The view from my window

The view from my window
The view from my window

Tuesday 17 January 2023

Quite the workout!

I was offline again for most of last week because yet again I felt like I needed to break the online habit in order to get more done around here. Trouble with that was I still don't seem to be able to pace myself and suddenly think I'm going to declutter the whole house, get out walking every day, take care of Charlie and a million other things all in one week. Well that didn't quite work out as planned, so I "crashed" for a few days and did pretty much bugger all! Oh I'd been working really well before that and did get a lot done but I really hate that I still don't seem to be able to pace myself better - or maybe it's just that I'm no longer 25 (probably that, right?)!

Oh and before I forget, since I was again offline for a while, Sam I was glad to read that you had a wonderful time with your kids, even if your son's flying "adventures" weren't optimal!

Anyway I took some time out and tried to stay away from the computer for a while, although what with all the gardening videos starting to pop up on Youtube I wasn't always successful. I did get round to reading a book I must have had hanging around for ages, but it seemed quite appropriate (even if it's somewhat dated) to read it in January!

I think I must have gotten rid of about 40 books last week, most of which were beautiful but I finally had to admit that I was never going to get round to reading them. Five of them were on the Normandy landings which I guess my ex bought when we were in Normandy about 20 years ago and as it felt kinda "shameful" not to read them I decided to keep just one and donate the others, my reasoning being I'm not here to curate any more of his stuff! I think it's a bit like not being able to get rid of a bible, with the guilt factor being pretty strong even though I'm not religious!

I watched a few new-to-me Youtube videos today and have discovered a couple of UK news programmes where they talk about current events but can be so funny and irreverant at times! They were talking about various space exploration programmes and one item I hadn't heard of was how the UK Government seemingly "convinced" taxpayers to fund a Virgin mission to Mars (and how ridiculous that is given these very difficult times), but when the one commentator said "I think it made it as far as Brighton" I just cracked up!

The guys came and installed my solar panels last Tuesday so that might have contributed to my fatigue levels, but they were very efficient and in about six hours they were done. All three were Kosovan and told me they travel all over France installing panels. Then the other night I heard a couple of terrific bangs and realized there was a massive thunder storm coming down the valley - and praying the solar guys had done a really good job fixing those things to the roof - seemingly they had. And I was saying to them that it was starting to get serious in the resorts, what with the lack of snow and how I felt sorry for them! Mind you, this cartoon did make me laugh!

And then of course Monday night happened and we got about eight inches of snow dumped on us, followed by about another four inches today, so guess who got to get a real workout and shovel about 10 inches of snow off three driveways!!!! My two sets of immediate neighbours are pretty good about whoever gets out there first just does the three driveways or we do it together - there's not an awful lot to do to be honest - but today that stuff was heavy! My immediate neighbour didn't look very well to me last time I saw him and I was pretty sure the others were away but thought I'd just do the whole lot and get it over with. Mind you, by the time I'd finished even I didn't want to be downwind of myself! And of course it's started snowing again this evening!

After I'd taken a shower and sat down to recuperate a bit I received a rather nice text from my ex telling me that he and his mom loved the photo albums of Charlie I'd made for them and that it was very thoughtful of me! I guess I really wasn't expecting that but maybe it's more than just the snow that's finally starting to thaw!


20 comments:

  1. There is something about books which makes you do want to collect them; certain minds, I suppose, want to own a library. I've been slowly getting rid of mine. When you have a degree in English literature, you tend to accumulate. And I've read about your snow issue. I'd send some your way, but I don't have any to send.

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    1. I was always "greedy" with books because I love to read but a few years ago I decided life was too short to read a bad book and now I've realised that I will never be able - or even want - to read everything I have so time to get rid. That's the toughest part for me. And as for the snow, we got maybe another six inches last night so guess what I'll be doing in about an hour!

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  2. Thanks for the mention- it was a good time, and went too fast with my kids. That cartoon is funny. That's a good system you have. I don't know how long your driveways are, but I'd be exhausted. We've gotten a lot of snow this winter.

