Monday 28 November 2022
The stove is gently flickering, birds are flitting around outside the window and we have toffee smoked bacon (who knew?) and scrambled eggs for breakfast. It’s a very pleasant Monday morning.
That, I suppose, is the Instagram/Facebook cherry-picked version. Having spent the last eleven days moving boxes and lifting things, we’re both knackered. My lower back aches, my hands and wrists are swollen (an ongoing issue, exacerbated), my skin is more dry than usual, my body is generally tired and I feel like only twenty-four hours of continuous sleep would relieve my tiredness.
However, I don’t for a minute wish any element of the move hadn’t taken place and neither of us, at least so far, has any regrets or second thoughts about the move. It’s just that I had almost forgotten how long it takes to get a new home in order. We moved the living area around a bit last night but it’s still not right. From where I am sitting on the sofa (still no table/desk), I do have a lovely view, but between me and the view out the window are some piles of stuff and an unmade truckle bed, for which we appear to not have the instructions.
The truckle bed, now I’m alerted to it, is going to be today’s planning-project. We have yet to decide whether it will be assembled where it is now, a kind of offshoot area from the living room, or in my study/the guest room. But before it’s even assembled, assuming we manage to do it (you’d think it would be simple but the bags of screws and fittings make it look less straightforward than you’d expect), I want to paint it. I have pretty much decided the colours (yet to buy the paint) but I have never done anything like that and I’m not usually a fan of painted wood. However, the frame has that pale yellowy-beige varnish with an unnatural sheen so I don’t feel bad about painting over that.
It feels like a big deal to me, the painting of the bed frame, because it’s the kind of project I often think about doing but usually never get around to doing. What would happen normally is that it would stay where it is for another few weeks, then I would suggest we just make up the bed in whatever room we decide on and, then, the thought of disassembling it to paint it would be so awful as to render the project cancelled. I would very much like to get it done before Christmas.
Despite what maybe sounds like a slightly negative post, both of us are enjoying being here, in this house, and in this area, Scottish Borders, and in Scotland. Without fail, every single person we have encountered has been friendly and welcoming. We drove less than half an hour yesterday to visit an old kirkyard that Chris had wanted to see. The drive was stunning, but so too was the kirkyard, a selection of photogenic fungi and St Mary’s Loch. It is a truly magical and beautiful place. On that walk, we passed two people, fishermen who were packing up. We had a chat with one of them, who told us a bit about the fish and the loch after we told him we’d just moved to the area. Other than that, a beautiful place, and we saw no one else.
Today’s activities include trying to create a bit of a makeshift desk in my study so I can do some work on my laptop not on my lap and I have things to sort out ahead of a trip to London tomorrow. It would also be good to sort out the living room layout and maybe select the paints for my bed project. I will also go for a walk.
