Another Lifetime to go

9th April 2018

Today is Kelli’s birthday, I usually try to be with her on this day, but unfortunately this time I’m sawing wood and trying to get all the carpentry finished downstairs. I’m also disappointed that my card did not arrive on time, which I don’t understand. I can be in the US in about eight hours, but a birthday card takes more than one week. Where is the progress?

Had a great catch up meet with Helen R hearing everything I have missed, since leaving.

It seems that even the power of the brand cannot guarantee success, it’s like everyone is in the same mud pool together fighting for the business.

Maybe there is no golden ticket, anticipating the future of work, and how it will evolve cannot be the vision of old stuffy researchers, but leaving it to the young might mean the office of the future will be a giant bedroom. I kind of like that idea.

8th April 2018

Started on my homework of sanding more of the stair treads. The first batch had turned out really well mainly because I did not do them. My sister, Nicola had finished them to perfection, it is almost a shame to walk on them.

The draw of the countryside is really strong down here. There are wonderful walks to blow away the cobwebs and inspire me to start painting again, although the only thing I’ll be splashing paint on will be ceilings and walls.

7th April 2018

This was all about a calm before the storm.

A quick wiz around Ilminster in the morning, followed by a bit of paperwork filing. There is alway stuff to deal with, this time I had to renew my driving licence. Thank goodness for reminders, I would have continued in complete innocence, but on-line experience was not easy.

I feel intimidated by the process, especially when I get a message that I am already registered, and then have to go back to the start, and begin again. As I waded through the process it told me that it would pull a copy of my photograph from my passport, this is spooky, and proves how integrated everything has got.

Eventually I paid my fee, closed down the site, and got on with my life.

The e-mail I received requested that I cut my existing licence in half and send it back to Swansea, but it wasn’t clear if I had to wait for the new one to arrive, before sending back the old.

Kelli had sent me pictures of a dresser she had delivered to Tin Roof. A great job that she did all without me.

6th April 2018

Ordered the plasterboard to complete the kitchen and living room. This is due for delivery next Tuesday, hopefully it won’t rain.

The rest of the day was spent making templates for the window surround. This took me a couple of hours of trimming, checking, and re-checking till finally I was happy with it.

This has been the way things have been going, Andy moving like a hare, and I the tortoise.

I dropped the top on the Jag for the drive down to Blissford, it was exhilarating to feel the wind through my hair, blowing away the dust and depositing it on to the windscreen of the cars behind.

5th April 2018

Things were a little better today. Andy got on with the pipework, he agreed that was his priority. Next week it should start to ramp up with the builder coming in to board up and plaster.

I had to undo something I had done a week ago because I forgot to drill a hole for the waste pipe!! This was not as simple as it seemed as the universe had shifted slightly, and made the panels really difficult to remove, and then impossible to re-fit. However with a little bit of love, and a surform the problem was rectified.

4th April 2018

Again Andy wasn’t there today, this is such a drag, although it did allow me time to correct another issue that had been troubling me.

In the old days when they built houses there wasn’t the precision that there is today, they were built sort-of square. When the builders added the steels in the old kitchen fireplace they aligned them with the existing wall. When I checked this against the main wall there was a discrepancy of nearly two inches. Normally, that would be categorised as the character of the place, but not what I would put up with.

With a plank of wood and an electric saw, I managed to cut two long wedges, and keep my fingers, hurray!

3rd April 2018

Back on the road again, the drive back to Bradford on Avon was achieved on automatic. As I have done the trip so often, I rarely remember the journey. It is amusing that I still considered that Easter was different from other “working” days, I guess it is conditioning, and I will grow out of that.

I was a little annoyed that Andy was not working today, I emailed Louis, the builder, that I needed full time labour to meet my end of month deadline.

This affected my mood all day, just a simple job of removing a difficult screw sent me into a swearing rage. I had to calm myself down in order to re-work something the builder had done that I was not happy with.

At the end of the afternoon, I was back to my old cheery self.

2nd April 2018

So I joined the DIY crowd heading for the local B&Q, I needed polyurethane for the stair treads.

I got into the car, but it didn’t start. I was instructed to hold the key fob under the dashboard to start the engine, which I did, and it started. As I was out I would get a new battery then hopefully that would solve the problem. When I arrived at the store, the car wouldn’t lock, it kept beeping loudly, drawing attention from the other shoppers. I found the battery number from the handbook and went in search of the part. I had expected that it would be a special cell only sold through Jaguar costing a hundred pounds, but to my surprise I found it for only four quid for two. Now, the extra will be put in a safe place that I will instantly forget, and in another few years will have to buy another two.

1st April 2018

Easter Day does not hold any real relevance for me these days, I do not share the Christian beliefs, therefore do not share the guilt from the sins of the world. I learnt a long time ago that religion, like politics is a way of control. My belief is that we contain both the feelings of heaven and hell within our own minds, and boy I’ve experienced hell a few times in my life.

Heaven is to see the sun rise, and share it with my friends, it’s a simple belief, and one I can understand and one I can justify.

I used the day to sand down the stair treads that I brought down from the cottage, it was good to take them back to their natural colour, and get them ready for re-coating.

31st March 2018

A day to catch up with Family business. This was spending time with my grandson Ethan. He chats away, but it’s difficult to de-cypher, and he gets a little frustrated, but when he smiles, he melts my heart.

It gives me a good chance to catch up with Damian and see what other cars he’s bought. I decided to swap the cars over, so I left the Shogun with him, and took the Jag, wow that was a great drive back to Barrington.