Another Lifetime to go

25th September 2019

The worst thing you can do is let your brain drive on automatic.

I planned to visit my friend Dave in Melksham, so the drive up from Barrington I’ve done so many times I could do it in my sleep, or so I thought.

The drive towards Shepton Mallet is straight forward, little chance of getting lost on that road. Skirting around the town is also no problem, no need to engage brain here.

A little further on I was behind an articulated lorry that slowed the pace down a bit. As always I wished it would turn off to give me a clear road.

We got to a roundabout and the truck did not take the turning I was expecting him to take.

Yay! I thought, as I took the first turning.

I kept driving, my mind thinking about everything other than the direction I was going.

Suddenly I came to a tee junction, and my brain re-engaged normal function.

“What’s going on here? There is no junction on this road”

Realisation dawned on me, that the truck was taking the turning I should have taken.

Should I turn round? Maybe if I found a place I could do it. Could I find a place to turn round? I must have been on the only stretch of road in the whole of Britain that had nowhere to turn, and when one suddenly appeared, I was going too fast, and missed it.

It was then that I decided to carry on and navigate through the town of Frome. Not a big place, I thought, but again I was wrong.

I was using my amazing sense of direction, which that in this case was fatally flawed. I ended up heading towards Radstock, which was in the opposite direction.

“There’s bound to be a turning that would get me back to the direction I needed to go” I thought.

It must have been on the only road in Britain that didn’t have a right hand turning to get me back on track.

Now Radstock is a pleasant town, but I didn’t want to experience it, so this is when I had to turn round and retrace my steps.

Eventually I crossed the junction I would have reached if I hadn’t made the diversion, that must have cost me an extra fifteen minutes to my journey.

I then passed the truck that I was stuck behind in the first place. It had stopped in a lay-by, and the driver had time to have his bacon roll and was slurping down his mug of tea, as I passed.

The rest of the journey was uneventful, although as I approached Melksham, the skies darkened and the birds were deliberately throwing themselves at approaching cars. I’ve always had a problem with the place, and I was never put my finger on the reason. I was told the only books in the library were in large print, and that the local planners were waiting for Armageddon to help improve the place, what ever happens I hope they wait until after I’ve left it.

24th September 2019

Not much to write home about, as the weather was not good, but I went out with Nicola and Colin to get some shopping done.

Life is slow down here, not being close to a big town means there are no “man” shops to explore.

The most exciting thing that happens is there’s not enough milk in the coffee, or similar calamities.

However I get to see places I wouldn’t normally go, and they are good company, so we find things to laugh at.

When I got back I started to work on designs for the patio I want to build when I get back to the US. I had sent Kelli a rough plan and asked her to give me certain dimensions that I needed. Then with the help of the internet I was able to visit the sites of my two favourite DIY stores, Lowes and Menards.

I wanted the decking to last a long time, so I explored the recycled plastic route. The medium price range using this material was just over $3000 plus the cost of the structure.

This was the worse case without taking into account the wastage factor, so I reckon that could reduce the cost by $500, which to my mind is not that bad.

I did a similar exercise using paving stones and that came to just under $1800, and as I hate paving slabs that is not the direction I want to take.

I have learnt one thing about compromise, and that is not to do it. If I have the ability to do the work, good quality material can be justified, even if it means eating baked beans for a year.

Kelli has recently bought a push mower to replace the petrol one we had. She called me to ask how the cut could be adjusted. She sent me a picture of what she had, and I thought something was missing. I went on line to find out details of the mower, and found the instructions for the model she had, and sure enough the roller at the back was missing.

This is a bit of a drag, as we now have to find a replacement, or I will have to make something.

23rd September 2019

Today is one of these days when I bounce between feeling confident, to one of terror of messing up my next visa interview.

I am much better informed, I have a lot of supporting documentation, but I still have the dread of returning to that foreboding place, and going through the ordeal again.

It affects me in different ways, I don’t sleep well, I feel restless, and wake up hourly. I have the fear of failing, and letting Kelli down.

