Moved

Finally, my daughter Frances and son-in-law Stew - along with Little Phoebe - have been able to move house. They had been living in a rental property since September 2020 following their move back to Sheffield from London.

It was back in September of last year that their offer on a semi-detached house just a stone's throw from us was accepted. They were due to move in during the week before Christmas  but delays happened for one reason or another, including the death of a spouse higher up the buying chain. 

At one point it seemed as though the whole thing would collapse but this week they got the keys. Shirley and I had not seen the place before but we were pretty delighted with it when we got inside the house just two days ago. The previous occupants did a fine job of modernising the first two floors. The bedroom floor is a little tired but re-decoration and new carpets up there will work wonders. The attic looks ripe for conversion  into a fourth bedroom. We think they have chosen wisely.

The house cost £460,000 ($566,000US, $847,400AUS). That's the kind of price you have to pay these days for a modest but nice property in the south western sector of this great northern city.

We have all worked like mules today, trying to bring the home together. Putting up beds, assisting removals men, cleaning, emptying boxes etcetera. There was so much to do that by the end of the day it was decided that the little family would sleep at our house.

I made them a tasty chicken curry with aubergine (American: egg plant) , lentils and coconut milk and they are now snoring upstairs ready for another day of house moving activity. Hopefully, they will sleep there tomorrow night. 

The house enjoys great views to the east and north east right down into the bowl of Sheffield city centre. It is good to know that from now on their hard earned money will be going into their own property and not into the pockets of a greedy landlady and landlord who had put the monthly rent up to £950 just before Christmas ($1,169US, $1749AUS).

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Hall

 

I’ve spent the afternoon playing with bits of paper, this was after I photographed the village telephone box which the TCA is renovating into an information centre, book swap and noticeboard.

I am Sat on the stage of the Memorial Hall in silence with only the ghosts of villagers past for company.

The hall has its own distinctive smell. 

Slightly musty, of polish, and wood floors and old doors, and sunlight trapped inside an airless huge room by long windows framed with old fashioned curtains.

I love the smell of the Hall.

It reminds me of all of the above , as well as the Flower Show and of long, tired but happy days in Summer when the tiny cream painted side windows were forced to be opened by the sheer numbers of people in the hall.

I cut photos out and pinned them to the noticeboards and remembered and was almost done when the Velvet Voiced Linda, buoyant Briget and Nick arrived to help set up

Then the ghosts disappeared as the chatter of the modern day villagers filled the space with echoes.

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Lily

 I lowered Bluebells’ windows wide and drove down the A55 at a pace.

What covid I breathed out soon was blasted out of the car in an instant and soon I was feeling cold but exhilarated by the wind. 

that’s cleared the old tubes I thought

I drove to Colwyn Bay and sat on the beach with my flask of coffee

This was 9 am this morning and I had already walked the dogs.

Women were wild swimming in the sea and I could here them laughing from where I sat.

It’s always nice to hear laughter no matter where it’s from

It’s been a long and fairly miserable winter all told

I’ve never experienced one so long, except in lockdown 

And with spring here things seem to be on the up. 

They feel better? 

Don’t you think? 

Two women passed me , they were talking about Paul O’Grady whose death was announced this morning

“ I loved him as Lily Savage” one said to another and I wondered if O’Grady knew just how affectionately he was thought of I thought.

I loved the story about him when he was comparing a drag show in the 1980s in London and the bar was raided by Policemen all wearing rubber gloves ( HIV protection) because it braking section 28 rules, Lily Savage called out to the punters that they were there to help with the washing up.

Thanks to O ‘Grady we now have drag Queens in our libraries reading stories to children. 

With his Liverpudlian wit, amazing legs and fuck you attitude that never lost a little warmth, he endeared himself to the majority that met him. 

He did a great deal for the  LGBTQ+  Community 

And he loved his dogs.

You were a class act Lily …..a real class act

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