Sunday 23rd August

 From our zoom church service today;

Saturday 22nd August - a very peculiar time

 Today's ten minute journal page

The peculiar time started quite late yesterday evening with a power cut at around quarter to ten. The sitting room was plunged not only into darkness, but more alarmingly, into silence after the oxygen concentrator emitted a couple of shrill alarms. I sat very still, taking slow, deep breathes, while BB used the light of his Kindle (!) which he had been reading, to make his way to the hall. We have an emergency light plugged in the hall, (and upstairs on the landing) so it was easy enough to fetch an oxygen cylinder for me to use instead of the concentrator. 

Power was restored very quickly, but the episode made us realise we need to think about having emergency lights in the living area, kitchen and bedroom. Suppose there's a power cut when you are pouring boiling water from a kettle?

We always have at least one, and usually two cylinders in the hall so I wouldn't have had far to go if I needed to sort myself out. But it was a good opportunity to revisit the situation. 

That madness of the day continued. I managed to load the crackpot for step 1 of making BBQ pork belly. That's child's play; just put the strips in the pit and cook on high for three to three and a half hours. 

However I was convinced it was Sunday. Why? I can only think that it was because having no workmen on site on Friday made it feel like a Saturday... anyway, I logged onto the zoom for the church service only to discover that I couldn't see anyone else... panic station as I'm down for a reading... So I whatsapped my cousin, who speedily replied 'Saturday?'. Duh.

Feeling a bit of a fool I thought I'd do something useful like the washing up, and promptly cut a finger quite deeply on our sharpest kitchen knife. Not quite like the nursery rhyme; it was 'this little finger on my left'. Ow!

After running it under the cold tap I applied pressure for 10 minutes, and BB stuck a plaster on, which seems to have lasted ok. Still, it's got me out of the washing up and various other jobs. BB finished off the BBQ pork;

remove the slices and pour away the liquid in the pot (into a bowl, NOT down the drain!). 

make a sauce from 1-2 tablespoons each of dark soy sauce, tomato ketchup, I tablespoon runny honey (I  often substitute sweet chilli dipping sauce) a clove of garlic and about the same amount of fresh ginger, both grated (I shake in garlic granules and dried ginger) and a pinch of five-spice powder all stirred together.  Put the pork belly strips back in the crock pot, pour over and mix in the sauce, and cook for another hour to hour and a half on high.

This is for two pieces of pork; adjust for larger quantities. 

That's the day so far... it's half past eight now and it's been very calm...

I've finished a sock, apart from the heel!

I started with the toe, and I've used 'Judy's super stretchy bind-off' for the cuff. YouTube is your friend here if you want to try it. After several disastrous bind-offs on previous socks, which were all too tight, I've discovered this works every time and it's not too much hassle. 

I've even started the next sock. Again,  it's a special cast on method 'Judy's closed toe cast on' which I knew would take me several attempts (YouTube again) but is well worth persevering with. 

My step count for today reflects the amount of time I've been sitting quietly so as not to disturb the plaster on my finger!

Friday 21st August

 This morning's ten minute journal:

.....

The solid roof panels for the extension are now in place. The plan is to add the glass ones next week, and I think delivery of the doors and windows will happen too. Possibly even fitting them.

Wiring the electric mechanism for opening the roof panels needs to happen at some point, but I guess that's further down the line once the electrician has installed everything.  I'm a bit hazy about that.

Here's how it looks standing in one corner,  looking towards the new kitchen door. There will be two glazed panels in the gap in the roof, but they have left a big space so that someone can get to the pesky pipe (starting at 7:45 on Monday!).

And here's how it looks from the other corner.  I'm standing between the current kitchen door and the new kitchen door, looking towards the new patio.

There's a delay getting the big triangular piece of glass for the end wall.

The office; "I'm sorry, it's delayed until September. "

Me; "Do you mean the 1st or the 30th or somewhere in-between?"

The answer was inconclusive...

No hup! fitters today, (they did let me know) but it will be everyone cracking on (not literally, it is glass) next week.

...

Because of a regular zoom call on Thursdays between 8-9:30 pm, we've a whole load of great TV to look forward to over the weekend; Celebrity Masterchef, Ludwig and Professor T. After weeks of disappointing scheduling I rather pleased! I still haven't started watching Ann Droid yet, but it is getting excellent reviews so it's on my list.

Thursday 20th August - Rain!

Yesterday's 10-minute journal;

My collaboration squares went off to Ang on Tuesday, and arrived with her yesterday.  Hurrah for 2nd class post! 

