Many websites make light work
Feb. 10th, 2017 10:40 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
pensnestIt has been quite a varied week, but I will cut as it is not of the slightest interest to anyone else.
Monday I did my diabetes mentor thing, with both a Phone Call and a meeting in the evening. It was reassuring to find that other, more experienced mentors had exactly the same things going on in their phone calls that I have in mine. And we played The Cheese Game—fitting various cheeses to a 'target' in which the central circle was for >3g of fat per 100g, and concentric rings were to contain increasingly fattier cheese. It's very simple, of course: if it tastes good, it is bad for you.
We picked out a floor for the downstairs shower room, which we propose to insulate somewhat (the tiles are *cold*!). And spotted a rather fabulous lighting emporium which contained many attractive lights—this is unusual—including a very handsome one for around £2,500, which we will not be purchasing. We also ventured into town in search of…uh, various things we didn't find, and introduced FIL to the pound shop (probably a mistake, but it makes him happy) and the Virgin Lounge, in which account holders can get free drinks and biscuits. It was *heaving* with pensioners, and, as is his wont, he managed to strike up an agreeable conversation with someone.
On Tuesday, therefore, FIL decided to have an adventure, and while we were at the gym, sallied forth to catch the bus into town, visit the pound shop for more fruit bushes, and go back to the VL. Well. He erupted into the kitchen at lunchtime, breathless from unnecessarily climbing the hill to the house (he got off the bus a stop too soon), and expostulated indignantly about his appalling experiences with transport—which seem to have amounted to, the first bus was six minutes late (and he was at the bus stop twenty minutes early, although I had printed off a timetable for him) and he abandoned hope of it and went to find an alternative, which was, handily, ready and waiting when he got there; and for the homeward journey he wombled about on the wrong side of the road until somebody told him to cross back to the right bus stop, and the bus home arrived within seconds of his doing so. He also had extraordinary good luck in finding the pound shop *and* the Virgin Lounge with no problems, and striking up more random conversations with wonderful people.
It's possible I need to vent, once in a while. Mean, but such a relief.
That afternoon I pruned an apple tree (I hope) and attacked a giant shrub with loppers, secateurs and a saw. Giant shrub may never before have known the touch of a blade. Many of the trunks/branches were so entwined I had to cut them into three pieces to extract them from the morass. I have yet to dismember the heaps of removed branches so that they can be disposed of in the Ancient Forest. A joy in store, ideally for when it is neither snowing nor sleeting.
Wednesday, we emptied what was left in the rump of the dining room and carted it out to the summerhouse. There was sleet. Meh. Also I looked for suitable lights online, a task which could probably occupy me until I expire.
On Thursday morning, I was provided with freshly made inserts for my shoes, which fix the inward slump of my sad feet. Remarkably quick service from the NHS! In the afternoon, Beast and I extracted the carpet (approx 5m x 4m) from the dining room and re-rolled it the shorter way, with considerable difficulty as the only room big enough to contain it already contains a wrapped television, a sofa and a dining table. Bit of a struggle. And looked at lights.
Today we brought the washing machine out of the Lion's Cage and manhandled it into the utility room (it snowed/hailed on us). The machine is a spare, which we had in Hemel; we'll be trying to empty the Lion's Cage soon so that it can be dismantled, recycled, and replaced with a garage. And we both spent a great deal of time internet searching lights for our new dining room. And then we went out in the dark with our bedside lights and put them in the dining room and decided we need more lumens…. ohgodihatemakingdecisions. It's really hard trying to envision what lights will look like in a room that isn't entirely there yet.
The new bits of the house are now supplied with windows, although the fitter has a bit of tidying to do on Monday. Our bedroom now has only one window but two doors, and the lounge has a new door into the library. Also, it's possible the library has a floor. A floor! One of our unfortunate builders spent quite a lot of time lying on the tiles by the front door with his arm down the drain. Well, rather him than me.
Monday I did my diabetes mentor thing, with both a Phone Call and a meeting in the evening. It was reassuring to find that other, more experienced mentors had exactly the same things going on in their phone calls that I have in mine. And we played The Cheese Game—fitting various cheeses to a 'target' in which the central circle was for >3g of fat per 100g, and concentric rings were to contain increasingly fattier cheese. It's very simple, of course: if it tastes good, it is bad for you.
We picked out a floor for the downstairs shower room, which we propose to insulate somewhat (the tiles are *cold*!). And spotted a rather fabulous lighting emporium which contained many attractive lights—this is unusual—including a very handsome one for around £2,500, which we will not be purchasing. We also ventured into town in search of…uh, various things we didn't find, and introduced FIL to the pound shop (probably a mistake, but it makes him happy) and the Virgin Lounge, in which account holders can get free drinks and biscuits. It was *heaving* with pensioners, and, as is his wont, he managed to strike up an agreeable conversation with someone.
On Tuesday, therefore, FIL decided to have an adventure, and while we were at the gym, sallied forth to catch the bus into town, visit the pound shop for more fruit bushes, and go back to the VL. Well. He erupted into the kitchen at lunchtime, breathless from unnecessarily climbing the hill to the house (he got off the bus a stop too soon), and expostulated indignantly about his appalling experiences with transport—which seem to have amounted to, the first bus was six minutes late (and he was at the bus stop twenty minutes early, although I had printed off a timetable for him) and he abandoned hope of it and went to find an alternative, which was, handily, ready and waiting when he got there; and for the homeward journey he wombled about on the wrong side of the road until somebody told him to cross back to the right bus stop, and the bus home arrived within seconds of his doing so. He also had extraordinary good luck in finding the pound shop *and* the Virgin Lounge with no problems, and striking up more random conversations with wonderful people.
It's possible I need to vent, once in a while. Mean, but such a relief.
That afternoon I pruned an apple tree (I hope) and attacked a giant shrub with loppers, secateurs and a saw. Giant shrub may never before have known the touch of a blade. Many of the trunks/branches were so entwined I had to cut them into three pieces to extract them from the morass. I have yet to dismember the heaps of removed branches so that they can be disposed of in the Ancient Forest. A joy in store, ideally for when it is neither snowing nor sleeting.
Wednesday, we emptied what was left in the rump of the dining room and carted it out to the summerhouse. There was sleet. Meh. Also I looked for suitable lights online, a task which could probably occupy me until I expire.
On Thursday morning, I was provided with freshly made inserts for my shoes, which fix the inward slump of my sad feet. Remarkably quick service from the NHS! In the afternoon, Beast and I extracted the carpet (approx 5m x 4m) from the dining room and re-rolled it the shorter way, with considerable difficulty as the only room big enough to contain it already contains a wrapped television, a sofa and a dining table. Bit of a struggle. And looked at lights.
Today we brought the washing machine out of the Lion's Cage and manhandled it into the utility room (it snowed/hailed on us). The machine is a spare, which we had in Hemel; we'll be trying to empty the Lion's Cage soon so that it can be dismantled, recycled, and replaced with a garage. And we both spent a great deal of time internet searching lights for our new dining room. And then we went out in the dark with our bedside lights and put them in the dining room and decided we need more lumens…. ohgodihatemakingdecisions. It's really hard trying to envision what lights will look like in a room that isn't entirely there yet.
The new bits of the house are now supplied with windows, although the fitter has a bit of tidying to do on Monday. Our bedroom now has only one window but two doors, and the lounge has a new door into the library. Also, it's possible the library has a floor. A floor! One of our unfortunate builders spent quite a lot of time lying on the tiles by the front door with his arm down the drain. Well, rather him than me.