4.09.2026 Largely absent.

 ~?~

  Friday 4th 59F/15C [8.40] Heavy overcast. Yet another rainy day and more to come. Gales tonight. 20.6C/71F in the room. 15C in the greenhouse.

 Up at 7.40 after earlier waking and drifting.

 9.30 I have had my morning, online chat. 

 The rest of the day was largely wasted watching videos online. 

 I watered the indoor plants. 

 Oh, and washed up. 

 Dinner was a salmon pasty, pasta, peas and tinned tomatoes. 

 

  ~?~

 

3.09.2026 Glass back on display.

 ~?~

  Thursday 3rd 58F/14C [8.00] Heavy overcast as yet another wet day grinds on. Windy, starting southerly, going westerly. 21C/70F in the room. 15C/59F in the greenhouse.

 Up at 7.40. As the pattern of waking early then drifting continues. I think it's a much better sign than getting up at some foolish hour in the night. Lying awake in the dark is no longer a problem. I just relax.

 I spent some time bringing the glass items back downstairs. They had been removed for safety during the demolition around the doorways. I used the corner cabinet which had housed the cats. Segregating the nominal colours on each shelf.

 The corner cabinet has larger shelves than the rectangular ones. Though the twin bars supporting the glass sides and the hinged glass door. Do obscure the contents more. Than the more conventional, rectangular wall standing cabinets. My eyes can easily see past these glazing bars. The camera cannot and makes it worse by distorting the angles. 

 The sheer weight of these glass items is always a worry. When they are placed on what seems like very thin glass shelves. I reserve the wooden bottom of the cabinets for the very heaviest items. Only the four glass shelves are shown here. The bottom of the cabinet has been cropped away in the image. 

 I was extremely dizzy after a few trips up and down the stairs. Carrying baskets of glass ornaments. My vision was as if the brightness had been turned up to full! Fortunately this passed after a few minutes. Google suggests that it is probably a sudden drop in blood pressure. After lunch I lay down for an hour. 

 I have now filled the bottom of the corner cabinet with a range of white glass ornaments. There are some large and heavy, coloured pieces left. They can remain in the kitchen display cabinets.

 It is ironic that few of these pieces ever saw the light of day when my wife was alive. There was literally nowhere to display them. So most of them sat in cardboard boxes wrapped in newspaper. A couple of dusty, red glass vases sat on a windowsill. Yet I find the mostly Finnish, vintage glass interesting and attractive. So that I really enjoy having them on show. Unlike her teapot and cat collections. Both of which left me rather unmoved. 

 I was told that some people like to have a simple shrine to a loved one after their passing. My shrine to my wife has become four, huge, glass display cabinets. Their contents a beautiful reminder. Of our endless years. Of visiting Danish charity shops, car boot sales, antique and secondhand markets. Over a very wide area. Probably over a fifty mile radius. 

 It all started by having neighbours from hell. Who used an un-silenced chainsaw 24x7. To produce illegal firewood in another neighbour's back garden. One immediately adjacent to our living room and bedroom windows. We were forced to be absent as much as possible. 

 So collecting became our hobby. At the time I hadn't a clue how much we had actually accumulated. I donated many trailers full to charity shops. Until, they told me to go away. They didn't have the staff to cope with it all. The rest I am slowly selling off. 

 Chat GPT is threatening to add adverts to my extremely rare visits to their universal index. Nothing like AI. Even worse than that, they have defiled my PC. By sending an email which cannot be deleted nor binned. 

 Moreover it won't let me close the email page. Even after repeated attempts at deletion. So their mail is essentially immortal. Corruption plays out as corruption does. Will the email magically disappear when Chat GPT goes bankrupt within the next few months? 

 Dinner was mackerel in tomato sauce on toast. With halved, cherry tomatoes. Sæby quality is falling faster. Than the expensive copy tins they sell via Rema 1000. 

  

  ~?~

2.09.2026 More Downsizing.

 ~?~

  Wednesday 2nd Overcast. Rain forecast for the next three days.

 Up at 7.20. 

 Tipping down. Off to see my friend.

 13.10 Back from my visit. With shopping on the way home. It has rained and poured and generally tipped down, on and off.

 I have finally listed my old metal lathe on a Danish small ads website. I have owned the lathe for over 35 years. It started my clock restoring business in Wales. Later used for my telescope making activities. It holds many happy memories. But, I must downsize. 

 Dinner was fish fingers and chips. It stuck to the baking paper. Oh, the shame!  

  ~?~

 

1st September 2026 Autumn.

 ~?~

  Tuesday 1st 61F/16C [8.45] A bright, sunny morning with a risk of showers. A westerly wind gusting to 10m/s. 21C/70F in the room. 16C in the greenhouse.

 Up at 8.20 after failing to take off at 6am.

 I might sneak in a ride this morning. 

 9.50 Had my morning online chat and now it is tipping down! 

 The showers continued on and off. Heavily at times. 

 I did nothing all day. Except sit on the computer. I brought down the dry laundry from the clothes horses upstairs. Put the pile of washing up away.

 Dinner was thinly sliced, fried chicken on bread rolls.  

 

  ~?~