WE ATTEMPT TO LEARN THE LOCAL LANGUAGE - Feb/March 2013

As we live in a part of the world where a majority of people speak Welsh as a first language, we decided we should at least make an effort to contribute towards keeping the oldest language in Britain alive. So we enrolled on a weekend course for beginners which was great fun! We practise as much as we can in shops and cafes, with the builders, neighbours and other locals, all of whom couldn't be more helpful. Those who we meet more than once help us to master a word or phrase at a time. 

Although I tend to pick up new languages quicker than Will does. He uses it anywhere without worrying about the consequences. Me - I worry that I'll sound stupid or that I'll sound so fantastic with my 2 or 3 word phrase that the recipient will offload all their life story on to me in Welsh and I won't have a clue! Or that I have chosen to speak Welsh to a tourist who hasn't heard of the language and thinks I'm just a nutter! Knowing none of these things really matter, I decided to try to overcome my lack of confidence. The next time I saw our neighbour farmer, I spoke to him in Welsh. I began by asking him how he was, he told me he was the owner! Clearly I'd asked him WHO he was. Then after a chat in English, I ended with more Welsh and told him I'd see him soon, to which he answered 'I'm very well thank you'!! Oh well, Rome wasn't built in a day. (Neither is our house!!).

With the arrival of the Rugby 6 Nations tournament, I decided to set myself a challenge - to learn the Welsh National Anthem ready for the final game when England and Wales faced each other. I have been half-heartily learning for years, but this time I was serious. I quickly realised that learning the whole lot was too ambitious so I concentrated on the 3 lined chorus. Then one day we had a Harry Potter moment. Lying almost in the middle of the lounge floor, lay that day's post! Despite Will and I having been in and around about the lounge neither of us had heard it arrive. We hadn't heard anyone knock or shout as usually happens. The only explanation I could think of was that I'd been heartily singing the National Anthem as loudly and confidently as possible, and it drowned out any attempts from the postman to get our attention. I feel very red-faced at the thought and can't believe that I'm writing this in a blog and revealing all to the world!!! Could this be the first step to appearing on 'Embarrassing Bodies'????

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^{One evening we were sitting watching TV when we heard a muffled crash from inside the house. We couldn't find anything to have caused it. The following morning we ventured into the smelly, un-lived in, lower part of the house (which we eventually intend to rent out). There we discovered the cause - the kitchen ceiling (not yet started on by the builders) had collapsed under the weight of its own dampness caused by rain coming in through the roof.}  

^{This part of the house brings back school memories of my first lesson about alliteration when the teacher described a dungeon as being damp, dark, dank and dismal.}

It had become the host to further huge varieties of interesting fungi formations. 

The builders had their work cut out!

A dry stone wall ran the length of the front of this part of the house. Unfortunately in order to correct the foundations, the wall had to be removed (hopefully to be replaced later).  In no time at all, the stone wall had disappeared along with the roof, an internal wall, doors and floor.

^{I quickly forgot how it had looked previously but couldn't imagine how it would look either. Another feeling of 'What have we done?'}

^{The good news is that our own bedroom, despite being part study/part dumping ground for the time being, is virtually finished!}

Next blog - Improvements are starting to show!

AND IF OTHER PEOPLE'S ANIMALS AREN'T ANNOYING ENOUGH... - Jan/Feb 2013

Our cats love it here. They love the open fields and unending territory it gives them. They keep fit by chasing squirrels (thankfully far more of a challenge than the birds we try to encourage!) They find the lambs entertaining and are very curious about the builders' machinery. They must have met next door's cats as we have heard several cat fights in the night, and one evening following loud cat wailing we saw 2 pairs of bright eyes in the darkness, staring from the top of a bank. At the bottom of the bank were our 2 black cats eyeing them very carefully. Gizmo was no where to be seen. Until a few minutes later when the eyes disappeared and were replaced with a bundle of grey and ginger rolling down the bank. The colours indicated that the bundle was Gizmo and the neighbour's cats. 
Since then, the hierarchy in our house has changed somewhat. Gizmo is more than accepted into the house by Dobby and Yoda. They almost bow down to his presence, and allow him the freedom to go wherever he wants, and he occupies the highest sleeping point in the house in peace.

