Sally & Milly

Sally lives in our road. A week, or so, ago, she stopped me in the street and asked if she could come and see the extension. Then, yesterday, Mirinda formally invited her to tea at 2:30.

We insisted she bring Milly, her dog. She’s a Labrador and not long passed puppy-hood. She is very well behaved and, after an initial bit of excitement from our two, the three of them eventually settled down to sleep.

Sally has had a bit of a bad run lately. Her husband died recently, leaving her alone. Her three kids live away from home (one in Oz) and I think she was very lonely. Then she bought Milly, who has been a great fillip. Then, about six months ago, she was ‘sacked’ from her job as a library assistant. There had been a bit of a reorg where she worked and her new boss wasn’t very nice. While Sally was ‘let go’ by the company, I think it was a very mutual thing.

We think that Sally is still grieving. She can’t remember things and seems to be compensating for her loneliness by keeping busy with Milly. It’s very sad because she’s generally full of life. It made me think how difficult it must be. At least she has her kids and now, a lodger.

But enough maudlin stuff and onto the road gossip.

Apparently, it’s not just us that think the Crazies are crazy. Sally confirmed that ‘The Crazies’ is the perfect name for them. Mrs Crazy, in particular. Sally feels sorry for Mr Crazy having to be married to her. When we told her about him taking the dogs for midnight walks in the park, Sally reckoned it was because he wanted to put off having to go to bed with her. When Mirinda told her the Story of the Rabbits, she was suitably bemused.

Anyway, we had a lovely visit and Sally was quite impressed with the extension (Mirinda gave her an extensive tour). We had tea and a few of my Greek pastries from yesterday.

Earlier in the day, we took a drive down to the refuse centre to (finally) get rid of the rusty old barbecue that has stood as a silent sentinel, watching over the building works. I had said it could go into the skip but the builders must have felt sorry for it. To be fair, it has come in handy for storing things in for Dave the Builder, like tile and aggregate samples.

We also managed to get rid of a very nasty plastic bucket. It had been used to store things for the dogs. Toys, doggie chocs, chew toys, bits of hide, that sort of thing. At some stage during construction, the lid had been broken, allowing it to fill with water every time it rained and then be warmed up every time the sun came out. The smell almost made me gag…and I don’t gag easily. It was probably breeding some sort of mutant pet plaything but I haven’t been brave enough to look inside. I sealed it with a garbage bag and it went into a big compactus without a backward glance.

Late in the day, Mirinda and Day-z went off to Hankley for a bit of a romp while Emma and I cooked this week’s roast (pork with green butter) while singing and dancing along with the Sonos.

By bed time, Mirinda claimed it had been a lovely, restful weekend.

Finally, for those that don’t know…

The Story of the Rabbits
The Crazies used to have a load of rabbit hutches in their back yard. Each one had rabbits in it. The Crazies have cats and they would sit on top of the hatches, staring down with malicious intent like the bunny equivalent of the Sword of Damocles.

Then, late one night, we heard a lot of noise coming from their back yard. Looking out of the Old Rose Room window we watched them moving the rabbit hutches. They put them into their car and drove off, into the night. The rabbits were never seen again. Neither were all of the hutches though, mysteriously, there was one, empty one that stayed in their garden up until they had their extension built last year.

All very odd. Sally, being generous of spirit, posited that perhaps they were returning them to the wild. If so, what happened to the hutches? I think it’s going to remain one of those wonderful mysteries that needs never be solved.