A Beautiful Day of Memories & Sunshine!

I was up very early this morning and arrived at our family home alone at around 7.30am. It was the perfect day to spend my last hours here, before the house becomes someone else’s home tomorrow. I can’t believe I am saying that, I never thought this house would be sold and in fact our father instructed us not to sell it – he had a small framed notice up on the wall in the living room, that instructed us to never to sell our family home and that if we did “our spirits will be watching you”!!! I don’t know what he mean’t by that exactly?! When we were sorting out the house, I removed a large RAR painting from the wall and behind this picture I discovered another hand written notice, saying the same thing about not selling the house etc and my father had glued this to the wall!!! He also told us not to sell his possessions or books – well we have kept that side of the bargain (mostly), but how can you keep a family home that you can’t afford to run between the three of you and none of us can afford to buy each other out! There is no other choice! Plus, we don’t have the money to update the house, it doesn’t even have any central heating! So, another big chapter in our lives closes on Monday.

I used the borrowed iPad (that I used yesterday) to take more videos of the house and garden this morning – very pleased with the results and now I’m hooked on an iPad! It takes such awesome wide angled images and video – no normal camera would have produced the results that I obtained with the iPad. I was secretly hoping that the cat (Missy) my late mother had adopted, might have returned to the garden for one last visit before I left, but no sign of it all – probably for the best, I would have only got upset. Nice selection of birds in the garden, including Robins, a Song Thrush in the front garden, Jackdaws, Great Tit, Blue Tit. Hedge Sparrow, Wren and Blackbird. I sat on the front door step to ponder, whilst drinking a cup of tea from my flask.

I had a very relaxed time here and climbed up on the step ladder to pick cooking and dessert apples to take back for my sisters and I. Took some more cuttings from plants, including the purple and golden buddleia plants and found some more terracotta pots. Cleaned and topped up the bird baths and swept round the front of the house and paths. Had a general tidy up outside and checked both sheds again. I was very pleased to find a new owner for the wheelbarrow. The Honey Bees are still active from their entrance point above the kitchen door – I wonder what will happen to them?!

Went to Titchwell RSPB for a long and leisurely lunch and then returned to the house again. Read the water and electric metres. Picked some flowers, put them in a vase and placed them on the dining room windowsill. Put the stepladder and a chair in my car. Did my last tour of the house and said my goodbyes to my mother, in the room that she died in – I became very upset. Locked up the house and did my last amble round the garden. Looked out across the horse meadow, where we hear Cuckoos in Spring and gazed up at the big weeping willow that held a male Golden Oriole when I was a youngster – I won’t ever forget that!

Sat on the front door step with a cup of tea for the last time. The best of the day had gone, the skies were now dull and it was spitting with rain – time to go. Took my last look back and drove along Aslack Way. I stopped to knock on the Rumbelows door to say goodbye, but no one was in. Clifford and Pauline Rumbelow have lived here even longer than our family and are really lovely people – I went to school with their son Paul at Holme Primary School. Drove to Hunstanton to put Vivien's and my door keys into the letterbox at Sowerby’s, ready for the buyers tomorrow. Cruised back to King’s Lynn and spent a long time emptying my car!