At long last I hemmed my 'heatwave' trousers. I don't know why I coloured them green as they are a very pale duck egg blue. The fabric is like a thin, fine linen mix, so hemming had to be tiny wee stitches, just picking up a couple of threads on the outside. I think Esmé from Sewing Bee might have passed them!

I teased the builders saying they needed to hurry along with the roof because the forecast was for rain..

And it was true; yesterday we had Proper Rain for about fifteen-twenty minutes! It was drizzling most of the morning, but the hup! installers kept on doing whatever it was they were doing, but midmorning they retreated to their van with a mug of tea each for an unscheduled break. Not enough roof up yet to protect them. Luckily the rain didn't last and they emerged to carry on.

There's still nothing spectacular to see, but looking more closely I noticed beams mounted on the outside wall for the sloping roof panels to key into prepared sockets. It's all very precise measure four times and fix once stuff; the installers are very meticulous wh8ch gives me confidence.

...

Ang's squares arrived lunchtime yesterday in a pretty candy striped box (from the Snag tights company). The squares, for there were two of them! were wrapped in a sweet little handkerchief held together with a silver starburst pin.

A kit for foundation patchwork, the handkerchief and pin, and two squares.  I like the lattice pattern very much, and the variegated colours contrast well with the pink border. The multi-coloured square is a 'mindful' square are you have to pay attention to do the two different kinds of decrease in every other row... needs a bit more concentration. I shall add them to my growing stash while I continue to think what to make them all into...

Tuesday 18th August - no visible progress

 Yesterday was mostly another 'setting out' day before work can begin on the roof. That dratted soil pipe continues to be a problem. The hup! (that's the name of the building system) installers would normally cut through the top section, which is just the vent part, in order to 'grind into the bricks behind it' and 'drop a collar over it', and then rejoin the bits. Sounds straightforward, except 

it turns out that although the rest of the pipe is iron, that top bit is asbestos cement. Which no-one wants to cut through, obviously. 

The architect came over in the afternoon, and deep discussions took place with gesticulating and head-scratching. The current plan is to find someone to loosen up where the pipe joins the iron bit, and loosen up where it goes through the roof, push the pipe up, do the grinding, place the collar, and seal it all in place as though nothing had happened. 

I'm praying as from now!

....

While the architect hunts up suitable contractors today,  the hup! installers are doing other bits and pieces, keeping busy.

....

How long does it take to form a habit? I don't think I've ever managed it. For example, I'm pretty good at the morning and evening meds, but the lunchtime ones can be a bit random. And my daily page-a-day write up has kept going, with only a couple of blank pages per year, since about 2014, I think. Although I'm not entirely sure what the point of it is... I think it's because at one time I genuinely couldn't remember what I'd done a couple of days ago. At least I could now supply an alibi for almost every day... but would it be true? 

....

All the above is a preamble to a picture journal plan described by Adam Ming (on substack, a sort of cross between blogs and Facebook but without adverts).

You set a timer for 10 minutes and draw a frame, divided into four boxes, one for yesterday, one for what's coming up today, one for the future, and one for something you are thankful for. That leaves you with about three minutes to fill each box with a simple picture and a few words... like a short cartoon strip in format.

Yesterday's 

And today's 

You don't have time to overthink!

It reminds me of the tiny postage sized pictures I made in April, May June of lockdown 2020,

(I did complete the month!)

and also when I did the sketch-a-day diary some years later.

If I  keep this 10 minute journal going for a week I'll be happy enough 🙂 

Saturday 16th August - Shock! Alert!

Yesterday evening at around 9.30pm I was lolling in a chair catching up on episode two of Vsn Der Walk when my phone let out this horrible and terrifying alarm sound, the sort that I associate with James Bond films where the building will explode in 30 seconds unless Mr Bond can defuse the bomb and everyone else runs in all directions at once...

It really was that alarming. 

Unfortunately, in my confusion and alarm and desperationto make the noise stop, all I saw was the little underlined word 'OK' at the bottom of the verbiage, so I clicked on that, even though I was definitely NOT ok and the noise did stop - bliss - but the words disappeared so I had no idea what that was about. 

My ignorance didn't last long though, as the alarm came on again. This time I had enough nouse to turn down the volume and read the message. 

The government had sent out an alarm to  mobile phones (BB sitting next to me didn't receive one) telling us not to use barbecues, fireworks, garden incinerators, firepits or to light any bonfires, and dispose of cigarettes carefully. 

That really shouldn't need saying... but it's the school holidays, and everyone is out and about,  and camping, and picnicking, and having a good time... they don't call it the silly season for no reason. 

...

