Aarhus here we come

As if one Spring holiday and a recent long weekend in the smoke wasn't enough, another trip away has leapt up and bitten us on the proverbial. Ms A, our zany Danish friend and ex-neighbour, is throwing a party to celebrate her son's confirmation in April, the invite arrived on WH's birthday and of course we are going.

What a logistical nightmare. The most convenient flights are from Stansted, a 4 hour drive from here at least, we take off very early in the morning and arrive back at midnight. So that involves a hotel either side. Then we have to get from Aarhus to the family's home much further south, so we have to hire a car. We could get away with a small one but somehow Denmark doesn't do small ones to rent as WH found out last time he went (alone), so big car it is then. Having discovered all this I tried to make all the relevant bookings. For some reason last night all the relevant web sites were either down or running like treacle on ice, not worth waiting for. So this morning I was up with the lark and maxing out the credit card.

All I left have to do now is confirm the car hire, I put this off as it seems so horrendously expensive and I sort of thought that maybe later on it would be cheaper or perhaps I wouldn't notice the huge amount, either way I've postponed this until last. Last time WH went to Denmark we had an argument with the car hire people that went on for months as they insisted he had returned the car empty of petrol and had charged him £70 for the privilege, in reality he had filled it to overflowing 5km from the drop off precisely so he didn't get charged very much.

So now we have 5 days in Denmark to look forward to, only 5 weeks before the big Greek trip, somehow I think the house move will be on hold for even longer.

The boys from Deer Lick Holler

Just one of over 100 pix that WH took at the Borderline in London on Monday night where we went to see our fave band Hayseed Dixie on the second leg of their European tour 2008; they had played in Reykjavik the night before. It was a great night with a party like atmosphere, helped along by the shots of Jack Daniels the band provided us all with. Ostensibly it the was the press launch for the new album, but 150 dedicated fans didn't need a press presence to have a great time dancing and singing along with the old favourites. Too bad a lot of the press failed to show, we drank their JDs for them. Additionally, as the album had only been out 7 days we hadn't really had time to get word perfect by then; fuelled by JD, no-one noticed.

WH and I had spent the day trawling the shops around Oxford St and trying to resist the temptation of buying anything so we didn't have to carry it. By 5pm we had had enough and went to meet other Hayseed fans for a barbecue at Bodeans. Meal over, we trecked to the Intrepid Fox to met yet more fans and then hot foot it to the Borderline just around the corner. The evening continued in similar breakneck fashion culminating in a train ride back to our hotel in Slough at almost 2am, following an extremely decadent Greek kebab an hour before on Oxford Circus.

I am now paying for all this activity, aching in places I didn't know I could but strangely I haven't had the crash which would inevitably follow such behaviour over the last 16 years. I hesitate to say it but if I don't crash then I will KNOW I am on the mend.

Now I look forward to seeing the guys in Exeter in March. This morning I even talked our kitchen supplier into going too, another new recruit to the tie-dye and dungaree army.

A chip off the old block

As well as it being Worst Half's birthday this weekend, today middle grandson is 7. His birthday present list read like a catalogue for a tool store. In pole position was a generator because Mummy said he couldn't have any electricity in his shed. After that was an air compressor, by accident really, he thought it was a DIFFERENT generator; a camping light, also for his shed; an electric drill because Grandad wouldn't let him take one of his home; and some screwdrivers to add to his already quite impressive collection.

What he actually got from us was the camping light but in the shape of a rechargeable lead-light so Mummy isn't spending a fortune on batteries for the next 5 years; a reflective work jacket, just like a real builder's; an assortment of bird feeders and bird seed to feed his other passion of bird watching; some garden wildlife books so he can identify the numerous bugs which turn up in the shed and finally the best thing of all in his 7 year old eyes, a freebie mug and pen from a local builder's merchant, only of couse he didn't KNOW it was free.

This little 7 year old, and he is quite little, has the look of his Grandad at the same age. He passionately wants to be a builder just like Grandad and had a real moment of triumph a couple of weeks back when he helped to put the garage door on our new garage. He put the final 5 inch screws in, holding the drill with Grandad like a real pro, only this little builder was standing on an upturned rubbish bucket in order to reach. He has helped redo all the skirting board in the new house and is eagerly waiting for the first fix in the new extension. At parent's evening he entertained his headmistress with a word perfect description of how to scribe a joint. 'My Grandad showed me."