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    1. That cartoon tickled me too but it all seems a bit ironic now as I'm off out to tackle last night's snow fall. Our driveways aren't that long but that was a LOT of heavy snow to shovel!

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  3. I did a large purge on books a few years ago and it's probably time to do it again but books are the one thing that are so very hard for me to get rid of.
    That cartoon is funny and how ironic that the snow soon started to fall.
    I'm glad your ex thanked you for the photo book. That was a very nice thing for you to do! Stay warm and safe and enjoy the week.

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    1. It's snowed all day today but to be honest town is pretty much ok. This village, however, is less so - and off course you still have to be able to get off your driveway, don't you! And yep, books are SOOOO very difficult for me to get rid of too, but I suspect I'm not alone there!

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  4. I rarely, if ever, well, never get rid of books. I have read and reread, and even rereread, all of them.

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    1. I will probably hang on to my favourites but I think I just have way too many. We'll see how the decluttering goes, I reckon!

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  5. Well, you did get dumped on with snow! I supposed your ex has his rare moments, LOL.

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    1. Yeah we got hammered but thankfully (hopefully) it never lasts that long!

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  6. Well- I am sure you were quite surprised when the ex- texted you to thank you. Nicely surprised!
    That sounds like an awful lot of snow to shovel.

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    1. Regarding my ex, the "communication" problem was never him - it was me! After the stress of his behaviour, particularly towards the end of our marriage, I just wanted NOTHING to do with him and he could take a running jump if he thought we were still friends! Just one example, abandoning his rented 3-bedroom farmhouse, plus barn, with 5 days notice and leaving me to empty it! Yeah, I was tired of being his Chaos Janitor. It was a nice message to get but if he lived back in France I would not encourage any contact at all, except where necessary regarding the kids. I'm not going back there ever again! Too much stress!

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  7. I have the opposite problem, I love getting rid of things, sometimes too much so, but I figure I can't take it with me, someone else might as well get some use out of it.

    My ex was the kind of the same, a hoarder that just walked away. I packed up every single item of his in boxes, even pennies, and put them in the garage. He ended up having to take everything to find what he still wanted. My daughter says he's still the same.

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    1. We were already divorced four years when he went back to the States so it was never my responsibility to empty that place. But I knew my kids would leave it to the last minute so while he had to continue to pay the rent for the next two months, I spent every weekend up there emptying, taking stuff to the trash, bringing stuff back to my place that the kids might want and THEN cleaning up the miniscule garden that he let go wild. The last weekend the kids moved the big stuff and cleaned but the disadvantage of having a large basement is guess where it went. Still, I've gotten rid of most of it now but I still need the energy to go through everything that's left and/or has accumulated since. It's an ongoing job - just like painting the Forth Bridge, but I'll get there!

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  8. I would love some snow these days. Living at an apartment complex, I never have to shovel snow. Congrats on the solar panels. Wonder how much you will be saving.

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    1. We do get big dumps of snow but the last few years it hasn't been too often down at this altitude - which is great. As for the solar panels, they calculated I would save around €1,000 per year (my annual bill is barely more than that), but we'll see. My sister in England comes up with exactly the same figures as here so that's encouraging!

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  9. We've had the oddest weather here. Not too much snow, but a lot of mist/fog, mild weather. Skiing not happening too much outside of the city. Glad your solar panels are sorted out. When will you start to see them affect your bills etc, immediately?

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    1. Re the solar panels, they told me that from now on I should start using my appliances around mid-day - i.e. when there is the most daylight/sunlight. I wonder if I'll have to wait a whole year to see the difference or if my energy company will readjust my direct debit earlier than that!

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  10. Just catching up with some blog reading after my own digital detox. That To Do List is always overwhelming isn't it and why is there some law of nature that says everything takes ten times longer to complete (or even start) than you think?

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    1. You're right about things taking the exact amount of time you planned - plus another hour, so putting the timer on for an hour seems to work better for me than saying I've got to get X done. Still, it is a never-ending job isn't it!

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