Onions......

Afternoon All,

Hope you all had a good Christmas and a Brilliant New Year, we did, most of it spent with family and Grandchildren, lots of fun and laughs.

In the middle of last year I lost a very good friend and colleague- I had worked with Ian for a number of years - he was always a jolly, happy sort of person, he was a preacher with the Methodist Church, loved people and history - just a jolly good sort. He even read a reading at our wedding for us and he always used to sing 'Chestnuts roasting on an open fire' in the middle of June!! I used to say to him why are you singing that? and he'd reply why not!

He'd been retired a year, and was just 60 when he died. He'd been pushed into retirement by the newbies at work although I don't think that he was mentally ready for retirement. He sat down one day, to write his sermon for the following Sunday and had a massive heart attack - it was so quick that he didn't have chance to use the phone that was right by his side to call for help.

Ian's passing helped me to make my decision to retire early a little easier - it made me realise that life is so precious and none of us know how long we have left so why waste it working any longer, when I didn't need to.

The thing is, me and Ian always said that we could write a book about our experiences at work, as Housing Officers and the situations that we'd dealt with. I also think that it would be good to write it down somewhere so that my Grandchildren may read it one day and realise what I dealt with and what I did in my working life for nearly 25 years, so as I think of things  that I've done and dealt with I shall write it down here. So bear with me please whilst I remember and write it all down. It was never a boring career and I've met all sorts.

I'm having a go at growing some really large onions this year - you're supposed to start the seeds off on Boxing Day - I'm afraid that I didn't get chance to start them until last week but they're already starting to poke their heads through. We sat and went through all the seeds we have and wrote down what we need to get for the allotment this year - just got to order them now. I like D.T. Brown's seed but can't find any in the shops - I thought that I'd look to try and save  the postage but no luck so I will have to send off for them.

Its bitterly cold today - there's  a really cold wind blowing but at least we're passed the longest day and the nights will start to draw out now. I'm sitting out in the conservatory whilst British Gas service the boiler and it's rather chilly in here, so I'll make a move now.

Take care all

Byeee xx