23.07.2022 Gone, but not forgotten. 😢

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 Saturday 23rd 56F. A dark grey overcast with a breeze moving the tops of the trees.

 Up at 6.30. It is cooler again. So I am back in my proper bed upstairs. With my summer, down duvet in a fresh cover. I was aching last night from yesterday's exertions. My hands, arms and shoulders are still aching this morning. It was a bit of an emotional roller coaster. Though I only cried once.

 I had been putting off clearing my wife's side of the bedroom until I felt ready. The whole house now looks like a tip! I didn't put any charity shop stuff in the car as planned. Though I did do the washing up. 😇 

 I'll move the car nearer to the house and drop the rear seats forward. That would provide enough space with two trips. Or, I could use the trailer. I'd really like to help the smaller charity shops in the village. 

 The large, backstreet shop has very easy, rear access parking at the delivery doors for donations. The smaller ones are a parking nightmare in the high street! Particularly with the trailer! They also, only take clothes. While the large shop will take [almost] anything. Though they eventually refused to take any more clothes, curtains and bedding. They were swamped by my donations. They were closed for the holiday today. So gained nothing from my visit. Nor did I.

 Perhaps I should be more selective in what I take. I am only 3 miles/5km away from the nearest village. So it isn't a problem to make multiple trips. The recycling yard is open again today, if needed.

 08.45. 57F. Still grey, damp and breezy from the west. I am enjoying morning coffee after my routine walk to the lanes. It was spitting with fine rain now and then. The roads were quite damp in patches. While the traffic was lighter than ever. 

 I returned home to a welcome from the warblers, chaffinches and wrens. Families of Great tits have been bombing around the garden. With different birds flying out and back to catch insects in the air.

09.45 58F, drizzling steadily. The car is stuffed full as I set off for the charity shops. They don't open until ten. 

 12.00 I have just returned from a second trip to the charity shops in two villages and a recycling centre. Three charity shops were closed for the holidays. 🙄 The donation bin for clothing was full up at one shop. Of course it was! Lazy lot! Why couldn't they empty it? It took me a full ten minutes to force the bags of cloth and down duvets in. By repeatedly slamming the security flap!

 The ladies at the local Red Cross Shops must be specially picked. They are really lovely to deal with. Polite and enthusiastic for all my donations. It felt really good to be delivering my wife's things to such an appreciative staff. Knitting wool, cloth, baskets and china ornaments were all taken with cheerful thanks and good humour. Just what I needed. Though I had to leave rather quickly when I started crying again. 

 I had a very large box of my wife's dressmaking things: Countless buttons, cotton. silk thread, scissors, tape, etc. A genuine 50 year collection. Put together by a keen and skilled dressmaker in her time. 

 I was hovering outside the charity donation shipping container at the recycling yard. When a polite, younger lady asked if she could have it. Again, I was delighted to see it going to somebody who would really appreciate it. To use it herself. Or share it around. She was really pleased when I said she could have it. As was I. 😊

 It feels as if I have finally cleared the house of most of my wife's belongings this morning. Well, at least the easily disposable items. There are still the many boxes of books. I haven't found a satisfactory way of disposing of them yet. Nor of my own. There must be well over a thousand books altogether. Then there are all the glass and china ornaments. Not to mention her countless, china cats.

 17.00 I have just returned from my third trip to the recycling yard today. The first, after lunch, was to deliver a whole trailer full of chestnut joints. Which could not be split by hand. Some of them were very heavy! 

 The second trip was to clear the very last of my wife's plant pots, tubs and seed trays. About half a trailer full. Only a few of her large, iron, cooking pots remain outside. They may be useful for decorative shrubs. There are some shrubs growing in large, polystyrene boxes. Hardly suitable for decorative use.

 I finished off the day with the lawnmower. The lawn[s] and the 100m length of the drive. Middle and both sides. While I was strimming I found a nest of tiny, pink rodents in the long grass. I put them back where they were. I also found another load of seed trays and plant pots in the greenhouse. Hiding under more trays. It is never ending.

 Dinner was poached eggs on toast with baked beans. The 7 minute eggs were perfect. Midway between runny and hard boiled. 😋

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