Jennieworld Today

More and more, as I read other people’s blogs and online articles about the current economic climate, I’m reminded just how blessed and lucky we are to own our property. Yes, we have a mortgage, but it is relatively small and definitely affordable compared to those of many others. Yes, it is small and we only have two bedrooms, but imagine if we were trying to buy somewhere from scratch now? The value of our property has nearly tripled in the seven years since we bought it - we’d have to be far better off financially to be able to consider buying something even like this now. If we were starting out today, we would either have to move a long way from the city (giving Husband a very long commute) or I would have to go to work full time, sacrificing my time with my two children. When we found out that we were going to have our eldest, we just assumed that I would stay home for as long as our children needed a carer at home - it wasn’t even a discussion. And so while many people (including many members of our own family) think that we should be doing all we can to move into somewhere bigger as soon as possible, I think that we should remain as we are - grateful for our little two-bedroomed place so near to the school and so handy for Husband’s work, and thankful that we managed to get on the property ladder before the prices spiralled far out of our reach.

Well, who said that nothing ever happens in sleepy little Welsh villages?! I was having a look at the BBC News website, when this sprang out at me. Apparently, workmen were widening a road when they found a discarded bomb buried in the hedgerow. This isn’t the most amazing part though - it is thought to be a bomb which a man called Dai Rogers (who died many years ago) used as a doorstop! The bomb disposal squad have been summoned to deal with it, although I do wonder what the chances are of it blowing up of its own accord if it has already survived being dropped from a plane, carried into a house, tripped over and banged by a door goodness knows how many times in its domestic career and then thrown away into a hedgerow! However, I am aware that these things can be volatile, so better safe than sorry. I can’t help wondering though, if Dai Rogers is looking down from wherever he is now and laughing at all this kerfuffle over his doorstop!

This story caught my attention for two reasons. Firstly, the village in which it was discovered (Pontrhydfendigaid) was where a schoofriend of mine (Kiri) lived. We lost touch after our GCSEs when she left to go to a sixth form college, and I believe she’s living in China now. Secondly, I remember my Dad telling me a similar story about finding a bomb being used as a doorstop, although I don’t remember all the details. All I can remember was Dad telling me this story not long after I’d found out about the properties of magnesium and potassium including what happens if they are immersed in water, and how explosive they can become. Anyway, to cut a long story short, something happened along the lines that someone was going to put this lump of magnesium in a bucket of water, to supposedly neutralise the bomb, and there was a great panic to stop the man doing this. Have I got this all twisted up, Dad? False memory? Remind me of the actual story next time I see you so that I can put this right!