After breakfast this morning, we visited the crab apple trees in Llandaff Fields and harvested another seven pounds of fruit, our efforts punctuated by passers by asking us what kind of fruit they are, thinking the might be cherries because of their colour and the smallness of the fruit. When we returned I cooked lunch. Clare washed the fruit and after eating I cut them up and de-stalked them, thousands of them, a task which took three hours. Then I went for a walk before the sun set and Clare went to her Pilates class.
Owain arrived for supper and we spent an enjoyable evening drinking a bottle of special Swiss Gamaret red wine from Geneva producteurs, which he bought at the airport on his way home from visiting friends a few months ago. It's an interesting brew made from a hybrid grape, a cross between a Gamay and a Cabernet Sauvignon with a rich dark colour and dry savour of red berry fruit.
It's good to know that he's settling into his new role writing for the web pages of the government's Insolvency Service. He's waiting to be given notice to quit his flat as the house has been put up for re-sale having only recently been auctioned after his landlord died. The owner of the apartment he made an offer on died, and it's been repossessed by the lending bank, due to unpaid mortgage instalments.
The housing association which co-owns the apartment doesn't seem to know what's going on. It's a troublingly bizarre situation, and he may end up moving back in with the friend with whom he shared a house before. There are so many people in similar situations these days, being robbed of the right to secure housing by lack of legislation surrounding property speculation.
"Woe unto them who add house unto house", as the prophet Isaiah said two and a half thousand years ago.
No comments:
Post a Comment