A Lonely Day?

Chris always asks me if I have heard from anyone during the day
my stock answer is " no not really..".
But the truth of the matter can be quite different.
The weather yesterday was fine but cold. and so before the expected cold front clash hits home, I spent most of my time cleaning out poultry houses. It was a case of making hay when the sun shone...and so I thought I had spent much of the day totally devoid of human contact
On reflection I couldn't be more wrong.
"D" rang and left some good news she had found her cat! ( she had asked me to have a look around the field to see if the little sod had got himself lost. ) She sounded light and rather thankful.
That was yesterday morning.
The RFWF sped past waving a pudgy hand out of his landrover and yelled something unintelligible whilst cackling like loon (I  counted that as a humorous contact- he is sounding ( and looking )more and more like an old pirate every day.
Gentleman Ralph's wife slowed her car to ask me how my cold was getting on and Mr B walked over as I had my head in the goose house for a chat and to buy some eggs.
Mrs X (the lady with memory problems) rang to thank me for the eggs I dropped off to her and repeated the same message she had left twice before. I promised to call today, she sounded brighter too.
Mrs F stopped for a chat as I interrupted my work to walk the dogs as did Mr M, who walked with me down high street with his two mutts when I was on my way home. We were stopped by "gay Gordon" ( a nickname which stems purely from his ever cheerful demeanour BTW) who always delights in making a fuss of the dogs.
Farmer Basil, Graham the sheep , Mr J and Mrs Trellis all said hello as I pass them on the way home and before the light faded on the field a chap called John popped in to ask if I could re home some warrens and a couple of silkies... He "heard through the grapevine" that I may be able to help.
We chatted for an age before I had to go and pick up Chris from the station....
As usual he asked me
" have you seen anyone today?"
And as usual I replied ..................
" no, .......not really!"

Not a soul in sight

28 comments:

  1. Poor you.....it sounds like a lonely life :-)

    Sue xx

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  2. It is surprising just how many people you can speak to during the day & not realise.

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  3. Sounds not quiet at all - actually sounds like quite a social event!

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  4. Your day reminds me of the little town I lived when a tot. That's exactly what it was like 65+ years ago. People walked everywhere and knew everyone. Nice!

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  5. That's what I love about living in a place where people aren't in a tearing hurry.

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  6. And then there's the rest of the animals...

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  7. And then there would be all the virtual interaction you have on a daily basis, I am certain that might count for something .. *smile* xx

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  8. I think that's village life for you John. I went for a walk yesterday with Tess and met a lovely man I haven't seen before and we walked together for a while down the lane - I think village life is so much more person. I was talking to my friend's daughter, who lives in London, and she doesn't even know her neighbours.

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  9. I think if villagers like you, then you'll be accepted, but it's not a foregone conclusion that village life is friendlier by any means. Some take against 'incomers'- it can be a long process to prove you come in peace !
    Sadly now, I'm on the edge of suburbia and don't know my neighbours either !

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  10. Silkies? Oh bless.
    You will have them, won't you?

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  11. The beauty and peace of village life....and a much loved man.

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  12. ...and CUT!
    Scene 2. Mrs Dale is in the kitchen. She's worried about Jim.......

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  13. Husband always ask if I've had a good day & it would have been filled with snippets of conversations with village characters, sharing a piece of news or a laugh in the Co-op or charity shop but I usually just nod & say I have thanks has he ?

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  14. There is nothing like owning animals for getting out to meet people.

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  15. That's the thing I hated about where we lived before here.When I was out at the front of the house,everybody who walked past wanted to chat..It took me forever to get the simplest of chores done.
    Jane x

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  16. Life in your village sounds wonderful, John. I would love to live out my life in a place like that. I don't even know the names of the people that live on either side of us in my neighborhood.

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  17. There's a fairly famous short story (bugger me if I can remember the name now) about a murder committed by a deliveryman who was so ubiquitous in a neighborhood that no one gave him a second thought. Sounds almost like the same situation with you, John; these folks are such a part of your life that you don't even realize how used to them you are.

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  18. Great story. Isn't it amazing the things and people we actually take for granted since we see them every day?

    You live in a wonderful place of fairy tale material.

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  19. That's what I love about living in this small rural town in Iowa - so different from living in Atlanta! But I'll be moving to Savannah, GA later this year. I'll happily be a few minutes from my daughter, her husband, and especially my little grandson, but I will sorely miss this town where I know all my neighbors and half the people in town!!!

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  20. awwwwwwwwwwww, nice.
    I envy you, I know my two closes neighbors and a more selfish disgusting bit of stupid never walked the earth. Thank goodness for the four down the street.... why couldn't I live next to them ?

    cheers, parsnip

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  21. And then there's everyone you heard from on your blog too-- Just another quiet day!

    I hope you're doing well and I'm glad you're feeling better!

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  22. What a joy it would be to live in a tiny Welsh village!
    Here in West Texas my neighbors sell drugs and have loud, wild parties. There's not a chance that they would ever say "Hello". If I ever dropped dead in the street, they'd run me over with their pickup truck.

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  23. Sounds fun there. Nothing every happens here, except the feral cat walks by.... hee hee

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  24. Anonymous11:39 pm

    Yeah, sounds like you heard from a lot of people! :)

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  25. Love the photo! It will be above freezing here tomorrow so that means cleaning rabbit cages and removing the camelids bean pile from in front of the barn door....

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  26. Sounds like you say that because you only talk to 'half' the town and not all of it, John. ;-)

    Have a good Sunday!

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  27. Which makes me wonder...if John were walking alone in the woods, tripped and fell and knocked himself out . woke, crawled to hospital, got treated , came home and made supper would he still tell Chris "not much" when asked about the day?

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  28. No need to hide the hob bobbing, and do tell John I will take those Silkies! Coud he send them parcel post ?

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