work – The travels of Mary Loosemore

Herefordshire Week 177: Tuesday 16 – Monday 22 May 2023

Retirement has arrived.

As has the summer.

GVWC: Breinton Springs Circular - Hereford Cathedral and the River Wye from the Old Bridge — GVWC: Breinton Springs Circular – Hereford Cathedral and the River Wye from the Old Bridge

7am alarm Tuesday for our last morning in Antibes. Washing, recycling, quick trip to the Boulangerie for mini gateaux, baguette, croque monsieur, quiche and croissants aux amandes et chocolat for breakfast.

Bus No 6 then the 82 to Nice Airport, all ahead of schedule. Caught up with work emails once we were through security etc.

Good flight – lots of legroom and a sandwich lunch on the BA flight to London City Airport. Farewell to Steffi then DLR to Bank, farewell to Hazel and into work. Sunny in Antibes, sunny in London.

Busy afternoon sorting out doing a few more afternoon 1-2-1s of handover, having my exit interview and in my final KMCA Zoom.

Rendezvous with Phil and down to H’s for Indian takeaway from Khan’s. Tasty!

Weds – up early and into work (for me) to the Breakfast Club (for P). Another busy day, but I made it to BLWV by 6.30pm for WW with Hazel, Rachel and Fi.

Thursday was my last day. A long day, and a lovely day. So many lovely messages and chats.

Pretty tortuous “train” journey back to Hereford but we made it home eventually.

Friday. The first day of the next stage of my life, and I’m doing admin – washing, defrosting the freezer, catching up with photos and weeknotes. Ah, this is what retirement is all about…..

Wonderful how green everything is after a week away, and how many flowers are out. The grass has gone bananas, we have buttercups galore and there is may blossom and cow parsley everywhere. Hedges that were bare when I left are now bursting with green leaves.

I think dad and Jean must have visited while we were away and checked on – and watered, thankfully – the seedlings in the greenhouse. In my office, where I’d left a few scrawny tomato and lettuce seedlings and a tray of weedy onion greens I’ve returned to an array of thriving small plants. Clearly they all do well left alone!

In the orchard, the rhubarb continues to display triffid-like traits, compost corner is hidden by greenery and I have pea and bean seedlings in the veg patch. Success!

More ripe strawberries inside the greenhouse, baby gooseberries outside.

Four newts (at least) in the small pond, but no tadpoles, and no sign of any fish in the big one…. I hope that doesn’t mean we’ve had a heron visiting. The flag irises are out.

Saturday was my first time helping out at the annual Abbey Dore Plant Sale. A great way to meet more people and also to stock up on seedlings. I had a lovely day. Gorgeous sunshine and dad and Jean treated me to tea and cake.

They reappeared at 6pm at Forty Acres for a celebration dinner created by Phil. A really lovely, relaxed evening. Just right.

My Retirement Celebration Dinner by Phil

I slept well.

Sunday was another fantastic sunny day and I spent the morning out with the GVWC on Jo’s Breinton Springs Circular: 7½ miles, 3 hours.

A different route from that CP and I had done back in March 2022; less tarmac, more back alleys and footpaths and a gorgeous old orchard full of cow parsley, apple blossom and may blossom on the final approach to Breinton Church. And not only was the church open but it has a new-looking toilet built into a quiet corner at the back of the north aisle. What a great idea.

Home for a late lunch and a lazy afternoon on the patio and in the conservatory. There was a sofa snooze….

I made dinner – the long awaited lentil soup – and we watched Perry Mason.

Bats zooming around outside as dusk drew in.

Monday was another walk this time meeting up with S&S (but not G) at the Little Black Hill car park picnic spot for Cat’s Back Circular: Cat’s Back – Hay Bluff – Hatterrall Ridge – Olchon Valley (9 ½ miles, 1600ft elevation gain, 4 ½ hours).

Cat's Back Circular: Herefordshire from Hatterrall Ridge — Cat’s Back Circular: Herefordshire from Hatterrall Ridge

The sunshine continued, this time with a cool brisk breeze up on the tops of the Black Mountains – and I got my first sunburn of the year …. and my first Magnum of the year too from the brilliant village shop, Hopes of Longtown. My first visit; I can see why people rave about it.

