I have now received the money from Mum’s frozen bank account. No-one appears to have thought to inform me until I opened my on-line banking to pay a bill and noticed that there was rather more than expected in that – almost a week after it had been transferred. I had also been sent cheques representing Premium Bond winnings, so one of today’s various administrative tasks was to pay those in. I also paid the coming year’s car tax.
Then Jackie and I went for a forest drive.
We stopped on Rhinefield Road where I photographed neighing ponies and
wandered among the woodland, which,
among decaying broken and mossy trunks, nurtured fresh ferns replacing last year’s dried remnants.
The forest floor, with sections soggy or crunchy harboured a generous mix of old and new.
From Bratley View two spectral dead trees still stand against the sky while those with flourishing foliage adorn the living landscape. Last year’s controlled burning gorse will now rejuvenate among the ferns.
Outside Brockenhurst an adult pony grazed nonchalantly whist her offspring held up the traffic.
Another young foal, investigating mossy posts and bright buttercups, was less keen to wander.
This evening we dined on Jackie’s excellent cottage pie; firm carrots, broccoli and cauliflower, with which she drank Hoegaarden and I finished the Shiraz.