Its been an interesting few weeks, a bit of a miniature emotional roller coaster for me really.
The first thing I realised is that both Alistair and I were feeling hugely unsettled by our brief foray into the medical world. It had sort of got under our skin and left us with some feelings that were difficult to put our fingers on but that we wished were not there!
It felt much better to move back into the safety and security of our known world where we had a hold of the reins and could resume full responsibility for our choices, autonomy suits us much better!
Then I felt homesick! Not for the bricks and mortar, but the home environment. I missed my mornings with Pippin, I missed Kirt wandering up from his ‘shed room’ for a cup of tea, I missed the essence of our family life, and I missed it a lot.
I felt a little bit sorry for myself in all truth but also really proud of myself for coping with what has been in all aspects a mammoth year.
Not just the curve ball, but everything that has changed because of it. Within 6 months my whole family life had been deconstructed and we all had to go our separate ways, that for me was tough and for a while I ached for it to be as it was and felt really sad that it wasn’t.
And as ever, with synchronicity at its best, Pippin had been missing home too!
So, we recreated treat night in Gladys ( at 181, pre curve ball, every friday was treat night for whoever was home and as the name suggests they would be treated to ‘takeaway” with us). Of course, in Gladys it was home-made treat night but the essence was the same and it did the trick.
So here we are, heading in to winter and still happy to be in Gladys (looking back over the last year, had we not have sold we would have by now been repossessed, alternative cancer treatment is not cheap and has to take priority over mortgage payments).
Winter, aah… there is another story and another learning curve!!
We ran out of water last Sunday on the day of Jake’s first birthday party, when I really wanted to go out looking presentable! No big deal, only takes Alistair 15 minutes to refill, no problem. Or so I thought…how wrong, how green behind the ears we were!!!! All the taps were frozen and not a drop was running! UH OH……
I think I have mentioned on a previous post that living in Glad is really eco-friendly, well its true… I washed my hair and me with 2 jugs of water!!!!! Alistair did the same and we were good to go!
So, we made a deal that we wouldn’t let the water run down again and we would top it up every other day and also make sure that we kept the bottled water topped up for emergencies ( no flush no nothing if there’s no water in the tank). Great plan, except 50% of Jake’s birthday guests went down with his tummy bug and that included Alistair.
So once again, the water ran out and I had forgotten to top up the empty bottles (it’s not yet in my muscle memory but I do so hope it will be soon)! And there we were again, the taps were trickling but the main hose pipe was frozen, oops!!!
We had a quick shuffle around of the under floor storage cupboards and now have our hosepipes tucked up in the ‘not so cold’ with the added benefit of some recycled Abel & Cole insulating material! We now have 2 spare gas bottles (LPG has just run out and won’t be refilled until next week) and inside we have plenty of sheepskin rugs and hot water bottles for us to cosy up in so things are positively rosy now.
So as you can see, we are constantly learning, adapting and making changes to accommodate ourselves in this alternative environment. And still we love it, it’s a great way for us to live. I was out in Cambridge with Candace the other day and it just started to sleet. She commented that she was absolutely cold to the bone and could we go and get a hot drink to warm ourselves up. She looked at me a bit funny when I said I didn’t feel cold and then said “Mum, I think you must have become really hardened to the cold living in Gladys and outside”.
I will let you know by the end of the winter if that is true!
Living With Gladys Full Time 