Six weeks have just flown by.
I had to be in Guildford for a couple of weeks over Easter, and Rachel and Keith kindly invited us to base ourselves in Cobham. They have such a beautiful home and always make us feel so welcome.
We didn’t do too much eating out as we normally would. Instead, we enjoyed relaxed evenings at home, joining soirées with their friends—some we knew, some we didn’t. Christien popped over to see us, and we spent a lovely morning wandering around the splendid Painshill Park. Back in the day, it was apparently fashionable to hire a hermit to live in the park as an attraction, which made us all chuckle—especially when we learned he was eventually fired for spending too much time in the pub.
It was all great fun, as usual, and it’s always tough to leave while also trying not to overstay our welcome.
Back in Hartford, we knew there was always something needing attention. The first few weeks were spent tackling the garden. I’m an outdoorsy person, so although it can be quite arduous, I really enjoy adding new plants and replacing some of the old. Mum loves her garden, and we wanted to leave her with a space she can enjoy with her friends over the summer.
After removing the old greenhouse—Dad’s lab, really, but not a place Mum spent much time—we decided it should go to someone who would bring it back to life. So Jon and I, with Rachel’s oversight, packed it into a van Jon had borrowed and took it back to Braintree, where an excited, green-fingered Jo was ready to take charge.
The shed also needed replacing, so that was next on the list. We had planned to be on our way, but we’d been talking about painting the hallway (up and down) for a while. Somehow, we experienced a bit of “scope creep” and ended up having most of the inside of the house painted—something that took a team of three painters working nine hours a day for fourteen days to complete.
Although it seemed like a great idea beforehand, it quickly became an ordeal. We were all squeezed into a couple of rooms, with Mum and me at each other’s throats, and Rachel—as usual—skillfully playing peacemaker. It was all down to me being incredibly unreasonable, feeling like we’d disrupted Mum’s life too much with all the changes.
It was time to disappear.
Dream Chasers 