Waiting

 Good things come to those who wait. Patience is a virtue, so they say, but I am tired of waiting.  

This swan serenely waits for her young to hatch. 

The graveyard is waiting for the council workmen to come with their mowers and strimmers.

This weekend, we were all waiting for the rain to stop. 

King Charles III had been waiting for 70 years for his moment! 

I found the ceremony in Westminster Abbey moving. The music and the pageantry were wonderful, history in the making. 

I watched it all with my mother-in-law, Margaret. We hankered after hats, admired (and criticised) the outfits, decided who had gained weight, wondered at the impeccable behaviour of the children... Margaret worried that Charles looked tired, that it might all be too much for him, at his age. But on the whole we just marvelled at the spectacle, all from the comfort of Margaret’s living room. It was the second televised coronation that Margaret has enjoyed and the fifth monarch in her lifetime: George V, Edward VIII, George VI, Elizabeth II and now Charles III.

I know, in real terms, my wait has not been long but I am getting impatient (and so is the apartment owner in France). We are awaiting a completion date on our house, to be able to arrange the move to France.  I had thought that we might be held up by visas or some other post Brexit complication but, in spite of me filling in the wrong forms and failing to request the medical S1 forms, our passports were returned from the consulate in less than a week, complete with one year visas.

Our purchasers are very keen to complete and we understood that the people buying their house are in a position to move forward, but it appears that their solicitor has left and no one has taken over the file.  There is nothing that we can do, except wait and hope.

Well, not quite nothing. The packing goes on and this week we made the frame for the packing case to take the over mantle mirror.

I have been catching up with family and friends and it seems that everyone's life is in a state of flux or maybe that is my own current situation colouring my judgement.

In this state of limbo, I can't settle to write (even this may be shorter than usual!) but Journey's End, the third book of the Barwell Trilogy, is moving ever closer to publication.  I hope to be able to reveal the cover soon. 

I may not be able to write but I still read and this week it was The Island of Missing Trees by Elif Shafak: A tale of love and loss hidden amongst a detailed history of Cyprus and nature notes.

If you would like to be sent a link when my blog is published, please contact me on info@jacquelinejames.co.uk and I will add you to the list.