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Hello Angi...

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Hello Angi, Normally on this day you would find me some distance from home - perhaps on a day trip by train to Teignmouth to wander around the town before heading for the beach to see what the tide is doing; or extending my getaway to a few days at St Ives or Penzance, seaside towns and favourite destinations in Cornwall. But this year I am a mere four-mile bike ride from the farm. On May 3rd, 2016 - one year after I held your hand and watched you take your last breath - I found myself on el Camino, a well-travelled pilgrim route in northern Spain that ends up at Santiago, close to the Atlantic shore. On that, your first Angel Day, I found the going physically tough (not to mention breaking my elbow on the last day) and emotionally even more exacting. However, I walked the minimum number of miles to claim my pilgrim's certificate. To be honest, today I actually considered driving the twenty miles to Glastonbury to climb the Tor, the high hill where some of your ashes, as wel...

In the beginning...

Having been in lockdown for a couple of weeks now, I think I'm beginning to adjust to staying at home. Now I find myself slowing down, and in no hurry to do anything in particular. No more tennis, table tennis, shopping, hopping on buses, enjoying lunch out or meeting up with friends for a good ol' chat. It was noon today by the time I headed out into the sunshine to begin sorting out my garden. After all, it IS spring, and everything's greening up beautifully. I planted some seeds - cosmos and sweet pea - and prepared small pots for my runner beans, which I'll soak overnight. Also I've begun digging last year's bean patch, now thick with nettles and weeds of all kinds. I managed to dig halfway through it, so that's a good start. Just in time for the lockdown I had my bike overhauled - new chain and back wheel, an odometer installed, and a general cleaning and greasing of all moving parts. Now I feel hardly any pain when riding to any one of three villa...