There's nothing to show on the extension except the last wall is up, 

and they are now getting prepped to do the roof. Actually, if I pause a moment,  having all three walls completed in one week, by just two men, is fast work compared to how long it took our neighbours to get to this stage last year.

Yesterday was entirely measuring, checking, measuring, rereading the plans and documentation...

They had three issues to resolve; 

The first was relatively straightforward; a smallish triangular piece that they couldn't find anywhere on the plans. That was because it shouldn't have been included in the shipment. Solution; chuck it in the waste pile.

The second is the big window forming most of the end wall. For some reason it is going to fix straight onto the wall of the house, rather than there being a vertical panel at that end. It's not a big problem, but does make setting everything up for getting the roof panels perfect a bit trickier. 

You can see a sort of pillar at the left hand side of the window space; if there had been something similar at the right hand side life would have been a lot simpler. And maybe cheaper... the safety glass for that window is very expensive. Oh well, it's done now, and the installers have worked out what to do 

The third problem is the soil pipe from the bathroom. There had been a lot of discussion about moving it to the corner of the house, and it seems that the final situation is that we (the builders, architect and us) agreed it would stay as it was, and the hup! contractors thought it was being moved. Height ho. The installers have worked out a fix, and ordered a bit of panel, and say all will be well. 

Meanwhile two days of peace over the weekend. We can sit out in the shell of our extension and 'play house' if we like!

Thursday 13th August - have you noticed how warm it is?

 Or rather HOT!

Outside,  in the full glare of the midday sun (1:15 to be more accurate) the two installer carry on, stoic to the end. I hope it won't be the end of them...

Close of play yesterday 

I'm standing just inside the current kitchen door. That's where the new kitchen window will be, looking down the garden. The sink and dishwasher will be there, cooking area to the left along the wall yet to be put up. Then, just by where one of the nen is walking to get the next block, will be the new kitchen door. 

Looking to the right

The gap is for the French windows opening out onto the new patio, with a full height opening window either side. Then come the party wall; solid to about chest high and then full height opaque privacy glass above. This is to mitigate loss of light to the neighbour's house and garden. I don't know how effective this will be, but changing the solid wall for glass removed a lot of the distress and unhappiness that they were feeling about our extension so it's worth it for that. They've been good to us over the years and we didn't want to upset our little community. It's hideous when neighbours fall out...

Today the missing wall is now up and all the panels properly secured. We have reached the roof!

...

Brain fog in the heat is a real thing. I was reading an article this mo(while it was cooler) which explained how the brain is involved in regulating body temperature, controlling sweating, distribution of liquid around the cardiovascular system etc. So there is less brain power available for thinking. 

Which is just a preamble to me saying 'toodle-oo' as I've run out of brain  for now!

Look after yourselves...

Sunday 9th/Monday 10 August- compost capers

 

Easy-peeler clementine (or satsuma?) chilled from the fridge, seconds before I ate it.

On Sunday morning, quite early before the day started heating up, we made more progress on The Great Compost Caper. I say 'we', but actually it was BB who did all the work while I cheered him on from the sidelines.

The problems;

Firstly the stuff in the compost bin had stopped doing whatever it was supposed to be doing. The very hot weather dried out the kitchen waste which just sat in a pile on top of the partially digested stuff below. This soil was noisesome, full of bits, and solidly compacted.

Secondly, the bin itself cracked when the builders carefully moved it after all the ground works were completed. I wasn't surprised, it was a plastic Green Johanna bin which we'd had since the 1990s, so it was around 30 years old, and had been moved several times.

On Friday, the replacement arrived and BB assembled it. On Saturday morning we got ot ready; a layer of broken sticks and twigs,

 covered by a layer of horrible soil, which was, fortunately full of worms, 

a layer of dried out kitchen waste, and half a bucket of water to moisten it.

All that's left to do is to add the rest of the partially digested soil etc, and then hope for the best. 

The Green Johanna has never failed us before, except when we gave it too much grass and it started smouldering... oh, and when we gave it a forgotten half sack of potatoes which turned into a very smelly liquid.A bucket of water fixed the first problem, and stirring in a large amount of shredded cardboard and paper solved the second.

So we're hoping that all will soon be well. The lesson is, compost bins don't always thrive if neglected!

....

Today, to my surprise, the men arrived to start on the hup! installation. 

Well well well! I've let the lucky winner know; it's the architect. 'I'm going to be optimistic,' he said.

There's not much to see for a day's work as they have been measuring and checking and checking and measuring, and setting up before they start manhandling everything into place.

The hot dry weather is helping them, as everything can be left lying out in the garden overnight without fear of rain.