This is the boy who hates being indoors and complains that when the weather is nice his teacher won't allow him to take his work outside, so unlike his older brother who is academically gifted but prefers to sit inside most of the time, his nose in a book or on the pc. They both play football but perversely it is older brother who is the real Beckham, top scorer in his local team. I have memories of the younger boy, outside the back door on a freezing cold day, aged 3, no jumper and taking his shoes off and struggling with a bucket of cold, dirty water, cleaning his bike.

The summer's coming, a house move in the offing and the promise of a huge garden and a better site for his shed, well away from the house. We can only speculate the projects to be undertaken this year. Now 50-year-old Grandad dreams of an early retirement but somehow he's going to have to postpone it for a few years until the apprentice leaves school. Meanwhile the lead light will come in handy for carrying out spying operations when he's not working with Grandad.

The secret's out at last.

Worst Half celebrates his birthday in style this weekend. Last night we had Birthday cake, a few presents and told him of his impending suprise. First off was the presentation of a 'Magic Key' fashioned by middle grandson out of tin foil and cardboard, about 10 inches long it obviously opened a very big lock. All the grandkids were shouting 'It's the key of the door, Grandad' but even they didn't know which door and where it was.

Next up he was given an 'itinerary', travel agent style with flight and accomodation details and then the biggest surprise of all, he gets to go on holiday with his 10 closest family. He read it out loud, the kids and Great Nan, who was there to watch, were totally bemused, 'What is it, what is it?' they were all asking.

So elder daughter explained that in the spring we are all off on holiday for a week, the whole family, on an airoplane, and Grandad is over the moon. The key is for the door of the villa we are going to stay in. WH always wanted to do something like this but never had the time or the opportunity. He's been beaming ever since.

As for me it's a huge relief after keeping a secret like this for the best part of 14 months. The logistics of organising 3 families coming from two directions has been almost a nightmare at times. Especially when they all fall out. I must admit they were all threatened that if WH did find out beforehand it would all be 'off'. He would have never agreed if it had not been all signed, sealed and paid for in full, ever mindful of the cost.

So the secret was kept brilliantly until about a month ago then somebody totally unrelated happened to mention to WH that one of us was having trouble getting their passport photo signed. WH repeated the tale to me. Fortunately the News was on TV and I managed to act quickly for once and gestured to him to shut up as I thought I'd just heard that the mortgage rate had gone up. Well that certainly concentrated his mind and the crisis averted. Several days later he returned to the theme again and I was asked what the passport was for, 'EuroDisney with their Mum in September,' I countered, 'Not that it will probably happen, they're too disorganised' and again changed the subject. Then I left the folder containing all details, payments etc, open on the side in the office, he never even noticed. The same week youngest daughter was quizzing him about driving abroad 'In case I go to Switzerland or anything' she added quickly. The grandkids, too, were asking why they needed a passport photograph 'In case you ever go on holiday,' was the swift answer along with a telling off for some minor misdmeanor to avoid any more questions.

Anyway, we can all breathe easy now; the secret's out and has been the main topic of conversation for the last 24 hours. He never suspected a thing, not once, although he thought I'd been spending a lot of time on the phone, and not just business calls either!

At the end of May we are all off to NE Corfu, I just hope Corfu knows what it is in for.

Oh No it's the big O

WH has a birthday with a zero on Friday, we are celebrating on Saturday and a HUGE surprise will be revealed for the Birthday Boy. Can't say any more yet but it will be great. I'm so excited.

In other directions, I am so busy I don't know where to turn, trying to sell this house, tidy up, do the garden, sort the new house out, sort the business out and organise a monster party and THE surprise.

I saw my Lovely Lyme Doc last week and he is amazed with my progress, I am definitely 50% back to normal, maybe more on a good day. 3 more months of treatment and then I can stop for a while to see if the symptoms return or not. Met with a friend yesterday whom I had not seen for 6 months and she was stunned. This keeps happening a lot now, it's really odd, it takes a while for me to get used to the new improved version, let alone anyone else.

To celebrate both events we are off to the British Press Launch of the new Hayseed Dixie album in London next Monday. If you get chance have a listen, it's brilliant and just like the title, No Covers, there is not a 'cover' in sight. Time to take these guys seriously, especially the writing talent of John Wheeler. It's a new direction for them and we'll be celebrating a new direction for us too.

