It all happens in our village

Hey, how ya diddlin? Miss me yesterday? No thought not, it was my day off, empty head, day of rest. Quite the opposite of today, I've been running around like a blue arse fly, never stopped, feet didn't touch the ground, ha ha. Well they did get a bit of rest when I sat down at the craft club.

First thing this morning I had to do a dog walk, I didn't have to, I volunteered. My friend Joyce has had a cataract operation and she is not supposed to tilt her head forwards while bending down. Very difficult to pick up dog poo if you can't look down while scraping it up with your hand inside a plastic bag. So I am doing the morning walks for her because that's when Bailey the poodle does his ablutions. Three squats and he should be empty.

I really enjoyed that walk around the village, it was very busy for a Monday morning. The council men were filling a few holes in the road with tarmac, looks a right state now, a real bodge job. The bin wagon was out blocking the road while the men ran around pulling the bins to the back of the lorry. I had a little smile to myself, the operatives were all of slender stature apart from one who was a young portly chap. He must be new I thought, give it a couple of months and he will be as skinny as the rest of them. There was folks rushing to work, and other dog walkers to chat to. I love it when the doggies get to socialize as well. You sniff my bum and I'll sniff yours, ha ha.

On the way to the Chat and Craft at the village hall I passed a large rubbish bin on wheels, which was overflowing. The lid wouldn't shut and the contents looked quite interesting so I couldn't resist a nosey inside. There was a large storage box with a leatherette type covering and several strong shopping bags which had plenty of life left in them. I fished them out and took them with me. Two of the bags were snaffled by the ladies, and I stripped the cover off the storage box. That will do for a crafting project. I wish people wouldn't dump useful stuff.

While I am talking about village life, I'll tell you a funny story, well I thought it was funny. Open Reach, the company who are putting in all the cables for our new faster broadband, has spent the last two weeks installing a large green electrical junction box thingy. It's outside my friends house, on a main road, opposite a long straight side road. A couple of days ago a driver who was not paying much attention to what he was doing, overshot the junction and ploughed straight into it, totally wiping it out and demolishing a wall at the same time. No, that bit isn't funny, the driver is ok by the way. My two friends, him and her, don't live in the house any more, they have moved to another street. Someone told them about this new installation a few days before, so she went to have a look at it. Apparently they didn't put the box in the right place and it was partially over the entrance to their driveway. She got on the phone, and after pressing many buttons she got through to the reporting damaged boxes department. This is before it happened don't forget. She explained where the box was, and was asked if it was damaged. Her answer, 'no not yet, but it will be'. She said this because they will struggle to get their caravan out and it might get damaged in the process. Well blow me down, she was right, it did get damaged. My friend must be clairvoyant, I think I will ask her to read my palm if she can see into the future, ha ha.

After lunch, which was a banana sandwich with lemon curd, no time to cook something, I went to Helen's to help her with the newsletter deliveries. I was pleased to do this as I really need to do more walking. I've been thinking of my next long walk, which won't happen till the spring, I have a hankering for another long one. The bus pass holiday was different, and fun, because I had more time to stop and chat to people, but I did miss clocking up the miles. It felt like cheating, like I hadn't achieved anything. Oh yeah, I did one day of 20 miles, big deal. I climbed a couple of hills in the Lake District. It was nice and all that, but it wasn't a challenge. So roll on next spring when I can get out again for some long walking days.

The time coming up to Christmas is the time of the year I least enjoy. I try and be outside as much as I can, weather permitting. From now on there's going to be chaos at the shops. Shelves of essentials are cleared to make way for the ever expanding array of Christmas paraphernalia. Roads in and out of car parks will be blocked and there will be jostling in the aisles as shoppers barge their way towards the checkouts. Let madness commence. Glad I have opted out of it. I just sit back and let them all get on with it.

Had a nice surprise when I checked the blog tonight, Jason has sent a comment. Thank you  :o)) I'm chuffed.

Some good news, we re homed a black and white cat called Lucky last week. He came to us because his elderly owner was moving into sheltered accommodation and couldn't take him with her. A lovely couple have adopted him, they live in a village location, with plenty of open spaces around his new home.
Toodle pip.