The kindness of neighbours

We are very lucky to have good neighbours. Our newest neighbours next door to us moved in in December and they are a lovely couple of a similar age to us and a refreshing change from the previous neighbours we had.

Before the lock-down our friends opposite ordered three boxes of veg plants for the three of us sharing an allotment plot. They said that the three of us could use them on our garden plots or on the allotment, whichever we felt, most beneficial.

At the beginning of this week the boxes were delivered and our friends opposite left ours at the end of their drive for us to collect ( we have been keeping in touch by phone or text ). We collected our box and left a box of crisps in it’s place.

We had the box of crisps for our corporate lunches which are no longer needed and with two boys in their household we felt that they would be of more use to them.

The wood on our vintage car had suffered terribly over the very wet winter. My husband decided to sand down the wood and varnish it to bring it back up to condition again. He gathered all that he needed before the lock-down and the project gives him something to do.

I have been taking photos of the progress and will do a post on it when it’s finished. Our new neighbour is a part time painter and decorator and when my husband was running short of sandpaper he left some on our drive. We in turn left them a couple of tomato plants on their drive.

We have all exchanged numbers and said that we should call each other if we need anything. It is good to have supportive neighbours.

The missing spaces are where we have given our next door neighbours some tomato plants.

In the box are broccoli, red cabbage, sweetcorn, tomatoes – red, yellow, regular and tumblers, Courgettes – green and yellow and chilli peppers.

We are intending to sell the car when things return to anything near normal as we feel it needs to be kept in a garage and we don’t want to be doing the wood every six months/year.

We also plan on selling one of the vans and eventually buying a car instead.

We have had a think about our business while we are on an enforced retirement period and have decided that we will not be starting back with the corporate lunches. We will just continue with private functions and afternoon teas. This will mean we will no longer be committed and can choose which functions we want to do.

If we don’t want to do a function we can always say that we are busy and we can accept some functions when we need a boost. This will put us more in control and will make it easier to retire completely if and when we wish to.

I think a lot of people will be rethinking their lifestyles during these difficult times. We are keeping in contact with family and friends and trying to stay positive and above all we are all in this together.