Some of last week's highlights

1. I spent a day in the sun sorting 4 huge piles of bricks.

2. A Mistle thrush set up home in the oak tree opposite my house and has been singing to us ever since.

3. The garage door on the new house finally went on with the help of youngest grandson who insisted on putting in all the 'big' screws himself.

4. I weighed in at the GPs and was 8kg lighter than I was 8 weeks ago. Not bad huh??

5. I made some headway on a puzzling aspect of my family tree but I'm still trying to figure out how my dyed-in-the wool, Cockney, uncle came to be born in Edinburgh.

6. It has been sunny for 6 whole days.

7. I discovered that my new fig tree gets the sun all day every day. That promises even more figs for this year.

I've got to look on the bright side. WH is suffering from extreme stress and clinical depression. Not much fun and mostly caused by one particular customer. We urgently need to get some sun and some rest.

Watch this space.

Time to take stock

Haven't had much to write about recently. Life plods on through January and now we're into February and it's still cold, wet, windy and depressing. We're still waiting for the roofers to put the roof on the extension, every time they go to start some other bad weather prevents them. We are now about 2 months behind with the build and all because of the weather. This has had the effect of driving the costs up too, the scaffolding seems to have been up for months.

The other house has been on the market for 7 weeks and despite loads of advertising since new year, progress is slow. The agent tells me that this has been the slowest January over all for years. Just our luck. Newspaper reports of a recession, uncertainty with the banks and the fact that this area is one of the most expensive in the country all conspire to make it harder to sell. I am begining to despair of ever moving from here. I was annoyed that I was here all last summer, now it looks like I will be here for part of this one too.

WH has moved on to other work, he's been full time on our place since then end of October and now his customers just won't wait. Meanwhile, as we weather yet another storm thoughts turn to Greece and warm weather and to wondering if, after this project is finished, we sell both places and escape. For good.

The Lyme treatment is working, I'm losing weight too and I know I'm ever better in the warm. The thought of permanantly living in more comfortable temperatures is very appealing. It's certainly more than a passing idea.

Better do a bit more of the Greek language study then.

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.

Up to the roof

We have finally reached roof height on our extension. The bricklayer had 4 days left to do at the beginning of December and the weather has been so awful ever since it has taken until this week to get those 4 days of work done. Now the timbers are on and we are just waiting for the roofer to add the final layers. Then we can start on the inside, only 11 months since I first set foot in the house. WH is off for a much needed break this weekend, his annual skiing trip. I'm staying in the relative warm here.

Meanwhile this house is for sale and has been advertised once, with 2 viewings. It's being advertised again shortly but it looks like the weather is set to stay wet and floods surround our village. Sadly, not the sort of weather I would go house-hunting in.

Back on the case

Some extremely good news for the new year, Dr Crippen is alive and well and posting again. After rumours of his demise and a spoof obituary, John Crippen has surfaced again after his unscheduled autumn break and I for one am extremely pleased about it. His diagnosis of the NHS is spot on and the points he raises are the concerns of all of us, not just the chronically sick like me. As I have said countless times before, the NHS has done very little to help me over the last 16 years and my recovery and treatment are entirely due to the private sector.

I look forward to new ideas and ever more anger from the good doctor, it really is great to see him back.

The cat with his own overnight bag

Nelson is in love. He purrs, he is happy, he sleeps peacefully and he is calmer than he has ever been. His neurosis on the back burner for once. He spends a lot more time in the house now, to the annoyance of Misty who thinks that he rules the roost. Nelson has found a new permanant place to sit and cuddles up with the object of his affections, totally ignorning the ploys of his mad brother.

It all started about 6 weeks ago. I had ordered some Christmas stuff from a catalogue here on the internet. When the goods arrived they were accompanied by a 'wonderful free gift'. I examined the package. It was a small very tacky-looking, supposed 'overnight bag in faux suede'. Well overnight bag for a dwarf or a Barbie doll perhaps, it would just about contain a toothbrush and flannel. I tossed it on the floor with disdain until I could decide what to do with it. The bin seemed too good, maybe it could go into the next charity shop bag. I promptly forgot about it for 24 hours, being hidden from sight as it was under the dining table.

