Y’know those times in your life when things run smoothly, when you feel like you wake after the sleep of a rested baby; slip into your favourite outfit and feel great; there is a balmy breeze tickling everything you touch and all in your proverbial garden of life, is roses. Alas, this is not my current reality. More it is a time that the phrase, ‘one thing after another’ was freshly minted for.

The roof has needed fixing for a while and I make no political statement when I say, I should’ve fixed it when the sun was shining. Instead, I waited until the rain came and I saw a big puddle of it on the floor. The parents at football, particularly Ade, highly recommended Hosgood Jennings construction. I know nothing about roof mending, but I know they were courteous, clean and efficient and to my eyes, my new roof looks great.

I have had three plumbing jobs in need of the services of the ever reliable, reasonably-priced and affable Tom Dewey at T.D. Plumbing Services recently. I know as much about plumbing as I do about String Theory, i.e. not a lot, even though I have watched pretty much every episode of ‘The Big Bang Theory’ on E4. At least twice. But I do know that I have a lovely new shower that works, the drippy thing on the side of the house has been sorted and whatever was going on near the hot water tank has been mended.

It was after the third visit that I said to Tom, with much respect, I didn’t want to see him for a while unless he could fit a new window. He couldn’t but he told me about Cymraeg Glazing who could. The window has had a gap in it since I moved in and been on the ‘to do list’ since, but when the ‘beast from the east’ quite literally left it’s snowy paw prints on the windowsill and with the sudden realisation that winter is fast approaching and the same thing could happen again, my mind has focussed on fixing it.

Then the washing machine died in a hail of loud crunches and a worrying burning smell. Ray Thomas popped over but kindly let me know that such was the cost of a spare part, possibly worth a trip to Kitchener and Thomas in Penarth to buy a new one. They were great, a good price and delivered and installed that afternoon. My amazing friend Amanda was at that time kindly doing a white wash for me, but it was a bit sad how happy I was that evening to be washing my own mucky clobber in my new machine.

What I have come to realise is this, that whilst things along life’s journey will leak, burn and break, good friends and a really reliable plumber, help smooth our path and hopefully take us by the hand and lead us to a metaphorical if not actual, sun speckled meadow.