Notes from the country with Vicky Turrell

  “Stop!”   Mr T pointed towards the window. I stopped talking almost at once which was very difficult for me because I am sure that I was saying something very important. But he was insistent. “Look.” I looked and sure enough this was more important than what I was saying because there was a raindrop on the window. We have not seen a raindrop for many weeks and more important neither has our garden. It is so rare in fact that people on social media report “It’s raining here!” And my first instinct is to ask them where they are so I can go and share this phenomenon. Now here we were with our own rain. Our excitement soon faded, however, because although there were one or two more drops, they soon stopped and the sun came out again. Our garden like so many others is decidedly pale, wilting and dead but I went to see a friend the other day and his small front garden was full of colourful flowers. Admittedly it was edged by walls giving deep shade and it was mostly pots...

  I stood next to her in the supermarket as she was tapping away on her mobile. Nothing unusual about that, but she kept going to the plant stall nearby, checking the labels and then returning. “I am reading up about these plants,” she said, “I want to know all about them before I buy”. We are looking on our house plants differently these days. We are treating them almost like pets. I am certainly very fond of ours. You see, they were my companions in lockdown and they are still with me today. They kept me company through those long days. I noticed every leaf and every blemish. They were treated like royalty. We liked them so much that we took cuttings of them and now all these years later I feel so attached to them that our garden-room is in danger of being overrun by a jungle of leaves. Another strange thing happened to me in a different supermarket this week. We went up north to a Yorkshire family gathering. The extreme heatwave does not seem to have reached that far and t...

  I am free. Now I can go where I want, when I want. They have finished and there is not a pothole in sight. All last month our roads have been closed on weekdays until the evenings. It has made for some very interesting driving. I followed the big yellow diversion signs until they seemed to peter out or got mixed up with some other road works. But it is not all bad I discovered some little Welsh villages that I had not seen before they seemed a long way out but at least the road was not closed. I got used to driving at 20mph going safely past houses and schools with beautiful countryside. I got used to exploring our county’s countryside too, far away from the roadworks. On a hot sunny day, we set off to see the blue butterfly fields in north Shropshire’s special heath land. It is the only place you can find the silver studied blue butterfly in the Midlands. I hoped that we would be lucky. We met a serious looking man with a huge camera lens. “Go over to the right where the hea...

  It has gone at last. At least for the present time. I do not know about you, but I had to work out ways of managing the heat. When we lived in the cottage, we were quite cool indoors because the medlar tree shaded our sunroom in the morning and the old magnolia tree shaded the kitchen during the day. At mealtimes we sat under our quince tree, which had a canopy in the shape of a parasol. Here in the new house, we have no shade in the garden. Last autumn we planted some new silver birch trees. I kept them well watered in the spring but as the months wore on, I noticed that some did not come into leaf. What should we do? I watered them but, in the end, gave up and all that was left was the bare black skeleton. We would have to replant this coming autumn. But it meant a delay on getting shade. Trees take a while to be big enough to give shade. In town on the hottest day, I was very thankful of the established trees. These are the ones that have been spared by the council. What a...

  We have squatters. Last week the little house was empty and now there are occupants making a great deal of noise and fuss. I had hoped that the great-tits would come back for a second brood. We could see them all the way through the building of the nest to the feeding of their young. Only two weeks ago they were so busy, there was hardly any time between one parent leaving and the next one arriving with a caterpillar or fly. We did not see them fledge. One minute they were there and then they were not. The box was silent. All was deafeningly quiet until the male house sparrow arrived. ‘Look what I’ve found,’ he seemed to be shouting. And in no time at all a female had arrived and they were busily ‘decorating’ and doing all the things you do to make the house you have moved into comfortable. In our new house we have been busy getting our dining room sorted. I had worked hard to find chairs that were comfortable for me. At last, I found the perfect chairs and they are all I h...