Occasionally we heard what sounded like loose slates sliding down the roof and falling off, but on inspection there was never anything to see. Having observed one of the cats slide down and off the conservatory roof, we now recognise the sound of falling slates is actually sliding cat! Roof top life is clearly something they have to get accustomed to, having not ever lived somewhere with roof top accessibility!

At the point of having nearly finished our new bathroom, one evening, I told Will I was about to get in the bath. 

A finished bathroom!

Yoda must have been listening, as he quickly darted outside. I ran the bath and lay down with a plan to have a long relaxation. The relaxation lasted precisely one minute. I was distracted by an unnerving pair of eyes staring at me through the Velux window. 

The accompanying “miaow” told me it was Yoda. The miaows became more and more sorrowful in their tone and the eyes had a very pathetic look. I was determined not to feel sorry for him, He could after all miaow at the front door where Will would let him in, but no, that would not get him enough attention. With my experience of dealing with attention seeking behaviours. I felt that ignoring the behaviour was the best tact. I tried. Even with my ears plunged under the water and my eyes closed, I could hear that mournful sound repeating itself.

I sat up but continued to ignore him. So... he decided to test my patience further by climbing up to the top of the Velux then sliding down the window, all four paws and claws outstretched and a loud mmmiiiiaaaaaooooowww as he slid. OK, so this got my attention in that I said “Daft Cat . I am not getting out of my bath for you” “Ah ha” thinks he … “I have her attention” So he repeated the performance again and again and again. 

After a long (disturbed, unrelaxing) bath, I got out. Where was Yoda? 
Miaowing to get in the front door! 

I'm going to feed him to the sheep!

Gizmo uses the roof top walk as a short cut or look-out post. The black cats - they both use it as their very own Cresta Run. Always at the most annoying of times. Always just as I get in the bath, I have had numerous repeats of that previously described bath. I now ensure I whisper to Will that I'm going to use the bathroom. That tactic has given me some peaceful baths. Instead, they choose the moment I am drifting off to sleep and continue until I get up and let them in through the bedroom Velux window.

We love sitting in our front porch overlooking the sea, contemplating life, drinking coffee, while watching the wildlife and farm animals. We attract a different set of birds on our bird table to those in our previous garden, which is to be expected. These include woodpeckers, nuthatches, jays and gold finches, among others. The buzzards and seagulls choose to soar overhead. I guess buzzards prefer moving prey and the seagulls can't work out how to negotiate trees, as they swarm in their masses into the open fields at sheep feeding time. Our favourite visitor is a gold crest which frequents a small conifer next to the porch. On one sunny day, we thought it might visit but sadly it made no appearance. That evening we met a lady who was house sitting for our holidaying neighbours. She told us how that morning their cat had bought her a lovely present of some little bird she couldn't identify. She described it as being a tiny bird with a yellow crest! No wonder we hadn't seen the gold crest. We hoped there were others.

The next day the gold crest arrived!



Next blog - We attempt to learn the local language

PROBLEMS WITH ANIMALS - Dec 2012 - Jan 2013

Christmas Eve. We discovered a dark patch appearing in the concrete floor in the lounge. As it was increasing in size we wondered if it could be a leak in the new under floor heating, so we contacted the plumber who arrived scratching his head and tutting and muttering very softly to himself “Oh dear … oh bloody hell … oh dear dear … oh bloody hell .. this hasn't happened before ... oh bloody hell ... ooh bloody hell ... oooh bloody hell”. He explained that part of the new concrete floor would need to be dug up and the leak repaired. Good job we hadn't put down a floor covering yet. He switched off the heating with a promise to return with the builder in the new year. At least we had an efficient log burner to keep us warm.

All 4 children arrived, 2 with partners, to spend the next few days over Christmas with us. The days were cold wet and windy so we stayed in and had an enjoyable time eating, drinking sleeping and playing among piles of boxes. Somehow we managed!

