. For the last couple of days, we have had warm temperatures and intermittent brilliant sunshine, although today, the sun did disappear leaving a sultry morning followed by a lovely sunny afternoon. The humidity is a little high though, and last night one of the cats decided it would be fun to sleep draped over me. Warm temperatures, and a furry scarf just do not mix but try telling him that.

I have had a week off, and am back at work day after tomorrow. Naturally, I have not managed to get done all the things I intended, and the week has passed in a blur.

Time flies so quickly. Whether this is a sign of ageing or not I don't know, but a year seems so much shorter than it used to be. We are, not so merrily, hurtling towards Christmas and we have not seen a summer yet. The nights are drawing in. As I write, it is just after 8.30pm and dark is falling, and I have the light on, and this morning I heard geese. The geese gather twice a year on a field around the corner. In spring on their way north, and autumn on the way south. They can both perk up and dampen the spirits.

The shorter days herald the cold, grey skies and snuggling in front of the fire, but they also bring with them the the blue period (and I don't mean Picasso).

I hate the winter, it makes me feel like staying in bed all day. My body does not cope well with the cold and feels like it is seizing up, my brain goes sluggish and I can't remember anything, and my mood heads into a deep blue abyss. I only start to come out of the mood when the days are perceptibly longer.

Ongoing

Operation repel flea is ongoing and I am fed up with it. The problem is nowhere near as bad as it was a couple of weeks ago so hopefully as far as the house is concerned, we are winning.

The cats are a different story however. I have been using a spray which acts as a sticky trap - spray the cat, wait for it to dry and brush out the horrid little bugs. Simple. Well no, not when the cat concerned washes off the spray as fast as I apply it, or the cunning little feline spots you sneaking up on them and does a runner. Said cat also wriggles just at the precise second I am about to grab a flea, so we have a near miss. I did manage to spray the brush today and get some of the flea debris off, but I need to remove the creatures causing the issue.

Then I discovered a flea comb, and we really started to make headway. As long as the cats are relaxed, they let me run the comb through their fur removing numbers of fleas, eggs and flea dirt. I am going to have to give in on the natutal remedies and make a visit to the vet for some flea treatments though. As fast as I vacuum the house, the cats go running around replacing what I have just got rid of.

When I spoke to the vets this week, they told me that they are selling flea treatments at an unprecedented rate, and we agreed that it must be the weather. We have had such a wet year that it has obviously provided the perfect breeding conditions for fleas.

The weather has not improved much. Today was one of those mixed days of sunshine and heavy rain. It is as though the weather gods cannot decide what to throw at us. It makes it difficult to know what to put on in the morning - sandals or wellies, coat or no coat. Perhaps we will have an Indian summer.

Not going to Plan - again.

I have just received my annual private pension statement and it does not make for joyful reading. Although I have had the pension for over 20 years, based on current figures, I may get a pension of £600 a year. Anyone get the feeling that I won't be retiring any time this side of the new millennium?

So, short of winning the lottery, what to do? I need to make my businesses start to work for me. Easier said than done in this economic climate, although oddly last year, in the middle of what we were told was a recession, the pet sitting business did well. This year, despite new clients, it is slow going. I wonder if people are not going away because of all the summer events in the UK in 2012. The Queen's Jubilee, The Olympics preceded by all the television adverts suggesting stay-cations (where on earth has that hideous word come from?) have perhaps persuaded people to stay at home. This may be fine for the overall British economy, but not for those of us with businesses which rely on people going away.

My other business needs a kick-start, and hopefully the event I am attending next weekend will be a good beginning to that. It promises to be busy, so I will have to see how it pans out.

Operation Repel Flea

Operation Repel Flea is currently underway in my house. I hate the little buggers, especially when they are chomping on my feet, and despite what it does to my karma I will get rid of them. I will.

I wondered how, for the first time in 14 years of having cats, we had suddenly got a house full of nasty biting insects. Then, last night, I went into the garden to wrangle the cats and came back in with four or five fleas on my feet. They would appear to have taken up residence in the garden.

Because this is a multi-cat household, traditional topical flea treatments are not an option so I opted for a spray which is suitable for cats and for soft furnishings.

