In which we Picnic and Do Laundry

Jane’s Journal Page Notes:
Live For The Day...

Live for the day
That your work
Gathers strength enough,
To carry you through
Your darkest hour
Beyond the platitudes
Of your wildest dreams.

Journal entry:
Not a very exciting day today, as is usual after a Big Day. That sort-of letdown, "that’s all there is?" feeling, plus joy that it’s over at last. At least for me. :-)

We were up by 8:00 or so and packed. Yes, I finally had a real shower, only three days after arriving on this island! We checked out of the hotel and loaded our bags into the car. Then we walked over to the cottage where Jean & Reg were staying and found them cleaning like mad. They‘ve been in Wakefield for under a week, but it is amazing how much stuff had been spread out!

When we arrived, we were told to eat everything we could so it wouldn‘t have to be packed back home. So we tried, but failed to snarf the entire table. Cleaned up the kitchen, put away all the dishes and cookware, finished loading up their car--they have a minivan, oddly enough, because it‘s the only car Jean can bend herself into.

While cleaning up the house, I asked what a good "typically British" woman’s name was. I’m tired of calling our GPS by The Nice Lady in the Dashboard or boring old GPS. Jean jokingly suggested "Daphne" which struck me as funny, so Daphne it is.

We drove Rosellen (and I think Elizabeth) back to Leicester. It was about a two-hour trip, but it went quickly because we had good company. Daphne got us to the house with no problem (although she told us we were there--"You have arrived at your destination"--about half a block away...). And a nice house in a nice neighborhood it is. Much quieter street than their old house, with pretty front gardens along the street. The houses are two-storeys instead of three, so it doesn’t feel quite so closed in. And they have a small modern grocery store just a block away, which I think we’ll be using a lot!

House plan:

Entry with steps going up directly in front of the door. The stairs are open and there is a small window under them because again they have a passage from back garden to street, just like in their old house. I think all the houses here have them, though. The entry hall is just wide enough for the stairs and a passing area into the other rooms of the house. The living/dining room is to the right of the front door with a big window at the front. There is a fireplace that acts a bit as a sort of visual room divider; I think it’s an electric grate. LOTS OF BOOKSHELVES--the whole shared wall is bookshelves, in fact! Now that I think of it, there is another electric grate in the living room end of the room.

Beyond the dining room, through French doors, is the new kitchen. I think it used to be the den or office, but since they moved in in March, Jean & Reg have had people in to install the kitchen there instead of behind the entry hall. It’s not a bad size, but I’m spoiled with my gigantic kitchen; I could get at least two, maybe part of another, into mine. Very self-contained, even with the washer and a dryer (at last!!) in there. A glass door opens onto the back garden patio.

From that door, if you turn left and walk along the back of the house, you will reach another glass door (with a cat door in the bottom) which leads into what used to be the kitchen and is now a decent-sized office area. There is another door straight across from the back door that opens onto the passage. That’s where bicycles and garbage cans are kept. Off the office area there is a small corner for the cat box and recycling containers, and a little room containing a toilet.

Upstairs. Turn right and stop: to the left is the bathroom door, straight ahead is one bedroom door and to the right are two more bedroom doors. Narrow hall, mirroring the one below. The upper floor is not as deep as the main floor, so the back windows look over the room into the garden.

The bathroom is a bathroom; not much to say there. The first bedroom is Jesse's room, the "cat-free zone." He’s normally got a single bed in there, but it has a trundle, so right now it is FULL of bed (basically a Queen size--the two singles are next to each other). You can tell he’s at college; it's decorated only desultorily. This room also has a whole wall of closets including Jean's linens, because she has no warming cupboard in the bathroom! Shock!

The room next to Jesse's is Jean and Reg's. Then at the front of the house is a room with a bunk bed in it, just over the front door. It is TINY! The size of that front entry hall, no lie. Jesse. and Sparky are sleeping in there. Marie & Jan are sleeping on one of the sofas in the living room; it folds out into a bed.

They have a cat, have I mentioned this? She's a very nice cat, named Shrodinger, Shrody for short. If you don't get it, it's a physics joke. Ha ha. I don't get it.

So we unloaded our suitcases from the car, unpacked a bit, started laundry, and unpacked groceries. By the time we had all that done it was lunchtime, so we took everything to the back garden where there is are tables, and had a picnic. Blankets on the lawn. It was fabulous.

While the laundry continued, we drove Rosellen and Elizabeth to Rosellen's house across town. That’s where Elizabeth is sleeping tonight. The house is definitely student housing, but not hopelessly awful. Well, except for a pretty horrible bathroom, primarily because of the color. Oy. All Rosellen's housemates are off on vac, so the two of them have the place to themselves; Elizabeth is sleeping in one of the other bedrooms whose normal inhabitant is home visiting her family in Mexico. We left them preparing to meet some of Rosellen's other friends for a picnic in a park later on. Don’t waste the beautiful sunny days: two picnics per day is fine!

Beast and I headed back to Jean and Reg's where we watched the British Open and kind of lazed around while the laundry finished. It‘s a very slow machine, but at least we could dry stuff indoors. Marie did hang some of the heavier stuff outside, but I didn‘t want to my underwear hanging outside!

Made it to bed sort of early bed for a change. We had to vacate so Marie & Jan could go to bed, and I had to get out of the living room because I stupidly sat on Shrody‘s favorite chair and then rubbed my eyes. I can’t be around her at all. I expect a very itchy night!

Nice to not have mad panic all around, and to have some normalcy. Although anytime you have this many people in my family in a smallish confined space, it's a little noisy.