Saturday 8th August - good morning

 

I've propped my kindle up on a book rest, so this isn't a real picture. But a book looks better than a kindle screen. 

I'm re-reading 'Time's Prisoner' by Linda Gillard, an author I enjoy (I finished 'The Trysting Tree' yesterday). She writes about secrets in families, that eventually surface and unravel. Books like these should teach everyone that keeping secrets through the generations can be more destructive than admitting the truth....

There may be mysteries and tears, but there are often 'pause for thought' insights; about friendships,  grief, small pleasures, life in general.  More importantly I don't find them 'heartbreaking, harrowing, gut-wrenching, terrifying'. 

Mostly. The sequel, 'Time's Tyrrany' does have some graphic writing about being a nurse during the worst of 5he covid epidemic. I see a third book in the series is due out in November  - hooray!

I'm avoiding starting the current Book Club choice, 'Pachinko' as the blurb looks a bit threatening to me. But I've got as far as downloading it, at least.

...

Yesterday we visited Winkworth Arboretum in Surrey. I don't know why we've ignored it for so long... well, maybe I do. The last time we went  was perhaps 30 years ago, one cold wet, grey day in Winter. Back then there was just a small muddy parking area among the trees, a little shack for coffee (closed, as I recall) amd random paths diwn, down the steep valley to the lake. Even back then, steep down wards paths used to fill me with dread; when you've walked down, the only way back is up.

It's now entirely changed; car park, huge visitor centre, café, shop, flat buggy-friendly paths through the shade of the trees, excellent loos. Twenty-year-old me would have grumbled about spoiling a lovely wild place; seventy-(nearly)-old-me with reduced stamina and mobility, plus an interest in 'the facilities', heartily approves. 

It's all tinder dry at the moment; the grass, trees, shrubs, leaves all in shades of dusty grey green straw brown, with occasional bursts of colour; a thistle, or a bright cerise buddleia flower.

We went for lunch; a properly pepperly Cornish pasty and bit of salad, and a short walk around.  We'll be going back!

Thursday 7th August - I've been wearing a jersey today!

 After the past couple of weeks I consider that to be good news. Yesterday and today were noticeably cooler, so much so that when I was in the shade I put on a jersey. 

Ah....

I've suddenly had the urge to start drawing again; 5-10 minute sketches, limited by the materials I had to hand;

These were done on my kindle scribe. 

In this one I used the stylus on the pencil setting  

This one using the stylus on fountain pen and then highlighter settings.

When I visited a friend this afternoon we sat in her garden, cool, quiet, shady, tidy and dust free. What a contrast to our place, baking in the sun, cluttered, dusty and with distant traffic noise from the busy dual carriageway about half a mile or so away.

When she went to make a fresh pot of tea I fetched out a biro and tiny notebook to sketch some honesty growing in a nearby flowerbed. (I've hidden her name)

A little reminder of the time together, I'll stick it in my diary.

.....

I'm getting a bit fed up with waking several times in the night. Once I'm awake my body says 'time to go to the loo.' I've tried persuading myself that it isn't necessary, but I've discovered I'm not very persuadeable. So annoying. But last night as I stumbled back, half asleep, I saw a perfect half moon, like a round of cheese cut with a knife, through the open curtains,  and could vaguely make out some twinkly stars to one side.

It was such a lovely sight that it was (almost) worth waking up for. 

And it didn't take long to get back to sleep, listen to a book on my headphones. I set the timer to ten minutes and was asleep in less time than that.

Wednesday 5th August a good day for dusting

Because, contrary to expectations, no-one is doing any dust-making activities. 

I rang The Man in the Office, this now the company doing the installation work, not the builders, to ask why no-one had come.

To cut a long story short, the installation in Scotland has overrun and so they won't start here until Monday next week. Or perhaps Tuesday. 

I had a few firm words about Communication but actually, knowing the back story (which I'm not sharing here) I have some sympathy with his predicament. However I will NOT tolerate being treated like a mushroom 🍄! (Kept in the dark). Instead I am opening a little sweepstake for the actual start date. 

Monday 10th, Wednesday 12th, Thursday 13th and Monday 17th have all been taken... 

We've blocked the vacuum cleaner again with all the fine dust, but luckily it's just a matter of dismantling and washing the filters. A job for tomorrow. 

I've also cleaned the kitchen and bathroom floors, and, having washed all the detergent out of the microfibre pad and wrung it nearly dry, damp mopped some wood floors. I'll have a go at the rest tomorrow. 

