A day to look forward to – that was today. I set my alarm for an early start. I even got John up early – although that wasn’t anything to do with the exciting day ahead.
Today was the day when the porch was going to get a makeover. Our man, Mark, who had done our windows for us about 18 months ago, had quoted us for new windows and a door in the porch. We agreed the quote, and so he texted earlier in the week to say, ‘all systems go’ for today and tomorrow.
Ooh, I was so excited that I leapt out of bed at 7.30 to make sure the porch was cleared and ready for its spruce up. By the time I got to the bathroom though, I thought it felt a bit nippy. Ah well, it is earlier than I normally slink out of bed. Anway, I got dressed and decided to put an extra cardigan on while I waited for the house to warm up a bit. Except it was never going to warm up, was it? Blooming boiler wasn’t working.
I sighed. Gone were thoughts of clearing the porch and in came the tumbling thoughts of what to do to get the boiler on its way again. I tried all the things I was supposed to but it didn’t want to play. Next stop: turn the electricity to the boiler off and wait a bit, to see if that would galvanise it into action once the power was put back on again. Hmmm. There was the rub. I couldn’t quite work out where to cut the electricity. Had to get John out of bed.
In the meantime, Mark had arrived and between us, we bundled the things from the porch into the hall, before he got on with his work. Then John came down in his dressing gown to have a look at the errant boiler. I now know where to cut the electricity, folks, for future reference. However, even superman couldn’t sort the boiler out, so I was on the phone to our man Steve, who has looked after our central heating and boiler needs for many a year. Yep. He’d come sometime today.
Well, that was a more exciting start to the day than I was anticipating! I ran around the house digging out heaters and placing them at strategic locations to keep us warm, and set the fire going. It was lush. Thoroughly enjoyed sitting by the fire with me cup o’ tea!
After I’d done all of that, it was time for an hour of blissful yoga. I had set a heater in the SnuGym too and, although there was a bit of a chill in the air, it was warm enough for a yoga session – and, of course, at the end when we did the meditation bit, I wrapped myself up in the electric over-blanket. Another lush moment.
No sooner had I finished yoga than I was thinking about my singing lesson, which was due half an hour later. Music and YouTube at the ready, I Zoomed in to Melissa, my singing teacher, and had a great lesson. A reminder that I can sing, if only I can summon up some confidence.
Steve arrived mid-lesson and he soon found that it was one of the motorised valves that had stopped working. “Have you got a spare?” I asked. “Always,” grinned Steve. He duly fitted the part and packed up his bag to leave. “Will you send us the bill then, Steve?” I said. “Nah. It’s OK – it’s a freebie!” I protested, “Steve, you can’t do that! Let us pay you.” But he was out of the door and on his way. Well, would you believe it? Mark raised his eyebrows.
A bite to eat and a little spat with John over posting a parcel, with a bit of ‘you said/I said’ stuff and a clear misunderstanding, before we started thinking about a bit more decorating. John wondered if he could help and I thought, yes please, he could. How about starting to strip the wallpaper? Okey-dokey. Where’s the scraper? Erm…. you had it last….. oh, did I? Well, John searched high and low but couldn’t find it, so he had to run out and buy a couple of new ones. By the time he got back it was too late to start stripping. I did mange to get the first coat of paint on the skirting board though. Yippee!
Meanwhile, Mark had made good progress on the porch and it’s looking something like. Can’t wait to see it finished tomorrow.
John cooked again this evening, for which I was eternally grateful. It felt like I’d had a very busy day. Although I think he’d had a busy day too. He got up early, which was different, and he’s still learning poker so that’s quite taxing, believe it or not. Honestly, it is so complicated!!!
This evening was a delightful ‘Zoom-In’ with the College Crew. Do you know that, this September, it will be 50 years since we all first met? Crikey!! That’s a long time, isn’t it? We are wondering whether we will be able to celebrate like we did for our 40th anniversary. Keeping our fingers crossed that we will be able to!! The evening went by very quickly and we had a fascinating chat. Lovely to see everyone – although we missed Linda, who was trying to sort out curtains in her new house, and Janet, who wasn’t feeling up to par tonight. Another day when I counted my blessings for having such a wonderful group of friends.
While all that was going on, of course, people have been struggling with COVID. Very sadly, I heard from my cousin Cath, that her cousin, John (on her Mum’s side), lost his life to COVID and died yesterday. No underlying conditions. Just COVID. Saying prayers for him and all the family – and if you are so inclined, please remember them in your thoughts and prayers too.
- 37,892 people tested positive for the virus in the last 24 hours
- 1,290 people died in the community
- 481 people died in hospitals on 18 & 19 January
Please take care everyone. God bless.