Yesterday, was spent spraying and hoovering (the hoover has not seen this much action in a long time) changing bedding; washing bedding, cushion covers and throws; then spraying and hoovering again. Towels and bath mats have gone in this morning and the washing machine does not know what has hit it.

The trouble is that the fleas are in the garden and so are the cats, and as I said earlier when I go out, I bring then in with me. So a plan of action is required.

Step 1.
Research. I hit the internet to see what natural flea repellents are available and what plants might help. I went out and bought a couple of lavender plants to stand by the back door. I also could do with marigold and chrysanthemum plants as they are said to kill fleas.

Step 2.
Make a room spray. I have a house full of essential oils and cedar, lemongrass and lavender are natural flea repellents. I wanted to play with room sprays anyway, so this is a good excuse to do that.

Step 3.
See if any of the above works, and if not, have a rethink.

Step 4.
Once the house is flea free work out how to keep it like that.

It probably goes without saying that I could do without all this. I have better things to do with my time. Good job I like a challenge!

Finally......

I hope you are sitting down for this, but we have sunshine. Yes, real honest to goodness sunshine. The skies are blue, with fluffy white clouds being chased by a light breeze, a breeze which is also making the branches of the trees dance. The cats are outside asleep on various chairs, shelves (long story, don't ask) and in plant pots, Harry Belafonte is on the CD player, and I have a steaming mug of stong coffee beside me on the table. The day could not be more perfect. Unless I win the lottery of course.

I need to get some work done on the car, although an awfully nice man from the AA effected a temporary fix for me during the week. Then there is the work that needs doing on the house - I won't list it it would take too long. I have been in this house for about 16 years and I don't think that it has ever been finished. There has always been at least one room which has needed something doing to it, be it tiling in the bathroom or kitchen, bare plaster walls in the hall or something else which I either can't do or don't have the money for. Add to that that the fact that the whole of the outside needs to be re-rendered, the windows and doors painted and you get the picture. Not pretty is it?

So if the lottery gods are watching would you mind very much picking my numbers tonight?

A summer of sport

I have, so far, managed to studiously avoid all sport related televison over the last few weeks. Currently it is football, shortly Wimbledon starts and then the Olympics. Now, I am not adverse to watching sport, but the relentlessness of what is to come is enough to drive me to distraction. Television companies are labouring under the assumption that we all want to watch various sporting events ad nauseum, and are shuffling the schedules so that we will have no idea where our favourites tv shows will be. As a license payer, it would be nice to be consulted, but large corporations never consult their customers.

I blame all this sporting activity for the wonderful weather we are experiencing at the moment. I know that the British have a weather obsession (or perhaps it is a fetish), but really this year the summer, so far, has been a complete wash out. By that I mean wet, windy, cool and did I mention wet? There have been floods in parts of the country with more on the way, which have followed hard on the heels of hosepipe bans. Definately crazy!

Summer or not

It has been a nice, mainly, sunny day today and the cats have loved it. They have been in the garden since early morning, and I just know I am going to have fun trying to get them in this evening. It is worth the hassle though to know they have enjoyed themselves.
They spend all day lolling in plantpots or chattering at the birds in the trees. From time to time they come in to make sure I am behaving myself, and then potter out again, content that all is as it should be.
The laburnum trees in the garden bordering the alley at the back of the house are shedding their petals, and they all end up in my yard. With the recent rain, they have firmly fixed themselves to the floor and are refusing to give way. It is a problem I have every year, and every year I have my work cut out trying to rid myself of them. They stick to the souls of my shoes, the cats are decorated with them and I find them trampled throughout the house. On the trees, they are cheerful and lovely to look at but once they fall they are a complete nuisance.

It is June and technically summer, although I think someone needs to tell the weather gods. A week or so ago, we had lovely hot weather, although it was a little humid, but now it has cooled considerably and yesterday we had heavy rain.

When the days are longer, and I am not muffled against the cold, everything seems easier and less stressful; food tastes better and I don't get the munchies quite so often; energy levels rise and my get up and go has not got up and gone. I can think straight, my head is clear and I feel like I am able to function.

Summer?

Today, has been glorious with beautiful, clear blue skies, hot sunshine and a cooling breeze. Summer seems to have been a long time coming, and now it is here, I hope it lasts.

