IT was wonderful on the weekend to finally see some blue skies over Abergavenny. For a few days it actually look as if spring had sprung and the months of unending greyness were over….before the familiar grey skies returned.

The better weather did tempt me out into the garden in an attempt to tidy it up after the long winter and give the grass a first cut. Thankfully the housemate’s son-in-law had also offered to visit and in exchange for a Sunday roast, lend a hand with the horticultural projects ahead.

Quickly passing over the dinner preparations to The Mother, we set out to create a list of jobs for him to tackle and while he chopped away at overgrown shrubs I hit the weeding and mowing and pulling overgrown plants out of the pond with the housemate holding onto my feet just to save me from vanishing into its murky depths.

As the afternoon wore on I noticed that the chatter of the housemate and her grandchildren had slowly begun to drift away and I started to wonder what could have distracted them from the beautiful weather.

When I hit the end of a border I wandered down to the house to investigate.

“Any idea where they’ve all disappeared to?” I asked the housemate’s son-in-law.

“No. They were all here a while ago and then they vanished,” he said. “I thought they’d come up to your end of the garden.”

Venturing into the house I was intrigued by the sound of music coming from the living room and opened the door to find all three of them with their heads buried in their mobile phones.

“What are you all up to,” I asked.

“We’re playing ludo?” Replied the housemate’s granddaughter.

“On your phones?” I asked, sounding more like my mother with every word.

“It’s a gorgeous day and you three are stuck inside with the electric lights on, playing on your phones,” I exclaimed.

“We’re spending quality time with our Nanna,” said the housemate’s grandson with an angelic smile.

“You could spend quality time with your Nanna outside in the fresh air. We’ve got a perfectly good ludo set you could take up the garden to play with,” I added.

Glancing over at the housemate I could see she was keeping her head down.

“What’s your excuse?” I asked her. “Why aren’t you outside getting some fresh air?”

“I’ve been outside. I played football with them for an hour!” She exclaimed.

“An hour?” I asked. “You were out there for about ten minutes and I heard you say you were going in goal so you didn’t have to move,” I replied rolling my eyes.

“I can’t believe this. I expect the kids to hide away playing on their phones but when I have to come in and give you a telling off for the same thing it’s a pretty state of affairs.”

Feeling their eyes boring into me I took my leave only to hear their hoots of laughter echoing down the hall way.

“She’s just getting old,” I heard the housemate chuckle as I headed back up the garden.