June 22nd and it was to have been mums birthday but as she was not here to celebrate it we held it without her and in her honour. Sophia Loren and her mum came along and we had a meal and celebrated with a toast of Vodka in memory of Elsie aka the Marchioness of Ghastanbury. I say a toast there were quite a few of them and the evening fairly rattled along. My brother rang and I had a beer or two over the phone with him and before we knew it the night had become a blur. The following day Elsie’s ex carer called in and so we did it again joined by Roger Moor and the Animal and another hazy night of memories and anecdotes passed into oblivion.
I had made arrangements to go and stay with Big Bro for the weekend some time ago and as Friday morning arrived I loaded up the bike and Bean Counter and I set off to Edinburgh. The plan was to go at a steady pace and try to outrun the pending dark clouds and possible rain which we managed to do. 250 miles of motorway slipped effortlessly by and before we knew it we were being greeted by familiar faces. It was a relief to get off the bike and my arse is now resembling something like a teak plank but a few beers later followed by a cracking meal and I had forgotten about any pain in my posterior.
The following morning arrived and I just did not feel like getting out of bed at all and it was 10-30ish by the time I surfaced to a cooked breakfast cooked by Sis in Law along with a mug of steaming tea. I had planned to go out for a ride and view some of the spectacular scenery in his part of the world but the clouds did not look inviting and so I chilled out until his friends came along for a drink and a meal sometime in the afternoon. It had been a few years since I had last seen Camouflage and his wife the Lighthouse Keeper but we caught up in no time aided by a few beers. As happens all too often the evening ended and as they left we promised to try and stay in touch longer and not leave it so long. I will try this time I promise.
Arriving back at Chateau Ghastanbury it was obvious the weather had played havoc with the grounds. My sweet corn and green beans are rocketing along as are the tomatoes and salad crops. However, my peas have all but died. I have no idea why, perhaps someone out there can enlighten me? For now all I can do is pray to the gardening gods to give peas a chance.