Saturday 17 December 2022
Today is the day we’re setting off to London and Kent for Christmas. It’s 07:53 and only just beginning to not look like night time outside. Surprisingly, after forecasts of snow from yesterday afternoon through to the evening, it is quite a bit milder, there is no frost and snow seems to have melted a bit. The river is still partly frozen though, as are the edges of roads. We are not for a minute expecting a straightforward drive but, for now at least, it’s looking kind of okay up here but colder down south.
Yesterday, to my surprise, the three pieces of second-hand furniture were delivered. The man from the shop I’d been exchanging messages with about the delivery arrived at around 15:15 (bear in mind sunset here is about 15:40) with a 4WD and a trailer full of our stuff. It’s all kind of okay but every piece of furniture has had some kind of incident between seeing it in the shop and its arrival. A glass pane of the cabinet had come out (miraculously having fallen inside the cabinet and not broken – I fixed that back in with a lot of effort and no idea how it could easily have come out), a couple of slivers of a drawer had broken off (a hammer and some cursing sorted that, ish), edging of the chest of drawers came off, having been temporarily re-affixed at some stage, and a few scrapes and a jammed drawer in my desk. Also, he came on his own so nothing could be taken beyond the ground floor (there’s more to it than that but that’s the outcome). He set off at 15:35 with a wave, a neutral comment about our living a long way out and the news that his car’s lights weren’t working so hopefully he’d get back before it got too dark (over hills, middle of nowhere, sheep crossing; a 40-minute drive and the sun already below the hills).
I have a bad back, Chris has a bad knee and, for the past few days, a bad back too. The desk just about made it upstairs (well, we just about made it up the stairs with the three pieces of heavy desk; very tense), the chest of drawers did not make it beyond the living room, and we are not sure we will ever get it up the stairs (it’s the curve of the stairs that’s the big problem, along with the fact it’s big and weighs a lot and the grabbable edges are broken, sigh) but think two strong and determined people could manoeuvre it up the stairs (ie not us). As for the furniture itself, I had already bought a tub of wax furniture polish, knowing the wood would need it. We used it all up. A whole, big tub of it.
Last night, I couldn’t sleep. Even with a blocked-up nose, I could smell furniture wax. Also, that thing about not sleeping the night before an anxiety-inducing day, in our case packing up for Christmas and driving 365 miles or so.
I had wanted to finish my Christmas shopping here rather than in London so I drove to Hawick and Selkirk. The weather was supposed to turn cold again and snow. It didn’t. I had a lovely few hours shopping and wandering around and managed to finish my Christmas shopping, which was extremely satisfying. Also got to have a coffee and a ginger snap. I love a coffee shop that sells biscuits and a 25p ginger snap was enough to set me on my way back home through the usual stunning countryside, still largely frosty-white, listening to Christmas music (in the limited areas where digital radio is picked up).
I would like one more day here in Scotland, sorting my study, having a long walk around the woods and relaxing and enjoying the house. But, knowing me, I’d end up doing other things and still want another day. However, once the long journey is over, I am also looking forward to being home in Lewisham, hopefully having dinner with a friend tonight (before he heads up to his family in Scotland for Christmas) and catching up with friends in the week before Christmas, one of those pre-Christmas weeks when I’ve pretty much done everything for Christmas (location of Christmas Day with mum and food shopping is yet to be confirmed, but I’m okay about that; it’s really easy to walk to shops and I don’t mind going food shopping early in the morning before it gets busy).
I still very much feel a love and contentment both in the middle of nowhere (or “further than from Hawick to the moon” according to the chair delivery man) surrounded by hills, rivers and trees and surrounded by people and the constant goings-on of a city. I would love to be able to transport us all here to Scotland at the click of a finger for Christmas Day though.