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6.45 Breakfast. The estate agent is coming to value the house today. [10.30] So I have a bit of time to do some more tidying. You want the illusion of minimalism and spotlessly clean? I have only a couple of hours. Not months!
Now that's a REAL crop circle!
Perhaps I'd better make some coffee? For the "buy me now" coffee aroma illusion. Would anybody be taken in enough to spend a million or three on such blatant subterfuges? 😍 No, not on my rural hovel. I am talking generally.
I do have some experience in house hunting. Decades of it. Always near the bottom of the market, price wise. The irony is that I could not live in 99.999% of the homes well above my [poverty] price threshold.
My criteria are rural, detached and distant enough from neighbours. Nowhere near a main road, motorway or railway line. Well away from pig farms. A large enough garden to feel the freedom to roam or explore. No overhead power lines or pylons.
A view would be nice. Preferably clear across the southern 180º boundary. No overshadowing trees within that 180º. Control over my own, boundary hedges and view. No hills within that southern arc. Most of my criteria are matched by my present hovel. More so since we have lost neighbours and gained others. Luxury "des res" rural property anybody? 😂
7.15 Time for a walk.
9.55. By the most amazing coincidence some workers turned up. Intending to clear the drainage beck at the bottom of the garden. I only mentioned it on my blog yesterday. Amid my concerns about flooding. Isn't that odd? They had hoped to access the beck from my back garden but it is fully closed off.
10.00 The estate agent turned up. He was intelligent and quick witted. So had no problem understanding my Danish. We did the full tour and he is going to get back to me. I kept apologising for the mess but it has never looked so tidy. Strictly by my own standards, of course.
He confirmed that various features needed serious attention if I decided to sell. Like removing the large observatory in the back garden! Perhaps children would like a fort? 😊 [Positive thinking!] 😊
He even suggested I take down some of the the trees on the northern boundary. To take advantage of the scenery. Grazing horses, green sward, etc. He approved of my removal of the big, horse chestnut to the west. Commenting positively on the light and space it brought to the garden. He missed the warblers chasing a Great spotted woodpecker around the boundary trees. That was only a few minutes after he had left.
Now I have another visitor on his way. He should be here within the hour.15.00 My second visitor has just left. Having sorted out my slow internet. After trying everything else it proved to be a duff 3m network cable. I now have 320Mbps! 😎 Instead of 93Mbps. Total expenditure? Two cups of black, instant coffee and a broken, digestive biscuit. I dropped the storage tin yesterday. 🙄
Afternoon nap.
Deja vu? I have not had fish fingers for ten days. I was clumsy scraping the fish fingers off the baking tray. Nouvelle cuisine it is not!
I am glad to report the improved fish fingers from the mini oven. The frying pan in my unskilled hands was a poor second best. The baked fish fingers are delicate, free of fat and tasty. Thank you A for sharing your culinary expertise. 😋
Today was a good day. I talked normally to even more people in my own home. Without the crippling shame of clutter and emotional history. Though the house is still far more cluttered than I would like. It has reached a point where I can let it go without the burden of guilt.
I am also adjusting to letting go of more of my wife's possessions. Lots of interesting ideas and possibilities are being raised. To help me to redistribute her treasures to an appreciative audience. Networking at its best.
Each of my contacts is proving vital to my recovery. Each in their own way. I am steadily distancing myself from the tragic victim of a sudden bereavement. The voluntary work at the museum makes me feel normal and much more confident in my abilities. With a real purpose. It is by no means a "pretend" job. Even if it is only sharing my general knowledge with visitors. Or details from my own childhood in the 1950s.
There is a classroom at the museum. Where I can recognise details from my own junior school. One desk is exactly as I remember. Including the dip pen inkwells. This was back in the rural, north west of England. I can be a direct conduit to that distant time. Particularly with English speaking visitors.
I was asked to help one of the guides with some English speaking Dutch visitors. He proved to be remarkably proficient in English once he had gained confidence. His knowledge of the period, suggested by the museum exhibits and later, is astonishing!
The other museum volunteers seem to accept me as I am. Some have made interesting suggestions to expand my social circle. They are delighted that I share some of their special interests. With some insights to offer of my own. Each conversation has a domino effect. As the word goes around and initial hesitancy falls away. I am certainly gaining confidence in my ability to communicate in Danish.
I still don't now who I am supposed to become yet. Though it is all positive progress. Thanks to all of my contacts within the family and others. I won't embarrass you by name dropping here. You know who you are. A very sincere thank you. To all of you.
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