One of my specifications for buying a property was that it should be within walking distance to a village shop. Our village shop is about 15 minutes away (downhill). Good enough for me. Horror of horrors - just as we moved in, the shop declared they were closing down!! Oh well, we still have a post office. My 3 times a week walk to the shop was to be my weekly exercise. I guess I'll have to take up writing letters just so I can buy 3 stamps a week. Could prove a little costly. A pint of milk is cheaper!!

2013

Back to 'normality'. An empty house again – well, except me & Will. Still full to the brim with boxes. Leak and hole in the floor mended. The builders have finished our part of the house. They have now started on the 'lower end' which we plan to use as a holiday let.

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We routinely check our land for any stray sheep, not that we mind them keeping the grass short, but I object to all my plants being destroyed. We have future plans to section off a small area as a sheep-free zone. Then they can go wherever else they like - except the sheep-free zone.

On one occasion (well more than one really), we checked the land and when sure there were no sheep in it, we went out. As we drove down the drive, 5 smirking sheep were lined up along their side of the fence watching us leave. 

We turned down the drive, passed by the bottom of our field, and as we looked back, there, in the middle of the field were 3 white blobs! They'd fooled us again. Who says sheep don't have a sense of humour

On another occasion, I was trying to chase sheep out of our field. Eventually I cornered them. At which point, they transported themselves from standing position in my field to standing position the other side of a 4 ft stock proof fence. Stock proof? PAH!

We had an unexplainable, repeated performance from Blodwyn the sheep.

On one daily inspection we found 2 white blobs in our field - Blodwyn & Dolly. Will herded them up towards the top of the garden, while I hid in waiting to chase them along the drive and out of the gate, BUT every time we did this, two sheep disappeared behind the house and only one reappeared the other side. Leaving me to escort only Dolly off the premises. We had no idea where Blodwyn was hiding. Thorough searching revealed nothing. The same happened for 3 days in succession. Dolly and Blodwyn appeared in the field and only Dolly left! On the following day we solved the enigma. Blodwyn very swiftly runs up to a small ruin behind the shed, runs along the wall where the fencing is a little low (lower on our side than field side) and jumps off into her field while we are in hot pursuit and out of sight, then calmly mingles with other less adventurous sheep. We have yet to discover how they get in.

One night we had a fantastic thunderstorm of continental proportions. It blew a large chunk of ivy from the top of a tree. The fallen ivy was the size of a 3 ft by 3ft sized bush with a 3” thick trunk. I decided to try and salvage it so I stuck it in a bucket of water with a plan to plant it the next day.

The next morning, I found the ivy removed from its bucket and leafless. Standing over it looking not the least bit guilty, munching away was Blodwyn!

Returning from a walk one day, we came across 3 sheep in the road, they walked up our drive towards our closed gate. We walked behind them, hoping to scare them into showing us their secret way into our garden. Instead, they turned and faced us, then took off and leapt 5 feet in the air, between our heads, then ran away behind us back into the road!

I feel a new tourist attraction coming on - 'Sheep Olympics', or better still, 'I'm a Sheep, Get Me out of Here'..


We went to Asda and bought food including a warm cheese-topped baguette which we were to eat with ham for lunch later. On the way home we called in at a tile shop to buy some bathroom tiles. While I was in the shop paying, Will put the tiles in the back of the truck, and in typical man character, decided to tighten up a screw that had come loose which took forever! On my return to the truck, we noticed the baguette had disappeared! Then Will noticed the end of a warm cheese-topped baguette protruding from the mouth of the shop owner's dog! Clearly, while Will had been tightening up the screw, he had left open his side door and unbeknown to him, the Labrador had jumped in and stole the baguette - the whole lot!!! Pah! we were really looking forward to our lunch. why didn't he take the healthy wholemeal cobs?? He didn't even take the ham! Maybe he was conscious of our 'trying to eat healthily' diet and was helping the cause. Well, it didn't work because instead we consumed a packet of chocolate biscuits!! 

