Barking Mad

Before I moved I was looking for peace and quiet and a calmer existence than I had in the other house. After 23 years behind a noisy estate, the last 12 of which having noisy dogs next door I thought I was due a little quiet. Well the old adage 'you never know what's round the corner' certainly rang true here. I sit writing this to the sound of a dog frantically barking and whining. This will probably go on all morning. I've started recording the dates and times and find it sometimes barks for 5 hours at a time.

A chat last weekend with my neighbour about this only elicited the response that she'd never heard it and it was 'only' because the dog, a Jack Russell, was caged when everyone is out of the house, the reason being it chews the furniture when it's alone. The problem which became apparent when we were building the extension has worsened, we thought it was due to strange noises and builders being around, we didn't realise it's ALWAYS like this.

My hands are now tied on all this, if I take further action, ie. involving the local council noise people I would have to declare this as an impediment to a sale should I wish to sell the house at a later stage, it's part of these new Home Information Packs. Seemingly I may as well talk to the dog as talk to the owner for all the good that did.

How do I get out of this one? Will my ears ever be free of barking dogs? This one is slowly driving me nuts, I can't think and I can't seem to escape it. Stressed out just doesn't begin to cover it.

On holiday

WH is skiing this week. Rather him than me, I don't do cold. Lyme and Raynauds put paid to that. In an ideal world and if it were warm I would go, I'd love to see all that snow. I love snow but these days only on TV or through the window.

So while I have this brief respite I'm taking a week off too. No phone calls, no irate contractors/customers/suppliers moaning at me. The peace is palpable, you can almost eat it. It's lovely. The house looks sparkling thanks to my wonderful cleaner and what's more there is no red sand and concrete tramped in 10 minutes after she finished. I eat when I like, I watch what I like, (what is it with men and the remote? I guess that's one of those meaning of life questions)I even sit where I like, the cats having cleared off outside as pester power gets short shrift from me and they know it. All in all I'm having a lovely break. I've read 3 books, eaten cloves and cloves of garlic and found TV programmes I didn't know existed.

The peace will be shattered on Saturday when the wanderer returns, bringing with him a week's laundry and all the detritus of living out of a rucksack for a week.

You know what? I can't wait. Silence is golden but I do miss that all that noise.