I’d watched kites soaring high above the Golden Valley, Abbey Dore side, before I headed out for the day.

Home for a pot of tea, sat in the shade (partly for sunburn, partly because it was hot), than a stroll around the garden taking photos of the flowers. I wish we could offer smell-o-vision for the lilac and wisteria – both were gorgeous.

Got the long hose out to top up the large pond. P had spotted some fish – let’s hope it’s just too hot for them to bask and a bit too murky for us to see them …..

Spotted a newt in the small pond, and – amazingly – some tadpoles still….

No squirrels though!

(I spoke to soon – one was trying its luck (in vain) at the squirrel-proof bird feeders this morning)

Retirement Days Tracker: All done

TV: Succession, Barry (season 4), Perry Mason (season 2), Location, Location, Location.

Podcasts: History Extra, The Forum.

Photos: Herefordshire week 177 on Flickr.

Phil: w/e 2023-05-21.

Herefordshire Week 173: Tuesday 18 – Monday 24 April 2023

Almost a whole week in London: Global KM Meeting & Work Farewells; relaxing weekend with Cat and Hazel; R&M birthday celebrations with TJBR.

It was an early start on Tuesday – 5am – to get the 06.40 train to London for the long awaited Global KM Meeting Wednesday – Friday. The line is closed between Oxford and Didcot (Nuneham Viaduct is broken) so I had to take the Newport route, which is a faster journey but the TfW trains are tiddly and not conducive to working on a laptop, plus there’s the change at Newport. It all went OK though.

Lots of birthday greetings during the day, lovely presents from the other KMCAs and dinner at Ottolenghi Spitalfields complete with special guests and a cake and a candle! Very good food and so lovely to have a meal out with (best) work friends – I’m really going to miss them.

Hilton Canopy not quite up to the same standards as in December but handy location and easier than commuting in from zone 2.

Another busy work day Wednesday, making the most of the chance to meet people in person plus final prep for the global meeting and plenty of hugs and hellos as KMers started arriving.

Things got underway with dinner at Cinnamon Kitchen: lots of great food – the dishes just kept on coming! – and lots of lovely conversations with people I’ve worked with over the last (almost) 10 years.

A lovely evening but tiring and a late night.

Another early start on Thursday as I was leading the morning walk. Blue skies and sunshine showed off London at its best even if it was a little nippy in the shade.

The first full day flew by and before we knew it we were off under brollies to the Sky Garden for champagne and then to Hispania for dinner where the red wine kept on flowing. Another late night!

A long half day on Friday brought the KM Meeting to a close. It went really well – the first global team meeting since 2018 and the perfect opportunity to say farewell to folks.

Work done, I took the Tube down to Clapham to rendezvous with Cat at Hazel’s. The weekend started with tea and LW cake leftovers and lots of catching up, progressing on to Prosecco and Takeaway Thai.

Lie ins all round on Saturday, a leisurely breakfast then out for a day’s walking: Battersea Park, Chelsea Physic Garden and then Battersea Power Station. Lunch at Roti King in the arches and a mooch around the swanky shops inside the Power Station then back to Hazel’s via M&S to buy bits for tea.

Back at base for tea and cake, a spot of pruning in the back garden then a relaxing evening with wine, nibbles and the telly.

Rain arrived overnight. A relaxing morning watching the London Marathon, then farewell to Hazel, up to KX with Cat then over to St Pancras to meet TJBR for joint R&M birthday cocktails in the Booking Office. Lovely.

Tom and me at Birthday Cocktails, St Pancras

To Paddington to squeeze onto the 16.43 train to Newport and the equally busy 18.55 TfW service to Abergavenny.

Back home to open birthday cards and to admire my PG home made birthday cake and to catch up over a late dinner of simple lentil soup.

Monday featured rain and admin.

Not much progress to report on the windowsill seedlings front. Maybe it’s just been a bit too cold….

