because the lure of a lie in tomorrow means I am not remotely tired now 😉
Yesterday I was office bound all day. I quite like it in the office although it is very chilly. I did lots of adminny things including answering email queries, taking bookings, filling in forms and so on. I also sorted a couple of press releases and booked some advertising and arranged a couple of journalist stays in exchange for reviews.
Davies spent some time in the office with me – he was feeling sad and cried on me twice but couldn’t, or infact wouldn’t tell me why. The only thing I could get out of him was that he was worried I was going to replace him. I couldn’t work that one out at all 🙁 We cuddled lots and he seemed cheerier. After lunch Davies made the pizza dough for dinner later (and did a fine job) and then watched some films. Scarlett was outside with Leyah as the new goats (two male kids, nine months old, very cute) had arrived and needed settling in and adjusting to Benji and vice versa. Ady was clearing and making fire with Johnny.
After work the kids finished making their pizzas and had their dinner, then I made pizzas for Ady, Johnny and I as Johnny came over armed with Fosters to celerbate Australia Day. Jill was broken ;). The kids went to bed and I was just about to sit down with my dinner when Scarlett appeared to say she was worried about Davies as he was crying again in bed. About 15 minutes of painful denying anything was wrong when something clearly was and lots of reasonable and comforting talk from me and he finally cracked and agreed there was something wrong and showed me a note he’d written to Scarlett with the intention of running away. It said ‘To Scarlett, bye bye love Davies. Becos of the beby’. I struggled to understand just what baby he meant and finally got out of him that he thought I was pregnant!!! 😯 I have *no* idea where he can possibly have got such an idea, particularly given I have lost weight, am drinking like a fish and Ady has had a vasectomy!!! I reassured him that I most certainly was not going to have a baby and then we talked more about quite why he would have been so upset if I was. He seemed more upset at the idea that I was pregnant and had not told him, which was something I know disturbed him about Julie and Jack and Maisie when she was pregnant with Lorna, particularly as he was in the room with me when Julie told me on the phone so he knew long before they did. He visibly cheered up which was a massive relief as I had been really worried about quite what was wrong with him and felt sure something dreadful had happened 🙁
That dealt with I returned to my pizza and fosters which had reached about the same temperature as each other, one starting chilled and the other cooked. We had a nice evening listening to Rolf Harris and Kylie and chatting to Johnny.
Today I have combined dossing about on the computer with a fair bit of stuff outside. I helped Ady with some fencing repairs and animal herding and spent some time with Davies too. Scarlett spent most of the morning with Leyah and Jill and the horses, leading them out and mucking out stables. She is still not wanting to ride one which is a shame as this would be the perfect place to have a go but as I am certainly not getting on one either I can’t say too much ;).
After work we all headed into Morrisons for dinner ingredients and stuff to take lunch with us tomorrow when we’re heading out to Street and Wells for some charity shop therapy :).
After lots of chatting we have proper plans for the coming weeks including two weeks back in our house getting it ready to put on the market and doing so, a few nights on Rum including the interview, another couple of weeks on Eigg catching up with Neil and Sue and doing some WWOOFing – we really feel we need to spend some time back up in Scotland getting our heads round everything up there and making some contacts. Then I am hoping to go on a 2 day crofting course in Inverness (which I need to ask my Dad to write me a cheque to pay for because I don’t have such a thing as a cheque book!) before heading back south again for a short stay back in the house.
We’ve contacted five WWOOF hosts all in Sussex that take families and have work during March and April and asked for placements – one has already come back to say they are fully booked already (and actually I suspect we have left it quite late really, but fingers crossed) and hopefully we can find one, or two, or three places that we can work at until the house sells. I am very hopeful it will go by the end of May which gives it over 3 months to sell and I think we can find local WWOOF hosts to stay with until then which will mean we have food and places to stay sorted (and actually my car is only taxed til the end of April at which point we would probably tax Willow again instead) and we can keep an eye on the house and spend some time with Sussex friends and family. If the house still has not sold by then I think we may well move up and spend some time on Rum anyway, we can live in a tent / Willow and maybe get a short term loan from Dad or even some crofting grant funding to make a start on getting the land working for us, some crops in etc.
Jill and Johnny say we can come back here for as long as we like any time which is great to know and an excellent back up plan so we feel we have lots of options again and a feasible plan for now.
Awww poor Davies – I wonder what on earth gave him that idea?
Really glad you’ve come up with an idea of how to give yourselves more time in Scotland, and the crofting course sounds very interesting. What does it entail?
Comment by Kirsty — 28 January 2012 @ 7:34 am
Didn’t Scarlett ride Julie’s pony a few years back?
Comment by Michelle — 28 January 2012 @ 9:16 am
And very glad Davies is happy again. Xx
Comment by Michelle — 28 January 2012 @ 9:17 am
No idea what gave Davies such a crazy notion and he can’t seem to tell me. The weight being lifted off him once he’d told me and then when I was able to assure him I most certainly was NOT pregnant was amazing to see.
Yep, Scarlett used to ride Honey quite often (as did Davies actually but Scarlett was more into it), she stopped when Scarlett outgrew Honey, as in she wanted to start trotting etc and Honey just was too old and tired for such exploits. She thinks she might get on the pony here now and she spends lots of time grooming and hanging out in the stables but is just a bit cautious about actually getting on one of them.
Comment by Nic — 28 January 2012 @ 11:14 am
Crofting course looks really good, perfect introduction to it all for us. It’s a two day course and covers:
Times past and present, How did crofting evolve and what is crofting.
Support Mechanisms and EU dimension, all the grants schemes and training courses available.
Land & Environment – crofting in different environments, common grazing
Crofting Livestock – more about grants and funding, admin and livestock keeping
Wildlife, Habitats and Landscape – relevance of crofting to the natural environment, SSI and tourism
Croft Business 0 finance and marketing, loads of business type stuff and further training courses available.
Animal Health & Welfare – disease control, moving livestock, breeding animals etc.
Horticulture, Forestry, Renewables and Tourism – modern growing and different grants and funding to assist, woodland management, deer fencing, coppicing etc, overview of alternative technologies – wind, water, solar etc. How tourism fits with crofting, ideas for additional revenue streams and what support is available in terms of funding and training.
Community – what is a community, how communities can achieve goals
Sounds excellent doesn’t it 🙂
Comment by Nic — 28 January 2012 @ 11:26 am
Sounds perfect 🙂
Comment by Michelle — 29 January 2012 @ 9:49 am