Wednesday 6th August 2014

Tuesday.

It has now been a week since the builders moved in and began ripping the house apart. Well, not ripping it apart, but tearing, drilling, and hammering the rendering off all the outside walls. The banging and drilling has now stopped, the repairing has begun, the windows have been measured and ordered. The end is, whilst not in sight, at least on the map, and we have programmed in the coordinates and set sail.

As it were.

Yesterday, the wall next to the spare bedroom was taken down and rebuilt, as well as the fascia around the roof at the front of the house ripped down and replaced with some shiny new stuff. It looks good. The guys hope that all the building work will be completed by the end of Thursday, depending on the weather, as today it promises to be laden with rain. But the skip has been taken away, and the smartness of the house is being revealed.



The sun beat down yesterday, and the air outside was filled with butterflies and birds all sounding very pleased with themselves, which if I were a bird flying around, I would be pleased with myself too. I harvested the raspberry canes, and had a bowlful with some soft vanilla ice cream for lunch, which was really good and a positive reason for working from home and being able to do this.

The boys worked until half five, as rain was forecast for most of Wednesday. We cracked open a beer for them and discussed how it was going. Well, seems to be the agreed feeling. They went home, Jools and I prepared dinner, breaded pan fried aubergine, which was very nice indeed. I made pasta salad during the day, mixed in were leftover sausages from the bbq. It was glorious, and very filling. And on the I player we had the last in the series of ISIHAC, which is a pleasure to listen to.



And that was it for another day, night time comes just after nine now, as the year gets old, and soon we will be seeing the badgers in the front garden, rather than lying in bed hearing them snuffle, yes snuffle about. You can’t beat a good snuffle.

Tuesday 5th August 2014

Monday.

And with this blog we get ever nearer blog #1,000, just four to go now, which means it will be either Friday or Saturday. Are you excited? Jools has guessed one of the tracks already, and the identity of one of the other acts, so she leads the unofficial competition to win dinner out with me. Just as well really.

And so Monday. Monday bloody Monday. Why is it that Monday comes round so quickly and so regularly? Maybe we should have two Sundays, one to relax in and one to fret about work in, ready for a fretful Monday. That goes along with the two Fridays, the second one so you can look forward to the weekend twice as much. Brilliant, eh? The we are just one day away from the full decimalisation of the days of the week, which will be completed by an extra Saturday, one in which to lay in bed in, just thinking about getting up.

So passes the working day, pondering how to fix the days of the week and the misery of Monday. Monday wasn’t so bad: I drove to Ramsgate, and this time of the year, traffic is light so I potter along keeping to the speed limit, looking at the flood defences springing up all around Sandwich and along the river.

Work is, well, work. And with the holiday season ending in Denmark, it means the filling up of the inbox at a steady rate. However all mails that began with the phrase ‘welcome back from the holidays’ were deleted without reading further, which is the way things should be.

I had meetings, wrote mails and postponed my completing travel claims for another two days, as you do. Although its never quite as bad as you think, it is the thought of it that is bad, like a visit to Mother’s.

There has been a serious situation at work, which I won’t go into, but something has been hanging over me, after a comment by someone to my line manager, and instead of someone in authority making a decision, they palmed that off onto me. Of which I was not, and am still not happy about. I was asked to give assurances on things that I could not. So I did not, and that was accepted. Which was a surprise. And so things are as they were before, other than my confidence has taken a battering and I have lost all respect for one person in authority.



Upon getting home at half four, I find that all the render is now off the house, a new fence has gone up between us and next door and so we will not have to look on the neighbours bathroom window when we’re out watching the stars come out of an evening.



And 100 years before, Britain entered which was to become known as the great war, or the war to end all wars, or world war one, and one wasn’t enough to get all the killing done. Oddly enough, the great and good included many members of the royal family, whose direct relations were on the throne of bother Britain and Germany, and being cousins (I think) they could have sorted their differences out over a glass of port rather than the killing fields of Flanders. It would have saved 17m lives too. Although, no one said this, just how lovely Mrs Wales looked, although her sister and her bum did not appear.