We never found the polythene packaging the cheese-topped baguette came in!

Next blog - And if other people's animals aren't annoying enough

If anyone wishes to add a comment - 

Kieran has kindly left a message in the previous post's comment box, explaining how to go about it!

VISITS TO LOCAL PLACES & WE MOVE IN !! - Oct - Dec 2012

As we had time on our hands before moving in, we spent time visiting local places.

We visited Nant Gwrtheryn, a former quarry workers' village, now used as a Welsh language centre/wedding venue. 

It is set on the coast between 2 mountains, at the bottom of a hairpin bend road. We amused ourselves watching the faces of unsuspecting wedding guests trying to negotiate the steep bends in the road in their cars. 

A wedding photographer was taking photos of a bride as she was perched precariously on the steep mountainside with a stunning backdrop of sea views. Brave lady on a very windy day! 

The bride hung onto this post while having her photo taken.

As we walked down the narrow road, I heard a vehicle coming. I turned to see a huge coach of wedding guests hurtling towards us. As it appeared to take up more than the whole road between a steep bank one side and a sheer drop, the other, I ran quickly on to the next passing place to allow the coach more room. This was clearly unnecessary, but it gave Will and the bus driver a good laugh at my expense!

The coach returning up the road, which is really MUCH steeper than this photo shows!!

Walking back up was hard going and strenuous, and worse – we were overtaken by a fast paced 75 year old man. He told us he takes that walk 4 times a week, and has done since he was 40. Why?  To keep fit – why else?

We took a trip into Caernarfon. The day had started cold and cloudy, so I went dressed accordingly. As is customary here, the weather very rapidly turned into a sweltering day with blue skies. We strolled around in the sun, stopping at cafes within the castle walls for snacks and drinks. Why? Because we can! (Our motto for us retired folk!) The downside was that because it was term time, there were few families around and so we had to share the Autumn sun with other fellow 'Wrinklies' which made us feel very old!

Caernarfon Castle

While shopping, we waited silently in a queue to be served as the Welsh speaking shop assistant welcomed others in the queue in front of us. When it was our turn, he spoke to us in English. I asked him how he knew to speak in English. He said he could just tell!!!
How? Next mission, to rid ourselves of this Englishness we clearly have.

At another place we asked for some information. Unfortunately the young lady working there told us she couldn’t help at all because “I only work here Monday to Saturday”!?

I went to get my hair cut. The hairdresser did a good job, but local prices are going to take some getting used to – twice as much as my old home! The hairdresser asked me who had been cutting my fringe, I told him I had. He replied “Ah, good, that explains it” then said he'd sort out the fringe later. I thought I haven't done that bad a job – surely there's not much can go wrong with a fringe? Anyhow, when it came to cutting the fringe – he left it exactly as it was. Hmmmm!

Views of Snowdon from a local beach

We passed an area of woodland which had recently been cleared with all trees chopped down, except 4 which remained alone in the centre of the area. Next time we passed, we noticed they had a purpose - to stack the felled tree trunks between.

On one walk, we passed a coach depot. On a closer look we noticed that this apparently perfectly clean and decent coach was jammed full with hay!

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As we were close to moving into our house, we visited frequently. On one visit, everyone was working on the house - builders, joiners, plumbers, electricians, the lot! All with their vans parked on the drive and overflowing onto the road (single-track remember!). Some time later, Will noticed a local farmer's wife sitting in her car on the road behind the parked vehicles, engine off, smoking a cigarette, reading the paper. Did she ask us if the vehicles could be moved? No. she asked how the building was coming on, and carried on relaxing with her newspaper. As I said before, nobody seems to be in a rush here.

It seemed strange to think this would be our lounge in less than 3 weeks!

At the beginning of December, I counted 12 workers in the conservatory, and was pleased to note that this meant there was plenty of room for the family at Christmas. We explained to the electrician that the family were staying over Christmas and the conversation went something along the lines of...

