~o~
Monday 7th 57F [7.00] Overcast and windy with heavy rain about to arrive. The storm from the East is about to dump rain and storm force winds on Denmark. Wind gust speeds have been downgraded to 22m/s from the previous 28m/s. Heaviest rainfall is now expected to land on Sweden to our north.
Not a great night but I must have slept if I had weird dreams. The bed did not feel like my own. The only physical change is my head is pointing east instead of west. Am I sensitive to the earth's magnetic field? Who knows? I made the basic mistake of not providing a clock. So I couldn't tell the time from the very different light levels in the lounge. The bucket on the stool worked as intended. No moments of disorientation cropped up. As I feared they might.
I could see the grey sky through the greenhouse roof at intervals. Via the window just above me. The second window was dark from my viewpoint while lying in bed. So that will probably not need a blind. I heard the bin men at the end of the drive earlier but finally got up at six. Back and shoulders aching from two days of weightlifting foolishness.
I could and should sneak in a short walk. The trees are bending and there is rain on the radar. I think I'll give it a miss. Today I shall have to try and bring some order to the new chaos. Boxes and tubs on the floor of the lounge can now go upstairs. Where there had been my wife's unused bed before.
I have turned the upstairs bed by 90º. To allow much easier access to the entire space under the sloping ceiling on the north side of the attic. More clear tubs could be utilized. To provide instant identification and gratification of their contents. Seasonal changes will soon demand different wardrobes. Meaning warmer clothing, rather than furniture items. Both plywood wardrobes went to the recycling yard ages ago. Where they truly belonged. I still have dozens of "recycled" jumpers in two very large tubs.
The recent changes feel much more major psychologically. Far more than any of those I have made previously. Moving downstairs feels very different after 26+ years living almost entirely upstairs. I have slept downstairs only a couple of times during storms. Several nights on the lounge floor. While my wife lay dying. High above me on a hospital bed. The threefold, foam cushion mattress is not a great success. Except in an emergency. It is simply too firm and rather mean in size.
The arrival of a lounge bed leaves rather less room for the three "designer" armchairs. I also have the second, grandfather clock. For which to find a new wall space. Now I can finally move the storage boxes and tubs upstairs.
Then I can better decide on a new layout for the lounge. Though I am determined to remain flexible. Habitual arrangements have no greater weight. Nothing is sacred. Practicality and efficiency for living into old age are the new priorities.
Some of the remaining furniture has become borderline pointless in their earlier roles. There are better ways to house and access the few items they still contain.
The huge chest of drawers has some "charisma" as a country antique but to what purpose now? It looms very large and very dark in a reduced playing field. It was bought in Wales and came over with us. Do I still feel any remaining attachment to it? I am really not sure.
It would be a true whale upstairs and I am certainly not the man to drag it up there. The sloping ceilings would make it completely impractical anyway. Kitchen? What purpose have huge drawers in a kitchen? It could go at the bottom of the stairs to house all my jumpers. That would give me a better crash barrier at halfway. In case I ever do go arse over tit down the stairs.
An IKEA glass cabinet is narrower. So would be much further away from the stairs. While providing an incredibly poor, crash test dummy 'airbag.' The chest of drawers isn't so large a carbuncle as the old display cabinet. So won't impede the bottom of the stairs so much. Nor steal the light quite so much. Being only half the height of the former occupant of that space. A white wall behind it will hep to reduce the gloom.
8.00 I really should go for my walk. Clear the cobwebs and cure the pain. The rain has still not arrived. I can wear my winter walking jacket. In case it pisses down.
8.45 Walk over and coffee made. The winter jacket was a good idea against the wind. Still no rain. The local farmer nearly took me out in his oversized, Amerikin-style, pick-up truck. Grazing the inside of a blind corner at high speed! Dogh!
I have dragged the empty wheely bin back from the corner. No drama this time. Now, where to start? Chest of drawers methinks. Make some space for the armchairs. Then go on from there. Paint the alcove wall first? Not in the mood. It can easily be done later.
Did I mention that I have taped a black, polythene rectangle on the north wall of the lounge? Intended as mock-up of a TV for downstairs viewing. I wanted to get a proper feel for height, size and scale. While I moved around the new space. The idea is working rather well. I hardly notice it but when I do it looks about right. A higher position of the screen looks "posher" but requires forward tilting and a closer seat. The middle of the screen should be at eye level.
A whole series of TVs from tiny CRT to 55" OLED have graced the upstairs landing. We watched TV over the top of the banister. Across the yawning gap of the open stairwell. The first few TVs were bought secondhand from small ads in the paper. Mounted on secondhand furniture and metal stands as they presented themselves. When large, flat screen TVs arrived the technology duly followed. Steered satellite dishes provided years of fun.
I did all the installation and tuning myself. Until the TV stations' sociopathic greed took over and they shrank the satellite reception footprint. More years of obtaining huge, secondhand dishes and squeezing the last drop of signal. At ever reducing viewing times of day. Final frustration at the complete loss of a last tentative connection to the UK.
YouTube and Netflix streaming became the main fodder. Domestic TV held zero interest. It was even worse than the puerile crap we left behind! I deleted all my wife's favourite YT channels when she died. I still can't bear to watch them without her. This is partially the reason to watch TV downstairs. To break the close association with my wife's constant presence over more than five decades. I was close to tears on my walk. That she would never be there to greet me at home ever again.
9.30. Time to get on with it!
10.30 The chest of drawers is safely in the alcove. Contents cleared to tubs and replaced with too many jumpers. Though I actually discarded one which had a huge hole. I'll miss that one. I found a stack of snow white handkerchiefs 6" high. Which haven't been used in decades. Lots of tubs have gone upstairs. Still no rain. The west to NW is the most wind protected angle for the house. Provided my wife's trees aren't toppled!
12.00 Been chatting on WhatsApp for a rest. Now it is cleared, the lounge suddenly looks like a bedroom. With far too many armchairs! 🙄🤣
A front foot fell off my 2nd grandfather clock as I moved it! Luckily I caught the body as it fell. I have it being glued on its back on the stove tiles. Impossible to put any clamping pressure on it. So I stacked some blocks. To put some sideways force on the foot. Daft! I could have used the wall! And now I have. Still doing my Mickey Mouse, sorcerer's apprentice impression. Carrying boxes and tubs upstairs.
12.45 First rain and lunch. Where could I put the computer downstairs? Where I'd get the same beautiful view. Of trees being incessantly rocked by the wind. Not possible. How badly do I care? Not sure. It seems a bit daft to leave it upstairs. The dining table is too high for the mouse and keyboard. The east window too low for the monitor. The glass and steel computer desk is mobile enough to be moved downstairs. But where would it make any real sense? This needs intensive pondering. Preferably before I do something rash.
15.20 Still blowing, but only that short shower so far. I have just enjoyed a well earned nap for an hour. Downstairs on my own bed. No problem at all. Apart from my back when I stood up! There seems to have been a local increase in gravity. The "cast iron" plant is still sulking in the kitchen. It's an Aspidistraught.
A general knowledge question for our supposed leaders: Which countries have NOT been flooded OR NOT had record high temperatures in 2023? Answers on the back of a fake election form [in a waterproof bag] to the 1% by 2030. The prize is a pair of gold plated waders, encrusted with jewels and an offshore bank account of your own choosing. Bring your own concrete.
Dinner was cheese on toast. There was nothing else to eat. Even the last two tomatoes were rotten.
~o~
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