The cows have arrived in Thistly Field, and the orchids are just emerging on the front lawn.

Retirement Days Tracker: 9 working days to go (that’s 4 working weeks, with 1 day off)

TV: Looking, Why Didn’t They Ask Evans?, BBC coverage of the London Marathon, Succession.

Podcasts: Books and Authors, Anglo-Saxon England, This Union, The Ghost Kingdoms of England, Savor, Empire.

Photos: Herefordshire week 173 on Flickr.

Phil: w/e 2023-04-23.

Herefordshire Week 102: Tuesday 07 – Monday 13 December 2021

London. Essex Part 2. Home.

Featuring Wine Wednesday, a long weekend in Walton and a Loosemore Family Meal.

Work’s done for the year.

Tuesday was my first day in the London office since COVID kicked off. Strange and not so strange. The part that worried me most was the morning commute and after consultation with H I opted to get the train from CJ into Waterloo and to walk the rest of the way.

Up at 6.30am – a bit of a shock to the system – and who’d imagine I’d forget which platforms the Waterloo trains run from? The train was a bit busier than I’d imagined but not so different from Monday’s journey in from Essex, and I really enjoyed the walk along the South Bank and over the Wobbly Bridge as a technicolour sunrise took over the whole sky to the east.

Settled into my Hotelling Desk and thankfully the other person who’d booked in for the day was a no show. Got my new headphones working, tracked down my mug and picked up my parcel. These things are Important. Caught up with a few folks over coffee and, at the end of the day, wine. KMCA winter drinks rounded off my first day in the office since January 2020. Then it was the Northern Line back to Hazel’s for a cheeky Deliveroo dinner.

A tiring day. But good to be back in the office and being able to meet people in person again. And I discovered that the southbound Northern Line now has a branch line that goes to Battersea Power Station!

Another full day at work on Wednesday; same commute as yesterday.

Wrapped up at 5.50pm – having to pack everything up every evening and take it back to my locker required multiple journeys and took an age – and speed walked to Bow Lane Wine Vaults for Wine Wednesday. Another “first since January 2020”.

Found Catherine in an uncomfortably busy BLWV and with Boris announcing Plan B. As we loitered in vain for a table we decided on our own Plan B – to go straight to Pizza Express. Rachel materialised as we were texting Hazel (mysteriously late) and it was wonderful to find Virginie at the pretty empty Russia Row restaurant.

Prosecco and pizzas all round, and really special to hang out again.

Thursday was a long day.

I spent the morning in the office for my last “day” at work for 2021. I’m glad I managed to get to the London office at least once this year, and just in the nick of time (Hello again, Plan B). Unfortunately the plan to meet up with D for lunch was foiled by a Ping.

Early afternoon train to Witham to meet up with Phil at his folks for a cuppa and a mince pie, then drove east to the Essex Coast and a long weekend in a seafront AirBnB back in Walton on the Naze.

Walked to M&S and Aldi to pick up supplies – walking to the shops is now a novelty – and then settled in for an evening on the sofa, nice and snug and looking forward to waking up to sea views in the morning.

Friday’s breakfast came with a sea view, then a bracing stroll along the prom to Frinton. Lots of the beach huts showing signs of Lockdown TLC. A potter along Connaught Avenue culminated in The Hospice Bookshop, where Phil bought of a couple of books on puppies…

Lunch back at base then a lazy afternoon in PJs channel surfing on the bedroom TV.

Takeaway Thai from the Pearl of Samui for dinner. Quite honestly the best Thai anywhere.

Saturday started with an amazing sunrise and the seafront flat really came into its own.

After breakfast we headed out for a mooch around Terry’s, a successful visit to Lilley’s Bakery and a stroll along the High Street checking for changes. Not so many.

Purchases dropped off at the flat, then back out to walk to Hipkins to check on the beach hut….

Beach hut reflections, Walton on the Naze

All good, so we continued up to the Naze Tower and on to the headland, and all the way along the estuary shore to Stone Point and Pye Sand – making the most of low tide. It’s a lovely wild stretch of strand, tucked between Hamford Water and the Walton Backwaters and Marshes.