I have not been in the best of moods this week. Various things have served to annoy the living daylights out of me. Top of the list, was discovering the full cost of the minor prang I had last year. The cost of repairs to the other parties car was under £1000, which I understand and can rationalise, but the total cost of the claim including personal injury and solicitors fees was the best part of £10,000. This is something which I find completely unacceptable. In almost 30 years of driving (and I am now showing my age) this is the only accident I have had which I have been held responsible for. This week, I received my insurance renewal and it has risen by 200% which would mean that the insurance is more than the value of the car.

This cannot possibly be right. There are two points here I find disturbing. The first is that as there is no way of proving whiplash injuries, and therefore no way of disproving them, insurance companies have their hands tied and pay out on claims whether they are spurious or real, then they pass on the costs to drivers like me. Which brings me to point two. How on earth can my insurance go up so high when I am not a careless driver and have had only one accident, and I have a protected no claims discount? I can understand that it might rise a little, but this is ridiculous.

The Government has talked about cracking down on sharp practices like this, and it won't come soon enough.

Lengthening Days

The days are getting longer, and today has been bright and sunny. Sitting here, and looking out of the window, it looks warmer than it is, and I would be happier if the temperature picked up a bit.

With sunny evenings, I get chance to let the cats into the garden for a while, which makes them happy. They do enjoy sitting on the shed and chattering at the birds taunting them from the trees. What they would do if they were able to get their paws on them is anyone's guess.

The weekend is here and although it was a four day week, it dragged. Of course, these two days will fly by and I won't know where the time has gone. I should be busy with the housework, but I have decided that today will be a day for relaxing and recharging batteries.

It is the Aintree Grand National today, but I can never bring myself to watch the race. I really do find it a horrible spectacle and I hope that there are no casualties this year. Ladies Day brings out some sights. Young women put on their glad rags, but usually look as though they dressed in the dark. Clones of each other, big hair, heavy make-up, tottering on heels on which no woman should walk, not an ounce of individuality among them. It will be the same next year!

Footnote: Sadly, like last year, two horses died today at Aintree.  Should time now be called on this race which costs the lives of so many horses? If it continues, then there needs to be some serious thought given to making it safer.

Spring Forward

I have a lurgy, which I think came north with friends last weekend, and which they forgot to pack again when they headed off. So, while the cats are outside enjoying the warmest weekend of the year, I am inside feeling somewhat sorry for myself.

Last night, I slept badly, blowing alternately hot and cold with plenty of coughing, and I learned that it is very difficult to cough with a full grown cat sitting on your ribcage. The trouble is that I could not have moved said beast without suffering from the death stare for a couple of weeks.

Tonight, the clocks go forward an hour,  and although we lose an hours sleep, we will get an extra hour of daylight which is great. It means that summer is definately on its way and I can't wait for the warm weather.

Bucket List

                          Algonquin Provincial Park

I have never made a bucket list - a list of things to do before you die, so I thought it would be fun to do a list of the places I want to see before I kick the bucket, or pop my clogs, take your pick.
The problem is that the list is fluid, and seems to change on an almost daily basis. There are a few stalwarts like Petra (visited last year so can now be struck off), the Taj Mahal (also seen), Venice, New Zealand, the Aurora Borealis (which I do know is not a place) and Bhutan, but as for everything else on the list today, tomorrow it will be different.

I would though, dearly love to see more than cities. I do enjoy visiting museums, art galleries, coffee shops, taking in the atmosphere of a city, sitting and watching the world go by, but for a change, it would be nice to see something of a country. I would, for example, love to see the "real" Canada, to hear the call of the wolf, to smell clean air and to be able to see the stars at night. There is so much light pollution here that it is difficult to see a single star. I know they are out there keeping company with the moon, but it would be nice to view them.

