Since then, things have calmed down and I’ve barely seen a white feather. Is that because I’m not looking so hard for fatherly advice from wherever he is? Do we always just see what we want to see?

I was mulling over these ideas just yesterday whilst doing my regular Monday morning walk in the park and came across an unexpected sight – a swan in the pond that belongs to the heron – I’ve never seen a swan in that pond before (and now I’m beginning to sound like an old person) but anyway – suddenly there was the biggest white feather moment imaginable:-

Looks rather like a meringue:-

There it is! There’s the feather!

You want it?

Come and get it:-

With over 250 wines to choose and 240 whiskies:-

Apparently, at least four times a day when staff answer the phone to take bookings they get the following:
“Hello, Nobody Inn, can I help you”
“well if nobody’s in then how can you be talking to me?”

Excellent food. The restaurant isn’t open on Sundays, but the bar area, which we still booked was fantastic and you can also stay the night there.

My mother was complaining she hadn’t had her sign from my father – our white feather sign that day. I’d had mine, it floated right past my face just as I left London. My brother had had his. Then, once back at my mother’s, my son sent me a message. This is the son that has gone inter-railing and so apart from a very brief text to say he’d arrived in Amsterdam, followed by an equally brief text to say that all his clothes had been ruined owing to shampoo explosion, I wasn’t particularly expecting to hear from him for a while. He certainly wouldn’t have remembered that it was my father’s birthday.

At midnight, he sent:-

OMG, in a club in Berlin and they’re playing “Pata Pata” – can’t believe it – it’s his song! He’s here with me!”.

Weird.

A club in Berlin, playing Miriam Makeba’s music? How unexpected. How cool.

Yesterday a car was parked literally outside my house that I thought I recognised. It looked just like the car my friend had owned and loved who has moved to Australia. I helped her sell it to a second hand dealer who lives nowhere near us, over 6 months ago. I texted her after I saw it and she has confirmed that it is indeed her old car. What is it doing outside my house? She said “pleased to see my car has a built in homing device”.

Wonder what that sign could mean. I now need to find out who owns it – hopefully a tall, dark, handsome, single (but not weirdly single for way too long), no kids or older kids, some hair (on head mostly), acceptable shoes, shirt not tucked in, own teeth, no major complicated mad ex wives and/or girlfriends, reasonably intelligent with a job of sorts that brings in at little bit of money so that he can afford to pay for own food, flights, cars etc because would have to like travelling and fine dining (although doesn’t have to be that expensive fine dining and preferably not interested in fishing or cricket – rugby OK as long as not hideously injured from playing as a schoolboy, football OK as long as not still thinking acceptable to play in 40′s or over-passionate addiction to dodgy team. I know I mentioned anybody called Colin, but not a good name, so changed my mind.

Of course, it’s a girl’s car so none of the above will not apply at all.

Hopefully he’s slowly improving. He said yesterday that he didn’t “feel like death” so fingers crossed he’s getting better. His hospital ward is marginally better than the last one although owing to a lack of jelly beans I was still tempted to stuff his pink fluffy, waxy earplugs up my nose to cut out the smells. All the other inmates still look dead – all lying back asleep with their mouths wide open – my brother said “you don’t need to worry about the ‘O’ face, it’s the ‘Q’ face that’s bad” – that’s when the tongue is lolling out to the side. Yuk. My father had asked me to bring in some Bassetts Licorice Allsorts – which I think is a pretty good sign.

Talking of signs, although I’m not a person who chooses to follow a specific religion, I like to think of myself as vaguely spiritual and quite often find signs pertaining to my life. Sometimes I even ask for them. I am not quite sure who puts them there, or who I am asking, but they seem to say something important anyway. For example, I have probably mentioned this before, but on the day that our “Decree Nisi” came through I was having dinner in a restaurant with my ex husband. We were still attempting to find a way through the mess of our broken marriage. My mother had recently pointed out that not only were we flogging a dead horse, the dead horse had maggots in it”, but still we wouldn’t give up. My ex had just finished his main course and his white plate was completely empty when suddenly sitting right in the middle of the plate was a huge black caterpillar/maggotty thing. I mean huge. We had no idea how it got there and at one point my ex even accused me of bringing it in a bag and secretly flicking it at him when he wasn’t looking.

There have been lots of other signs too over the years including several plagues….

I was dreading coming back into the house today. I was not sure whether I would find yet more revolting flies. But instead, on my doorstep was this:-

…and not a fly in sight.