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A day of rest
I see the start of a glow in the east on my early morning walks now. There is louder bird song; whether this is due to birds singing louder or more of them singing, I cannot tell. I imagine that some birds, like humans, must be late risers. Today it was cold in the early morning but pleasantly warm in the sun later on when I walked to the care home to visit my mother. Many of the residents there look normal, superficially. There was a pool of water on the floor by one old boy. Judging by the smell, it was urine.
I went to the library for my weekly dose of podcasts and my flip through the local paper. There were two letters this time about the sorry state of the county's roads. Potholes come a close second to waste disposal in the league of complaints.
Thought for today
Society in every state is a blessing, but government even in its best state is but a necessary evil; in its worst state an intolerable one; for when we suffer, or are exposed to the same miseries by a government,our calamities is heightened by reflecting that we furnish the means by which we suffer. Government, like dress, is the badge of lost innocence.
Thomas Paine, Common Sense, 1776
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9.2.08 19:51
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Wearing out
The soles of my boots are wearing thin with all the walking that I'm doing. The tread on the tyres of my car is still thick with my meagre annual mileage of 5000. This morning I drove to the meeting place for the local RA walk. A car in front of me on one road went, it seemed to me, unnecessarily slowly. Old folk are out today I thought, and then wondered if, to some drivers, I had joined that league. Sometimes I think What's this old duffer doing? and then realise that the old duffer is probably not much older than I am.
The meeting place was a car park on the top of a hill. There were plenty of free spaces when I arrived shortly before 10am but by 3pm, when we returned from the walk, the car park was full and overflowing onto the road leading to it. This made leaving it difficult. If I'd arrived to find the car park full, I'd have gone away. I'd rather stay at home and read a book than struggle to find a place to park. Many, it seems, are prepared to struggle. Drastic measures will be required before people give up their cars.
Thought for today
The difference between perseverance and obstinacy is: that one often comes from a strong will, and the other from a strong won't.
Henry Ward Beecher (1813 - 1887) American clergyman
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10.2.08 19:34
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Nearing the end
The decorator is due to finish tomorrow; soon I shall be able to reclaim my sitting room. However, disruption will return next month when work starts on the kitchen. My next tasks are: choosing and ordering new curtains; choosing and ordering a new washing machine so it can be installed as soon as the kitchen is finished; choosing and ordering new carpets. Meanwhile I need to get rid of the dishwasher, the washing machine and my sofa and armchair. They could all go into a skip, but that seems a waste as there is little wrong with them other than they won't fit in my new layout.
I think I can remember most of the furniture I've owned. My first bookcase was two planks of wood supported at each end on piles of bricks. I moved several times with that. My first sofa and armchair was secondhand. I gave those to a charity; someone turned up in a van to collect them. They wouldn't do that now. They'd want a certificate to show upholstered furniture met current fire regulations.
I've just noticed that the decorator has screwed the socket covers back onto the walls. This means that I can plug in the telly without fear of electrocution and, as long as I can put up with the smell of paint, can watch University Challenge and Life in Cold Blood.
Thought for today
The more men have to lose, the less willing they are to venture. The rich are in general slaves to fear. ... Youth is the seed time of good habits, as well in nations as in individuals.
Thomas Paine, Common Sense, 1776
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11.2.08 19:50
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End of phase one
The p and d finished this morning. He moved out with his hoover; I moved in with mine. The Dyson's container, empty when I started, ended up a third full, which was gratifying although rather shocking. I must use it more often.
Tomorrow's job will be removing dust. There is plenty of that about. Most of the contents of the house are coated with a fine layer of white dust.
Another job will be to wire up the hi-fi. It has been packed for almost two years. Hope I can remember what to do; I get muddled with inputs and outputs; whether black goes to red or to black; or positive goes to positive or to negative.
There was a frozen dead fox by the roadside yesterday, and a dead badger in the middle of the road today. It is too early for squashed hedgehogs; they should still be hibernating. Frogs and toads might start moving soon.
