2 minute read

Waiting…

from Village Tweet - February 2023

from Village Tweet - February 2023, page 30

Sally Cave – Nurse to Farmer

Once upon a time on a small farm near Billingshurst…

Theonly good thing about February, mused Nanny, was that the days would get longer. The gloom seemed endless, especially thinking about it during January.

February was supposed to be the beginning of a new adventure, but they had been waiting since early December and all their plans hadn’t moved ahead, despite phone calls, e-mails and messages. Nothing really had happened.

It all started when Nanny had got back from New Zealand in November, and they’d gone down to Selsey the next day, as she had promised to take the Remembrance Day Service at Selsey. Arriving at the caravan, they found the main front awning in shreds due to UV light and fierce winds. “We’ll manage for now,” said Nanny, “until after the Service, then we’ll take the back scooter awning down and move it to the front for the rest of the year.” Grandad concurred and so it was for a couple of days.

The front shredded awning came down fairly easily and Tim said he would take it away. But taking the back of the caravan scooter awning down wasn’t that easy, as it was heavy and had poles. By then the wind had freshened and made putting it up again in the front much more difficult. Try as they might, it wouldn’t pitch right. By now Grandad had reached the end of his tether.

Acting quickly, Nanny told him to take a few things home which wouldn’t fit in the smaller awning, and that she would finish pegging the awning down. Normally that was Grandad’s job, but she thought that she could manage it. After all they’d been pegging awnings down forever. So Grandad went home with the car loaded up with washing machine and lawnmower, and Nanny beavered on with pegs and mallet. Unfortunately, she wasn’t up to the job, had a cold and cough, was tired and the dogs were wanting to go out or to help.

She sat for a moment thinking. She was dreading next year when they had to buy a new awning or put up their bigger poled awning (not an easy task) and made a decision: they were both getting beyond this caravanning lark so maybe it was time to let it go. So she finally half hammered the last pegs in and made lunch.

Grandad came back much calmer and she revealed her decision to him. He’d been thinking too and had come to the same decision! But what was the alternative?

So on to the internet they went and priced out holiday homes and looked far and wide at what they could afford. They looked at places four hours away like Cornwall and Skegness. However, they quickly came to their senses and realised that at their age that was seriously impractical so they looked closer to home – in East Sussex.

A couple of them caught their eye, so despite feeling distinctly under the weather and because Grandad had by now caught her cold and was feeling ghastly, Nanny went alone to look at their choices. Several of them were definitely not suitable but one caught her eye. After discussing with Grandad and the rest of the family it was agreed verbally to buy it. But it had to be sold through the Park. That was when the fun and the waiting had begun.

The saga continued in January and their February adventure seemed to have ground to a halt. Waiting was hard. The feeling of helplessness blossomed. Doubts set in. The rest of January loomed and would February begin how they had hoped?

Still, there was one really positive side to all this soul searching. It made them both realise how much they loved that little farm near Billingshurst!

Yvonne Fleece