Family Reunion

I went to see my sister today. It’s the first time I’ve seen anyone in my family since the end of February. My niece and her two little girls have been living with them during lockdown while their daddy has been busy as an ICU Consultant in London. My visit was kept a surprise from Aneeta and Jasmine and they seemed happy to see me although they knew they couldn’t run and give me a hug. It was just great to be in their company!

You’ll see that I’m not the only one crazy enough to have a tent up in the garden! My sister’s tent has also been up, both for sleeping and as a classroom during home schooling. In fact, they were just finishing up their school day when I arrived. We had cold drinks and ice creams and later on a cup of tea. And then the girls enjoyed some pool time. My niece bought the pool early in lockdown once she realised we were going to have a long hot stretch. It took ages to arrive, but now the same pool is 3x as expensive on Amazon!

Time will tell whether this will be the only summer holiday they have this year. This will certainly be the summer of staycations for many!

In other news:
See Extra photo...
I went to the garden centre to give Alfie the Campervan a car wash. They did such a good job on the car last year but I was sorry to hear that they’re being kicked out of their spot there. The garden centre has changed to a new national chain and they’re not keen on having a car wash on site. I think that’s really sad. Surely it helps to bring business in?

They DO however have an aquatic centre there (but maybe not on land they own?). I decided that it was time to get some new fish for my pond. I got 6 little goldfish. I had to float the bag in my pond and gradually add pond water before releasing them totally. I thought I had only one mature goldfish in my pond but just as I was introducing them slowly I saw a medium sized black fish swim by as well! So now they are a family of 8!

The last picture in my Extra photo collage was taken at the bottle bank right by the car wash and shows one of my pet peeves. Now that lockdown is almost over, everyone seems to be taking their bottles to the bottle banks. But why, oh why, do people just LEAVE their bottles outside if the banks are full? Surely those whose job it is to empty the bottle banks shouldn’t be expected to clear up all those loose bottles?? I hate litter of any kind and this is just plain RUDE!