Bum again!

19/09/2008 by Aileen.

I drove down to Stoke Mandeville yesterday, and was almost there when my neighbour rang to say she couldn’t get in to feed the cats. I had left the key in the lock and exited through the utility room door. She said she would buy cat food and put it down outside. Anyway I’m going home tomorrow to make sure everything is ok, and coming back down on Tuesday. I had hoped to stay here until Tuesday.

Tuesday is my birthday and M and F are taking me out for a meal in the evening, so it all fits in I suppose. The petrol is costing me a lot though. Well, it’s costing John as I’m putting it on his card lol. I will miss birding on Wednesday, but I should be able to go to Creative Writing on Friday, then back down again.

I have made a start with the Creative Writing OU course. Today I did Activity 2, part of which was to sit outside and really observe what was around, from nearby to the sky. It was NOT meant to be a polished piece of work, so I reproduce it here, unvarnished, with trepidation. (If I can read my abominable writing)

The patio is flagstones, a snail’s silver railway lines tracking around a pot of herbs. The chrysanthemums are like little yellow lollipos, but their leaves are drooping. Autumn is here. The sun warms my neck and I take off my top. No one around. I soak up the last of the summer. That tree has ten trunks coming from its base. Did it grow from one apple - each pip germinating? The leaves are little green doilies. Something has been feasting on it. It’s not an apple tree. I don’t know what it is. I see a squirrel from the corner of my eye. It’s jumpy and furtive. No chance of feeding it I fear. Anyway, they’re vermin. Muntjacs invade the garden but I haven’t seen any today. I hear the birds. A robin  - its mournful song regretting the passing year. That sun is amazing. It warms my six decade skin. The sky in the east hurts my eyes, but further over it is a soft grey blue, like a still sea. A perfectly pyramidal conifer breaks the skyline. I hear the goldcrests. That green woodpecker is around, laughing at me from various corners. ‘Ha ha ha, you can’t see me!’ I don’t care. ‘I’ll see you yet, young man. I’ll see you yet.’

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