The Man from Mardale Close says "No."

So...for the last few days I have been cleaning, clearing and showing prospective tenants around the house in Penrith. There are two that are in the running so far and a couple of others who will only get bad news from me. One such pair were a mother and son who arrived yesterday with daughter in tow. She marched in first with babe in arms and introduced herself, but I did not catch her name or if I did forgot it immediately."And who is this?" I asked tickling the baby's rosy cheek."Ocean-Abigail" came the reply."How unusual," was all I could offer as an answer.Mother came next. She smiled and showed off her four remaining teeth, which sadly appeared to be barely hanging in there either. Dare one trust one's house to someone who can't look after their own teeth?The son looked very shifty to say the least. They came into the kitchen."This is smaller than the one we had " said mother."Well, that is the point of downsizing" said the daughter."Is there a downstairs lavatory?" Asked mother."No," I said.We went into the lounge."Oh, this is quite a good size," said the daughter."And a bit of a garden," noted mother " though we won't be able to bring the dogs here."' No you won't,' I was thinking."Is it a pet friendly place?" piped up the son."Well, the last tenant did have a cat, "I said."Oh, it's just that I have two rats in cages, " he said, " they are very clean."We went upstairs."Oh, this is where your cot will go Ocean-Abigail," said the daughter.'Actually, no it won't,' I was thinking. They did not have a chance.Of course they loved it.Mother went back down to look around downstairs again."Where's the other door?" She asked when the rest of us went down. It is obvious there is only one."Only one door,"I wasted my time saying. "If there is a fire in the kitchen you dive out of the front window."Sadly Ocean-Abigail and her uncle's rats will not be living in my house in the near future...I will let them down gently next week.

A Message from Dad.

So...today Mum and I began to start tying up the loose ends that need sorting when someone dies. We were searching though some papers when Mum discovered some hand written notes that Dad had written to each of his children that she knew nothing about. They were written on pages torn out from a note book and stuffed into the wooden letter holder by the phone. He had made notes under each of our names before he wrote out what he wanted to say on another piece of paper...these are his notes under my name......and this is his note he wrote to me...Dear Nicholas, You are a fine person (son- crossed out) who is compassionate, honest, thoughtful and a (sic) excellent father. Along with Jayne you have reared three fine sons who make Mother and I very proud. Please enjoy your life in Aussie and fill every moment with usefulness. Love Dad xxIt was very emotional to find them and what upset me most was how he must have been feeling to have prompted him to write these things down. It was much earlier in the year and perhaps shortly after his Alzheimer's diagnosis as the phrasing and spelling mistakes suggest he was slightly impaired from the Dad we knew.It was a shock to find them, a sad but a lovely, touching find. 

Home from Home.

Goodies! Goody Goody Yum Yum!

In my Father's footsteps.

So...today I went for a walk while Mum went to her 'sewing group'. It was a walk I had only done once before that Dad took Will and I on a few years ago...I remembered the way quite well but realised towards the end of it that I had done it the opposite way around to the way Dad took us...