(Tuesday, 21 April 2020)
It turns out that writing an update and emptying the mind of noise is no guarantee of a decent night’s sleep. So much for that theory then! Still awake at 2.30am meant a later than planned start to the day but nevertheless, I was determined to make inroads into the mental list of tasks I’d set myself for today.
Mark had a better night and was full of determination to get the balcony done and was keen to get going. In no uncertain terms, fate showed us it had other plans for us today. 🙄
Having deconstructed most of the hand rail section of the balcony, Mark discovered that there was yet more problems with it. One of the upright supports had clearly sustained some prolonged water ingress and was to put it technically… rotten as a rotten thing. 😢
Bolstering our disheartened spirits with ‘kick up the ass’ type conversations along the lines of ‘well, let’s be grateful there weren’t any guests here’ and ‘at least we have time to sort this out’’, we took a deep breath and trundled off out for another trip to the DIY store.
Despite our extensive list writing before the last visit, we had forgotten one item – fence staples. We had been chuffed to bits that our friends had visited us yesterday on their way back from said DIY store and had very kindly picking the staples up for us, thereby saving us another trip. Fate had obviously decided that since we’d dodged its first efforts to drag us there, we needed a further push to make us go again! 🙄
Since the trip was borne out of less positive vibes, there was none of the excitement that we’d felt the first time, but equally having felt so strange the last time we were here, it all felt surprisingly relaxed this time. We even found ourselves moaning about the traffic as there was much more than last time. When I say ‘traffic’, I’m referring to there actually being a few cars on the road, as opposed to none. 😂
I’ve mentioned before about how eerie it has been to go out at any time during this lockdown. With hardly anyone around, either on foot or in cars, it leaves you with this odd feeling that you’re doing something you’re not supposed to do and a strange feeling of guilt for being out of your house. Most odd!
Unfortunately, the trip was not the most successful. Fate had decided we should go, but Sod’s Law had also clearly got the memo and was making a bid for supremacy. 🙄 We spent ages searching, measuring, calculating but really struggled to find what we needed without paying ridiculous amounts of money to cut one piece out of each length.
I’m one of those people who loves to go to a DIY store and enjoy looking around getting ideas but I do also have a limit, I find I suddenly reach it and then I go from happily browsing to wanting to get the hell out of there.. pretty much in a split second. I’m the same with all shopping actually, I do have a very limited period in which I enjoy it. We finally escaped the store feeling very despondent and with a complete evaporation of our positive, ‘we can do this’ attitude. 😔
We had managed to get most of what we needed but not the most economically and got back home to find that in all the confusion, we’d made an error with one of the measurements. Defcon level ‘Pissed Off’ achieved. 😤
We have therefore concluded that this balcony is our nemesis. We ended the day further behind than we started with the sum total of zero of our allotted tasks ticked off the list and considerably more added. Hey ho… tomorrow is another day to quote a certain movie legend. 😊 🤞
Another of the tasks on our list is to replace the little trellis pergola on the edge of our terrace, which supports a well established climber of some kind, maybe a type of jasmine? Not really sure what it is, but we like it. The foehn wind has had a couple of goes at it over the years and on one memorable occasion took it off its feet completely. I managed to mend it, after a fashion, by strengthening the supports but it really does need replacing. Not a simple task as the stems of the plant have wound themselves around and around it, so the only option might be to cut it hard back and retrain it.
Of course, now is the best time to do that to get the benefit of the summer growth but yesterday we discovered that there was a bird nesting in there so that’s off the agenda for now. Aten has finally realised this is all going on above his head and is utterly fascinated with the comings and goings and the rustling noises inbetween. Thankfully, he can’t reach to investigate more thoroughly! 😂
The day did end in a much better way though, having had a couple of ‘not bad’ nights for Jack, we decided to all move back upstairs again and set a crack of dawn alarm so that we could be sure to get him up and out nice and early. The boys were overjoyed, bless them. Every night they’ve been confused and unsure of why we were sleeping downstairs.
Having had much exposure to being taken various places in their youth, they are very easy going about sleeping and waking up in different situations… staying over at family houses, getting in camper vans and getting out in different places etc etc. It’s was very beneficial for them and consequently, as long as they are with us, they are pretty happy to be in any given location.
The minute I set up my little bed in the sitting room, they settle and relax without any issue, but it hasn’t stopped Jack asking to go upstairs to bed each night and looking slightly crestfallen when it didn’t happen. When my little bed didn’t make an appearance this evening, he literally shot up the stairs at warp speed and into his bed before anyone could stop him! Gawd, I love that dog! 😂 💕
Stay safe everyone xx
