Rodmell & Southease

STUCK: Sometimes unfortunate things happen that you can't help but see the funny side of. Such a thing happened to me last week. I had parked my car on the lawn to enable my B&B guests to park on the hardstanding base. When I rolled back and tried to turn, I realised that all the rain had made the lawn soggy and I was stuck. Not to be the helpless little woman, I promptly found a piece of matting and a plastic bag to put under the wheels. I nearly made it, then, realised I wouldn't. As I had to get to my mum's care home at Ringmer, I decided to call on a neighbour to help me out, which he did. The problem being I stood nearby and got covered from head to toe in mud. There was I viewing deep ruts in the lawn with mud covering my hair, face, fur jacket and trousers, but creased up with laughter. My poor helpful neighbour was embarrassed but I phoned him later to thank him for helping me out and we had another laugh about it. I couldn't help but be thankful that I am not one of those perfection people who would have been horrified at the state of the lawn and my appearance.

INFLUENCES: Having just seen on the TV that teenagers and young adults are influenced by videos of celebrities showing the young drinking, smoking and behaving badly, I wonder why people are so surprised. The people behind these videos are making a fortune and are probably backed by drink and tobacco companies who realise how vulnerable the young can be regarding fashion and images of so called sophistication.

ROADWORKS: Thank goodness a lot of the road works around here are now easier to negotiate, especially in the Ringmer area. I feel so sorry for the men and the occasional women one sees working in the most terrible weather whilst drivers in warm, comfortable cars, listening to their radio, glare at them from traffic lined up at lights. Let’s face it, without these people doing such work, we would not have such comfortable lives. It’s a strange life really when you think of people paying high prices to stand in all weathers to watch over-paid footballers, pop stars etc., yet many of the people are so important in all our lives, such as people in the medical professions are having to strike just to get a decent way of life.

HOMELESS: I have just seen a TV programme about a homeless couple who were helped by two young women to have a comfortable Christmas in a hotel with their dog. They then trashed the room on leaving. This made me think of several people I know who had also put themselves out to help such people get onto the right path but had had their kindness thrown back in their face. I and several nice, kind people in this village tried quite a few years ago to help out a young man who used to do odd jobs such as gardening around the villages in the valley. He was likeable and a hard worker, but in the end let a lot of us down badly. I suppose you just can’t help some people.

THE WEATHER: It’s been lovely seeing glimpses of the sun this week, but we need the ground to dry out. The height of the grass is getting horrendous and will no doubt be quite a problem for the future, when we all get our mowers out.

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