"There'll be 8 of us in here for Christmas dinner, it's good to see we will all be able to fit"
"Who's coming for Christmas dinner?"

"Our 4 children and 2 partners, and they'll all be staying for about a week"
"You are talking about next Christmas?"
"Yes, this Christmas"
"No, Christmas next year"
"No, Christmas this year"
"You mean Christmas 2013"
"No, Christmas 2012"
"So when are you moving in?"
"The week before Christmas"
"But that's only 2 weeks away"
"Yes"
"But you can't be moving in so soon"
"We are"
"But the house isn't ready"
"It's as ready as it needs to be for us"

"Where will they sleep?"
"Don't know yet, but we'll manage"
"Do you really mean this Christmas - in 2 weeks"
"Yes"
"Not 2013"
"No"

A look of horror overcame his face as he scurried back to work.


With one week to go, the stairs were in and our bedroom almost finished.

















We moved in on 14^th December. Builders had not quite finished, but had completed enough for us to live in. 

Furniture arrived 3 days later. We had sent a video clip to the removal company so they were well informed of any potential difficulties along our narrow road. They asked Will if he would walk in front of the lorry lopping off any overhanging branches so the lorries wouldn't get scratched! Fortunately for us, they were carrying our loppers somewhere in one of the many boxes so they had to manage without. 3 men in 3 medium sized lorries arrived and worked all day to empty the lorries and fill the house. As one of the builders said – we had tried to fit a quart into a pint! Very true! The men were clearly very tired by the end of the day, having set out at 4am. There were no particular upsets except that Will did have to tow one of the lorries out of the mud when it's driver had attempted to reverse up our drive. Fortunately the 4x4 Beastie did the job easily.

Next Blog - Problems with animals.

OUR 3RD TEMPORARY HOME AND LIFE IN GENERAL - Sept - Nov 2012

Firstly, however hard we try with technology, I know I am not alone in reluctantly relying on the younger generation for so many things. I have even been known to phone Kieran at uni to ask him how to change channels on the TV using the remote control. I only learnt how to use the controls to switch on the TV just before he went to uni. I seem to be stuck in a time warp when there were 4 channels and the TV was controlled by switches at the side of the screen and never disappeared down the side of the settee.

Anyhow, Kieran has very kindly altered the 'comments' format on this blog, which means that hopefully it should now be easier to send a comment if you wish. So please give it a go and lets see if it has worked!

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We moved to our 3rd temporary place. A nice barn conversion about 30 minutes drive from our own house. Our upstairs bedroom there reminded me of camping - standing room only in the apex, but as this was taken up with a bed, any standing involved being very hunched over.

While we were in the B & B, the cats spent 2 nights in a cattery. By the time we arrived at the barn, Dobby and Gizmo were clearly becoming accustomed to moving, however Yoda was very unsettled so we resorted to locking him in the bathroom for about 48 hours until he stopped hissing and growling, and frightening the other cats.

Once they had all settled, we let them out as there were no main road for miles, only fields and country lanes. The mice here were clearly not used to cats as they hadn't learnt to run when they spotted a cat . On release, it took Gizmo approximately 20 seconds to find and catch a mouse in the hedge. 

It was difficult not to treat our temporary homes as holidays, which was ok for a few weeks, but not good on the pocket or health for much longer. With little to keep us busy, poor posture was at risk of developing through not being able to stand up straight in the bedroom and weight was piling on through eating taking the place of working. So in order to keep some level of fitness and reality, we went on frequent walks. It amused us to find that Yoda began to follow us and it wasn't long before he and Dobby were joining us for 2 mile walks along the country lanes!

On one walk, we were greeted by a man living locally who told us how fascinating it was to watch our 2 black cats working in partnership to hunt wild rabbits.

Two days later the cats left a gift of a giant rabbit on our doorstep.

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Not much to report about our house at this stage. Nothing for us to get on with while the builders were working. But building was starting to take the place of demolition. The living room developed a concrete floor!  And our bedroom was starting to take shape. Whay hay! Feeling uplifted!

