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Monday 28th 6C/42F. Heavy overcast with rain and strong winds forecast all day.
Up at 5.20. My back is hurting from yesterday's lifting and carrying of heavy steel racking in boxes. No walk. I don't have time. The council's "old farts" therapist is coming today after a long break. She will probably be shocked at all the changes I have made. If, she can remember the state it was in when she was last here. Some of it looks worse for being exposed by the removal of unwanted furniture.
I spent a lot of time last night scrubbing and mopping the kitchen floor. The tiled floor had been "untidy" for months. After initial mopping shortly after my wife's death it had made do with only an occasional brush. There always decorating and building stuff on the floor still being used.
Furniture is being moved around. As I constantly seek a workable layout for myself. As the newly installed "Head Chef and Chief Washer Upper" I now have a free choice. Just moving the waste bin is a carefully thought out strategy. I search for opportunities to improve the "ergonomics" and comfort of my kitchen. It is my outlet for suddenly released, long pent up creativity.
The new steel shelving rack in the kitchen corner had allowed me to remove most of the big paint pots, rendering and tiling "junk" from the floor. So the tiles could finally be cleaned properly from end to end of the kitchen. A first in many months!
Normal soapy "universal liquid cleaner" had little effect on the grouting. I mopped repeatedly following the diagonal lines of the grout with only a slight overall improvement. So I resorted to crouching. With a hard washing up brush and an abrasive, scouring paste. This was much more satisfactory but was slow and very tiring on my hands. Further mopping and wiping left a surface I can live with. At least for a while. I believe a softer brush would have been just as effective.
I then moved onto the newly laid tiles in the entrance hall. These were "a bit muddy" from going in and out so many times. I have three coconut mats in series between the outside and inside but they still aren't good at preventing muddy footprints. I wear smooth soled, slip-on sandals, year round, as slippers. Also to reach the sheds and the bins by the door. I badly need a new pair. So could keep the new pair inside the door for a quick change routine. Will I have the self-discipline to do so?
The outdoors is still badly in need of a firm, non-muddy walking and parking surface. I have half of the concrete "patio" broken up. With self-compacting gravel temporarily helping to smooth out the very, very rough, resulting surface. The concrete had been poured onto completely unprepared ground and had badly fractured over its long lifetime.
The grassed parking space is outboard of the patio and is almost always wet and muddy. I really do need to work on getting a clean approach surface to the house. Even a row of paving slabs from the drive would help. Though I have far greater ambitions than that.
After mopping repeatedly I went over all the hall tiles with a clean, dry cloth. The hall and kitchen are now fairly acceptable [to me at least] for my expected visitor.
My main problem remains the prints and paintings in the lounge. They are bulky yet fragile due to the thin glass in the frames. Stacks of them everywhere. Perhaps I can put them under the stairs if I remove the present detritus? Throw a cloth over them? Can I find a suitable bit of cloth? I doubt it, but we'll see.
I managed to get them all under the stairs. Though it meant removing my boot and shoe rack to the corner of the kitchen. The thin glass fell out of one old picture frame. Whereupon I immediately stabbed my thumb while trying to quickly pick up the pieces from the floor. Blood dripping everywhere!
Sticky plaster duly applied and the expert prognosis is that I should probably last the day. Lots more tidying ongoing. More work cleaning the tiles and grouting in daylight. I have promised myself to keep the floors clean from now on. No more excuses. Though I'd really like a "proper" sponge mop instead of these microfibre things. I couldn't find a sponge mop in any of the shops yesterday.
The lounge carpets have been repeatedly vacuumed. New areas were being constantly exposed by my removal of excess furniture and storage boxes. I have found a pair of low key, plastic baskets for the logs and kindling out in the greenhouse. Before that I was bringing it indoors in handfuls. Which was very messy and let the heat out of the room.
I gave away all the real [willow] baskets to charity shops. Just as I gave away all the material. Bedding, curtains and tablecloths had filled the airing cupboard. There was more hidden upstairs. Foolishly, it all went ASAP. I could do with a better tablecloth now. The present one looks tired and has even been criticised by an "onlooker." Who saw photos of my slow progress towards domestic acceptability. I'd better have a look in the charity shops when I go shopping later.
11.00 I lit the stove. It had dropped to 15C/59F in the lounge overnight but had not sunk any further. There is colder weather being forecast but not today.
12.00 More tidying and then I had a shower and changed.
It will be more work but I am going to have the steel shelving stepped under the sloping ceiling in the left corner of the bedroom. With the shelves matching in height to allow quite shallow tubs to slide from front to back at each level. If I had two racks separated by the window it could seem claustrophobic. The window might appear to be at the end of a short tunnel. Rather like a dormer, I suppose. Only lowering the height would pull them back from overlapping the window. The 45º ceilings ensure that with simple geometry. Retreat is equally matched by pruning the height.
13.50. Still 6C/42F. Enjoying my identikit lunch with the absence of the daily banana. My visitor had stayed for over an hour. She was suitably impressed with all my home improvements and showered me with warm praise. There is still a very long way to go before I am satisfied with the place. If ever! We had a good long talk. Where I did most of the talking. In Danish.
I lack the vocabulary to express myself as well as I do in English. Though it is becoming more effortless with time and practice. She is a perfect sounding board for my thoughts and feelings. Completely non-judgemental and supportive.
The temperature in the lounge quickly rose to 19C/67F. So it was cosy. I am used to much lower temperatures while I am active. One can't expect the same from a visitor if we are sitting still.
Today I found a whole series of indoor pictures. Which I took back in September of last year. but had completely forgotten. They turned up on Google Photos under a search.
I shan't post them here. Because that would embarrass the memory of my dear, late wife. What they do show is all the reasons for my desperation to clear the house. Of so much of the clutter and [mostly] unwanted furniture after her sudden death from cancer.
We were both equally guilty of collecting lots and lots of "stuff." Well beyond the ability of our very modest home to house such a volume of items and furniture. Our freedom of movement indoors became restricted by our own possessions.
Do not think that the place was ever filled with rubbish/garbage. Like those horror story TV programmes of hoarders tunnelling through household waste. It was never, ever like that. It was just filled with too much secondhand furniture and too many boxes of pretty or interesting things. Almost all of it bought from charity shops and flea markets. Almost all of it hidden form view. Often for decades.
My wife liked glass, china, knitting, pretty material, jigsaws and china cats in particular. I liked technical things. Like clocks, barometers, thermometers, mechanical items, instruments and tools. We both collected countless books and all the other interesting and/or beautiful stuff which crossed our parallel paths.
All the items which arrived here, over many years, but were never allowed to leave. All of it quite inexpensive when we bought it. One or two items at a time. It was our shared hobby. To go off in the car. To markets and charity shops in search of everything we could never afford in the UK. The Danes seemed not to value the "stuff" which would normally be found in antique shops in the UK. Not remotely the best stuff with inflated antique prices. Just the stuff which filled their browser's shelves. And eventually ours.
Access to and from the busy road is/was particularly hazardous. Due to being on the inside of a completely blind corner. Traffic takes this corner at 50mph+. Without a care in the world for those coming or leaving the shared drive. Or those trying to leave their homes. Along this winding stretch of undulating road.
It is six days since I had mackerel on toast. With tomato soup, tomatoes and a bread roll.
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