What makes people believe you? I run this through my brain all the time. I put myself in their place and try to predict the questions I would ask. I have everything written down. The bedroom is my incident room, with low level lighting, what is missing is the smoking cigarette end in the ashtray.

I know I cannot get obsessed with it, the interview should only last a few minutes, it can’t be that hard, I just want to visit the bloody United States.

22nd September 2019

So this is our actual wedding anniversary, that both of us thought would never happen. Well, that is not strictly true, it was more of, when it would happen. I was waiting for the right time, and we were at the right place, so it happened.

The Kelli wedding machine took over, and everything fell into place. I wanted it to be the wedding she always dreamed of. I shared the search for the dress, the tears,excitement, and all the pictures, I was sent, but in the end I didn’t see the final choice until the day itself. I know the hard work that went into the planning, and she did it whilst running her business, an incredible job.

Kelli had planned every detail, all I really had to do was turn up, and make sure my shoes were on the correct feet.

It was the perfect day, the perfect setting and the perfect person.

I was eager to hear how our first Airbnb guests got on, would they find the place cool or not?

I spent the morning walking around Chard, not the most exciting place to be on a wet Sunday morning. Louise texted me later to say the guests loved the place, and left a glowing comment in the visitor book.

21st September 2019

It was fifty-two weeks today that we were married, and I cannot be with my wife on this special day. Although tomorrow is our actual anniversary, the Saturday is the special one.

I feel so much has happened in a year, and I have to pinch myself for what we’ve achieved.

I am so disappointed that I can’t be with her, and go to our favourite restaurant, which has since closed. Pereddies has been there ever since we’ve been together. Our guilty pleasure that carries a lot of memories. I have lost count of how many Lasagnas I have eaten, and bottles of J Lohr we had consumed.

I went for a walk around Barrington Court, and noticed the apple orchards laden with fruit. Even at the cottage, back home, the neighbours have apple trees they don’t seen to care about. The fruit drop off and roll down the slope. As kids “scrumping” was a sport, and you risked death to get a handful of Granny Smiths.

Maybe they are not so desirable these days, and if they’re not wrapped in plastic, they are not the real thing.

Blackberry picking was a weekend recreational event, sometimes the only one where families would work together to gather bowlfuls of berries to make jams or crumbles.

Thankfully the practice is still maintained by those who enjoy homemade food.

20th September 2019

I went around the entire cottage with a toothbrush doing a final touch up before I left.

Swept the living room floor, finding more dirt even though I had cleaned it the night before.

I changed the bedding, then wasn’t sure if I should put the dark side up, or the light side. There were creases in the duvet cover that I was not happy with, did they look less obvious with the dark pattern or the light one? I was swapping pillows and covers around like a mad person, texting Louise for advice, as she is the expert.

Finally decided on dark side up, that contrasted nicely with the yellow cushions.

I made sure the shower was spotless, making sure there were no hairs in the plug hole. That is something that grosses me out, so I was on my hands and knees meticulously wiping everything down.

I flushed the toilet about ten times just to make sure it was free of anything, and shoved a load of Domestos in it for good measure.

I wrote a little note in the visitor book, and checked the pen worked okay, I was really nervous, but also excited that the guests would find it as cool as I do.

I drove to Bath to meet up with Rob for lunch.

We always go to Indian Temptation as they do a wonderful Masala Dosa, I could eat it everyday.

After that I headed down to Barrington to stay with Nicola and Colin.

Kelli had decided that she no longer wanted to use the petrol mower to cut the grass. The fumes were so bad that it made her feel sick, and left he clothes smelling like a mechanic.

She found a push mower on Marketplace for ten bucks, so off she went to buy it. I was never happy keeping cabs of petrol in the shed, the fumes that came off of them on hot days were overpowering, also when you ran out there was a three mile drive to get more. I was planning on getting an electric, or rechargeable one, but Kelli got in first. I guess both of us will have arms like Popeye the sailor man.

19th September 2019

I just spent the day cleaning the cottage for the onslaught of guests for the coming week.

I was getting super critical and even polishing my pencils.

Louise came up in the evening to set up the breakfast things, and generally prepare the welcome pack.

