A Whole Year

Today we have been in our home for a whole year. This time last year, we were all packed up and ready to go - or at least I assume that was the case. To be honest we were both so exhausted that I can't really remember much. I had been away on retreat a couple of weeks before, leaving my dear soul to cope with all sorts. I still had stitches in my heel from having sliced it open on our front gate and he was still reeling from the sudden realisation that he was retired - or on eternity leave as he puts it!

I do remember the anxiety, sleeplessness, endless calls to estate agents as we were trying to sell two flats, and a sense that I was almost emigrating - having lived in the same town since the age of eight, moving 6 miles down the road seemed a very BIG step.

From this end of the telescope I am simply stunned by how much we've achieved in a relatively short space of time. We have

transformed a very scruffy overgrown, dank sort of track, which was almost invisible when we moved in, to this rather nice path. The most recent improvement being the fence, which was put up last week by our trusty friend Ray from Rotherview. It has offset uprights, which allow for a view through to the garden next door at certain angles, and which catch the light in a variety of ways, cast lovely shadows across the path and will, I hope, let more light and air into the bed that runs beside the path.

smartened up the shed a bit and had this part of the scruffy old patio replaced with some rather nice paving stones, again courtesy of Ray.

removed this very curious turreted affair, which formed a porch between the back door and the door to the shower room. When taken down, it proved to have been constructed of trellis and cardboard! We had noticed the gale blowing in under the sides and a worrying view of the outside from inside, where there shouldn't be, if you know what I mean

and replaced this shambles

with a rather nice conservatory, in which my good man sits in the evening with his glass of wine and, usually, at least one cat.

It looks over the garden and is just the right size for two people to sit and contemplate the stars on a chill winter's evening or watch the sun move round to the west while the birds sing their evening songs.

Three days after we moved in, this arrived

I hope we don't get a repeat this year - I'm planning a trip to York to be with my daughter for her birthday. Last year I was stranded on my way back, and had to be rescued from Tonbridge!