I hear the heat go on.
Six o’clock, a swoosh as the gas pilot light self ignites. Its puff invades my dreams startling me awake. I stir slightly before my eyes close again and the heavy down comforter floats me back to slumberland.
The radiators groan as the water trickles through the pipes. They stretch and creak slowly into life.
Then silence again and I arise to put the kettle on.
I pad through the flat opening curtains, listening for the swoosh again that reassures me I’ll be warm this winter’s day.
I offer a prayer of thanks and stand, my cup of ginger tea pressed lightly on my cheek, against the radiator and look out at the frosty grass.
I feel the silent heat already warm against my legs and remember sitting on large, old radiators at school, being admonished about chilblains by zealous nuns.
At home in America, as if unwilling to fire up and do its job without notice, the heat bursts rudely into life. Not satisfied with this isolated grunt a noisy generator forces warm air loudly through heating vents in each room, proclaiming its presence with a distinctive thrum. Nothing of the discreet here.
From the silence of my heated flat I search my English garden for the crocuses that bloom shyly in the cold and am rewarded,
I sip my tea and follow a loping fox,
on his way home after a night of hunting.
My boiler swooshes again and I look up to see the moon glowing silver in the morning sky.
And bird song calls for dawn.
Well hello there! My name is Vivienne McNeny.
I am an empty nester exploring life as a Boomer…you could say I'm happily Boomering along!
As a homeschooling Mum I have finally quit the job of role model and mentor to my four children. I do what I want to do, eat when I feel like it, enjoy life with my blue eyed cowboy and clean my house once a month or so whether it needs it or not!
In true English form I write about the emergence of my true identity now that I can no longer hide behind my children as their Mum.
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