At 11 in the evening, people all over the country switched off their lights and lit candles in commemoration. In Chez Jelltex, we were already in bed and snoring at that time.

Monday 4th August 2014

Sunday.

And on the 7th day, God looked down on St Maggies and did say, verily, that looks mighty green. Let me send the sun to shine upon it. And indeed that is what happened.

We got up, and for the first time in a week the workmen were not due to hammer 9 bells out of the house, and in celebration the sun did shine upon all. After coffee, we got on our walking boots and headed out with the intention of walking to the cliffs, along the usual route.



Now, despite being home two weeks, without once in the meantime climbing on an aircraft to head to a meeting or audit, I have failed in getting back on the healthy path. Even with the best of intentions, I failed to either go for a walk each evening, or get on the cross-trainer. And with the humidity of the days of high summer, all that seemed to hit the spot is sitting on the patio sipping beer or wine.



Anyhow, we headed out along the path at the end of the road, only to find that the fields had been harvested after all. All that was left were acre upon acre of stubble and/or ploughed fields. We made it to the pig’s copse, to find the small piglets I had last seen some three months ago are now well grown pigs, and noisily tucking into breakfast.



We headed down the dip and up the other side, the sheer depth of the colours of the field of grass was stunning. I took several shots, but these don’t do justice to the scene. At the top of the dip[, we were met by a welcoming committee of two horses who just wanted some attention. And we were happy to ruffle their manes, although we were unable to give them anything to eat as we came out without carrots. Again.



We walked to the cliffs inbetween the harvested and ploughed fields, it really does feel like the year is getting on in a rapid manner. Indeed it was already the 3rd August, and summer will soon turn into autumn. As if to underline this, I found a spike of an Autumn Ladies Tress in the short grass, this is my 28th and final orchid species seen in Kent this year.



The field next to the cliffs had just been harvested, and the bales of straw still littered it, so I took some snaps of the scene with the sea in the background as tractors rushed round loading the bales onto trailers. After looking over the cliffs at the sea below, we head to Bluebells for a cuppa and as it turned out, a slice of Victoria sponge, which although sweet was very nice indeed.



We spit up, Jools heading to the Droveway to inspect the hedgerows for autumnal fruits, and me to look for more butterflies, as I had already snapped several species on the cliff edge, including a Chalkhill Blue, my first of the year.



The walk back home was long and hot, and by the time I got to the butterfly glade, it was too hot even to hunt them there, so I decided to head straight home and there waiting was Jools with a huge glass of iced squash. Lovely.

We had a quiet afternoon, but at 5 I got the Weber out and lit the coals, ready for a small BBQ. We had it down by the shed, out of the stiff breeze, the burgers and sausages were great, as was the cold beers.

Once again the sky began to darken although the moon was now half full, and already high in the sky as darkness fell.

Sunday August 3rd 2014

Saturday.

We were woken early on Saturday morning. Well, I say say Saturday morning, it was technically morning, in that the clock had passed midnight. But there was an enormous clap of thunder, which woke us and half of Dover up too. I lay there for an hour as the storm crashed around the house, soaking our un-rendered house. Not much we could do about it.

I did get back to sleep, but was awake again at six, and ready for an action-packed day off.

First off it was tesco so we could get enough food for them cats, and stock up on beer after the builders had helped reduce our stockpile. Somehow that all came to £140, although there was other stuff too. But still, anyway, just fruit and veg from now on this month to get.

Back hoe to unpack, have coffee, then out to have a barnet mangle, then off to Preston to the butchers, as we fancied steak that night. And back home to put the meat away, drink more coffee, have lunch, help the builders pack away for the weekend, and then do more chores.



Like visit Nan. As I've said before, Nan can be grumpy, then anyone who was 99 and 11 months old is probably going to be a little short tempered. But the visits are seldom joyful, as we get the usual, where have you been, where is Dad/Jen/Cath etc. OK, maybe not that bad, but enough for me to only want to do it once a month.

Then off to see my friend, Gary, who was taken ill on his holibobs, but is back now getting better. We have coffee and chat, which is fine.