I had the job of writing up the instructions for the electrical equipment. Including the dish washer I have never used. One person cannot create enough dirty things that needs a dishwasher. It is quicker to do it by hand.

Kelli had a result doing her “dumpster diving” by finding a metal trellis. We were on the phone together when it was interrupted by her saying “What was that!?” There was a lot of rustling and screeching of tyres, more rustling, and finally she said “ I just found and old metal trellis by somebody’s trash bin, I’m going to get it”.

I’m used to this happening, some of our greatest pieces have come from things left at the side of the road. I’m just not that comfortable being the one to load it into the truck, I always afraid people think that I’m stealing it. My heart pounds, I sweat profusely, the black and white striped jumper sticks to my body, and it’s difficult to see through the slits in my mask.

She got all excited as she loaded it into the truck, I’m hearing all this sound trying to imagine what is going on, finally she get back on the phone like nothing has happened, and continues with the conversation we were having.

18th September 2019

Eight years ago, when my studio was still operational one of my monitor speakers developed a fault. There was a problem with the power supply that couldn’t be easily fixed without sending it back to the manufacturer.

Needless to say I didn’t do that. Instead I bought a new pair and consigned the old ones to the storage cupboard.

Fast forward to today, my friend Dave was coming over so I suggested we take a look at the faulty monitor. If anyone can figure out how to fix it, he could. I had marked the duff unit with red insulation tape, so the first step was to remove the back panel. We checked the circuit board for signs of heat damage, and found nothing. I powered up the unit, there was no load buzzing noise, so I fed an audio signal through it.

The music came through without any crackle, buzzing or distortion. I could not believe it, had it cured itself?

I left it on test for the rest of the day without any sign of the fault returning. I just can’t get over it.

17th September 2019

I bought a roller blind for the bedroom, and had a lot of fun installing it, can you have fun installing a roller blind? you can when another booking comes in for a five day stay next week. This means we have bookings right up to the end of the month, and a quick text to my sister just to check I am able to stay with her. This is crazy, but exciting. The latest booking was a guy who stays in the area once a month for work. I hope we make a good impression.

I managed to get rid of the huge tree stump. It had lived on the slope ever since Nicola and Colin dug it up last year. It was so heavy then, I guess I was hoping it would rot and save me the trouble of taking it somewhere.

I managed to load it on to the trolly and carefully wheeled it down to the car. It was a bit of a struggle, but not half as bad as when I got to the recycling centre.

Dragging it out of car was simple compared to getting it up the steps and lifting it over the bar so that it could drop into the skip. Thank goodness someone helped me do this. It made one hell of a thump as it hit the metal floor.

16th September 2019

I had a lot of crap to get rid of down the recycling centre in Trowbridge.

With the bookings coming in I needed to clear the slope of the bags of wood and stones I had been accumulating.

I took the opportunity to dispose of a sack full of old curtains that had sat in the shed for years.

I finally finished the shoe rack, not a work of art by any stretch of the imagination, but something that will do the job.

The lady turned up to collect the lawn mower, another satisfied customer.

I decide to do some laundry (sorry, that’s what the Americans call it) I had bought a new box of Fairy non bio pods, so all I had to do was pop one in the machine.

The box was clearly marked “ Child-lock system” I think they should add “and pensioners” to that list. There are instructions on the lid which of course no-one reads. That’s an admission of failure for a man to follow instructions, so I tackled the problem freestyle. The design of the packaging consisted of a plastic tub, a top rim and a hinged lid. I managed to completely remove the top rim, although it is not meant to be removed because there are a number of locking tabs that have to be all depressed at the same time. Somehow I managed to do this with a couple of spoons and a fork. I was now looking at an open tub half full of Non-Bio pods. I then noticed two more plastic tabs that held the lid into the top rim, now that it had been removed from the tub,it was easy to release the lid from the rim.

This took me fifteen minutes and a broken nail to get to my pods, they should use this product for a Mensa test, no bloody kids would ever get through it.

Please note I did manage to get the lid open using the approved opening method, but you do need finger nails which was unfortunate that I broke the one I needed. Just as well I don’t do much washing.