Bloody hell! I couldn’t believe it when I saw your name on that comment. I never expected you to read it but I suppose I hoped you would one day. Why else would I have addressed that remark to you?
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– Sunday 12th July 2009
The plaque telling you all about it.
Inside looking out. The arch of the gatehouse inside the windmill tower.
Relief on the archway. Part of the tower.
Inside the windmill tower.
A boat on the Broads.
The other archway to the gatehouse. 
Side on. The archway through the windmill.
Underneath the arches.
We’ve just had the hottest weekend of the year.
Mick & Carole and Rick & Siewkeen came over for the afternoon on Saturday. We sat in the garden, talking and eating and drinking. It was one of those afternoons I love; surrounded by friends having a good time together.
On Sunday we spent the afternoon at Heybridge Basin and came home to barbeque some burgers and onions, and bananas stuffed with rolos for dessert. Pure indulgence and heavenly.
The whole weekend seemed to last and last, until Sunday evening came and Ian had to go home. Apart from that, I didn’t have a care in the world and didn’t have anything to think about but the moment to hand.
It seems odd now, finishing that last post with, “… And I’m happy”. Squonk had not long died and I was, and still am, very sad. But I’m also happy. I’ve got someone to look forward to every week. I’ve also got someone to miss every week, in Ian and in Squonk. It’s all a bit of a mixture of contradictory emotions: sadness and loss; excitement and belonging; contentment and disbelief.
But then,
“Life is not the way it's supposed to be.
It's the way it is …..
The way we cope with it, is what makes the difference”.
A statement that goes well with another fundamental truth,
“No-one ever said life was going to be easy”.
I read both those statements somewhere and they struck me for the simplicity and truth contained in each of them. Life isn’t easy, it’s rarely how we would like it to be, so what’s the point of trying to assert ‘control’ over something we seem to have no control over? Now and again it’s good to let go of any sense of control and take a chance. You will never know what the result might have been if you don’t.
Once we’re born, we’re destined to die ; that’s the only absolute certainty in life … death! If we only get one shot at life maybe we really only get one shot at everything in life too. Weigh up the odds by all means, make sure you believe in what you are doing and then go for it. What have you really got to lose?
More importantly, what have I got to lose?
My beautiful little mate, Squonk, was killed on the road a fortnight ago. I miss her and so does her sister. Squiggle’s now coming to me more than she used to and sitting in my lap. 
I’m getting the head-butts Squonk would have got. It still seems empty putting one lot of food down and seeing one cat in the window when I come home. Much of Squiggle’s miaowing seems to me to be asking where her sister is. That makes it feel emptier.
On the ‘up’-side I met Ian a few weeks ago. We get along really well. Similar sense of humour, both talk for England, both enjoy a pint or two, like similar foods, enjoy cooking, love wandering around the shops and stopping for coffee and cakes, laid-back and easy-going …. What more can I say?
I’ve been more open and honest about myself to myself and to him than I think I’ve ever been in the past. And I’m happy.
Life is not the way it's supposed to be..
It's the way it is..
The way we cope with it, is what makes the difference.
Amazing Juggling
Thousand-Hand Guanyin