I've realised I get much less done when Tom is on a late shift. For seven days he is leaving for work just after an early lunch and getting back in at 11pm. I don't seem to get much started in the morning on these days, especially as youngest son and daughter are both still home from work for the Easter holidays. By the time I had tidied up and had a chat over a cup of coffee, most of the morning had gone and I had missed the sunshine as it went in and became quite cold again. One thing Tom and I were chatting about was something we saw on Breakfast Television about charity shops. Apparently they have been inundated with donations that they can barely cope with. They haven't the space for all the stuff people have been clearing out during lockdown and as was our experience, they have been turning people away. On Monday, so many people visited them across the country they took more money than any other day in their history. A reporter visited a massive charity shop in Bristol that even had a cafe on it's premises, it looked like my idea of a good afternoon out and I usually hate going to shops! Shame Bristol is so far away.
I love buying second hand. I love the feeling something has a history and while there are perfectly good second hand items I can't bring myself to buy new. It's not just buying second hand, I'm an obsessional fixer. I really enjoy making old things work again. I get much more pleasure from fixing an old broken item than I ever could from spending lots of money on a new one. The lampshade I ordered arrived today for the 1970s lamp I rewired a while ago. Handmade from 1970s material I thought it would be perfect for it. All totally recycled.
Another item I started repairing today was a step for the caravan. I feel embarrassed to admit we put this tatty old thing outside our caravan door last year. Tom wanted to throw it out and buy a new one but I am determined to do it up. It's an original old feature of the caravan, probably from when the caravan was new, and because of that I want to try and keep it. I'm hoping in a few days no one will recognise it, I have big plans!
A strange thing that happened yesterday was some sort of territorial fox war is going on. Everything has been so calm in the garden for months, with our foxes plodding about, that it all came as a bit of a shock. I was standing in the kitchen at about eight o'clock, just as it was starting to go dark, when I saw something moving in the flower bed, one of our foxes ran down the garden so fast it frightened me. I never see them run like that. There was the sound of crashing into fences and loud fox howling that went on and on. I ran out to see what was happening and the male fox was standing in next doors garden looking ruffled to say the least. There is definitely some sort of turf war going on. I'm not sure if an outsider is trying to move in on the territory or if the vixen is getting close to giving birth and the balance is upset. I'm going to keep a very close eye on them to see if I can work it out but it seems rather strange to be watching events in the garden that we have no way of influencing. It makes you realise nature is so much bigger than we are.
Scarlett is coming today and I'm sure will be delighted with our new dove, who is much more vocal than Dottie to put it mildly! Tom is here this morning so she will be thrilled to spend some time with her Grandad. I hope everyone has a lovely day what ever you are doing. xx