A few years ago, we had a family holiday in Canada, the second week on the edge of the Algonquin Provincial Park. The idea was that we would go on a wolf listen. Typically, the wolves had other ideas and had moved to another area and we were unable to go out and listen to them howling. In fact, it was a spectacularly unsuccessful wildlife holiday, we did not see so much as an elk. Every beast in the vicinity seemed to have packed a suitcase and gone on their own holiday, as far away from where we were as they could get, and frankly who could blame them?
I want an adventure, not the usual book a flight and hotel and go shopping or to a cafe (although coffee-less would be very bad indeed). I want to get off the beaten track, to wander aimlessly, to watch clouds scud across the skies, trees bowing before the wind, hear the echo of silence, see the stars at night, or the sun dip behind the mountains. These things you cannot do in the city. The cacophony of car engines, doors slamming, mobile phones ringing and people yelling, prevent the rhythms of the earth being heard. There is no stillness. Everywhere is noise and movement. We have become disconnected from our environment and from ourselves and we need to take time to stop and listen.

Light

Finally, there is light at the end of the day. By that I mean that at 5.00pm when I leave the office, the last vestiges of light are lingering and I can almost find my way to my car without falling down a pothole. It points to spring when the trees start to bud and flowers are beginning to wake from their slumbers. Spears of daffodils, and crocus are poking through the ground waiting for the warmth of the sun and I am coming out of my slump.

During the winter, my brain stops functioning properly and hibernation mode kicks in. It is hard to concentrate, and my enthusiasm for anything dries up. I want endless pyjama days which, of course, I don't get and I want to eat endless chocolate, something which I do sometimes give in to. About now, my spirits start to lift and my mental hibernation begins to come to an end and I feel generally lighter, as though a weight has lifted.

Apparently, in parts of the country at the moment, if it is cloudless, you can see the Northern Lights. Of course here with all the light pollution it is nigh impossible to spot such things, and in fact, you are lucky to see a star. A little further north, in Yorkshire, some stunning photographs have been taken of the Aurora Borealis in all their breathtaking beauty. Normally seen only near the Arctic Circle, these rare sightings are only possible because of a strong solar explosion. Catch them if you can.

Signs of Spring.

I was out early this morning to walk a couple of dogs. The trees were tipped with gold, grass crinkled under food and my breath hung before me in the air. It was beautiful and signs of spring were everywhere. I rang my first snowdrop. It was surrounded by tiny spears of crocus and daffodils poking out of the grass beneath a weeping willow.

It is ironic that the first signs of spring are accompanied by one of the coldest mornings of
this winter and I had to scrape the ice off the car for the first time. The trouble with mornings like this is that the sun is so low, it makes it hard to see. Still, I am not complaining, it is a glorious day. Blue skies and sunshine no matter how cold, serve to cheer me up. It is the way it should be, no grey skies and dark days, just beautiful sunshine which brings with it the hope of warmer, longer days.

It is days like this that sustain me through the winter when all I really want to do is stay in bed and keep warm. Although I do not take kindly to snow, at least if we have a blanket of white, it looks like winter should, but instead we get short, dull days with grey skies. The nights are starting to draw out, and there is still a little light in the sky when I leave the office at 5.00pm. The mornings too are lighter now which makes getting up a little easier.

Soon, the trees will be in bud and the geese will be flying north, landing on the field around the corner to rest before continuing their journey. They make such a racket flying overhead in triangle formation but they do herald a welcome change in the seasons.

Is this it?

Do you ever wonder whether this is it, this is all life has to offer? Mortages to pay and food to put on the table means that many people are stuck in jobs they don't like, often with horrendous commutes and for fourty years or more, we spend more time with work colleagues than we do with our families. We lose ourselves in our work, often feeling miserable, and then going home with no enthusiasm for anything.

Perhaps this is the way life is supposed to be. Hard slog with little reward, and then retirement at an age when you are too old to enjoy it. That is a depressing thought.

When I left school, I had no idea what I wanted to do, likewise when I left college. It is only recently I have worked out what I want to do when I am a grown up and part-time I am doing it. It is not enough.

I am not, nor have I ever been good at working for someone else, I do it because I have to. I always feel like I am trapped, unable to breathe, wading uphill through treacle and it makes me stressed and in a bad mood. I don't take orders well. Ask me to do something, and I will willingly do it; tell me and goodwill flies out of the window. The stress of having someone peering over your shoulder at everything you do, drives me to distraction and I like to be left alone to get on with what ever work I have. When you work for someone else, this does not happen. Sometimes too, your opinion of what is professional is not the same as that of the person you work for and this can lead to tensions in the office.

