(Friday, 1 May 2020)
Today also started like any other, shuffling out of bed, coffee, the usual…. but wait a minute… reverse up a bit… coffee! Mark had coffee from a really quite compliant machine this morning. Since it rather thoughtfully turns itself on at 6.30 and goes through the main start up routine with no one watching, we are blissfully unaware of how many noises it did/did not make at that point. But it did churn out a nice cup of coffee for a very happy husband with minimal screeching. This is definitely progress!
I opted for a big mug of milky instant coffee, since neither of us is really willing to risk any strain on the rejigged frother pipe for my preference of capuccino. But even that brought its own joy as it coincidentally involved opening a new jar and stabbing joyfully at the seal until it was punctured… is there any more satisfying combination of sound/sensation/smell in the world? I think not! 😁 ☕️
We again apparently had a ‘weather window’, so Mark took the boys off out for a trundle round the normal route in the woods whilst I had planned to do a batch of baking at the same time.
Well, I planned it at least. When Mark drove off with the boys, I was finishing my coffee and faffing on my ipad and I was still there an hour later when he got back. 🙄
Having exchanged a few messages with Mum, we decided to switch over to facetime as it would be both quicker and nicer. About 10 mins in, her doorbell rang heralding the arrival of my sister with Mum’s shopping. I kid you not, when Mum answered the door (with me still on facetime), the shopping was on the doorstep and Jo was already sitting in a camping chair wielding a flask of coffee. We spent a very relaxed half hour, the three of us just chatting companionably. It was such a lovely and unexpected bonus. On so many levels, my sister is an absolute legend! 😂 💕
The next couple of hours were spent furiously baking to make up for my lazy morning and since the ‘weather window’ then expanded to fill most of the day, Mark announced it was time to tackle the wood shed. He was ‘going in’!
Since this involved emptying out a fairly sizable space which was gunnelled with all manor of treasures… wood and otherwise.. necessitating spreading it all over the drive, it was a risky strategy to place so much faith in the somewhat unpredictable inAccuweather reports, but was deemed worth a try. 🤞
This is another of those much delayed jobs, it promised to be both gutty and messy but had potential entertainment factor in view of what might be discovered in there. Usually a storage area for various bits of wood, in all shapes and sizes, that we have either inherited or accumulated as well as all the winter stuff… grit, salt, gadgets for snow removal, that kind of thing.
Probably a third of the space is some kind of storage bin area, which is overflowing with wood offcuts and had been since we got here. There were some vaguely interesting bits on the top (along with a shed load of loose fibre glass insulation chucked on the top 😱) We were dying to know what was in there – would there be any treasures?
There are some old, very heavy doors, presumably from when the double glazing was installed. A very old and aesthetically pleasing door with some interesting ironwork, 2 windsurfer booms (I said that like I knew what I was talking about, but I had to google it 😉) and bits of wood. A lot of bits of wood. Anyone need any kindling? Gawd knows what we are going to do with it all, but unpacking the big box might be a good idea now! 😂
Since today is the first day we are allowed out to socialise with friends and we had been invited for drinks, we went down into Bad Ischl to see our friends with much excitement. What a difference, there were actually cars on the road and people out and about. Whilst not as busy as normal and the streets themselves were pretty empty, it would seem that the ghost town is no more.
It felt like such a treat as we chatted and laughed – a couple of hours passed by in a flash! It was fantastic – thank you guys! Returning home we reflected on how our spirits were so much lifted by seeing them both. At the moment, it really doesn’t feel like we will ever take such evenings for granted again. I hope that if one thing comes out of all this, it is a huge appreciation for all the things we used to consider ‘normal’ and the world might just be a better place for it. 👍
Stay safe everyone xx