  It has arrived at last. We have been waiting for nearly three months, but our new table is here. We had to ask the delivery people to move the old table into the garage for us., which they did and it stands there dejected amongst garden tools. Our new table is splendid; I have never had a new table in my life. Our farmhouse table was mahogany with huge carved legs and two ‘leaves’ that you could put in if a lot of people came for dinner. You had to crank a winding handle at the side and turn to expose a big gap in the middle. This where we played table tennis, where my mother ironed our clothes with a hot flat iron from the coal fire and where my cousin had her tonsils out with the local doctor operating. When they moved to their retirement bungalow they bought a drop-leaf second-hand table from a sale room. Mr T had a table he rescued from a chicken shed and I had an ancient writing table from an ‘emporium’. So, this is my first new table after 81 years. We are still waiting...

  Is that robin or a red kite? A recent survey found that many people struggle to know the difference. Even the blue tit was apparently hard for some people to recognise. Is it because we are too busy or do we see most of our wildlife on screen? It was hard to recognise the robin yesterday when walking by the canal a red and brown ball dropped from the tree. If it was autumn, I would have thought that it was a ripe apple falling. Then the loud chirping started and the ball began to jerk as I realised it was two robins in combat. They rolled along the towpath until finally giving up and flying off in separate directions. I nearly gave up on our delivery of a compost bin I ordered online this week. They indicated the delivery time as 8am to 8pm. I tracked it on the link. Any minute now it would arrive. The line showing progress on the ‘Out for delivery’ page was nearly at our house. We waited in the front room so we could easily see and hear the van. But no van came and soon my p...

Here it comes again. ‘Please book your free spring NHS COVID-19 vaccination’. It was apparently recommended because of my age. I could book an appointment or find a local drop-in centre if I pressed a link. I did this, but the nearest places offered were about ten miles away. I waited another week and there it was – the local Fire Station offering jabs. My original short sleeved t-shirt especially for blood tests and vaccinations (it is my age) has grown decidedly worn and grubby. I have bought a new one with hedgehogs printed on and it doubles as a pyjama top. Quite a few of my friends are not bothering with the COVID jab these days. They say that they had all the injections and then got COVID anyway. Some are saying that it is not worth it because the risks are small. I talked to the nurse about this and I noticed that there was no rush and no queue. She said that the jab only last six months and that it changes as the virus mutates. She also said that the jabs cost a lot and the...

  ‘Road ahead CLOSED’ How often we see this sign and carry on as if it does not apply to us. But this time we were unlucky. We were going shopping, a quiet day out, looking for a lampshade for our lounge which so far has sported a bare bulb. But the road was certainly closed and the barriers were up. We went back to follow the diversion signs with our sat nav screaming, ‘Turn around when possible’. The trouble is with diversion signs that you do not know whether they are for you or for some other road works long forgotten. Eventually we found our way through but had a surprise. Whatever has happened to lampshades? When I last bought one, it was made of patterned cloth with special trim at the top and bottom and a fringe. But now they all seem to be plastic or harsh metal. We went home empty handed and bought a fabric one on-line, with no trim and no fringe. Then to add insult to injury we have apparently, according to my friend, hung it up-side-down. We went to the theatre ...

  ‘Tap, tap, tap.’ I heard the noise clearly as I was sitting on the patio enjoying the early spring sunshine. What could it be? I thought it was coming from the people who have just bought the house over the field. They have been working on renovating and I often see a bright light which they use to focus on their work. But no, I looked over and no one was there. Could it be a woodpecker? But no, we do not have mature trees near enough for a woodpecker to drill. In the end I saw a great-tit tapping away at the entrance to our new bird box.   The hole was the exact size for this bird so why work on the entrance when there was no need? The house sparrows which showed an interest in the box early in the year have long gone so there were no other contenders for the nest site. I talked to my friend about it. She said perhaps the bird was simply claiming the box for his family and putting his marker on it to make it his own. Just like when we came to this new house, we gave it ...