Me, Stone Point & Pye Sand, Walton on the Naze

Back via Hipkins / Hall Lane park with its (temporarily ?) relocated beach huts, Joy Otter Walk and the decommissioned Coastguard Station. Late lunch and a couple of hours reading before we headed round to see Margaret and Richard for tea and cake, and a glass of wine or two. Catching up on all the Walton news.

A glorious morning on Sunday with blue skies and sunshine, so breakfast done I set out for a quick spin around town checking out cafe / takeaway options ahead of the Wivenhoe arrivals. Luxuriating in T shirt weather in December I decided to stretch my legs a little further – over golden sands to the beach hut and along the front to the Naze Tower, then back via Old Hall Lane and Hall Lane to Foundry corner, the perennially muddy footpath to the Naze Marine Caravan Park and along the “sea wall” and more muddy footpath all the way to North Street. Smashing. No camera with me, of course.

With half an hour before Tom, B, Dad and Jean were due to arrive, I picked up Phil and we strolled south along the Prom, passing people eating ice creams and drinking coffee/tea al fresco at Mays, and returning to town along the upper path past Burnt Farm and the Seaview Caravan Park – ready to rendezvous with Dad and Jean, T & B.

Cloud cover caught up with us at the station rendezvous, so we picked up sandwiches and drinks at the lacklustre Potatoe Shack (yes, that’s the correct spelling) and lunched in the green kiosk near Ice Cream Central. A stroll along the sea front took us all the way to Hipkins where dad and Jean took a breather on a bench while T, B, Phil and I continued on to The Links Cafe for tea and cake. Then back to the station, where our guests headed back to WIV.

Walton Wander with Dad & Jean, T & B, and Phil

A leisurely afternoon featuring The Living Daylights, then the 6.30pm to Wivenhoe where T, J & B were waiting to take us all to the Wivenhoe House Hotel. Dad and Jean were staying there for the weekend and treated us all to a long overdue family meal. Very Christmassy, and easy to forget Omicron, except for the masks.

Today’s the first time dad, me and Tom have been together for ages, stretching back pre-COVID.

Slow start to the day, Monday.

An orange and turquoise sunrise sky glimpsed through the bedroom window, and a couple of episodes of The Essay. Clouds arrived as the tide receded, and we decided we were missing home, had done all the things we really wanted to do in Walton, and that we’d drive back a day early.

So we did.

Another excellent lunch at the cafe in Ampthill Great Park, a quick shop in Ross on Wye, and home for an evening by the log stove.

Lovely.

And so ended Trip No. 6 of 2021: Essex

Destination: WTM, WON & WIV, way over there on the East Coast

When: December 2021

What: A few days in Witham (P) and Work (M) followed by 5 days in an AirBnB in Walton including dinner with dad and Jean, T, J and B in Wivenhoe.

How: Driving there and back, and the train for WTM-LST.

Why: For a seaside mini-break, time with family and to wrap up the work year “in person” (aka in the office) for the first time since Jan 2020.

TV: At Hazel’s – Masterchef; In Walton – Money Heist season 2 (not as gripping as season 1), What We Do In the Shadows (series 3), The Living Daylights.

Podcasts: The Essay, Books and Authors, History of England.

Photos: Herefordshire week 102 on Flickr.

Phil: f/e 2021-12-13.

Just spotted this is my 800th blogpost.

Herefordshire Week 094: Tuesday 12 – Monday 18 October 2021

The last of the preserves production. Good garden jobs. Utility Room revamp & Loft prep.

We were woken before sunrise on Tuesday morning by loud screeches coming from two birds. No idea what – one was possibly a Jay, or perhaps it was Buzzard vs Owl?

Task No. 1 for the morning was to film my piece to camera for the ELR KM Database relaunch video. The things I do to get projects over the line. Thank heavens for Philip Gyford and both his acting experience and filming kit. The first time I’ve worn mascara since I don’t know when.

Me - the work version — Me – the work version

Job done, we strolled down to the Abbey and back over the field, chatting with Chris about Gigaclear / Fastershire fiasco en route.