The next thing that happened was Nelson disappeared. One minute he was there, the next he wasn't. Then he seemed to keep appearing from nowhere. Finally my brain did a bit of joined up thinking: Nelson was under the table. Strange. On closer examination there he was having dragged the bag into the corner of the room underneath the floor lamp, and was happily seated on it purring loudly. Not something he does very often. When he finally moved the next morning I moved the bag en-route to the garage and the charity bag. Nelson shrieked and walked round in circles. He cried, he jumped up onto the arm of the sofa and looked into my eyes. He kept crying, real tears. I put the bag back again and on he leapt and rolled on it waving his legs into the air. He settled down again and, after breakfast, fell into a deep sleep.

So now I have a tatty, tacky hold-all under my dining table and one very happy, chilled-out cat. I presume the fabric is warm as it has a plastic lining and that the 'faux-suede' is soft to his paws. It can't be very comfortable, having two thick straps, a buckle and zip on it's top surface but Nelson loves it. After 5 years he has finally found a bed he loves and a peace which which has calmed us down too, life wasn't easy with a neurotic cat.

4 days later

and it's already 2008.

I am starting this year as I mean to go on. So far we have had a house viewing, a decluttering session with a vengeance, some early nights and the best news of all, the floor is down in my new kitchen! Yay!

I've also found time to read 2 books and my Christmas presents from my sis FINALLY arrived. Ordered on 11th December they got here yesterday. Wow, Amazon really excelled themselves! So now I have a new task ahead, Teach Yourself Greek. Seeing as I have been trying to get a local course for the last 5 years and no-one does anything like that out in the sticks here and when they tried it was canclled due to lack of interest this is the next best thing. Like all good resolutions I will begin in earnest. Actually I think I just found out the reason for the Amazon delay, I have been sent the Canadian/US version. Strange.

So things to look forward to in the next few weeks are:

Planning the new kitchen
Getting the roof on
Starting the new garden
Selling this house
Going to dinner with some very old friends
A whole week of me time whilst WH goes skiing
Another appointment with my lovely Lyme doc
Planning/ research for this year's Greece trips
Learning a little bit of Greek

It's a tough life isn't it?

Thank goodness this one is over

and YES I do mean the year.

2007 has been spectacularly bad for us so I'll be heartily pleased when Big Ben rings in the new one.

In January I lost my Mother after a short illness. I too was very ill and at the end of that month I was diagnosed with Lyme disease. WH gave evidence in a murder trial the same week.

In February we started to try and buy another house, we finally got the key in late June. I started the Lyme treatment and was ill for weeks.

In March we were entirely taken up with estate agents, solictors and sorting out my Mother's estate.

In April we were still having hassle from estate agents and solicitors.

In May we met the customer from hell.

In June we went to Greece and landed in forest fires and temperatures of 47 degrees C. We spent most of our time there on the phone to structural engineers due to problems with an ongoing project here. The police also rang whilst we were half way up a mountain asking about yet another murder.

In July I lost my second 'mother' after a sudden illness.

In August all the shows I usually attend in the summer were cancelled because of bad weather. I developed a hernia.

In September I had even more problems with my foot which had started in July, by now I could barely walk. The customer from hell continued to give us grief.

In October my foot burst open and 3 large pieces of wood were extracted. I had a hernia operation and was grounded for 2 weeks.

In November our labourer disappeared and left us stranded the busiest week of the new build.

In December the weather was so bad we are are 4 weeks behind with the build and then WH developed the flu and has been ill ever since. WH seems to have a stalker too.

Amongst this there have been a few bright moments, we have a new Grandson born in June, we saw Hayseed Dixie several times and met several other Outhousers and above all I have been continuously sustained by a few close friends and family members who are always there for me no matter what.

As we go forward to 2008 these are the things I want to take with me, the hopes, the plans and the realisation that nothing should be quite so bad again. As for 2007, you can forget it.

Interlude

Christmas was, well, like Christmas always is, too much of everything. Now we both have bugs, a heavy cold in my case, the flu in his and of course man-flu is always so much worse.

So excuse me a short while as I rush back to the bedside and play nurse.

I may be some time.

Tis the season to be jolly

Wow, what a week!