Thought for today
'That property will ever be unequal is certain.' That was not unjust, but simply a result of 'industry, superiority of talents, dexterity of management, extreme frugality, and fortunate opportunities.'
Thomas Paine, Dissertation on First Principles of Government, 1795
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12.2.08 19:42
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Choosing curtains
What a chore this is going to be. I looked at curtain material in a local shop this afternoon; what a dreary selection there was. I want curtains that are light and bright and modern, not heavy ones with boring old patterns that have been around for decades. The sitting room at the moment looks a lot better without curtains because it's lighter and seems bigger. I shall see the curtains every day so I want material that I shall enjoy looking at.
The government has announced plans to subject kids to five hours of culture a week. The poor things. One of my grandfathers used to subject my brother and I to 'culture' whenever my parents took us to visit. We hated it. Being dragged round museums to look at boring old paintings and pots was not our idea of fun. Priceless treasures did not interest us. My grandfather used to give us maths lessons too. I forget which were worse--the maths or the museums.
Thought for today
It does not take much strength to do things, but it requires great strength to decide on what to do.
Elbert Hubbard
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13.2.08 20:06
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A lucky find
The dishwasher went today. Two weeks ago I sent off a free ad to a local paper; two days later someone from the paper phoned to tell me that there was a six weeks' waiting list for the ads. She asked if I still wanted the ad to go in the paper. I said yes, but expected to hear nothing for ages. Last night someone phoned about the dishwasher and collected it today.
Two gaps were left in the kitchen. One was under the worktop where the dishwasher used to be; the other was in the waste pipe where the dishwasher's outlet pipe joined that from the sink. I spent the afternoon trying to block the second gap.
The T connection fitted for the dishwasher's pipe needed replacing. Unfortunately, I couldn't unscrew any of the pipes under the sink so replacing them wasn't an option. Somehow I had to seal the exposed end of the T connection. I wondered about fixing a piece of hosepipe to it and closing the other end with a clip of some sort, or about poking a lump of bluetac into the hole; both methods seemed unsuitable. Eventually I went to Homebase to see what was there. I bought a pack of two plastic end stops which, when I got home, I found to be the wrong size. They were too small; the store had none bigger.
I then had the idea of putting a piece of rubber over the end of the pipe and anchoring it with the clip that was left after the dishwasher was removed, so I went into the garage in search of a piece of rubber; I had in mind the inner tube of a bicycle tyre. The first thing I saw when I opened a drawer was an old rubber glove. Eureka. This was what I needed. The fingers of the glove fitted neatly over the T connection, like condoms. I used all the fingers, starting with the smallest to the largest, and held them in place with the clip.
They should do the trick because the outlet pipe is a low pressure system as long as I remember not to empty gallons of water at once into the sink. Next month the kitchen is due to be replaced so my makeshift plumbing needs last only four weeks.
Thought for today
Necessity is the mother of invention.
English proverb
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14.2.08 20:14
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A lighter mood
Went into town this morning and came back feeling slightly cheered. Homebase gave me a refund on the end stops that I bought yesterday that were too small; another fabric shop that I visited had a better selection of curtain material than the one I visited on Wednesday. One design caught my eye. The shop owner let me borrow a large piece of it for 48 hours to see how it looks in the sitting room. Hang it from your curtain rail, she said. It is draped over one of the bookcases as I have no curtain rails. See how it looks at different times of the day, how it looks with artificial light, she said. So far I like it; I could live with it for twenty years. Tomorrow I shall return to the shop to find out how much the material, the make up, the installation will cost.
I sent off another ad to the local paper; this one is for my rubber plant. I have had it for years and it has outgrown the house. It is the size of a small tree and, though attractive, is now a nuisance. I haven't the heart to chop it up and put it on the compost heap. Anyway, it would take ages to rot.
Thought for today
Medical science does not save lives, it defers death.
Iona Heath, BMj 2008;336:360
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15.2.08 20:14
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