We've been back home for two weeks now & it is Wonderful !! - Even though it's raining like England & we're thoroughly destitute.
There's alot to catch you up on!
3 days after the wedding I discovered Rayo had strangles! It took a few days to confirm it with tests, but it was obvious, though I'd never seen it first hand before. It explained the coughing over the days since their arrival in England - Tio tested negative, but was treated all the same & did have a day or two of high temperature.
My first reaction was of horror & fear for Rayo's life, I knew strangles was serious & the abcess & swelling was horrific, but thanks to google I was able to allay my fears quickly - nevertheless it was to have a huge impact on our immediate future.
As some of you will know, it's a very contagious infection that requires time & cleanliness & alot of money.
Firstly, I can't thank Suzy (our horses host) enough for her absolute consistancy in kindness, unflappability & hugs - given freely throughout the whole affair along with timely offers of G & T, she remained firm in her hospitality, generosity & good humour! Even though unbeknown to us at the time, she had troubles of her own - What a lady! ❤
I can't go on with secondly, thirdly & all that - because everyone around us gave equally without question.
Darling Fenella & her magical woods gave us indefinate safe haven & we got to know more of the woodland folk, the gloriously demur Deedee, Tommy & her cute little doggy 'Rosebud' - who once suddenly leaped into the lorry (I screamed !) to give me a cuddle when I was in tears!
Pete the Log who gave Mark some much needed work & friendship..
Rayos treatment envolved a cycle of antibiotics, abcess squeezing, waiting, worrying & endoscopies - each time costing around 500 quid, Tio passed his first endoscopy, Rayo passed on his 2nd - two months after diagnosis.. Our vet Sally from Riegate, was really helpful & super efficient.
The landlady of our local pub the 8 bells in Bolney, Micky was a darling, once when we arrived after kitchen hours, she helped us order a chinese delivery & set up a table for us ! Clever lady ! We of course stayed for a few drinks !
Fortunately Sussex had a mild autumn with not alot of rain - though it was chilly in the lorry shaded amoungst the trees. I enjoyed making improvements to our living area, cleverly (if I may say so myself) removing an unlikely to be used wardrobe & thereby extending the kitchen surface area, I made a nifty hanging cutlery drainer from a cut off plastic bottle & shortened the curtains all round to fit rather than hang dangerously into the bed, cooker etc..
I also repainted the front panel of the lorry cab & tidied up some rusty bits. All the while I was apprehensively keen to actually try driving the collosal 7.5 tonner of which I had no previous experience but would have to drive us & our 2 precious horses all the way to Spain - my husband being a non-driver !
This brings me to mention my wonderful brother who provided us with all our forms of transport - bar the horses of course !
The car was fun ! An oldie but goodie wolf in sheeps clothing Ford mondeo 3 litre V6 - a taj juicy but worth it, I couldn't help myself having a few race offs at the Buck barn traffic lights.. I'd exchange a glance at other would be racers - who'd perhaps heard the gutsy engine rumble, lights change & we're off ! I hardly ever won of course, most modern vehicles can lick an old mondeo, but I beat a landrover or two !
We saw quite alot of Billy & Teresa, my old friends from a previous life & it was wonderful to renew & further this friendship with them. Mark & I helped them on their current house building project (for which we were paid genorously) & we had a truly beautiful time with them.
Our longtime friends Candy & Andy in hurstpierpoint had a couple of soirée's that were most enjoyable, all of us dancing wildly in their kitchen - something everyone should do regularly.
So the first day came for my attempt at a drive in the lorry & in my hurried anticipation I reversed it across the sink draining ground area & got it stuck in the mud - arghhh ! Can you imagine digging out such a beast ?? Me & mark had probably our first post marital domestic - and John Glider comes to our rescue purely by chance with a 4x4 fitted with a winch & a few beers.. We later made light work of releasing the lorry but my first proper drive would have to wait until another day.
The Butcher family - which almost includes my daughter, Joe Butcher being her long time partner, insisted we had showers when we were at their house - which was almost often enough to keep us clean ! -
Also gave Mark some roofing work, one of Brightons most successful roofing firms, the business having been passed down through Butch by name & butch by nature father & son.
So of course I enjoyed some priceless times with my beautiful daughter (The super shiney silver lining on our delay) Poppy lived with us in Spain throughout her childhood, speaks fluent Spanish & has since moving to England at 17 years of age, responsibly built & maintained a good life of which I am so proud. Our life in rural Spain is a boring one for a young adult so apart we must be, at least for the time being.. But our whatsapp conversational thread is probably the longest worldwide ! With maximum hearts.
I missed my younger sister Rachel as she had just moved from Sussex to Dorset, but saw my older sister Ruth quite alot, enjoying charity shops & lunch outings & feeling our sisterly bond renewing itself, such waves of emotion surprised and moved me, but it does seem to me that sibling love increases with age! I miss them all living abroad as I do.
So Julian came one day for my first lorry driving lesson - He couldn't be better qualified for this, having an HGV license, driving instructors license, a mechanic & talented body work specialist ! All potential disasters covered !
It was wierd - Being up there in the cab, looking down at the road & the cars.. My first maneuver out of the woodland gates into the tiny lane was a big start, missing the avenue of trees & hoping nothing comes the other way, then I felt pretty pleased with myself but I was only going about 10mph & Jules said ok now put your foot down a bit, I'm like - What ?!! But I did & we sailed on missing everything, negotiating the roundabout, pulling out of the T junction, down the A348 towards Buck barn - no racing this time !
I always find human beings ability to take additional space awareness into account with vehicles quite amazing, but of course it takes a little while & when you're on a medium sized two way road, lorries coming towards you seem awfully close ! 'Now dont be bullied Niki, hold your ground' said Jules, but at first it felt like a game of chicken ! Cluck cluck said she & I bumped the kerb.. It takes a brave passenger to calmly ask you to watch your positioning, use the mirrors & again, to put your foot down! - I was still going pretty slow & there was a big queue of cars behind me..
An hour & a half later Jules said congratulations Niki, you're a trucker ! I felt well proud !
Well, there's just too much more to write, so I won't get you home in this blog after all!