  “That’s me sorted,” said the man in shorts on a freezing cold day. “Now we are in Spring it’s shorts for me ‘till it snows.” Have you noticed that some people wear shorts with bare legs even in cold weather? I do not know how they can bear it! I was wearing woollen tights and a down filled coat with my hood up. “Now when I set off for work at six in the morning, I can just see a sliver of light on the horizon. It’s marvellous.”   I did not say but at six I the morning I am still in bed tucked up under the duvet. Last week I also did not say to Mr T that the box of special dark chocolates I had bought were a gift for a friend. She has had an operation and has been non weight baring for some time but is now at the stage of wearing casual shoes it has been a long recovery and I went to see her forgetting to take the special box of chocolates. “Never mind,” I told her I will bring them next time I come. But when I arrived home Mr T was eating them. He had no idea I had bough...

  ‘I don’t know what my daughter will think,’ she says. I am shivering in the fish queue again. For just one hour, one day a week, you can buy fresh fish. Such a treat for us being so far from the coast. I am second from the back. The queue stays about the same size. Too long and I would not want to wait that time, too short and it would not catch your eye. The fishmonger is an expert at regulating the line of people, chatting for a long time or a short time to create an interest. ‘Where is your daughter?’ I ask. “She is in Australia, but is coming home tomorrow, what on earth will think of our weather?” The only thing that takes up as much time as weather in our conversation is potholes. But I am at the front now paying my money and I have run out of time. We seem to have also run out of time and money for our food recycling bins. My sister in Yorkshire has a little food bin that she puts out for regular Council collection. I am trying to remember what we did with waste food...

  ‘Beep, beep.’ I was hurrying along to visit a friend in hospital when I heard this noise from a car behind me. Then ‘Honk, honk,’ it went even louder this time. I had only just left my car in the car park when heard the noise. It sounded impatient but I cannot walk any faster. ‘Honk, honk, honk,’ it blared.’ How dare they? The park is for walkers as well as cars. I was getting annoyed as the engine revved and the impertinent car edged along. She slid her window down. Here it comes, I thought, she will be shouting at me and telling me to get out of the way. “You have dropped your scarf,” she yelled against the noise of the driving rain and interminable traffic. I turned around and saw my beautiful scarf flapping along in the puddles powered by high winds. I did not have time to thank her before she sped off away from the crowded park. This was my warm, woollen scarf which I bought on impulse when I ordered my last jumper (the colour was appropriately called ‘Wreckage’!) in the...

  They came in their thousands. It was hard to believe how many there were. The sky was suddenly taken over by huge black shapes. We were in a bird hide at sunset when it happened and I could hardly believe my eyes. The hut was crowded with bird watchers holding binoculars. But you did not really need any help to see this spectacle. ‘Swoop, swoop’, cloud after cloud swished over us.   A small group was joined by another and another until there was a monster swirling mass changing shape in a split second in the sky above us. When we went to the bird hide earlier in the month, we were alone, but someone wanted to join us. You have scan the QR code and fill in an application form before you get a number to unlock the door to the hide. But when we were punching the number in someone shouted. “Wait, hold the door.” A couple were running towards us. “We do not have the number.” What do you do? Do you let someone into a locked hide? They quickly stepped inside telling us that the...

  “We are delighted to confirm your … initial appointment with us.” The letter addressed to me was in a big white envelope and it was a hospital appointment. I did not know anything about a new hospital visit. I scanned down the paragraphs. The appointment date was for Wednesday 8th October. I thought that they were informing me in good time, too much time. I read more carefully and saw that it said 8th October 2025. Had I missed an appointment? Well, no I had not, a quick check on my computer calendar showed that I had been to the hospital on that date. What had gone wrong? It is a mystery. I rang the hospital and they did not know what had happened. In any case I had attended the appointment because they had sent me a message via text to remind me. So, all is well and who knows what journeys and adventures my late letter had for four months before it arrived with me? It was an adventure for me too to go shopping in town the other day. I wanted some jeans as all my others are ...

