I have a little list.

The list is getting longer by the day, and I'm getting more and more annoyed as the list gets longer.

It's a list of all the things my neighbour thinks I need to do to make me more acceptable!

Her remarks are always framed politely but I'm 75 in November and I feel I know how to behave!

It started when I first moved in, because I'm not local, she thinks my bungalow should have been given to someone from the village. I sympathise with this opinion but no one else was interested in purchasing it. 

When asked, I explained that my daughter lives in the village and I wanted to be near her. Next she told me I shouldn't have purchased the bungalow and I should have insisted on renting it. I'm not sure the estate agents would have agreed, I believe all these bungalows will be sold off as they become empty.

My neighbour doesn't think I should go to the pub for lunch unless I'm with male people, it's not appropriate for females to visit the pub alone. I thought the year was 2026, not 1826!

Next I was instructed to repair my fence panel that was damaged when another neighbour moved out, I had arranged for a new panel to be fitted, I was just waiting until the handyman could fit the job in.

She doesn't like my cleaners, she thinks I should get my daughter to clean the bungalow for me as her daughter does for her. The cleaners I use are the ones my daughter uses as being a foster carer is hard work and involves a lot of meetings and paperwork.

When I had a water leak she came to tell me I needed to phone a plumber, no shit Sherlock, I was hardly going to phone  an electrician was I.

Now it's the Miner bees in my garden, she sent another neighbour, Ronnie, round to tell me I needed to get rid of them, with the suggestion of using kettles of boiling water. Ronnie slipped up and mentioned he'd been sent by the her. The bees are harmless and rarely sting so my attitude is live and let live.

I just wish she'd let me live my life in peace!

A match made in heaven

I went for a drink with my daughter and my youngest son he's recently bought his first house, he mentioned that his dad had sent him a list of everything that he considers is wrong with the property. His dad hasn't visited the house, he had looked on rightmove and was looking at a different property. 

I asked politely how my first husband and his wife were keeping. To which my daughter replied that they certainly don't appear to be happy. Oh dear, what a shame, never mind! 

I remember my first husband told me his second wife was so much better than me because she had money. He had great plans for what he intended to do with her money. Unfortunately she decided that she would prefer to manage her money herself. I'm sure he must be disappointed!

I'm addicted.

I've known for a long time that I have an addictive personality.

My mother was a heavy smoker and embarrassing when drunk, this was enough to put me off cigarettes and although I do drink alcohol it's usually on Mother's day and my birthday and I only ever have one drink.

The one thing that I can never refuse is a good book, or even an indifferent book. By the time I was at secondary school I was reading The Carpetbaggers by Harold Robbins, I was put in detention for that and carried on reading the book whilst serving the detention.

I was once told proudly by a young relative of Steve's that he'd never read a book, I gave him a book about Valentino Rossi the racing driver who he admired and he read the book!

All four of my children read for pleasure, some more avidly than others.

I read constantly throughout the day, every time I finish a chore I pick up my kindle and read. I can no longer see well enough to read books so thank goodness for the kindle. I have mine set to a very large print and can race through a book in a day or two.

I will read almost anything though I don't enjoy Mills and Boon romance books. I always used to finish a book however little I was enjoying it but I no longer do that. I've decided I don't have enough years left to waste time on a book I don't enjoy.

I usually read two books at a time, I started doing this when I lived in a house, I'd have a book upstairs and one downstairs. I now live in a bungalow and I flit between various books on my kindle. I recently bought three books as a birthday gift for my daughter, Women and Power by Mary Beard, Invisible Women by Caroline Crisco Perez and Why I'm no longer Talking by Reno Edda -Lodge. Of course I had to download all of these to my kindle.

Rain at last.

We finally have a decent amount of rain, nice and gentle, the sort that soaks into the soil and nourishes it. You can almost hear the plants breathing a sigh of relief as the soil relaxes around their roots.

If it carries on for a few days I shall scatter some seed on the bald patches in my garden.

One of the bungalows here has a lovely green lawn, I assume they have watered it despite the hosepipe ban. I have a green stripe at the top end of my lawn, it's where the water meter is, so I'm wondering if there is a leak.

Bee happy!

I though I had an invasion of wasps but on closer inspection they are bees.

I think they are Ivy bees which are a type of mining bee, they are not aggressive though Beano isn't convinced.

They are on both sides of my front path and are now in the back garden as well. They have burrowed into the soil, they must be strong as the earth is dry and compacted.

I'm happy to leave them alone, I'm assuming they will hibernate or die off when winter arrives, although I'm not sure which. I will wait and see.

Giving a talk.

I was asked last Wednesday if I would give a talk today about living on a narrow boat. It's not something I'm very good at but it was only was only a small group of about 15 people so not too scary.

Everyone seemed interested, the two people who I thought might be awkward weren't there which was a relief and there were lots of questions afterwards.

I can't see me making a career as an after dinner speaker but I'm relieved it wasn't a complete failure.

I told people about the canals we'd travelled on, about some of the people we'd met during our time on the canals and told a couple of funny stories about things that had happened.

RIP Dolly

Dolly Patron has died, I saw her perform at the NEC, she was fantastic.