Rain is now falling, so we head home as it is time to feed them cats, and for me to prepare dinner. Rump steak, garlic mushrooms, saute potatoes and peas n sweetcorn. Lovely it was, even if I say so myself. Thanks to Queen Delia, I now know how to prepare the steak so it is always tender and tasty. Buying from the butcher rather than Tesco also helps of course.

And so ended Saturday.

Saturday 2nd August 2014

Friday.

And when it came down to it, I decided to work from home after all. It is the last day of the Danish holiday season, which means as of Monday work will really ramp up again, and be kerrr-azzee.

So, I cracked on with work, the guys turned up half eight and began banging and bashing and drilling. I tried to ignore the noise, and so the day passed.



At least no more major problems have been found, and once all the render had been swept up, the place looked quite tidy again, and we can now begin to see the end of the job, we hope. A bloke came round to measure the windows, as most if not all will also be replaced, and when all rendered it, will look pretty as a picture.



At five I finished work, unplugged the works computer and went to check on the house, in doing so completed the job of pulling the phone cable out of the socket and disconnecting the phone and internet. It was nice just doing without it for an evening, but then you do remember all the jobs online you want to do and have to put off. I checked with BT how much it would cost to fix, minimum of £119.95 was the answer. Lets see if I could fix it tomorrow.



The fact that you are reading this now means that I did fix the interwebs connection. I finished re-reading Where Have all the Bullets Gone? A Spike Milligan war diary, and go out my favourite, Goodbye Soldier to begin the next day. In one part, Spike returns to England on leave, and is desperate to rediscover his pre-war life. But it is gone, and he, like us, can never go back.

Just a thought.

Friday 1st August 2014

Thursday

Operation big job continues.

Against my better judgment, I work from home again, and the effect is rather like living in a bass drum as the rendering is drilled off the wall, and the sound bounces off the walls driving me nearly mad, if I wasn’t already.

The cats know better and go and hide all day, leaving me alone with the banging and hammering and drilling.



More problems are discovered, mostly mortar crumbling away, all of which will have to be replaced as soon as possible, so the rendering can be replaced next month.



The guys are in good spirits, but then its not their gaff, but they’re getting the work done, which is important, and maybe we will have a quiet weekend, for the most part.



The day ended in much the same way, I cooked dinner, breaded pork steaks and sautéed potatoes, then we sat in the back garden as the sun set, then had a competition as to who would see the first star come out. It is free entertainment if nothing else.

And so July draws to an end, so quickly, where has the month gone? Screw that, where has the year gone, seven months down and just five to go.

And just eight blogs to go until blog #1,000. Be calm, my beating heart.

Thursday 31st July 2014

Wednesday.

And so I head to the office in Ramsgate, once again in bright sunshine and light winds, which should mean that the monkeys are heading offshore. In fact, their chattering and moaning seems to be much reduced recently, but then I have hardly been there, so what do I know?



I have the choice of EVERY desk in the office, and so some reason, instead of sitting near a window, I sit at the desk of the HSE guy, and it is stuffy in there. And as the day goes on the atmosphere goes from stuffy to humid to oppressive.



I work away, cracking the back of creating a new document, all there is to now is to check all 40 plus pages for inaccuracies and errors. That will take up the final two days of the week.

Half three rolls round, and I decide its hot enough. I’m hot enough, so I pack up and head out to the car, where it has warmed up like a locked greenhouse on wheels, which is what it is anyway. I call in at Waitrose so to get something for dinner, thinking there would be something really nice, but I just get some breaded chicken to go with the salad we already have.

Back home at the house, operation Big Job has revealed no new problems, and so we can laugh and joke with the builders, and supply them with beers as they pack up. I guess they have about half the render off the house, the harder half is next, and who knows what wonders they will find on the two extensions?



We sit outside after dinner, the evening cools and we are joined by the cats who fuss round us now the building work has finished for the day. The light fades and one by one the stars come out. Bats do aerobatics overhead, chasing insects. We call it a day and head to bed.