 |
| Riverdance |
They laid out the plastic protection sheeting first, which was a bit funny actually since the world is trying to do away with single-use plastics and McDonalds are getting hammered for their straws and yet these guys (of necessity) basically gift-wrap the whole house! To be fair, my neighbour took the unspoiled sheeting off them last time but still! They hadn't long got to work removing tiles when would you believe it - the heavens opened. The forecast was a bit iffy anyway, but as soon as it started to pour the boss gave orders to get all the tiles put back and told me that sadly they were done for the day as they couldn't do any more in the rain!
I wasn't too bothered actually as they told me they would be back later in the week so around 2 o'clock I thought I it might be nice to take a siesta as I was feeling a bit tired. But wouldn't you know it, the sun came back out and just as I was thinking about crawling into bed there was a knock at my door, a mad rush to put my bra back on and they "hoped I didn't mind but could they start up again this afternoon"? Now I don't know if I was imagining it but I'm pretty sure I smelled dope on the boss guy but what could I say, so off they went and the three gofers managed to remove all my very poor insulation in about an hour and that was it. Tiles back on and they would see me again on Wednesday (and Thursday and maybe Friday) to get the insulation laid! I feel like I've had so much work done in the house this past year that I'll be glad to see the back of workmen for a while, but it's all for the greater good really isn't it, and I have to say that all the work done for me this year has been done well (somewhat to my surprise I realize)!
My sister called me earlier today for a chat and when I asked about my brother she said they had just cancelled Sky (cable TV) as it was costing him £60 a month and he was hardly watching it. I remember cancelling Sky about 10 years ago for the same reason, and of course they then bend over backwards to offer you a deal but nah, I'm just not into TV that much and my Freesat does me just fine! My friend was annoyed when he realized he couldn't watch the cricket anymore but then there's always the Mr. Pickwick pub in Geneva if he's desperate. Actually, believe it or not, my brother used to listen to cricket on the radio if he couldn't get it on the TV!!!!! I know!!!!! It's boring enough watching it but can you imagine listening to it. That being said, the late commentator, Brian Johnston, was an absolute gem in the commentary box, as well as being an inveterate giggler. His absolute classic had to be his commentary when West Indian legend, Michael Holding, was facing England batsman, Peter Willey and "Johnners" came out with "the batsman's Holding, the bowler's Willey" followed by barely stifled giggling when he realized what he'd said! Anyway my sister was telling me she had now gotten a Firestick 4 and a subscription to Vlod (sounds like a Russian weightlifter doesn't it), and with all that my brother can now get 100s of channels for about one-tenth of the price - (I guess it just depends how many channels he wants to sleep his way through really)!
Although it was hot I got quite a bit done today. I did a load of washing, including my summer duvet which I will now put away for a few months as I'll be sleeping with just a sheet while the heat ramps up. One of the joys of having my balcony is that I can put drying racks out there and hang the big stuff, like my duvet, directly over the balcony to dry and it's usually all done and dusted in a day. Okay it might look a bit like a gypsy encampment for the duration but technically nobody should be able to see it since my house backs onto the farm and the only people that might see it would be my neighbours walking through my garden to get to each other's houses. I have also learned to peg the stuff in place as it can get quite windy and I have found my knickers in the back garden on more than one occasion. So pegs it is - or at the very least buy some really kinky underwear and get the neighbours talking!
I'm also doing quite well in my "do something round the house for one hour a day" plan, which is similar to what Fly Lady advocates on her website, although she drove me batty with her emails. It's actually quite satisfying to set my phone timer to one hour and see how much gets done - quite a lot as it turns out. While I was working on my veggie plot my gardener showed up on his riding lawnmower and started work. Then the neighbour's partner started doing the same on her land, and my other neighbour pitched in with his lawnmower. Apparently they've forecast rain for tomorrow so I guess everyone was trying to get it done beforehand. At one point they were all mowing at the point where our gardens meet and it felt slightly like a stand-off at the OK Corral, although to be honest, it looked more like a day at the dodgems to me!
Your comments about TV watching or not reminded me of a hilarious convo I had with the a neighbor when he discovered I had no TV at all, not interested. He kept on trying to figure out what I did in his TV watching hours, which was every evening, all weekend. He finally said, well, do you like have a book to read? He couldn't imagine life without his shows. Different strokes.