  We are here at last! We made it through last month which seemed to have a thousand days. Now we are in shorter feathery February. The birds are here too. In February they have their wedding day – so the old saying goes, you will hear their song and see their new bright feathers ready for the event. I had a new bird feeder recently and I have filled it with my home-made bird pudding. The little birds love it because it is easy for them, but the big birds are puzzled. They find it hard to use the feeder, but that does not stop them from trying. The black corvids line up on the fence like warning notes and plan their strategy. ‘Ah’ thinks one ‘I will simply land on that dangling ball and steal that delicious pudding,’ but it is not that easy. He lands on it and before he has a chance to dig his beak into that tempting mixture, he falls off. Undeterred another one has a go. ‘I will hold on to the fence and reach across,’ he thinks. He tries this, but the dangling ball of food m...

  Something has gone wrong. Last year in September I planted two bowls of bulbs and left them in the garage, visiting occasionally to water them. Well, I have been telling everyone that one set of bulbs is growing really fast. They are already six inches high and big buds with crumpled petals are swelling at an alarming rate. But they are not what I expected. The packet I kept with the bowl shows purple tulips, perfect as a contrast for our pale walls of the new house. How good they would look, a real artistic touch, I thought. But they are not showing one drop of colour. They are cream and will be hidden against the light background. The hole was hidden as well. Perfectly camouflaged. It was full of water and you would not know it was there. We went in with a bang and luckily, we were not moving fast but it was still a shock as we dropped and we did not expect it. We thought that the roads would be fine after extensive work last year. The following week the hole was worse an...

  “I want some sweets.” How often we have heard this cry in a supermarket. Sometimes the child even lies on the floor in protest. Often it is easiest to give in. “Oh, that’s alright we have plenty of those at home,” said the dad and the little boy went placidly to the check point. I wondered if they really had the sweets at home or if the child would forget. You have probably heard the joke where a parent tells the child that the ice cream van chimes mean that they have sold out. We all invent ways of coping. Our old sunflower heads are finally completely over. We left them for the birds long after the glorious golden flowers had wilted. Now after this snowy windy weather there are only brown bent and twisted bits of debris hanging there. Oh, how I long for the summer to see the golden delights again. Then when I was coming out of the supermarket, I saw tubs to buy presumably filled with sunflower seeds as the pots were covered with photos of the yellow flowers. I was like th...

  Is it just me or does this happen to everyone? Last night I decided to grab myself a treat and a bargain, a woollen winter jumper on-line. I went on my favourite web sites for clothes and just as I was imagining myself looking good in this modern top with a matching swish scarf, I was too late. Most of the knockdown price knitwear in my size had gone. This happened to me last year and I still have not learnt my lesson – I should try to buy sooner. Another thing to look out for is the name of the colour – ‘dahlia, rose and olive’ colours seem to sell quickly.   But ‘rusted, lichen and wreckage’ seem to be slower to sell. I settled for ‘Wreckage’ (they had my size). And ‘wreckage’ is a good word for our lounge today as we are taking the decorations down. Not that we had many this year for our first Christmas in our new house. We have still not unpacked the decoration box. But there are the cards to sort. Those without glitter can be recycled so that is easy but then there ...

  You might guess that it would happen sometime. I just knew, but I did not think that it would be me. At this special time of year when we have lots of visitors it is more embarrassing. And worst of all it was the red and not white or champagne. I knocked a glass of red wine off the small table and it went all over the carpet. It would not have mattered too much if we were still living at our cottage where we had old stone floors and patterned rugs. But this new fitted carpet is plain and beige. The stain went diagonally across the centre of the room. How do you get rid of a red wine stain? We went to the internet of course. There is an answer to every question. I remember a friend coming to see us a long time ago at the cottage and she spilt red wine all over our new cream settee. It was before the internet and we relied on our own experiences. She rushed to the kitchen and opened a bottle of white wine and covered the stain which miraculously disappeared. We had another adve...