Fed up with the intensive labour of love on cleaning my kitchen cupboards, I brought in the ‘big guns’ today. Out went the bottle of Flash and in came sugar soap. Out went the beeswax polish and (although risking an asthma attack), in came a propellant-filled can of Mr Pledge. Both did the trick and I got to the end of kitchen cupboard cleaning fairly quickly. Hurrah!! It took me all day on and off, but it’s done. (Does a little hop and a skip around the kitchen).
It’s not only the kitchen that’s keeping us busy of course with the pond still posing problems. We could see a leak in the pipe by the pump, so John added a bit of guttering to catch the drips. In doing so, he shifted the stylish broken plant pot, which meant that water was now pouring, initially unnoticed, all over the patio. I tried to rectify the position of the plant pot, but to no avail, and so I am expecting a half-empty pond tomorrow morning……..perhaps I should go and switch the pump off now?
In addition to trying to finalise the refurbishment of the kitchen and sort out the pond, there’s a lot of skip-filling happening. John is always in his element when he’s having a clear-out, and today was no exception. Bad back or no, he was determined to clear the side of the house. Large sheets of glass were hauled across the drive and heaved up into the skip. Every intended attempt at smashing the darned things went begging, then one of them self-combusted on being loaded into the skip, and another succumbed as John threw a lump of concrete in. It was like ‘Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds’ as a shower of glass flew into the air and sparkled all over the drive. Fortunately, it was safety glass, so no-one was hurt, but there was a lot of sweeping up……
Mum did her ‘what-is-now-usual’ thing of lying in bed until all hours then dithering as to whether to have breakfast or lunch because it’s mid-day -“Oh, my goodness, is that the time?” – by the time she’s downstairs. Had to chuckle this morning, though. I met her coming out of her room at about a quarter to ten. “Morning, Mum!” I said, very brightly. “Morning!” she responded equally brightly, and then pottered off to the bathroom. About half an hour later, she hadn’t come downstairs, so I thought I’d better check on her. She had only put herself back to bed and was snoozing very nicely, thank you!!
The trouble is, a late start means she doesn’t want to go to bed at night. We start the process at 10.30 but it’s always gone midnight by the time she’s actually in bed. Ah, well….I suppose it’s not as if we have any pressing engagements to worry about!
Being Sunday though, I had risen a bit earlier today to ‘go to church’ at 9.30. The service is published on the web and you can access it any time really, but I like to join in at the regular time, knowing that friends are alongside me worshipping at the same moment. Lovely reading by Margaret today, and prayers led by Mark and Moira. I thought Peter’s sermon was spot on, too.
Equally, I lit my Candle of Hope at 7 o’clock this evening, knowing that there would be candles burning all over the country as a symbol of togetherness during this time of separateness. A symbol to remind us all not to give up, but to keep on keeping on. And with the lighting of the candle, a prayer for all those who are sick with COVID-19 (4,463 hospital cases as of yesterday) or who have died as a result of the infection (413). Peace be with you.
Hi Anne
I think you will find the 4463 figure is positive tests, not hospital admissions. These are continuing to fall on a net basis.
A point that was made to me is to also follow the NHS figures on daily deaths. These are reported as at the day of death and not the day of report of death. You wouldn’t think it would make much difference but, accepting that the former is always going to have a number added later once they can attribute the death to the correct day, but the graph is dramatically different with a very clear peak on the 8th April and reducing trend ever since. Hope for us all in the graph, I find.
Ah…. you are right, of course!