6th June 2021
Dear All,
Absence makes the heart
grow fonder – or so it’s claimed, and we were certainly very pleased to
entertain Mary-Ann and the grandchildren this week. They arrived just after
lunch on Monday and stayed until lunchtime Friday. The garden and pond kept
them occupied Monday afternoon as Albert discovered a fossil (apricot stone)
and Amélie found newts in the pond. During a trip to the allotments, we were
surprised to find a French Partridge sitting on 10 eggs. It was brilliantly
camouflaged – worthy of Springwatch.
Eggs
French
Partridge
On Tuesday they tested
the play equipment on the Green then we went down to the lakes at the Manderson
Trust where John Lane guided them through some serious fishing. The lakes are
well stocked and they were both successful catching about 14 fish between them
including some 1.5 to 2lb carp. The lakes were very peaceful on a hot sunny
day. In the afternoon it was back to the river for swimming and paddling. It
was fairly crowded with 22 cars and about 50 people milling about. It wasn’t
all pleasure as we cleaned both cars which involved some tricky Hove seagull
poo removal from theirs.
Skillful
Anglers
2lb
Carp
On Wednesday I filled up
Ken Elsom’s garden with spare squash and pumpkin plants then we had an outing
to La Pergola an Italian restaurant at Eversden, with an outdoor play area. The
service was not very quick but the food was good with several Italians present,
which is always a good sign. From there we explored the Orwell Clunch pit with
steep climbs up to a cave.
Clunch
Pit & cave
Toothless
Albert enjoying breakfast of?
On Thursday Grace and
Arthur come round for a playdate then we were pleased to have a visit from
Jackie en route to Derby from Beaumont. She was meeting Richard in Derby to
have their 2nd Covid jabs. After lunch we went to the Woodhurst
Raptor Centre. They have a good collection of birds and put on a flying
display. There is also a reptile area plus Meercats and Tortoises.
Mary-Ann,
Albert, Amelie & Jackie
Inmate
& Handler
Friday was Cricket pitch
preparation so the children played on the swings etc on the Green. They finally
left after lunch but it had been raining heavily further south and the traffic
on the M11 and M25 was badly disrupted by a vehicle fire and a multivehicle
crash. It took them 3 hours to get to Esther and Emma’s where they stopped for
respite. As the traffic still did not clear they eventually stayed in Hutton
for the night reaching home about 10am Saturday morning, about 19 hours after
they left Over!
As we are off to
Derbyshire for the week this afternoon much of Saturday was spent getting the
garden and allotment weeded and in a fit state to leave for a while. I watched
cricket in the afternoon with Over winning easily: Ely 2nds 85 v Over 86 for 2.
It was very warm and enjoyable to watch.
We started new potatoes
this week with some Casablanca grown in a pot.
Casablanca
With love
Mike & Kate
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