I’ll leave you guessing for a moment…….How time flies Dear Reader! I’ve just looked back at my previous post which was on the 6 th August! You must have thought I’d emigrated or got lost on the local transport whilst using my newly acquired travel pass . Well it’s none of the above ( although I have used my travel pass – couldn’t believe it , a free return tram ride into Sheffield!!!) …….quite a bit has happened though, my birthday first, a new phone for the DB, and visits from all the grandchildren in the UK ( in case I’ve failed to tell you , we have two grandchildren in Spain!)
Where to start? Well I think my birthday! This year the DB took me away to Llandudno for a night ( that’s where the photo was taken) – this all came about after a conversation with a friend. In their previous lives, Sally and the DB had spent time there with their previous respective partners and children. Sally had discovered that the family hotel they had stayed in , The Empire, had been refurbished to a very high standard and she had booked a two night stay there with their two grandsons. So the DB always looking for surprising birthday ideas , made a booking for the night of my birthday. As it happened Sally , Brian and the grandchildren were departing the day before my birthday so Sally decided to leave my birthday card at reception. Imagine her surprise when the receptionist announced there was no one of the name Harding booked in at all. That Dear Reader is because the DB hadn’t booked the Empire at all …..he’d booked the Imperial!!!
So to the Imperial we went ! It was very nice and right on the sea front…
Well Dear Reader, yet another break ( more on that later) – more time has passed since I started writing this blog, so I need to get on and get this one finished before the next saga begins!( oh there’s always a saga here Dear Reader!)
I started this episode wanting to tell you about the DB’s new telephone . Very modern …I’d like to say “up to date” but it seems no sooner you utter the words “iPhone 13 “ than the iPhone 16 appears on the shelves ( metaphorically speaking, you understand – I’ve never seen iPhones stacked on any shelves – just one attached with a security chain to a desk 🥴)
Anyway the DB acquires his new phone – no on/ off switch ( what’s that about ?) and it works on facial recognition….well, it wouldn’t do for me but each to his own ! So he disappeared into his study to do all the things you have to do to a new phone ….introduce yourself for a start if it has to learn to recognise you , I guess. Anyway at this point , it’s past my bed time and I’m off to bed which happens to be immediately above the study. I must have fallen straight to sleep but was woken with the bedroom light being switched on interrogation style, and the DB muttering something about a phone . In my most reasonable Margaret Meldrew voice I muttered something like “ What are you doing , dear ?” but no sooner had the light appeared, it disappeared and peace reigned once more …
Sorry …did I hear you say “ and who is Margaret Meldrew when she is at home ?” She is the long suffering wife of Victor Meldrew , the archetypal grumpy old man ……
In case you’re wondering , the DB is known as Victor Meldrew in this family ( yes I know, hard to believe but there you go…..for those of you not acquainted with the Meldrews, do look them up on You tube ‘ One Foot in the Grave’!
Back to the bedroom….where peace reigned once more , until not 5 minutes had gone by when the house phone rang . Now I don’t know about you, but when the house phone rings here and it it is pitch black outside, something has happened to one of the children…there’s an emergency …..so I reached over to hear the terrible news, when , after two rings , it stopped . Well of course, the DB would have picked up the handset in his study equally concerned at the impending possibilities …so I expect footsteps on the stairs ready to impart the tragic news to yours truly ….but no such thing. As I’m laid in bed, I can here the DB speaking calmly in his study ….doesn’t sound like an emergency from where I’m lying . The conversation continues….what on earth is going on…and what time is it? I reach out for my phone ……fancy reaching out for a phone to get the time! What happened to the little clock with luminescent hands that you could see in the pitch black ….never mind that,we all reach for our phones! Well we do if they are there , which mine clearly wasn’t! So I ventured downstairs to find out what was going on and what time it was – the DB was still talking calmly into the house phone in case you were wondering. “ Psst, have you got my phone ? And who the hec are you talking to?” My phone was handed back to me and the reply “ The bank.”
It was 12.20am Dear Reader …I went back to bed and drifted off to the dulcet tones of the DB having an intricate conversation with ‘ The Bank’
The next morning I asked him why he’d needed my phone and why ring the bank at that time – all perfectly logical and reasonable of course. He needed my phone because we both have the same banking app which he needed to set up on his phone, and it is far easier to speak to someone if you ring at that time . However he asked me why I’d wanted my phone …….this time I was tempted to employ my very best Margaret Meldrew and say “ I wanted to order a Domino’s Pizza ( other take away pizzas are available) …what do you think I wanted it for?” Instead I replied that with all the goings on, I merely wanted to see what time it was!!!!
He seems to have mastered the new phone I’m pleased to say , better than I would – all that’s missing on the phone though in my view, is a pair of legs so that whenever he misplaces it, he could whistle and it would run to him!
So I’m almost done for this epitome but as I started this latter section, I mentioned I had had a break during the writing of it. Or in the words of one of our granddaughters when asked how the new school year was going ( bearing in mind she’d only been back a few days!), she told me that it was good and she’d had no consequences! Well not so her grandmother I’m afraid ! You will recall back in April, I had a significant fall, but all seemed well settled when we then went on our lovely cruise in June. Then I joined the non synchronised, non diving quartet – and landed on the pontoon of the aqua platform on the same shoulder that had taken the brunt of the injury in April as I endeavoured to gracefully enter the ocean. Since then my shoulder has caused me increasing problems and yesterday I discovered the consequence of my actions – an X-ray revealed a displaced fracture of my collar bone …I am seeing an orthopaedic surgeon on Monday 🥴🥴🥴🥴 .. await the next instalment!
During the writing of this episode, I heard from a special friend that her beautiful dog had passed away so I’m dedicating this blog to the lovely Harry.
In the words of Ricky Gervais “ If the kindest souls were rewarded with the longest lives, dogs would outlive us all.”
In loving memory of Harry Helyer Pego 2006-2023
Camino Romero 