Here's something cheering; I've been catching up on getting things that I've saved written into my Commonplace book and found this;

https://poets.org/poem/eletelephony

Tuesday 4th August - tomorrow's the day

when the hup! installers get to open up the hundreds, well, definitely scores of packs of components stacked on the grass at the front and back of the house, on the sub-floor of the extension, and even stored inside their van for a couple of days in case it rains. (Rains?!)

    It's like a mad, insane, crazy IKEA construction. These are just the walls and roof; the glass, and the window/door frames, will arrive 'sometime next week'. As for the end window, which forms the boundary between us and next door, well, that's not expected until 'sometime in September'. That will be the 30th, then? I'm told that delay won't cause a problem as they will board up the opening to make it water-tight so they can continue to work indoors while waiting for the glass to be delivered.

Now, when I open the back door first thing in the morning and stand n the step to take in the glories of nature, I lift my eyes to look at the trees, as lower down it looks like a construction site. I'm not complaining; 'eyes on the prize' - wasn't that a line in the first 'Charlie and the Chocolate Factory' film?

.....

On Monday I spent the day not taking up my new trousers. Truth be told, it's taking me a long tine to get round to them, which is silly as they are what I think of as 'heatwave trousers', cut on the lines of my pyjama trousers. And a heatwave is what we are having, although it's a bit cooler today, and maybe tomorrow. Instead I made a cover for a plastic fruit punnet to capture the various potions I like to keep ready; hand cream, lip salve, lunchtime meds etc.

It was easier than I thought; I took a piece of fabric (checking it was big enough) and sewed a simple hem along the top and bottom sides. Then I wrapped the punnet in the fabric, and everywhere where I would have put sticky tape if I had been using paper, I sewed instead. The buttons, from some vintage ones Ang gave me, are sewn on through the sides (the needle went through the plastic quite easily) to catch the fabric folded to the inside and keep the cover on. I think that was the most taxing bit; I'm not a fan of sewing on buttons and I used ten.  

....  

One of the builders said he would like our settee and took it, strapped precariously to a heap of wheelbarrows, cement mixers, shovels and I don't know what on top of his truck.  

I'm sitting on my grandmother's old Windsor chair instead, suitably padded. It's a much better size and shape for me.

     My parents brought the elephants when they came back from Singapore back in the 1970s.  

'Step by step we're moving forward, little by little we're gaining ground'...

Which reminds me of that lovely, light-hearted song 'Mairi's Wedding', sung here by The Corries;

Sunday 2nd August - Lammas Sunday

 It's a festival marking the first fruits of the harvest; lammas meaning loaf-mass.

At zoom church today the account came from Matthew's gospel,  chapter 14. The person doing the reflection (aka sermon, but shorter!) reminded us, or in my case, informed us, that it's one of the events recorded in all four gospels, so I'll get another chance to think  about it when it turns up in my slow read through John's gospel.

What had Jesus been telling the crowd all day? How could 5,000 people (not including women and children!) hear him? I was trying to relate the number of people to a place I knew; during the prom concerts at the Royal Albert Hall there are up to about 1000 people standing in the middle and roughly 4,000 in reserved seating 

That helps me get an impression. 

The whole episode, however you interpret it  is astonishing. 

This was our final hymn; Gather around, for the table is spread.

I haven't been able to find a version on YouTube with singers I like, so here is just an organist and the words.

Music: William Ross 

Words: Jeanette Holloway

Gather around, for the table is spread, 

welcome the food and rest!

Wide is our circle, with Christ at the head, 

he is the honoured guest.

Learn of his love, grow in his grace, 

pray for the peace he gives;

here at this meal, here in this place, 

know that his spirit lives!

Once he was known in the breaking of bread,

shared with a chosen few;

multitudes gathered and by him were fed, so, will he feed us too.

Daniel Roberts | Organist,  Recorded in St. Thomas Church, Stanhope, Durham

Friday 31st July - And breathe....

 I confess to a bit of a wobble this afternoon, resulting in initiating a flurry of phone calls and texts regarding the rather unlovely business of relocating the vertical soil pipe. This is an earlier photograph from before the chimney was taken down and you can see it quite clearly. The sloping roof of our extension starts just below the bedroom windows, so there has to be a hole in one of the prefabricated panels for it to go through.  

I was under the impression (and I don't think I was the only one) that the pipe was going to be moved over towards the side of the house somewhere along its length, but there was no sign of any activity towards this work... and it was essential that the pipe was in the correct place before the walls and roof of the extension could be built. And that work was going to start on Wednesday! 