What I crave is freedom, freedom and the space to do my own thing. I would love to be able to get up in the morning and decide for myself what the day will hold. I had a period of unemployment a while ago, and apart from the financial strains which were many, there was a freedom which I had rarely felt before. It did not feel like the end of my life, but the start of the next chapter, and I promised myself that I would not climb back on to the hamster wheel. As things turned out, I was not able to keep that promise, and I am currently running on that dreaded hamster wheel, just trying to stand still. I am working hard at changing things, but for now the peddling and the stress continue with little more than a tiny speck of light at the end of a very long tunnel.

Sailing and why I don't.

I am looking for ways of earning extra money. At this time of year, the purse is pretty empty, and things like the car tax fall due for payment, really bad timing just after Christmas. So, I am looking at my options.

There is a website where freelance jobs are advertised, and I have been poking about to see what is on offer. One job asked for a short piece on travel mishaps, and it reminded me of something that happened to me a number of years ago.

My French friend had come across for a visit, so we thought that we would take her to the beautiful Lake District. It was July, and the weather typical for a British summer, cold, wet and windy. We stayed with friends of my parents who were keen on boating, and who offered to take us out on the lake. Despite my reservations about boats and water, it sounded like it would be fun.

So off we went, three girls in a small boat on a big lake. We sailed about for a while, rain soaked, wind in our hair, before my French friend decided it was too cold and wanted to go back to sit in the car.

The boat, expertly handled by our family friend, was manoeuvred close to shore, and we were told to jump out. So, I jumped, and found myself in rather deep water unable to feel the lake bed. Stupidly, I had not checked to see on which side of the boat the land lay and had jumped out the wrong side. Before I managed to think, the sail was caught by the wind and our little boat started to head out towards the middle of the lake with me clinging to the side wondering whether or not to let go.

We sailed back towards the shore and shallower water, and to my relief a complete stranger waded out to grab me. At this point, it is worth bearing in mind that my family were on dry land watching, and that not one of them thought to come to my rescue, they were laughing too hard. The other thing to note, is that I was the only person who had gone to the lake without a change of clothes, so I had an extremely soggy afternoon until we arrived back at the house.

The moral of the story? Look before you leap.

Born Too Late?

I read. A lot. I have recently been reading about the search for the Northwest Passage, that illusive path through the frozen seas of the Arctic which links the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans. For centuries, this search became almost an obsession for sailors, explorers and governments alike. Despite the dangers of seeking the passage, which it was hoped would become an important trade route, men happily volunteered to sail on ships which were completely inadequate to cope with the rigours of Arctic exploration, not to mention lack of suitable clothing, and supplies which either went rancid or ran out before their journey ended. This obsession cost lives. The last expedition by Sir John Franklin alone, which set sail in 1845, cost the lives of 129 men.

It made me think. Are there any such mysteries left to solve? Everest has been climbed, the Northwest Passage sailed (Roald Amundsen 1903 - 1906, the globe has been circumnavigated, the Poles conquered, the Silk Routes travelled more than once, the source of the Nile discovered. What is left?

It also made me wonder about the people who took it upon themselves to risk their lives to explore the globe. What makes someone leave the safety of their home to travel into the unknown in search of something which may or may not exist? Ordinary men and women with an amazing spirit of adventure packed a bag or two and set off to experience hardships, dangers and deprivation, often for years at a time, not knowing if they would ever see home again.

So, why did they do it? Was it the spirit of adventure, money or the possibility of covering themselves in glory that persuaded these extraordinary people to go off exploring? Perhaps it was a mixture of all three.

What of now? If there were any such routes to find, who would go looking? I would love to think that I would have the courage required, but how easy would it be to leave everything I know and head off into the unknown? 

I do, sometimes, think that I would like to have been born a century earlier (except that I would probably have been below stairs), and to have the opportunity to go off and find something new. Imagine how it would feel to have been the first explorer to see Niagara Falls or Grand Canyon, to have been Johann Ludwig Burckhardt re-discovering Petra, a city which had been lost to the west for centuries. How he must have been in awe walking past the huge jinn blocks and down the narrow Siq and suddenly coming face-to-face with The Treasury carved deep into the pink rock. How I would love to have made a discovery like that, if only I had the courage to do it.