Tuesday 6 December 2022
Out of coldness and leaks came a most unexpectedly amazing experience and a slightly longer walk than I would otherwise have gone on.
The walk was extended because I was wrapped up warm, enjoying being outside and slightly lacking enthusiasm for an afternoon in my very cold study. I encountered no other people, saw some mystical-looking mossy pathways through the forest and then came out of the wooded area to a beautiful view. All I could hear was the swaying of the tops of pine trees and water running. Standing still and taking all that in was wonderful.
The unexpectedly amazing experience was the outdoor shower. The moon was almost full and the sky clear and, at around 17:30, still just about above zero degrees. I spent most of yesterday feeling glum, as did Chris. The coldness in the house, despite getting the burner to a good heat and radiators being warm rather than tepid or colder, is really getting to us, coupled with the fact we are permanently coal-stained and spending the day, and once in the night, moving coal around in buckets, bags and boxes, stoking the fire and sweeping up ash. It feels like a lot of effort for a minimal return of, at best, slightly warm radiators.
Anyway, I was setting the scene. We were both cold and miserable. Then the shower pouring water through the kitchen light, which we knew would mean an additional expense, inconvenience and no showers. We also both started worrying about all the other things that could go wrong, including when we are away over Christmas. So, you get the picture, coaly, cold, a dark kitchen (only small lights ok to use), no shower, expense looming, bit of a reality check about keeping an old house in a cold area warm and leak-free. My gloom continued all day, with my walk being a highlight. Oh, and the vacuum cleaner and some other deliveries have been ‘delayed’ for the second day. We have a Henry for the fireplace but it doesn’t cut it for carpet upstairs. You know how it is, once you’re feeling miserable, every other inconvenience or alteration is fuel for self-pity.
I had decided to maybe just have a thorough wash-basin wash instead of a shower, but then I kept thinking about this blog and how I am doing it for the first year in an attempt to make myself DO more. The shower. I went upstairs, the coldest area of the house, put on my swimming costume, brr, put on my Rapanui (thick, warm, hooded towel-robe), carried a towel, soap and a soap dish downstairs, told Chris I was off for a shower, put on my Crocs and a head torch (totally redundant with the moon as bright as it was) and squished my way through mud to the shower at the back of the house. Nowhere dry to put my stuff so I just put it on some plastic steps and walked to the shower in just a swimming costume and Crocs. The shower is merely a large shower head protruding from the house with hot and cold taps coming out the wall. The water falls onto some sort of matting topped with stones and adjoining the grass of the garden.
No hot water. It was cold and my hand was getting cold just feeling for heat. I knew I’d be disappointed if I didn’t have a shower by this stage. So I turned off, ahem, the cold tap and tried the other tap. Would you believe it, hot water came out. Beautifully hot water. I had one of the most exhilarating showers ever. I kept the head torch lit on the windowsill (pointless; the moon really was bright enough). I ended up discarding the swimming costume and Crocs. When I reluctantly stopped the flow of hot water, my skin, and consequently me, felt amazing, and warm. Despite being in the nud in the dark at about zero degrees. I had time and warmth to dry myself, put on my Rapanui; I returned to the house jubilant. Honestly, truly one of the best experiences so far in this house, and, despite my misery over the fire and heating and leaks, there have been many positive experiences here. Now, when friends stay and I offer them their own shower, outdoors, I will show them this as proof that it is worth every second of the trepidation up to the point of going under the hot water. I must also remember not to go into the kitchen if someone is showering as that’s the only room from where you can see the shower area.
Then, because the sky was so clear and starry and moony, after dinner I got Chris to come outdoors with me. We walked around the house under the bright light of the almost-full moon. We heard a distant owl, the grass was by then freezing so crunched underfoot in a very satisfactory way, the sky was clear and seemingly-pierced with starlight and we could see smoke coming from the chimney, which made the house look like a proper country cottage in winter (I don’t need to dwell on the reality once we got back inside, though the area around the burner is slightly warmer than the rest of the house).
I still have no desk and I am still struggling to do work/official things. I am also fed up of using my laptop keyboard. My laptop surround is aluminium and cold. Delivery information regarding the desk is vague at best.
If all goes to plan, a plumber is coming out today to hopefully sort the shower, though I haven’t ruled out another outdoor shower. I need to do some work, which I really do want to do at a desk in a warm room, I’d like a walk, postponed deliveries are due and I’d like to tidy/sort/clear at least one small area. We are going to the tip and probably some charity shops on Thursday so it’d be good to tidy something that could contribute to that.