Anyway, there was a long conversation this afternoon between our architect and the man in charge of ordering and arranging the hup! installation. Plans were checked and double checked, and measurements made today by our architect here on site during this conversation also checked and rechecked, and it looks likely It Will All Be Fine. 

I'm not sorry for starting this hare as there seemed to be too much uncertainty around it all for comfort. It's easy to say 'don't worry, we'll sort something out' but to be honest it would have been near the front of my mind all weekend. 

But look! The ground works team have been magnificent!

I took this looking down the garden, standing just inside the existing patio doors. The lower level closest to me will be made up to level with the house floor by the time the insulation and screed and flooring are laid, and the patio beyond will actually be a bit lower, ending a good foot or more higher than the grass. We'll probably add a railing, this year, next year, someday, never.   

This next photograph is taken standing on the grass looking back to the house. The sandstone slabs just need pointing, as do the steps down. The steps are each only about four inches high; broad and shallow as I requested. If you can make out the white mug on the right hand wall, it is approximately where the side door steps go down.

 There is still the question of how to deal with the soil pipe inside the extension; boxing it in somehow is the obvious solution; failing that perhaps we could paint it some wacky colour and drape fairy lights around it. (I'm serious here!)

.....

A week of no reading, less knitting, and moving between a low old-fashioned upright chair I inherited from my grandmother, an IKEA Poang chair and the dining chairs has helped my stiff neck/shoulder through the daytime. The settee is going tomorrow; I'm convinced that the way I slouch on it and hunch over my kindle, or books, or knitting is half the problem. I now just need to solve the pillow problem again as it is worse when I wake up in the morning. I've got a special neck support pillow, but had stopped using it when it got so hot.

A week of this constant discomfort has made me appreciate how lucky I am as I don't usually experience constant pain; people living with any kind of chronic pain deserve all our patience and understanding; it is so hard to stay cheerful when your own body is grumbling and complaining at you. 

.....

The dust has, quite literally, settled after a hectic and trying week (even though all the team have been wonderful). It's 5pm, Friday, and we have the weekend in front of us... apart from some time early on Saturday when they will come to finish off and tidy up before moving on to another job. I will actually be sorry to see them go.

.......

and breathe;

Here is Yuja Wang playing Chopin's Waltz in C# minor op 64 no 2; 

Thursday 30th July - and it's gone quiet

.... until tomorrow!

The French windows and back door were built, back in the 1950s, without lintels. The bricks above the opening just rested on the door frames. So removing these doors means putting in reinforced steel joists (RSJs). 

More hammering, but not for long, and not as loud. In fact it was a much quieter day.

Photographs tomorrow. 

Meanwhile 

Arrangement by Craig Leon. The orchestra is st Martins in the Fields, with Marcus Stern conducting.

Wednesday 28th July - Thump! Crash! Clang! Rrrrrrrr!

 They are taking down the defunct chimney as I type (9am)... hammering and drilling out the bricks and chucking them down, clanging against the scaffolding tower, crashing to the ground, flying in a loose arc over the half-dozen cups stacked on a pile of bricks after the first 'arriving on site' coffee-tea run at 7.30am. They like starting early, and clocking off around 4pm, which suits us too.

 Thank heaven for the sound-proofing qualities of double glazing, I say. And also thank heavens that our 90-year-old neighbours are both a bit deaf now. It won't go on for ever; they are only taking down the lower part, as far as the bedroom windows. I took this picture at close of play yesterday.

At the bottom is the retaining wall for the patio, which is at a higher level than the ground. There will be two broad, shallow steps down to the right - the net wall, running out of shot to the right is the retaining wall for them. Further back is the wall for the extension, coming out around ten feet from the house and running most of the width. We stopped short of the boundary wall so that we didn't disturb our neighbour's property.

The roof, a mix of opening glass panels and solid panel, will slope down towards the garden from just below the bedroom windows, hence the chimney activity. When these houses were built, in the 1950s, most 'modern' houses had a coal stove in the kitchen for heating water, something like this;

https://www.1900s.org.uk/1940s50s-boiler.htm

I can just remember one in the corner of the kitchen of my first childhood home. When we moved to a larger house in the 1960s my mother INSISTED on full, oil-fired central heating!   

The other big task left before the actual extension is delivered, as far as I know, is moving the soil pipe. At the moment it just clips the corner of the back door frame, which will become the door from the old kitchen to the new kitchen. I can't remember exactly what they settled on; I have a feeling it is going to be directed towards the edge of the end wall and then boxed in.   

The current French windows will be taken out and left as an open archway into the living room part of the extension. There will be very similar French windows opening onto the new patio.

