Happy first of the month folks! We really are in spring time proper
now and those days will get lighter and longer! Hopefully drier and warmer, but I won't hold my breath.
I've noticed this morning that the daffodils are on the wane and most are frost bitten, poor things. The magnolia and apple blossom have already lost many of their delicate blooms and the tree's are still patiently waiting for their fine greenery.
Sadly, April is coming in a tad dull and grey, but him and I are on a mission. We've some bits to pick up from an antique store and of course we will take the opportunity to have another good rummage, for pretties we don't need! Well his pretties are mostly of the rusty metal kind and I do believe we will need to move to a farm with many barns soon, otherwise where on earth will all this toolage be stored?
No clue!
'Antiquing' is fast becoming our date time! After nearly 3.5 decades we've found something we both enjoy! Who knew? I can finally drag him away from his never ending fixing of something to do something with me willingly! Ha!
He's currently making me breakfast, because we had one of those special endlessly married, bickering moments yesterday. He thinks that a cuppa tea in the morning is where it starts and ends but after 35 (almost) years of cooking for him, it really won't do for me, no sir!
The thing is, it doesn't feel worth the hassle. He's no cook and also can't find anything in the kitchen. I'm literally tying myself to this chair, so I don't help him use his eyes! Theres a lot of tutting, huffing and puffing going on. Banging of drawers and it's fairly obvious he can't fit it all back in!
Save me!
It just doesn't seem worth it!
To have a chap that cooks, that would be so nice, but we can't have everything now can we and that's the conundrum of marriage eh!
Compromise.
Is the glue that describes everything in a long term union. Without it, nothing works.
Shockingly, I can see my youngest doing exactly the same thing with her BF and she's already taking care of the domestics and I really, really don't want that for her! Men won't know how to cook until they try right? Some of us ladies like cooking, but it doesn't mean we want to be responsible for every meal until we die!
Our anniversary looms mid month and this year it will be mid move. Yuck. I will leave that there. Of course there is more to say, but I think I have to accept it with as much good grace as I can muster. Still, I do think no.35 is special enough, but we are putting off our celebration trip until September, by which time we won't be living with contractors, I hope?
The youngest came back yesterday with her BF. She was hanging from a fun time down by the mucky Thames and they are both drowning in the lurgies. Then H burnt her fingers, yes it’s all going on and now they are off to a medical drop in centre to get sorted, bless em, in the wars they are.
When did getting medical help become such a chore in the uk? Everything is shut and A&E is a four day wait!!!
H needs a rest, then to sort her stuff out ready for packing and finally get back on the job hunt again. The first and only job rejection is out of her system now, so it's onwards and upwards. Time to fly little one.
Oh and news flash, I'm the mother of a 34 year old as of two days ago (he was due on April fools day)! I can't quite believe it, it can't be true? I don't know why I'm shocked, but I am? I'm way too young surely? I mean, it makes sense date wise? Also, I'm not denying I gave birth in 1990, but I'm so not ready to be nearly 56, almost 35 years married and a mum of a 34 year old!
Crikey!
Don't blink.
He was my first, the experiment, we grew up together and now he's nearly as old as me lol! God love him he was the baby from hell. Cried so much and for so long. He didn't enjoy sleep until he was 4 years old and I don't know how we got through it but we did. As a 5 year old he was as naughty as any child could be and by 10 he was in boarding school. I distinctly remember Mr GREENISH of St Hughs Woodall Spa, telling me 'Mrs Holland, Ash will either end up a successful CEO or go to jail'. Thankfully, he went with the first choice. My little boy was a button and boundary pusher until he hit the second round of uni and bingo, he settled into life well when he got his girl, now his darling wife.
This year is rocking my proverbial boat a bit, isn't it? I think it's the reality of aging, watching the egg timer run way too fast and I feel like I've only just begun?
Oh and we finally have news from the French tax peeps! They now accept that we are fiscal residents in France since 2020! Phew. I didn't realise I was so concerned, but when I picked up the email, I burst into tears! They want to fine us plenty of euros for them not accepting our personal and business tax returns to add insult to injury, but the accountant says he will tell them off, as it was clearly their fault. We still don't know what went wrong or why? When we returned from Canada we put in a tax return in the September declaring what we'd paid in Canada and then France. All seemed well. We hired a big brand accountant and kept giving him our accounts to process and saw him make the declarations. We paid tax as we went and it all appeared to be okey dokey; until we went to print off our returns and the impot spaces were empty!
The we were visited by the tax version of Mrs Trunchball and life in France all seemed a little uncertain for a while. I can't tell you how stressful it's been and how vulnerable we felt as post Brexit residency holders. Sorted now thankfully, but for a while there it was like skating on thin ice with zero skating skills.
Life eh!
Ours really isn't dull or boring!
Hang in there petals, I am.
D x