Friends!

I had hoped to sleep in, but my body decided 7.30 was late enough. So I got up and did a bit on my computer transcribing a conversation I had with dad in 2014. I'd managed to download the iTunes memo from an old computer, onto a rewritable cd/dvd, a week or so ago - it is 44 minutes long. In an hour, I only transcribed 7 minutes of it, by stopping and starting the cd. Mum didn't feel ready to hear dad's voice, so I decided to do it before she got up. I felt it was nice to hear his voice. Especially as he was on his favourite subject - the war!

After breakfast, I cut the grass, and then we went over to Manda's to collect some bits and to have a coffee with her, and a chat.

A late lunch and then I spent the following 4 hours in dad's main garage. Tidying is not the word. Trying to identify things, then deciding what to throw away, what to keep, what things actually were, and whether they were important or not - well, let's say it was a challenging afternoon where I barely scratched the (oily) surface. But with 2 black sacks full of rubbish, plus more in the black bin and another small pile of things with oil in them to be disposed of responsibly, I am looking forward to continuing with it tomorrow. Mum helped, and is now appreciating that box upon box of rusty nuts and bolts cannot all be saved. I have a metal pile that is growing, and plan to take it all to the separate recycling bits at the tip when I'm finished.

I just had time to scrub the oil from my hands and under my finger nails (I started the jobs with gloves on, but they were big gardening gloves and I couldn't pick things up) before we drove up to Liz's house for dinner. We enjoyed a delightful evening, just us 3. Liz had cooked a beautiful paella and we felt quite spoilt. We chatted non stop about anything and everything, until we realised how late it was! Then heading down the bumpy road very slowly, taking great care not to burst a tyre ( like my previous visit before Christmas) we got home to mum's at just after 11. So I'm rushing a blip from my bed!

A productive day, with more tomorrow I hope!