We are very lucky in our town in that we have a large and lovely greengrocers that has an avid following, meaning the produce is always fresh. I needed a few bits for supper and tried to entice my resident chef to come for a walk with the carrot on the end of the stick being the greengrocers. It would also help with the carrying back, but he was having non of it, still being very comfortably clad in his Jim jams. Well it is lockdown, there are no rules. But all of a sudden he changed his mind and I was ever so pleased.

We walked through the park on the way up to the town bellowing at each other as the wind had picked up and I could barely hear him. But once we turned into a residential area the wind died down and the sun almost came out to play. We gaily chatted about shops that were there and shops that had disappeared as we trundled up the town.

Once at the greengrocers we quickly decided on our vegetables for supper, some warm and ripe plum tomatoes to be made into a salsa, a couple of good sized butternut squashes, I only needed one but it was two for a pound and some lovely looking flat peaches, which if given the chance I can eat three or four a day while they are in season. A few treats for Mum which included a box of large sticky dessert dates and we were on our way.

We walked to Mum’s via the cemetery, some people think of cemeteries as glum places but I’ve always found them fascinating, there is just so much to see. Firstly we sat on my favourite bench and then we sat on Uncle Franks and Uncle Fred’s. We talked about names on gravestones and how unusual some of them were and if they were a character of a book what would they be like. We investigated a grave that had two gaily coloured windmills going ten to the dozen in the breeze, convinced it would be a child’s only to find it was a well loved grandma and grandad. We exclaimed with delight when we found longevity, the oldest being in their 107th year, and were saddened by when an all to brief a life had ended. Nearest to the entrance where the oldest gravestones are we admired the influences of Art Deco and Art Nouveau on the tombstones along with hints of Rennie Mackintosh engraved into big stone crosses. The use of the various coloured stones and marbles fascinated. We walked underneath the arches of ancient horse chestnuts, whilst we chatted and soon we passed through the beautifully ornate iron gates thickly coated with black paint having been painted so many times in over a hundred years and were back in the land of the living. A moment of precious time well spent.

My resident chef went off to start dinner whilst I spent a little precious time with my parents, a moment to remember.