The Link Autumn 2019 The Link Oct-Nov 2019 v2 | Page 28

Diary of a Kenley Man article & photos by a Kenley Man M y wife and I were recently chatting with a family from the US, who have just had their first child, and we were comparing family dynamics. The mother explained that they’ve a system in place called the ‘Honey Do List’: “Honey, can you take out the trash”, “Honey, can you just run a bath for the baby”. In our house (my wife and I, plus two young boys) we have’ blue jobs’ or ’pink jobs’. This is actually my wife’s terminology which I’ve adopted. If I am taller and less squeamish, then I am best suited to disposing of a ‘gift’ from the cat or heading into the loft hatch, both blue jobs. But what was mostly a blue job in putting out the bins, has recently been re-classified to pink – jubilation! The reason for this re-classification is because previously my wife didn’t feel safe putting the bins out after dark. We joked about bin-attackers lurking in shadows, although the crime stats would suggest that we weren’t far off. But that was before; before our relocation to what I will call ‘grown-up life’ for want of a better term. You see, we’ve recently moved from central London to the hills of Kenley. 28 Our young family was in search of more greenness, better schools and more space, which we found in a location we love, and a house that just needs some modernisation. But what do you do when you chose a place to live based on schools, garages and gardens, but where you don’t know anyone? Well, I guess you explore and try to speak to as many people as you can. Luckily for us the neighbours have been really friendly, lending us the odd power tool or making recommendations for tradesmen. Our eldest starts primary school next week and I am told that this also provides great opportunities for meeting new families. The other thing I have tried to do is keep busy with things that I enjoy; not a ‘Honey Do List’, but just my ‘Dad List’. Things that are not essential but nice to do, and which I can take pride in. Such a list I have found to be vital during this settling-in period. Blue jobs are a-plenty, and whilst I am under no pressure with these, I’ve adopted an almost corporate set of performance indicators, complete with a self-reward system to keep me on track. Ticking off blues enables growing veg in the garden, making bird boxes and walking in the green lanes webbed across Kenley. And taking photos: there’s so much wildlife on our doorstep now, just begging to be photographed. The large trees harbour green and spotted wood- peckers, creepers and nuthatch. Our boys have almost filled their young ornithologist’s book of British birds, save for some of the coastal varieties, and on the larger wildlife side, I almost ran into a deer in the woods, not 200m from our front door. My tomatoes may look haphazard, but there’s still some green promise on the vine. The courgettes were disappointing, yielding one solitary edible unit. But I am still learning to be a grown up . . . photo from left to right: home-grown tomatoes, suet bird feeder, footwear of a Kenley man! To advertise call 01684 833715 or email: [email protected]