The current kitchen will become a downstairs shower room/loo opening off a utility room  

Well, that's the plan, the dream, the vision....

 At the moment the hup! people (for that's the name of the company making the extension want to deliver everything on Monday... hmmm. There's a slight tension in the air....

......

Ring on the door bell... what now....

'I've come to deliver the glass for your roof?...eight panels?... about 1.5 m by 1 m?...' 

What!!!! 

Three telephone calls later, and he's driving back to wherever he came from, with the glass still loaded. He's at least a week early!

And so life continues...

Thump! Crash! Clang! Rrrrrrr!

Sunday 26th July - John Chapter 3

 I'm reading John's gospel very, very slowly. I print out just one chapter, in a big font size from the King James version, because I like the weightiness of the words, and keep it - don't laugh - by the loo. 

(One of my uncles insisted that the downstairs loo in his house should be wide enough to he could read The Times newspaper, back when it was a broadsheet, in comfort.)

So, anyway, I just read the same few verses, several times a day, until I think I've understood them reasonably well.

After a month I have just embarked upon chapter three;

There was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews:

 The same came to Jesus by night, and said unto him, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God: for no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him.

 Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.

Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother's womb, and be born?

 Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.    

         That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.

            Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again.

            The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not                 tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit.

            Nicodemus answered and said unto him, How can these things be? 

 In just a few verses we have a whole scene; Nicodemus arriving after dark - had he been busy all day, and this was the first chance he'd got? - or was he skulking through the shadows hoping no-one would see him visiting Jesus? 

He comes seeking answers, and all he gets is riddles. Was he puzzled by Jesus's response? Or irritated?

Am I puzzled? Or am I irritated? 

The first mention of the Spirit is, famously, right at the beginning of Genesis. Ruach Elohim. The Spirit, or Breath, of God hovering over the waters.

 

As someone who lives 'an oxygenated life', and spend every day adjusting oxygen flow rates according to whether I'm sitting, reading, playing the piano, wrestling with my Tax Return, cooking, washing up, walking, standing, getting dressed, etc, I am very interested in breath, and the Breath of God, the one as a living, breathing example of the other. 

I'm going to need to spend a bit more time on these verses to try and get my head around them. I think reading other translations of this passage will help.

 

Saturday 25th July - another hot, airless day

 

I think she has found the word for the season...

Friday 24th July - the story so far;

1This morning the front garden looked like this;

But by 9am it looked like this;

The mound was from digging out the soakaway in the middle of the grass area at the back (I can't, in all conscience, call it a 'lawn'), and finishing off the foundation for the extension, and digging out the foundation for the retaining wall around the patio. 

I stood and admired the skill and delicacy of the man operating the great grabbing jaws on his lorry, picking up the earth and rubble and swinging it round without leaving a trace in its path. 

Here's how the extension looks now;

This is the extension from the side. The new side door from the kitchen will be where that coffee cup (with the broken handle? It was fine when I handed it to them!!) sits on the wall.

The hole on the other side of the wall is where they have begun to dig out around the current manhole access for the drains. On Monday they will put in the new cover, outside the extension, and they told us it would be a good idea to plan  to make 'alternative arrangements for using  the loo on Tuesday or Wednesday for a few hours, perhaps you could go out for the day or something?'   Hint taken... I certainly don't fancy using their portaloo!

I thought I had taken another picture showing the patio area... it's too dark now so I'll do that tomorrow. 

Getting through the mechanical jungle to water the plants at the bottom is like some kind of crazy aptitude test, but we achieved it.

....

It usually takes me three attempts to get a new knitted square for the collaboration going... this time appears to be no different. It might be third time lucky... the first half dozen rows look ok. And it's such a straightforward pattern too!

....

Two 'wins' today;

I took an oxygen cylinder for a little 10 minute walk, just a few houses up the street and back. It was so hot I couldn't manage to walk far without pausing for breath, but it was pleasant to look at the flowers in people's front gardens and see the bees almost beside themselves with ecstasy over the flowers of what I think was a yellow buddleia.

and

 I spent some time playing the piano today, the first time in days weeks. Scales to start with... they are so deeply embedded in my memory now that they are easy to play, but it took some time before my fingers started moving properly with the notes sounding together. Then Debussy's 'Little Shepherd' which I'm currently teaching, and revisiting (in VERY slow motion!) the gigue from the French Suite in G major by Bach. I think it must have been about 1973 when I learned it! It's a terrific romp. I love the way the opening tune is thrown about from one hand to the other.

Here's Andras Schiff;

Thursday 23rd July - it's a square swap!

