Thursday 15th October 2015

Tuesday

Before I go on, I have to recount the fact that I forgot what was the most exciting thing that happened on Tuesday: we had the chimney sweep round!

You see, we have a wood-burner, and have never had the chimney swept, never gave it a thought. But, during a visit to the Rack in the spring, got talking to a sweep, and took his card. And this week I called him up to sweep our chimney, as, an unswept chimney can catch fire, which I did not realise.

So, at just before ten, Colin pitches up, with his bag of tricks and bag of poles and brushes. Now, Colin liked to chat, which I guessed, so it took some time for him to get down to work, and then he talked all the way through his work. So, what he found is that the burner had been bodged when it was installed, and the chimney cannot be swept properly and have a certificate issued, which is required by insurance companies. The only choice we have is either to take the burner out, take the part of the flue that is in place, sweep the chimney then put it all back. Or we can have a new one fitted. After the chimney being swept and all that stuff.

So, Colin did not charge us, was apologetic, but that's like I guess. At least we know now, and won't now burn the house down.

Wednesday

Just like Tuesday, really, with less chimney sweep.

We got a glimpse of the sun at dawn, shining through the rain making it look like falling gold. I took a shot

Only it rained all day. It was raining when we got up, raining when Jools went to work, rained all morning, rained at lunchtime and all through the afternoon, just to stop as the sun went down. The sky cleared and the sun came out. It was a splendid end to a grim day. And the cats finally went outside, although Mulder did bring me in double quick time, a Greenfinch and then a Goldfinch. Both were beautiful birds, and Mulder had finished them off. Its what cats do I guess.

I defrosted soup for dinner, and warmed it up for when Jools came home. An easy dinner for me to cook. Jools had been at work for 12 hours, and was shattered, I had had quite a good day, got lots done and felt like I really achieved a lot. A good feeling.

The sun went down, and the rain came back. It was a cold evening, and we cranked the heating up. I did, however, get back on the cross-trainer. Maybe only for 20 minutes, but it was a start, and I did enjoy it, just a few thousand more sessions to do and I might see some results.