Now all I have to do is recover in time for the big day. We had 2 nights running socialising, a couple of BIG shopping trips, a recycle bin full of cardboard from all the deliveries of stuff I bought on the net and I now have 2 rooms half full of wrapped prezzies after a marathon wrap fest which had the upper floor looking like a training ground for Santa's elves. Half my kitchen has decamped into the garden in large sealed plastic boxes and all because we have 9 people for Christmas day. In this shoe box. I hesitate to say of course that we should have been round the corner in the new house and with a LOT MORE SPACE.

Today, I have mince pies to make and a cake to ice. Easy peasy, I thought until I realised that I have to retrieve the mixer from under a ton of 'decluttered' junk in the understairs cupboard. I'm trying frantically to do all the prep today so I can spend tomorrow in a social whirl of present delivering (and hopefully receiving) and celebrating the 'Depressed Painter's' birthday with a long boozy lunch a trois.

Once the main event is over, we await the New Year and dare not make a mess before January 1st when we will have to spend the day removing all the signs of festivities and declutter yet again for lo and behold, on the Second of Jan, we have a house viewing.

Fingers crossed it will herald the start of a much better year then this, which I for one will not be sorry to see the back of.

I've heard it all now.

Just read this.

I know that was in the US but the same sort of thing is happening here too.

God help them when they become parents, What they already are? you say.

Quite possibly. Be afraid, be very afraid.

Christmas is a-coming

And thoughts turn to getting all those difficult presents sorted out. Actually as my family are abroad we use the Amazon wish lists so at least we can send something wanted. That's for the people who do their wish list in time. The Muso of course has his mind on other things so hasn't bothered yet. It's a brilliant system and I like it much better than just sending a cheque or money order or even boring clothing in the mail, plus you get to see what people want.

My own wishlist is a mix of must read books, odd ball music and the purely mundane but a pain to find (a mixer cover for goodness sake?) with a sprinkling of the purely frivolous, jewellery, ice cream maker (for the twice a year I might fancy actually making some) etc etc. It will be nice if some of the frivolous stuff gets given to me, after all the point of a present, I always think, is that it must be something the recipient would not HAVE to buy for themselves.

So far I have done all my wishlist purchasing and am on taget for an early finish. As for Muso, if he doesn't get his list in quick it will be back to socks or even worse, underwear. You have been warned.

EDIT

Wow, within an hour of posting this I received the list. Someone's ears must have been burning!

It's official, No covers

Cooking Vinyl have announced the release date for Hayseed Dixie's next album, No Covers for 18th Feb 2008. Guess what WH is getting for his birthday? Sounds a blast, I can't wait.

Meanwhile to set the scene for this feast of totally original material, have a listen to this. If this doesn't get you jumping then duh....nothing will.

Bird Fest

I don't usually see a Siskin in my garden until January, this year there are already several competing with the Blue Tits for the best bits of my feeders.

The mornings now are a regular squawking session. Today I counted Blue Tits, Coal Tits, Great Tits, Siskins, a Chaffinch, Goldfinches, Greenfinches, a Robin, Starlings, a Wren, a Blackbird and House Sparrows all jockeying for position. Only the Golfinches like the Niger seed however and then only one of the two feeders seeing as these are indentical I'm baffled as to what the difference is.

A big hit has been the string of feedstuffs I bought in the local dicsount supermarket consisting of alternate fat balls and peanut feeders along an 800mm length of plastic netting. I hung this from my red maple and it's cute to see a chain of diminutive Blue Tits all busily pecking away.

I'm hoping this mildish weather continues as I'ts a great sight to watch so many little visitors.

PS. For some spectacular photos of owls go and look at Graham Catley's site. As always superb pictures of some rare and some not so rare birds.

One week later

Whew, can't believe a whole week has gone by so fast.

A momentous day today as I have put my little box-type house on the market after 22 and a half years here. I said I would stay a couple of years and then find something bigger. Events always conspired to thwart it. Now however, the time has come and the deed is done. The first ad is due next week. Seems strange so close to Christmas but the HIPS fiasco has made it timely now and I get to save about £700 in the process.

Round the corner and the scaffolders have finally come so we can press on upwards again. A quick site meeting with WH confirms that we *should* have a roof on the extension by Christmas and on the kitchen by New Year. The weather continues to wage war on the brickies so the build is much slower than it would have been had we started on schedule in June. As it is we're not doing badly coming to the end of the seventh week, particularly as the building inspector doubled the size of the foundations at a stroke and delayed us a full week.

I wanted to be in for Christmas, Easter looks much more likely now!