FEATURES
as expensive as living in a married quarter. But it’s more than five times better. The kitchen needs gutting. The two spare bedrooms need about fifteen coats of paint to get rid of the old colours. The carpets need ripping out and the floorboards underneath need sanding back.
But I don’t care. It doesn’t matter, because we have the rest of our lives to get this right. We spent an hour this afternoon moving a sofa from one side of the room to another and back again ‘discussing’ where it would be better going, and then I realised that it didn’t really matter! Unlike everywhere that we have lived in the military, now that I am almost a civilian we won’t be constantly moving. We will be staying put. We will build a house...a home around us and change the furniture to fit the house.
One of the things about a military life is the constant moving and the constant ‘making do’. What you buy for one house doesn’t fit the next and certainly won’t fit the third! But now...we are settled, or at least will be.
I spent this afternoon down at the play-park with my daughter. We walked through the churchyard to get there, down the hill and then after the park, over the bridge and through the
wood. We were then in the real countryside. Through fields with sheep, cows and a horse. I let Lily run ahead. My dog ran about the field in mad abandon. The sun gave us enough warmth to get us to take our coats off. And I felt relaxed. Not just
relaxed...really relaxed. I felt the cares of the world around me fall away. I felt stress and stains of Service life drip away.
I am sure it’s not going to be a perfect idyll. I am sure we are going to face trials and tribulations along the way. I am certain that life, events and general STUFF will throw a
lot at us. Yeah, there are going to be worries; there already
are...money, work (or lack of it), setting myself up in business, doubts about the future, everything that life can throw the way of anyone...but what the heck! We have a house to live in. It might be box hell right now, with not enough wardrobes and stacks of brown cardboard in every room, but blow it. They are OUR rooms. The stuff won’t be out of place for long and it’ll be fun.
We’ve...I’ve lived in many places, but not many of them have felt like home. This one does.
Join our special forces Our volunteers are special. They come from all walks of life and professions.
They give a little of their time with one thing in mind, to improve the lives of our servicemen and women who have given so much for our country.
ssafa.org.uk/volunteer If you think you could help, visit
Registered Charity Nos 210760 Est. 1885 and SC038056
014118A1_BBC History
Magazine_Pendant_216x140.indd 1
www.raf-ff.org.uk Envoy Winter 2012
12/10/2012 15:34 21
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