Still got the blue(bell)s

We went for a walk in the woods the other week.  The woods by which I live.  The bluebells were out, and it was gorgeous.  In the absence of anything thrilling to tell you, here are some pictures:

I made a mental note of where the huge logpile was for possible Winter firewood foraging raids*.

We went with some friends and their charming dog.

There are little tiny white wood anemones mixed in with the bluebells, very pretty. 

Beech trees in Spring leaf.  I love that colour green. 

We saw a tree with a woodpecker's hole.

I do love how the colour of bluebells changes from the single flower, where it looks quite dark, to the huge swathe, where it is much paler.  Why is that?

It was all very pretty, and once again made me profoundly glad that I live here. 

Other news:  I've been really poorly with a hideous stomach bug for the best part of a week.  It laid me low for 48 hours, seemed to go away, then came back with a vengeance again for another 48 hours.  Today is the first day in several that I feel like myself again.

Yesterday - our wedding anniversary as it happens, 17 years, not that I'm counting or anything - I spent almost the entire day either laying on the bed with a fleecy blanket over me, sipping water and feeling dreadful, or curled up under the duvet, glaring at Grand Designs on TV with one squinty, tired, red eye. 

So yeah, that was all a bit pants.  On  the bright side, Mr WithaY gave me the most beautiful bouquet of flowers** which was a lovely surprise. 

Also, I made a few enquiries about selling my Rickenbacker.  I seldom play it, and I was sat here the other day thinking "I need more room in here to do my sewing.  There are just too many guitars, dammit." 

From there it was a short step to ringing a well-known guitar emporium and asking how much a second-hand Rickenbacker 620 12-string would go for.

Well.

If you look at the Rickenbacker website, there are no prices listed, as they have a mega waiting list for their guitars.  Anything up to (and beyond) 2 years is not uncommon.  If you order a guitar from them, you pay them what the price is WHEN IT IS DELIVERED, not when you order it.  So in 2 years it could have gone up a fair bit.

If you look on eBay, the average asking price for a guitar the same as mine is about £1500. 

If you look at guitar shop websites, expect to pay anything from £1450 to £1750.

So imagine my chagrin when I was told that the retail price for a Rickenbacker 620 12-string is "about £900.  So we'd offer you about £600 for it."

Their reasoning for this very low offer is that "the demand for Rickenbackers has dropped way down because of the waiting time."

Really.

I think I'll hang onto it for now, thanks.


Anyway, to end on a cheerful Spring note, here is some May in flower.  The hedges round here are full of it.

*If I actually tried thieving any of the Longleat Estate's wood, I reckon I'd be thrown to the lions. 

**For our anniversary, not because I had a hideous stomach bug.  He tends not to celebrate outbreaks of the shits.

Out and About

Am home now after a few days around and about. Took Friday off work to go and see my Mum, make sure she is ok after her trip to hospital. She was very well, so that was great. Slight change of plan in that my bestest mate came with me down to Sussex, and the two of us ended up babysitting for my youngest nephew whilst Grandma and his big sister went to a funeral at church. My niece is in the choir so had permission to be out of school for the day so she could sing at the funeral service.

So, the three of us (me, my mate and 3-yr-old nephew) had a jolly time together. We played "cars" - a game of depth and strategy which entails driving small cars around on the floor, making the appropriate noises. When we got fed up with that, we watched the Johnny Depp version of "Charlie and and the Chocolate Factory" on DVD, which rather to my surprise I thoroughly enjoyed. Although I have to point out that the usually beautiful Mr Depp bore a more than passing resemblance to Michael Jackson which was frankly disturbing. Mum and my lovely niece arrived home after the service which they said went well, we had a cup of tea, and then me, my mate and my niece all went into town to have a look around.

Chichester is fabulous. If you've never been, go. You can park on the edge of town, then walk all over the city centre because it is almost entirely pedestrianised. I remember when that was done, at the end of the 1970s, not long after we moved there. There were all kinds of gloomy predictions about how it spelled the end of civilisation as we knew it, death to all traders in town, fleeing of local shoppers to Portsmouth, loss of the city centre vibe...you know the sort of stuff.

Well it is now abundently clear that all that was a load of bollocks. Chichester is beautiful, interesting, quiet and safe to wander around in, and has about the best variety of shops you could hope to find in a small cathederal city. And the Bishop's Palace Garden is lovely. Go there and admire the fish some time.

We then went to the world's finest bakery, which my Mum reckons is owned by Raymond Blanc and loaded up with bread and pastries, then back home to drink more tea, eat cakes and chat. Bloody great. I had the best almond croissant I have ever had in my life, so if Mr Blanc is involved I am not surprised.

I drove back to my mate's house the back way, i.e. not down the motorway; the woods lining the route were dark and full of bluebells. It was glorious.

Driving home this afternoon was glorious as well. The only downside to the weather being so fantastic is that the car is filthy. Not just "slightly dusty", I mean "can't see through the windscreen" filthy. Might wash it tomorrow.

And now I am happy to be home, looking forward to a night in with Mr WithaY.

Hurrah.

Currently Listening : Love This City By The Whitlams Release date: By 04 November, 1999