ReplyDeleteI think if you did the actual calculation it would be amazing at how many hours of their lives some people spend watching actors pretending to live different lives wouldn't it. I'm not against TV but don't think I would miss it if I didn't have it anyway. My computer is probably more of a draw for me so I guess I'm not much different really!
DeleteSince I hate housework so much, I try getting something done in 15 minutes every hour or so. Even that helps. I did not do much today but, all day tomorrow, I plan to be home and take care of quiet a bit of stuff. Original plan was to go to IKEA but, it is not really necessary.
ReplyDeleteOne hour at a time works better for me but whatever works right! And while I like IKEA I couldn't be going there just to browse!
DeleteNow, I use commercial time to do things. But, I get involved and spend at least 15 minutes doing some cleaning.
ReplyDeleteIt's whatever works isn't it. I keep the house pretty picked up anyway so it never really looks that bad - although there's always something to do isn't there!
DeleteI don't know cricket from rugby, but you made me remember my dad listening to baseball games on Sunday afternoons. Kind of the same-if a pitchers battle, quite a boring game to watch. Shoot-I just remembered that I forgot to grab pegs for the wash line. I didn't make a list and went in and out by memory-not too trustworthy.
ReplyDeleteI can have just 3 things on my shopping list and if I don't take my list I'll definitely forget one of them. But glad to be of service!
DeleteI abhor housework, and like to break it up into small doses of unpleasantness. I ask Alexa to set a 12 minute timer then play a game with myself to see exactly how much I can get done in 12 minutes. Then I will do something I want to do for 15 minutes, and begin the cycle over again. I usually do it about 10 times which works for me.
ReplyDeleteThat would be too much of a disruptive schedule for me but as I say, if it works don't knock it! I literally fly round the house on a Thursday for about an hour and scrub baths and run the hoover and then that's it - the rest of the week is just gardening and hopefully decluttering!
DeleteI love streaming tv, no adverts, you can what stuff back to back. My friend Leslie loves cricket and listens to it all the time. She rings her boys to discuss strategy etc When I was young Fanny Craddock was a cook on TV with her long suffering husband Johnny. She made donuts this particular day and as the program credits rose the music faded and the broadcaster said "I hope your donuts turn out like Fannys'. There was a silent pause! Toilet humour.....brilliant. x
ReplyDeleteI love toilet humour so that made me laugh. And I remember Fanny Cradock, always looked like she'd put her make-up on drunk (which I believe was a distinct possibility). I also heard that she actually couldn't cook - although I don't know whether that's true or not. And remember when your TV used to take a few minutes to warm up, so you'd get the sound but not the picture? My sister and I were waiting for it to warm up one day and we heard "so you grabs 'old of her tits and gives 'em a good pull" - and then farming programme came on!
DeleteLove it. Fanny was a bit of a lush. Hehe! I can remember having to hold the aerial to get good picture or sound, getting up off your backside to change the channel, and there weren't many of those.
DeleteI should try something like that for my housework. There's so much that SHOULD be done that I am paralyzed at the thought of any of it. But perhaps yes, an hour here, an hour there- why not?
ReplyDeleteBECAUSE I HATE IT!
I don't really mind it too much but then I keep it pretty picked up anyway - I used to do that even when there were five of us at home. And I don't know if you've heard of Fly Lady but some people swear by her. Basically you do 15 minutes of whatever every day and that's how stuff gets done. She drove me bonkers though. Either way, I find it quite satisfying to do the extraneous (big word) stuff in that hour and yes it is satisfying. When you think of it, if you can't spare an hour a day you could be in trouble I reckon.
DeleteI really just do housework when its getting really bad. The place is generally quite tidy, there's only the two of us in it but dust is whole other thing! I find I get the urge to dust when I have to move something and there's an imprint of the shape of it left behind! I'm not a big tv fan but I do like to watch certain programmes. We signed up to Netflix in case we needed more entertainment during lockdown, however we're not using it much though I'm glad we had it to watch 'After Life' with Ricky Gervais. I think we'll be cancelling the subscription though, we don't watch enough to justify it. I laughed at the vision of all the lawnmowers meeting for a stand off! x
ReplyDeleteI'm like you with dust - once I move something everything gets cleaned. After my ex left I moved a picture and decided the white wood wall behind it looked grimy so I wiped it down. I ended up washing the entire room to get rid of his cigarette smoke stains! I guess the moral is, never move anything right!
Delete