Ravens, sofas and the Land rover in The View from the Terrace

I heard on the radio on Friday that one of the ravens has flown away from the Tower of London and not returned. It is feared that she may have died. There is a legend that if the ravens leave the tower the kingdom will fall, so this is not news that we want to hear in the middle of a pandemic! Apparently the raven that has left Is Merlina the Queen raven.

It happens that I have been watching a series on Channel 5 called Inside the Tower of London. It was really interesting following the lives of the beefeaters and learning about the history of the tower. I remember visiting there with my parents when I was 9. The thing that impressed me the most was Henry VIII’s suit of armour. It was huge as he was 6 foot 2 inches tall.

Yesterday we finally got rid of the 2 old sofas. Louise bought a new one at the beginning of December, well, a new to her one. She bought it second hand from the British Heart Foundation charity shop. They are a great place for second hand furniture. They have branches all over the country. Hubby and I got a sofa and chair from them a few years back and have had a number of other things like washing machines. This new sofa is lovely and Louise has moved a second one from the end room, which was a sort of second living room before I came, but is now her bedroom, into the main living room. She has brought a sofa bed for her bedroom.

We have been trying to get rid of the two old sofas for about a month. We tried offering them back to the British Heart Foundation as they were in reasonable condition, but they couldn’t collect them until after Christmas, so we put them on the local Freecycle site. We waited and waited but there were no takers, so we decided to wait for the British Heart Foundation after all. Then, the day before they were due to come to collect them, they emailed to say they couldn’t because of lockdown. Fortunately Louise knew of another website where you could offer things for free so we put them on that. The first people to answer came last week but didn’t want them. Then another person wanted to come and I said any afternoon but Friday would be fine. We arranged for last Monday afternoon but she sent a message in the morning to say she couldn’t come because she had a burst pipe and we rearranged for Wednesday. Then she sent another message to say she couldn’t get a van that day and could she come Friday at 11. That was really awkward but I agreed because I wanted it sorted. By 12.30 no one had come so I went down and locked the garage and started preparing lunch. Five minutes later the bell rang. It was 2 men with a van, ‘We’ve come to collect the sofas. ‘ No apology or explanation for being an hour and a half late but I was so relieved to get rid of them that I didn’t really care. They are gone at last after spending over a month in the garage.

The saga of the Landrover continues. Gareth agreed to signing it over to Louise so at least she now has the legal right to have it collected with a transporter and taken back to our place in Herefordshire. She is threatening to do this immediately after lockdown ends if it still hasn’t passed the MOT. Gareth ‘s latest excuse for not getting the work done is that he has been stressed by money problems and has had to borrow £1000 to get back on track. That man’s life never ceases to amaze me.

Today is Justeen’s birthday. When I looked at Facebook this morning I saw a message from Tony to her saying, ‘Happy birthday to my future wife. ‘ That really lifted my spirits, another ‘life goes on’ message I guess.

This is the sofa from the British Heart Foundation