Thursday 26 April 2007

World of Water


January 2007

Exmoor is a world of water right now. As I drove back over the moor tonight the rain was lashing in waves over the car. There was a thick fog up top and luckily no sheep or ponies had decided to wander into the road as visibility was terrible. When it gets very wet, the road into our village spouts several waterfalls alongside the edge of the road, tumbling white water down bracken edged rock. Normally at this time of year these part-time waterfalls would have frozen into ice sculptures but not so this mild and wet season. But it’s lovely to see them hurling themselves down – wild untamed energy.

We were all grouchy this morning. James had decided he didn’t want to go back to school and had created a hell of a fuss last night, all through the night, and again this morning. So I was feeling tired and fed up by the time I got to town to meet the woman I’m going to be working with for the next few months. She’d also had a bad night (and have to confess that her rental cottage wasn’t exactly conducive to a good night’s rest – small and pokey with a cold unwelcoming atmosphere). But we got a good morning’s work done and then treated ourselves to a light lunch at Oaks. It’s funny how differently people can see a place – while I love the cosiness and quaintness of town, she found it stifling and too inward-looking. But she had to agree that Oaks is the perfect local. We then took a brief troll round the shops and she hauled me into one of the (two) riding shops and one of the (two) antique shops. Funny, I’d never been in either shop before.

We decided it was too gloomy to work back at the rental so we trekked back here. It was the first time M had seen the house and I wanted to know what she thought about it – and why we were having such trouble selling. Before we even got to the house she fell head over heels in love with Murphy and insisted on going to say hello, even though the rain was pretty well horizontal. He loved the attention and it was
obviously a bit of a mutual admiration society going on. She’s got five horses at her place (including three rescue Shetlands) and I could see she would like to make it six.

She couldn’t see any reason why we hadn’t sold. Except that, in her view (and we agree) it really is an ideal family house – and we have been getting mainly retired couples!

I dropped her back to town early evening but she’s going to decamp up here tomorrow and stay over – it really was too depressing leaving her in that gloomy place. I then managed to shut my eyes for about five minutes in the blissful dark until the school bus hove into view and James tumbled out. He’d had a great day (of course) and looked very sheepish when I reminded him of the shenanigans of last night. He’d scored a goal, mastered two new songs on guitar, and had avoided the girl who always tries to kiss him.

So, an early night for him and an early night for me. Sweet dreams to all bloggers.

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