Monday 12 December 2022
It was a weekendy kind of weekend. I finished painting undercoat layers on the bed frame, we went to Carlisle for a shopping trip and to go somewhere we’d never been before, we wallowed in the joy of central heating that works (though there is a slight glitch to that), I had a walk in snow, we went to friends of a friend’s house (only about ten miles from us) and were fed incredible food and had a genuinely enjoyable afternoon and we stood and watched a barn owl at dusk, the first exciting nature sighting since we arrived.
It’s 07:48, we’ve had no more frost or snow than that which is still around from the past few days. We drove out (admittedly, with a four-wheel-drive car and winter tyres) along a stretch of snow-covered road to go out yesterday, and news this morning is all about the snow in London and the south and how some schools are closed, chaos on the roads, etc. Other than on Sunday, we’ve had daily gritters out here and everything seems to be moving along.
Today, we have some chores in Innerleithen, Peebles and Hawick – five words into typing that, Chris came down to say he’s had a notification that our office chairs have been loaded onto a van and the chairs will arrive today. Some time before five. We need to be in for that but we both need to be out today. I know deliveries are great but that one in particular is already over a week late and we’d been expecting them to arrive on Friday.
Our other stress is that we got the plumber’s bill for his day sorting out the electric boiler. About £2,100. It would seem that we both underestimated the cost of plumbing work. On top of that, another £215 for plumbers to fix the shower leak last week. And the aforementioned glitch will also need dealing with. The seal on part of the bathroom towel rail-radiator has a leak. The plumber was great, talking us through how to reduce the dripping. He explained why it probably happened and it all makes sense (in short, it hasn’t been used with as much water pressure since it was installed and the seal is probably in shock/inadequate, or similar). These kinds of bills are a real wake-up call as to the expense of owning an old house rather than renting or living in a new-build (our new-build flat has had a catalogue of defects and shockingly poor finishes and quality on certain things, but maintenance has been minimal … for now).
While deciding how to deal with the office chair delivery, I will make and eat blueberry pancakes. I have found the most amazing, perfect blueberry pancake recipe and, would you believe it, it just so happens we have a pack of blueberries.
I’m now not sure what we’ll do today. I still have no desk, though it appears I will soon have a desk chair, my study is still a mess (but at least it’s now not freezing cold), I might not be able to do my town errands (which include a visit to the post office and collecting our three auction buys), I have only just confronted the fact of Christmas and all that needs to be done before then, we’re hoping to return to London and Kent for Christmas on Saturday, there are more deliveries due this week, we now have all parts necessary to plug in the landline except for one crucial cable and, really, all I want to do is be able to sit in my unpacked study/office, at a desk, and get through a slowly-building mountain of things I need to do but which I am struggling to get done without my proper non-laptop set-up and all my stuff in anything other than piles and boxes. Oh, and I’ve just remembered, the [expletive] multi-fuel burner needs emptying and cleaning, albeit for the last time until we can face using it as a pretty, warming log fire. I didn’t realise I was in a bit of grump until writing this, but I have just looked outside and seen the moon and beautiful white frost and snow on the trees and bushes and a degree of all-right-ness is restored.