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As I have probably already mentioned, the pace of life here is very different compared to that of our previous life. That's not just because we have retired from our jobs but because the people here have a totally different attitude. There is no rush in life and nothing seems to bother them.

Anyhow, I went to the local Post Office to buy a stamp for a card to France. Had I done this at my previous place, the conversation would have gone something along the lines of:

"Hello"

"Hi"

"Can I have a stamp for this letter for France please" (as I place letter on scales)

"Yes, that's £1.66 please"

"Thanks"

"Bye"

This is how the conversation actually went when I bought my stamp. (Please read replies in a Welsh accent!)

"Hi, could I have a stamp for this letter for France please"

"Yes, put the letter on the scales now … oooh now, let me see now... oooh yes, that's £1.66 please. Oooh now. See here now (as he looks in his book of stamps) I only have stamps for £1.46 and it says £1.66 so it must be £1.66 mustn't it? (as he double checks scales). Ooh now, you'll have to have one of these for £1.46 and one for 20p to make £1.66 now. Is that ok now? 

"That's fine, thank you"

"Would you like me to stick them on for you now?"

"I don't mind really"

"That's ok, I'll do them, Some people object you know, they do now. There we are now. It will be collected at noon today now, are you sure that will be ok for you?" (2 hours away)

"That's fine, thank you"

"There we go now, Tara!"

We have come to understand that "There we go now" up here can mean a number of things, if indeed anything at all. There are some of the ways it has been used with us ...

• That's right
• That's the way I see it too
• Is that all?
• Do you want anything else?
• Have you finished what you are saying?
• I have finished this conversation
• Goodbye
• I've had enough of you, now go away

My next trip to the same Post Office (yes, I returned) involved my request for 12 Christmas stamps. 

Post Office Chappie opened his book of stamps to the appropriate page to reveal an L-shape of about 20 Christmas stamps. He turned the stamps this way then that, trying to figure out the best way to tear out a reasonable shape of 12 stamps leaving another decent shape behind. With lots of “Now let me see ...”, "That's 2 x 6 ... or it could be 3 x 4 ..." “Now if I do it this way ...”,”Or I could do it that way, but...” “This could be the best way, but there again...” "That would leave me with a strange shape". And so it went on – for several minutes before I received a neat 3x4 arrangement of 12 stamps!

As I said, there's no rush in anyone up here. And what's more, these locals consider the villagers 10 miles further away to be laid back!

And talking of the Post Office, I received 4 letters from the Post Office (general, not local) all on the same day. All signed by the same person. All acknowledging my change of address. Two confirmed my move to Wales and gave my Welsh address as correctly being the new address. The other two confirmed my new address as being the old address!! Some things never change!

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The weather here, although not as warm as that we have experienced in Pyrenean France, is comparable in that it changes frequently. We can wake up to clouds which then give way to an overcast sky and rain which look set for the day, and all views disappear. As I seek out winter jumper and slippers, suddenly all is replaced with blue skies and hot sunshine and I'm back in my summer wear, reading a book in the garden! The same applies to the views and the mountains which appear to change completely from day to day, hour to hour. Whatever the weather, we seem to be blessed with extremes. Overcast, grey, drizzly days are few and far between. More often than not we experience hot sunshine, torrential rain, gales, blizzards, etc.

Some views in the late October sun ...

Next blog - Visits to local places and we move in!!!

MEET THE CATS - Sept 2012

So ... Why did Yoda Cat fall out from the under sink cupboard this morning? How long had he been in there???

It's about time I formally introduced you to the cats - Yoda, Dobby and Gizmo.

Yoda and Dobby are brothers. Small black cats of Siamese descent somewhere in their ancestry, and named after their doppelgangers from Star Wars and Harry Potter. 

Dobby, nicknamed 'Fangus' due to his protruding fangs which have developed over recent years, now resembles Toothless from How To Train Your Dragon despite Toothless not having fangs. 

He does not like being outside, unless it's calm, sunny and warm (can't blame him really!). 

