27.08.2025 Normalcy.

 ~o~

  Wednesday 27th 61F/16C [7.40] A grey start with a chance of some sunshine later.

 Up at 7am after dozing away earlier attempts to start the day.

 I have a visitor from the Kommune [County Council] later. Just to prod me for signs of life. I must message her. To say that the car parking and turning facilities have been upgraded. So she can drive all the way here. Rather than parking in the main drive and walking. Now I have four hours to spring clean and tidy. Minus the duration of my walk of course. Fortunately the visible parts of Chez Hovel remain reasonably tidy. Following the recent stay of my sister. 

 8.15-40 Another walk on the harvested fields. Via the spray tracks. It was mild and rather breezy. I had to take my jacket off to avoid overheating. Then I had a chat with a pony. Complimenting him on the great job the pair were doing.  

 10.15 Vacuumed, mopped and vacuumed again. Two more laundry loads hung to dry or or put away. Bathroom and kitchen tidied.

 My visitor arrived on time and was truly astonished by the changes I have wrought. The gravel, the gap in the trees, my plants. I took her on a conducted tour of the kitchen, the greenhouse pond, the increasingly open and tidy living room. She is always so positive about my changes. My climb from the darkest depths of despair. To what passes for a balanced human being. Living quietly and in reasonable comfort in Chez Hovel. 

 16.30 Back from Assens. Sunny and warm but windy. I found the heavy duty wall lining paper. Not cheap but it is available in up to 130g/m^2 pre-painted white. Wide too. So it will cover two narrow plasterboards. I'll do more homework before investing time and money in repairing the ugly walls. I must thank my sister for her insight and suggestion. All my previous ideas were too overwhelming. I can do this.

 The gap in the trees is like a stage. Foolishly unreal and strangely posed. The light artificially bright against the dark, foreground trees. The static background seemingly painted. The foreground an unrealistic, backdrop cartoons of leaves. At least eight layers of superimposed scenery measuring the illusion of great distance. No, I am not using some illegal substance. The effect is still fresh, half imaginary and really rather magical. 

 As a child I found stages truly magical too. The made-up actors extraordinary creatures. The lighting unbelievably pretty and sharp. The gap in the trees recaptures some of that. The problem is that I can't see it from my computer chair. And if I could. Would the magic soon fade? Would familiarity cause it to tarnish? It cannot change like a sea view. Its transformations must be wrought by light, season, weather and the crop being grown. Currently golden stubble following the recent harvest. Soon to become bare earth.

 I got up to renew my memory and a tiny tractor took to the distant, middle stage. Running across like a radio controlled toy. Cutting the grass of a newly formed lawn. Only recently hewn from weed and bumpy waste.

 As if it gave birth to the need for a gap in the trees. Or the gap caused it to take form. On a once, badly unkempt field. No buildings are visible unless I go closer to the gap. Which greatly adds to the view. There is nothing solid to latch onto. The scene is restful and largely unchanging. I like that. 

 6.50 Dinner beckons. What is it to be? It could be cop-out toast. 

 How to make toast a non-cop-out? Make it a meal. Cheese on toast with boiled and poached eggs. I boiled them but they wouldn't peel. So I dropped the soggy boiled eggs back into boiling water for five minutes. When they were firm I could cut them [roughly] into slices.

 ~o~