A very "British" Evening and thoughts in an empty house

Had a nice evening last night in the village pub ( it was only the third time I had gone in since we came to Trelawnyd.) Met Geoff for a geeky poultry chat and ended up taking part in that bastion of Britishness, the local pub general knowledge quiz.. The Trelawnyd quiz is truly a "local" phenomenon, with pockets of elderly competitors bagging their usual tables and chairs (and bringing their own lucky pens)- we felt obliged to move as we sat in one such group's chairs causing a melee of confused milling behaviours.The whole thing reminded me of those Sheffield days , when Nigel,Ruth,Sarah,Al, Vicky and I all piled into the Princess Royal in Crookes for the Monday night quiz,lock in and hangover in the early nineties.
Anyhow we were amused by the seriousness of the competitors ( some were texting google requests from friends), as well as the tradition of the pile of sandwiches and curry just before last orders.The whole thing could have been taken lock stock and barrel from The Archers.(circa 1976)


The rest of today has been taken up with sorting the two nursery runs for the Buff Chicks and Broody Nolan and her four chicks, meeting Hazel for lunch ( bearing up nicely after her hubby left the marital home.....(she said it was ok to mention that here) and going to Prestatyn to let a removal firm into Nia's mum's old house to organise her belongings to be sent to Australia.
Empty houses have a distinct feel to them and being alone in a house devoid of "nick nack" personality can be a very melancholy experience. Being in Mrs Robert's house was a lovely trip down memory lane today. I remember it so well in the very early 1980s Best friend Rol and Nia were teens in a warm and loving ( and to be honest rather scruffy) household. The whole "feel" of the house seemed to be a contradiction to the old lady decor, as Mrs Roberts especially provided a twinkle-in-the-eye youthful welcome to the horde of visitors passing back and forth.


Today the house was silent and empty, but it still had that nice feel to it, that I remembered from 25 years ago, Also I had to smile to myself when I saw the unpainted wall which indicated the presence of the Grandfather clock in the hall, I am so glad that we had the opportunity of buying the clock at Rogers Jones' auctions last year and there it is, pride of place in our cottage living room.(see the photo from a year ago---bloody hell how fat was I then?)
I do think that house can "absorb" the emotion and the personality of their owners to a certain degree. Having that quiet time today waiting for the removal firm to arrive, I think I did experience just a flavour of Mrs Beryl Roberts, nia and Rol.....