Yoda, otherwise known as 'PITA' (Pain In The Ass) Cat, is distinguishable by his unusually curly tail.

He was surely put on this Earth to make everyone else's life, hell! Even the lady at the cattery  named him (and Dobby) 'The Devil Cats' and was convinced that if she had looked under their fur on their necks she would have found the numbers '666' tattooed there! However, he and Dobby are excellent hunters and very funny and affectionate. Yoda's most favourite and comfortable place is on any poor unsuspecting victim's shoulders. 

As his nickname suggests, he has a particular ability to be painfully annoying as no doubt you will discover in further posts. In the mean time, he chooses to curl up on a knee just when he has come in from rolling in the mud or at the most inconvenient of times, just as the knees owner is about to stand up & go to the toilet.

Yoda and Dobby have always been very close to each other, however, they have never really accepted Gizmo into the family. Toleration is the nearest they get to acceptance.

Gizmo is a big fluffy grey cat, a product of my daughter's cutie cat and a big grey, one-eyed, 3 legged, ugly stray, fondly known as 'Grey Cat's Dad' ('Grey Cat' being another of his offspring).

Gizmo is just a cat. A cat - cat. A proper cat. One who likes to do everything a cat should do, as long as it's on his terms. Which is how cats should be. He will explore outside regardless of the weather. In fact he seems totally oblivious to anything that might be thrown down from the heavens. He likes to curl up on a knee just when he feels like it, which fortunately usually coincides with the knees wanting to feel warm. But he will also hit out, just when he looks like he needs to be affectionate.


Following their change of home and long hours of traveling, the 2 black cats in particular were still feeling very angry and anti-social 

They were becoming increasingly frustrated at being kept in, so after a week or so, when the holidaying dog next door returned to Liverpool, we let them out. Yoda and Dobby streaked out like grease lightning. It took Gizmo 2 more days to become confident enough to follow.

Once he plucked up the courage to venture outside, Gizmo quickly disappeared over the fields to find out what all those white woolly things were. 

Meanwhile Dobby decided to live life dangerously and was to be seen jaywalking down the middle of the busy road.

Yoda took no time in finding himself a black & white lady-friend in the graveyard.

It's amazing how much interest one can find from their kitchen window overlooking the local graveyard, and there is little else to do. It is very overgrown and as a result attracts an abundance of birds, in particular gold finches and swifts/house martins. The birds perched, one each on top of a headstone. Simultaneously, our cats sat atop others further away trying to gain the attention of the she-cat sunning herself on another headstone. As the cats moved in on the she-cat, one gravestone at a time (apart from Dobby who has no interest in the ladies), she feigned uninterest. The birds watched the cats with suspicion and hopped from one stone to another to avoid them. Dobby started to pick up an interest in the birds and moved as discretely as he could from stone to stone. Of course birds aren't daft and they would leave it until the very last moment before hopping to another stone. All in all it was like watching a game of wildlife chess.

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We went blackberrying and I have decided that Llŷn blackberries make the very best apple and blackberry crumble. I have never tasted such rich, juicy blackberries. Maybe it is due to the fact that over recent years the local hedgerow has taken the form of a Morrisons' shelf.
And I don't need to educate you about the comparisons between supermarket products and those grown at home or in the wild.

Our 2^nd temporary home came to an end towards the end of September. We had 2 days of homelessness before our 3rd place became available. So we found a local B&B to stay at. We spent the two days in glorious sunshine walking a variety of wonderful beaches; sitting in a beach cafe watching seals; taking in the fabulous views from the end of the peninsula over Bardsey Island, across to Ireland and the whole of the Snowdonia range while buzzards soared overhead in blue skies. During one road trip we followed a low flying buzzard through a tunnel of trees along a single track road. The weekend was not complete without a drink at Tŷ Coch – the pub on the beach which can only be accessed via a half hour walk along the beach. We joined a hundred other people sitting with a drink watching boats while soaking up the Autumn sun.

The B&B was great – only marred by the slug Will found in his meal!


Next blog - Our 3rd Temporary Home