~~
Thursday 14th 47F, rather dark and very misty. With a heavy overcast and showers moving away.
Up at 6am after a 10.30 bed time. I could feel my back burning as I lay there wondering if it was too early to emerge. All those leaf mould sacks have taken their toll. I was swinging and throwing them over the growing heap. When many of them were quite a struggle to lift. What a silly [old] person! I'm [very nearly] 75 you know!
Today is the first day of Easter. Which complicates the recycling yard options. I want to be rid of the heavy stoves if I can. Once they are in the trailer it hardly matters if I have to go further afield. The act of getting them into the trailer could easily become a farce.
I'm thinking "inclined plane." I could use the boat winch if I clamp it to the trailer. Though only if I can lift the boat winch without another winch. My poor [old] back! I'm [very nearly] 75 you know! Yes dear. Don't keep on! 🙄
A "sensible" person would continue tidying up indoors but I don't do "sensible." I did laundry yesterday. So am unlikely to end up at the recycling yard in only my safety shoes and cap.
I need more [organic] porridge oats as I'm down to the bottom of the last bag. More rolls too. I still haven't found a useful tooth brush amongst the assorted "inheritance." I'm using a super soft and it is far too soft. I would normally choose soft but the supermarket had only medium. Am I rambling again?
08.45. 48F. Mist thinning slowly. Paused for morning coffee. No chance of a walk so far. I can hardly believe it, but I managed to get both stoves onto the trailer. A combination of inclined scrap timber and the boat winch. Though I still had to "walk" both stoves to where they could be hauled onto the trailer. I am literally soaking with sweat. The trailer still needs to be dragged uphill to the car's tow hook. Though it may be dry enough to get the car to the trailer. Without the wheels spinning uselessly on the mud. I did and they didn't.
When I get back from the recycling yard I will start clearing what is loosely termed "the patio." A rough and crumbling area of old and broken concrete. Three quarters the length of the house. Previously covered in countless plant pots, plant stands and stacks of bagged compost. I have never been able to reach this area. To break it into manageable rubble. Which can be barrowed away to somewhere useful. Another "roundtoit" denied to me for well over two decades.
I have always imagined paving slabs laid on sand. Cheap and cheerful and I can probably still manage it. Though I need to check on weed and ant control first. That is, if the house doesn't subside. With that concrete slab suddenly missing. The idiots probably built the northern wall right on top of it! They got everything else wrong!
9.15 Time to hitch up and head out [again.]
10.30 52F. Back from the more distant recycling yard. One stove was so heavy I could not make it slide off the trailer bed. Fortunately a young chap gave me a hand and it was safely lowered to the ground. Ready for the JCB to lift both stoves into the container.
I am filthy with rust and soot. The shops were shut because of the first day of the Easter bank holiday. Will he starve? Read all about it in next week's exciting episode! Don't bother, I'll save you the wait. The shops are open again on Saturday.
One of the wonderful, district nurses came around to pick up my wife's unused medicine and have a chat. They really were all so exceptionally kind and supportive in my wife's last days. Unfortunately the slightest show of sympathy or empathy and I start crying again. Having got that over with it was a valuable talk. As we discussed the inevitable problems I will face. Useful information from her perspective as a very experienced nurse.
13.15 55F. Still grey but quite bright. It took an hour to dismantle the seed raising shelving. Hundreds of nuts and bolts! Don't ever buy cheap shelving with thin steel. Absolute garbage. The shelves bent under very modest loads.
Another hour to move all my wife's boxed and potted plants down to the lower garden. Where I placed them on the ground. I have no clue as to what they are and most have been sitting on the concrete slab for ages. So they are probably root bound anyway. No plant labels suggest they are not of great interest. My wife used to Dymo labels for her plants all the time.
The trailer is eagerly waiting for another full load from the slab area alone. Old pallets were once used to support polystyrene boxed plants. The wood has all completely rotted away over the years. Meaning that nothing can be salvaged. I will try to get another load to the recycling yard this afternoon. Just to be rid of more junk feels positive.
We live[d] in complete rural isolation and "enjoyed" a lack of visitors. Which meant that my wife had no need to keep things tidy on "her" gardening slab. Pots everywhere, made access too difficult for me to venture onto this area. Even when I was bringing in more bags of compost. Finally, I can fix that. Not that it ever, really bothered me. Only the postman ventured in with an occasional parcel. Now I need to find somewhere else for the stack of compost.
16.00 I returned ages ago from delivering another full trailer to the recycling yard. Spent the remaining time clearing the slab. I have filled the trailer to the brim again. My wife's plastic pot collection has been moved to a safe place. All the remaining pots, with plants, are now moved down to the garden.
I just found my old navvy's pick-axe [?] head hidden behind my wife's gardening tools. No handle, but another one might fit. I'll need the pick to break up the slab. Which is already crazed all over but needs a bit of "gentle persuasion." I wonder if I still have the muscles for swinging it? I bet an electric hammer drill would be just as heavy.
17.00 Going in for a rest and a shower.
17.30 Trouble with internet access. Tried everything and finally switched off/on the router. Back to normal. I see the ISP is cheating on the "GUARANTEED" speeds gain. Down to 90Mbps instead of 200Mbps +. Direct cable connection to the PC. Not wireless. Usually the "Fast" speed test shoots straight up to 210Mbps. So the system is quite capable of routinely achieving those speeds. So it has to be an ISP problem.
~~
No comments:
Post a Comment