Just enough time to tackle Task No. 2: Turning the last pick of the wild plums Allotment Garden Damson Jam. Both this recipe, using 1.2kg damsons, and the One Pot of Jam from Your Microwave recipe, using 550g fruit, produced 3½ pots. How does that work?

Early afternoon, as I was getting stuck into work, dad arrived and he and Phil took the two boxes of surplus flooring back to Simply Stunning for a refund. Smashing service from start to finish from Simply Stunning.

Work done for the week, I had a busy day in the garden on Friday – the lovely weather continues. Tidied up the tomato plants behind the greenhouse, picked up the worthwhile windfall apples from the fallen apple tree (what do you do with 4 bucketloads of small apples?) and lopped off the smaller branches, wheelbarrowing them to the bonfire and getting that going in the afternoon.

Apples from the fallen tree — Damson Jam: rolling boil

Further lopping down on the lower path, tidying up wild plum bushes and blackberry runners. We also relocated the apple racks and washing machine in the Utility Room ahead of Handyman Sam coming tomorrow.

It was a cool afternoon and evening so we lit the wood stove and luxuriated in our lounge admiring the new flooring – the downstairs space is transformed – as Thea and Joe were coming up in the evening for a Mexican feast. Lots of chat and a late night. Smashing.

I had signed up for Saturday’s GVWC Challenge Walk (17 miles around Peterchurch) but after all of Friday’s excitements I was shattered and sent my regrets late on Friday. Sod’s law meant Saturday was a glorious day, and after a leisurely start my energy levels were back to normal.

Still, a good day to be in as Handyman Sam was with us for part 1 of the Utility Room Revamp. Aka removing the remains of the boiler cupboard and all the boxing around the pipe work. He returns next Saturday to finish off, and he’s also going to extend the washing machine plumbing so that we can relocate it into the alcove. Score!

Utility Room cupboard removal - at the half way point — Utility Room cupboard removal – at the half way point

I spent the day doing computer things and jobs in the garden. More tomato tidying, cleared the herb bed and dug over the earth, planted out the Hergest Croft Herefordshire Russet apple tree.

Herefordshire Russet - Apple tree label — Herefordshire Russet – Apple tree label

More pruning on the lower path and lots of raking up of leaves from the swing slope. The bonfire was still smouldering, so, with the help of some of the dry leaves I revived that to burn more of the damp hedge trimmings that lingered around the edge.

Despite all Saturday’s activity, I didn’t sleep well, which is my excuse for sleeping in until 10am. Unheard of. And it was another lovely day of blue skies and sunshine. So rather than the Hereford Screwfix shop we’d planned (rat trap high on the list) we opted to walk the Bacton Square, chatting with Thea on the return stretch and picking a large bag of blackberries.

Dad and Jean had been due to come for Sunday lunch today, but nasty colds have postponed that plan. But an organic chicken won’t last forever, so we set to work on making Sunday lunch for two. A dry run for Christmas Dinner, but without the sprouts or bread sauce (sniff – two of my favourite items), and with the mutual grumps. A plateful each was followed by seconds, demolished in the sun warmed conservatory.

Washing up done, I opted to spend the rest of the afternoon lounging on the sofa watching telly. Sometimes you just have to, even on an unseasonably warm mid-October day. Eventually I found room for the apple and blackberry crumble…

Busy day, Monday! We emptied the loft (unearthing lots of lost treasures as well as dead flies and mouse traps), went to the tip (waving goodbye to the loft’s carpet and cardboard collection) and made another batch of Apple Chutney (Penny’s Recipes Apple Chutney with Dates, Sultanas, Mustard & Coriander Seeds. Double quantity, reduced sugar. 14 jars, various sizes – from large to small). The cupboards are FULL.

Penny's Recipes Apple Chutney — Penny’s Recipes Apple Chutney

Also strained the 4 jars of Apple Cider (Scraps) Vinegar. One jar is clear but the other three are cloudy, and they are the ones where there was a layer of mould on the chopped apples… Let’s see what happens over the next stage. (Yes, it does look a bit like wee.)

