Back to normal life….  Thursday, 28/08/2025

After an excellent week away, I’m back in London. My furniture was delivered from storage today, so I have moved back into the house. I’m surrounded by boxes and wrapped up pictures – it’s a bit like a lucky dip, opening things and discovering possessions that haven’t been part of my life for almost five years. And of course discovering what I don’t have: a duvet cover, pillows, pillowcases, towels, dishcloths… So at about 6:30pm I walked to my local Waitrose supermarket to buy a few of these things. Happily, they have part of an aisle dedicated to household items – and they’re open until 9pm. When packing up the house I took some things to the boat and got rid of much of the rest – it seemed pointless storing things that were already ageing for a few years. Over the next few days I can work out what else I need, and will probably buy much of it online – Amazon Prime delivers next day. 

I spent quite a bit of time talking to people today (instead of unpacking boxes): my neighbour was at home, so had a long chat with him, interrupted only by Scottish Shirley over the road coming home and expressing much delight in seeing me! A pipe was leaking under the sink, so I called a plumber – the guy came and fixed it quickly. He was from Kosovo, with the result that we had a long chat about Albanian history (most of the population is ethnic Albanians). Typical of people from that part of the world, he spoke about events 1,000 or 2,000 years ago as though they had happened just a few decades ago (which largely explains the violent wars following the breakup of Yugoslavia – they never forget their grudges!) – but he was a helluva nice guy and shook my hand very warmly on departure, wishing me all the best. So that was a happy plumbing experience… I can’t complain.

Anna, Louisa and I had a great few days up in the Yorkshire Dales (we were in Cumbria actually – the most northwesterly of the UK’s counties – but Cumbria is a modern invention, in 1974 merging what were the counties of Westmorland and Cumberland, together with a few bits of Yorkshire and Lancashire. Cumbria contains both the Lake District and the western part of the Yorkshire Dales, stretching up to the border of Scotland. Outstanding scenery, and everything very green up there. Last Friday Anna and I walked up Whernside, the highest peak in the Dales (well known because it, and the second and third highest, form the Three Peaks Challenge, where people scale all three within 24 hours). It was a fairly strenuous walk, but nothing difficult. Its height is modest: 2,415 feet (736 metres). We were lucky – when we set off the peak was covered by cloud, but as we advanced so the cloud lifted and by the time we were at the top it was clear. Great views of the surrounding landscape. There were a number of people around, but not as busy as I expected, considering it is August. A very friendly atmosphere – we spoke to several different people in the course of our four and a half hour walk.

We also drove down to Haworth, just south of the Dales – famous as the site of the Brontë Parsonage, where all three of the Brontë sisters wrote their books. The house is a museum and it’s a great place. I’d been there with my friend John from Durban several years ago, and I knew that the girls would enjoy it – Louisa in particular is a fan of the Brontës and Jane Austen. She bought a beautiful hardback copy of Anne Brontë’s The Tenant of Wildfell Hall and they stamp it to say that it was bought there. Being a peasant, I bought a paperback copy of Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre, while Anna settled for Emily’s Wuthering Heights – so we covered all three sisters. A charming place, and Haworth itself is lovely – sitting atop a steep hill, unlike most villages, which tend to be in valleys.  

Last Saturday we drove from there to mid-Wales, a long drive thanks to small and windy roads once we approached Wales – 200 miles took us about 4.5 hours. A huge contrast to the North – Wales, like southern England, has had a lengthy drought. I’ve never seen my aunt’s fields brown before – really unprecedented. She has been farming there since 1988 and has never had such a dry summer. The sheep seem happy enough eating the dry grass, but they need to be provided with water (normally they get their liquid from green grass). It was warm and sunny, about 24 degrees, over the weekend. We helped with a couple of jobs, plus went walking up on the Brecon Beacons. It’s a very scenic part of the country. It was a happy weekend, and wonderful to see my aunt Marilyn again. Particularly nice that both my daughters were there too.

Having driven almost 900 miles around the U.K. in the past week, I think I’m feeling now that I’m really back. Being in two of the most beautiful parts of the country has been good for my spirits. London is quite a shock: so many people! That’s the overwhelming impression: it’s very busy and really crowded. But it’s a great city, and it really has everything – the choice of pubs and cafes and restaurants is just phenomenal. And a public transport system that is so developed – in most places I’ve been in the past few years the motor car dominates; here, a car is unnecessary. In fact I drove right across central London on Tuesday evening, and back to Heathrow airport in the west yesterday morning to return the car. Getting from Anna’s house to mine, leaving at 6:40am, took just over an hour to drive 14 miles (22 km) – and that was very quick: if I’d left 30 minutes later it could have taken up to two hours. So adjusting back to London is a bit of a shock. But my road, Dudley Gardens, is a friendly place, with genuinely nice people – very different to the typical stereotype of people in London not knowing their neighbours despite living alongside them for 20 years. It will take me a few days to sort out things in the house, but I’ll take it slowly. And gradually it will begin to seem like home again…