19th April
Well this will be the last update on Ariadne’s diary for a few weeks, as I am finally going into the North Hants Hospital for my long awaited operation.
Spencer and I spent last weekend getting the Manor garden in order so that he can keep it ticking over whilst I am out of action. In anticipation of the Village Show, I planted out my lettuce (under cloches), turnips, beetroot, onions, peas and the last of the potato tubers. Regular readers will remember that I actually won the potato class last year, mainly due to the fact that Jeff Owen didn’t enter. I also pricked out a large number of flower seedlings into slightly larger pots and transplanted my sweet peas outside. Spencer rigged up watering systems on a large number of grow bags, and I planted my tomatoes out in the greenhouse. So everything should be OK as long as Spencer remembers to water it all, if the good weather continues.
I have prepared what seems like hundreds of meals for the freezer that Spencer should be able to defrost and re-heat, but for some reason he seems very disinterested in finding out anything about what is available, how the washing machine works, or what he will need to buy at Tesco each week for the next 6 weeks. I just can’t understand why his sense of natural curiosity seems to have deserted him at this crucial time. We shall just see how he copes on his own- not very well I can guess.
After all the excitement of sleepovers and 13th and 18th birthday parties, the children go back to school this week for a rest! Marcus is being entrusted with my car for the next half term, and will be responsible for getting them both to and from school on time. This could be the biggest challenge of his life!
Marcus also has to make probably the most important decision of his life so far, in that he has to make his final university choice. We have been to all the places on his list and he has narrowed it down to two, both of which we would be happy with, so the decision is entirely his.
Well dear readers- I will hope to be back with further tales from the Manor in three or four weeks time.