Day 382 I ain’t go time for that

24th August Friday

I am a “lists” person. I cannot find peace unless it’s written down, and sadly when I tick it off I get a strange delight. Sometimes my finely tuned life hits the buffers when I try to do things “off piste”, and impromptu. This was today. There were some glaringly obvious tasks that had to be done (on the list) and of course I was inspired by some other things that caught my eye. For example, there is a deep internal window at the bottom of the stairs that has become a haven for paint points, and a collection of various types of dust and debris. This has been a constant source of annoyance, but had not yet got on the list, that is until today.

Now that I spend the weekdays at the cottage, I am constantly reminded that it is still work in progress, and I don’t like it. I dream of the time when the tools, the paints and the various fillers are gone, and I can remove the hardboard from the floor, and make it home again.

Whilst I was clearing the sill of the internal window of the dirt and junk, I was also thinking about the floor trim around the fireplace, and somewhere I had some pieces of oak that would do that job. I had to find the wood. Therefore I abandoned the current job, and went in search of the oak strips.

Down to the shed I went, the place that time forgot, the place that if I ventured too far I would find the rake that would smack me in the face. The place where even the rodents would say ” Bollocks to that, I’ll find somewhere else to live”

I found the wood easily, so that became the project of the moment. I laid it out and planned the cuts. It was easy to work on the left hand side of the hearth, but my temporary bed position prevented me from working on the right side. Then, I noticed a tile was loose on the front of the hearth, and needed to be re-attached. The compounding effect suddenly made me think of the original job (still not on the list) so I went back to that.

By this time I needed a coffee break, which gave me time to think of more things that weren’t on the list. Then I realised that I hadn’t started on the jobs that were! I realised I was out of control, I was in a tail spin with smoke streaming out of my arse, I needed to pull up hard.

I relaxed, sipped my drink and thought ” What would Pete do?”

So I calmly opened up my little book and made a new list.

I was contented.