Apple Cider Vinegar - Stage 2: Strained — Apple Cider Vinegar – Stage 2: Strained

In less good news, I found the dead mouse in the garage that was the cause of the nasty niffs we’d noticed on Saturday. And Phil found second corpse in the mouse trap that had mysteriously moved overnight…

Started season 2 of The Get Down while polishing off Sunday Lunch Leftovers, and then packed for MN. My first trip back to the (an) office since Feb 2020.

TV: Grand Designs, The North Water, The Celts, Who Do You Think You Are, The Get Down.

Podcasts: History Extra, The History of England Podcast – Guest episodes, The History of English Podcast, Bookclub.

Photos: Herefordshire week 94 on Flickr.

Phil: w/e 2021-10-17.

Herefordshire Week 071: Tuesday 04 – Monday 10 May 2021

Work Work Work Work (a 4 day week). More visitors. Week in the Lakes with Val lined up for June.

The upgrade continues. We got to the bumpy stage mid-week but by the end of Friday I felt more on top of things. Exhausted. Now we just have to get through Wednesday night’s go live. One of the downsides of Tech being in LA….

Once I wrapped up the week on Friday, I took myself out for a walk doing the Kerrys Gate – Riverdale route. First though, I did a tour of the garden. Beautiful down by the bluebells, with birdsong in the air.

Loads of flowers – the camellia and daffs are on their last legs, but cowslips and primroses are still going strong, as are the bluebells, violets, forget-me-nots and lady’s smock, and recently joined by carpet bugle. There’s blossom on all the fruit trees and wild strawberries have appeared down on the lower mower path and their domesticated brethren in the patio pots are starting to show buds. Out on the lawn the purple orchids are expanding their territory, with one brave flower emerging much closer to the conservatory than any of last year’s.

The clematis is out over the log shed too, and I finally planted out my birthday Japanese Quince, next to the other shrubs between the patio and the small pond.

Planted out my Japanese Quince birthday present from Phil

My pea stick frame got blown down in the veg patch/herb bed (P and I did a temporary repair on Monday in between downpours), but I do have more shoots, and the mint has recovered. Plenty of rain this week. The water butts are full.

Zoomed with Emma on rainy Saturday morning (and had VWW and Family Zoom in the week) and drove into Hereford to do a big supermarket shop in the afternoon – wet and windy and weirdly warm (quite monsoon-ish) but surprisingly quiet in the supermarkets – and had fish & chips from EH for dinner.

We did the Cockyard walk on Sunday morning, bumping into K&K at Hill Farm. Didn’t manage to get my LW Spring Challenge Fitbit set up in time, and still struggling to get the app working Sunday and Monday. None of my mobile devices are new enough I fear. Shame.

Monday had been pencilled in for Pen y Fan with Steffi but during the week it turned out that it suited us both very nicely to postpone. So we did.

Which meant Phil and I got to see Dave and Gwyn for a late lunch as they had to be in Hereford late morning.

In travel news, I’m off up to the Lakes for a week walking with Val and Steffi at the end of June, and we’ve got visitors booked in for weekends in June and July, with C and SL staying in the Pod while they’re here. Nice.

COVID is wreaking havoc in Nepal: ‘A hopeless situation’: oxygen shortage fuels Nepal’s Covid crisis | Coronavirus | The Guardian

TV: Finished season 1 of Ozark, then a bit more Call My Agent before turning back to Better Call Saul (series 3 – not so gripped), tried out Jonny Vegas: Carry on Glamping (1 was enough), had another attempt at Song Exploder (won’t bother with another – Chris Molanphy’s Hit Parade does it better) and polished off Bridgerton on Sunday afternoon (more please).

Podcasts: History Extra, In Our Time, The Infinite Monkey Cage, The Essay and Bookclub.

Photos: Herefordshire week 71 on Flickr.

Phil: w/e 2021-05-09 (although he doesn’t mention that he’s done a lot of baking this week – two chunky boules of bread and a big batch of oat and raisin cookies).