11 A tale of four squares...

Here's number one - a very simple two-stripe pattern. I chose one of the easiest patterns in the boo because I knew I didn't have much brain. To make it slightly more interesting, I thought I would use Sirdar Crofter, which is supposed to knit up into a Fair Isle type pattern, and a different yarn that is self striping, gradually changing to the next colour. 

Square no 1.

And I was right about the brain power; about half-a-dozen rows in, I discovered I had cast on three too few stitches. I just added some stitches to the end of the row and kept on going. I like the square, but it was too wonky to send to Ang. 

Square 2;

I like the way it shades from dark blue stripes to light blue. But wait, what have I done with square 1? After a few days searching, I gave up and embarked upon square number 3: 

This had a nice little riff on Breton stripes; Ang will like that, I thought. But then square 2 had gone missing...

This was getting ridiculous. 

So, I knitted square 4, and halfway through squares 1, 2 and 3 mysteriously reappeared. How do they do that?

I sent two squares to Ang, and kept number 1 and another for for myself. But which one? I can't remember; you'll have to wait until Ang posts about her parcel!

She's written about the square she sent to me here;  

and here's what came in the post yesterday for me;

A square which really looks like the sea on a sunny day, two rolls of very thin (very useful!) Washi tape in seashell colours, and lovely stitching markers, with seashell coloured beads. It really cheered me up! - thank you 😊 

I've had a trying couple of days what with one thing and another; the swaps always seem to arrive on a day when they would be most appreciated.

Thursday 23th July - My Oxygenated Life - hot dry weather

 Hey ho.

All this hot weather hasn't actually been 'too much' for me - at least, no more exhausting for me than for anyone else. We have worked out how to keep the house cool by wedging the front door and windows and back door and windows open as often as possible, creating an effective through draft even if there isn't much of a breeze outside.

Obviously when the builders are creating a huge din , or doing something very dusty, like cutting up the concrete slab that was under the old garage, then we have to shut the back doors and endure the stuffiness for a couple of hours, but it's not been too bad.

My main issue has been nosebleeds - my word - how one can get through the tissues! I've had four in the last fortnight, that last one this morning. So far I've managed to quell them in around 10-20 minutes. Obviously staying calm and still is the way to go, but it's very scary when they suddenly start.

'Pinch the bridge of your nose for at least 10 minutes' is surprisingly hard to do but it eventually does the trick. I wonder if I can adapt one of my husband's modelling clamps to do the job for me? 

This is happening mostly because of the extremely dry air and and the constant forced flow of oxygen through my nose which has dried the membrane and made it fragile. I should have been using a water-based lubricant, like Knect, (NEVER use petroleum jelly in your nose, and especially if you are an oxygen user)

and I do have some, but I was not diligent in taking care of myself. Lesson learned. If you think it looks like rebranded KY jelly, you are not wrong...

I've also been having issues with my mouth drying out, especially overnight, so that I'd wake in the wee small hours with my tongue and cheeks completely dry, like sandpaper. So beastly uncomfortable. The dentist recommended Oralieve, so, after checking with the chest clinic nurses in case of medication conflicts, I sent off for the starter pack. 

Oh, the relief! I can massively recommend the products; toothpaste, spray and gel and lip salve (I haven't tried the lozenges yet). Although I note in the very, very small print that the spray and gel might not be suitable for people with milk allergies. There is a magnifying glass within easy reach for small print!

I've bought a second spray and gel to have by the bed.

I'm particularly pleased that there is a lip salve; because oxygen users are not supposed to use petroleum, beeswax or lanolin products I've been stuck for something to help with dry lips over winter. I should make it clear I'm not gaining anything by mentioning these products, but if you are looking for something like this, you could give them a try. And I'm not a medical expert.

So there we have it. Would that life could be simpler! But it's not so complicated that we - my husband and I - can't cope between us.

 

   

Monday, Tuesday 20th/21st July

Monday afternoon; the bricklayer was hard at work all day.

We've been watering selected plants every night. The fatsia is looking definitely out of sorts, but might yet recover.

Here's my vegetable patch!

There were even more people on site today; a visit from the Southern Water inspector again (perhaps he comes for morning tea and biscuits?). And also a site visit from our architect. 

One of the team got on with digging the soakaway, and two were laying bricks. Another two were kept busy shifting barrow-loads of earth from the soakaway, and bringing blocks and bricks and barrow-loads cement for the bricklayers. It was a pleasure to watch how well they worked together. 

Here's how it looked this afternoon 

This will be a combined living room, dining area and kitchen.

It's so exciting... memo to self; replenish the biscuit supply early tomorrow!