Notes from the country with Vicky Turrell

  We have heard of ‘swan upping’ but it seems that swans have been ‘downing’ in the last few years. Every year the King’s swans are counted on the Thames and this year there is good news, the numbers are beginning to increase again. “Be careful,” shouted my companion, when I was leaning over trying to take a photograph of cygnets with the mother swan. Suddenly there was a powerful thrashing of wings in the water; the male was coming to defend his family. “They can break your arm you know.” This is not true, although I have heard the myth several times. Swans’ bones are too light to break our arms. It is best to keep away though as they will attack to take care of their young ones. This week we went into a café that was taking care of the old as well. We were standing in the queue when a person in front of us told us that an older person can have a piece of free cake with their meal. We asked and not only did we get a free piece of cake but also a box to take it home in. “...

  ‘You have committed a parking offence.’ The text filled us with dread. What parking offence? When? What can we do about it? The text went on to tell us that we needed to pay and that if we pressed the link, it would tell us how. You have all probably guessed that it was a scam, but at first, we believed it and were worried. We could easily have pressed the link to pay and perhaps given our details to a scammer. But on further scrutiny we saw that the text came from outside the UK and a trawl of the internet showed that we were not alone and that others have had similar texts too. The internet can be full of dangers. But we are now promised something that the internet can give which would surely be good. ‘A doctor in your pocket’, who would not want that? Especially as we get older or are ill. Imagine waking up in the morning and turning your mobile on to find your doctor. ‘How are you today?’ She could ask. She could look out with genuine concern, her stethoscope roun...

  Do you wash and clean everything you give to charity shops? I have been sorting things out in our new house and there are quite a few things I do not need, so I have been giving them to charity shops. I have always felt quite virtuous. After all, I could have sold some of the items for good money for myself. But now I am beginning to wonder. You see, I have been reading that some charity shops are saying that they are getting many donations that they cannot sell. Some of the items are of ‘not so good quality’ and some are well, to be frank, just dirty, with one head of retails saying that recently there have been washing up bowls donated filled with last night’s dirty dinner plates. Can you imagine packing gravy covered plates into a bag and taking them for someone else to deal with? It makes me go over in my mind what I last took to a charity shop. It has made me think, were those new(ish) pans, not now suitable for my induction hob, really clean? I am sure they were, but I ...

  “Cash only, please,” said the café owner. But I do not carry cash. “We are trying to encourage cash to keep it going.” This was a strange idea to me it seems like asking me to write a cheque in case they are not printed anymore. When did you last write a cheque and do we need them? There was, however, a till at the back of the café where you could queue and pay by card. It seems unusual. Another shopkeeper told me that it no cheaper for them to bank cash than use a card machine. We went to the seaside recently to try and get a breeze to cool us down (it did not work because the wind was from the south and very warm). The fish and chips we bought did not help either, they were delicious, but they had gone up to £21.40 (by card) for two fish and one portion of chips. I suddenly realised that there were no seagulls pestering us as they usually do. None screaming in the sky and none on the sand begging for a chip. “You should try the harbour,” said a woman licking her ice cre...

    The supermarket alarm went off. But the group of girls walked through checkout as if nothing was happening. I was just in front and turned to see what was going on. The young girls moved off chatting and laughing. I hate it when the alarm goes as I aways feel guilty and that it is for me. We all turned to look. Suddenly the assistant ran after them “Hey! Stop!” She ran and brought back a girl in a pink crop top and blue trousers; her handbag was slung over her shoulders. Everyone was calm, except me, my heart was pounding as I sat watching from the nearby chair. The girl stood still, her friend came with her, but the rest of the group disappeared. I expected the store detective to appear, the girl to protest her innocence, her bag to be searched, but nothing happened. The alarm was turned off and the two girls calmly walked away. Could I have kept my cool in such a situation which we all dread? The other day we got lost on an overgrown footpath and ended up in a ...

  They did not choose me. It felt like being at High School again when the two captains were choosing players for their teams in games lessons. “I choose Pauline.” “Christine.” “Kathleen.” And so, it went on until all the players were chosen and my name had not been called. I was one of the spares again in our games lesson. I had to practise with a few rejected others at the side on the grass; the unused land that no one wanted for the game. They did not choose me this week either but this time it was the house martins, not a team captain. They did not choose our house, but they did choose next door. There they were chattering excitedly as two of them squeezed head to tail on their new little mud platform. I watch them from my car as I drive by. I was not lucky that day, but I did feel very fortunate indeed to hear the cuckoo this week. The RSPB has them on their danger list now that they are becoming so rare. They need ‘urgent action’ but what can we do?  All I did wa...