I have survived Mothering Sunday. I spent most of the day alone, catching up on chores and emails. I looked at my friends' pictures on Facebook. They were with their children and had received gifts and flowers. I did not, of course, hear from my son. I have removed all of the pictures of him from view; I have many of Katy at various stages of her life but there is none of Neil on display. The only recent picture of him is one I found on the Internet and downloaded. I think his hair is beginning to recede. He has gained a little weight; he will be forty-one in less than two weeks. I still miss him; I always shall but I have to write him off.
The weather is a little warmer and the wind has moderated, although it is still a little cold. I am waiting for a pair of trousers that I sent to have shortened. They went to the seamstress at the end of January and it is now nearly the end of March. I wear trousers from Autumn to late Spring and now I need this lighter pair. I also need to get my hair cut. I cancelled my appointment because of the vitrectomy and have not got around to booking a new one. Tomorrow is the Probus lunch and I shall comb my hair in the shower and squeeze the fringe so that it doesn't get in my eyes. I have one pair of light trousers to wear. There was another pair but I gave it to the charity shop, not knowing that I would have to wait so long for the new ones to be shortened. Perhaps I shall go into jeans and cotton sweaters for a while.
This coming Sunday my father-in-law is coming to lunch. We have also invited my aunt; she is ninety-one but still sprightly and cogent. She was married to my father's brother. He died in 1954 and she remarried. Her second husband was absorbed into our family and regarded as an uncle. He died two years ago, having suffered from vascular dementia for some years. She and my father-in-law know each other from the Anglican church where Paddy's second wife was parish clerk. I have realised that, if one does not make the effort to keep in touch, the years go by and then the opportunity to keep up friendships is gone. There are times when I feel sad that my lot seems to be the geriatrics and other friends and relations have grandchildren, but these times are getting fewer. We are too old and set in our ways to enjoy grandchildren now.
When I am in France I shall shop for clothes for my new great-nephew. I enjoy doing this and like the French outfits for babies. My niece and her husband are going to visit her cousin and his family this summer so she will take the gift together with a silver articulated fish for William Jae-Sun's older sister, Evelyn Jae-In. The fish belonged to my aunt, the wife of the old man I look after. Her name was Eva and she was known as Eve, so it's appropriate to give her near-namesake this keepsake. Evelyn's mother is of Korean extraction and I think that fish have a special significance in the Orient. I hope that she will treasure the pendant. There is a gold fish too, but I still wear that. I shall pass that on to one of my great-nieces eventually. There are four of them.
Dan is playing bridge tonight and I shall go to bed early with my little Bluetooth Bose and the iPods. I am listening to a book by Simon Tolkien, the grandson of J R R Tolkien. He writes well but there are a few too many Americanisms. However, I enjoy his books. I have several unread books on each iPod and am not going to buy my extra audible.co.uk credits for a few months. The Hampshire digital library has some good new additions and I have some pre-orders on audible. I shall save some to listen to while I am in Vence and travelling there and back.
I did my shift at the charity shop this morning. It was quite pleasant, although I missed Ethel who is off sick still. The usual Monday customers came in including the rather peculiar woman who insists that she had her handbag stolen from the shop some weeks ago. In fact, she dropped it on the pavement a little way up the road and a man took it into the estate agent nearby. The police were not interested and so a young woman brought the bag to us as a donation. Another customer found the woman in the town; the circumstances were explained to her but she still insisted that it had been stolen. She continued to repeat the lie around the town but it has not discouraged her from shopping with us.
I hope that the window man comes early tomorrow, as Dan has to let him in and it will make him late for the Probus meeting. We shall see.
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