Thursday 10 December 2020

Laughter is returning

 I am sure anyone reading this will know what worry and stress does to you and one of the first things to disappear is happiness and laughter.  We haven't been doing much of that since this selling process began.  It has been GRIM.  The occasional grin or short laugh, but in the past week we have all seemed to be merrier and were hooting with laughter on one of the answers to a Pointless question tonight (getting quite addicted to that programme) - it was Philomena Cunk if you must know!  We got the giggles as it was just such an absurd name.



We have also been watching Shameless on Netflix.  It's not to everyone's taste - I'm sure some would find parts quite vulgar but once again, it has tickled our funny-bones and distracted us from reality and we have laughed until we cried sometimes when watching it.

We've been rewatching the 2nd season of Britannia too, which has lighter moments and some powerful character acting as well.  The Donovan music (Season of the Witch) and psychadelic bits take me back to the 60s! 


Earlier this week, I just missed the really warm light in the trees at the edge of our paddock and on the slope behind.  Not a view we will be seeing much longer.

    This morning saw another Trip to the Tip, and we had to have the windows wide open on the car as it contained an old plastic greenhouse cover which a certain wee mostly white tomcat had "annointed" in passing.  We got rid of broken mirrors and a non-broken one in a very heavy wooden frame, and something that Keith used when he worked as a Draughtsman - it was a solid steel (think it was steel though it felt heavy as lead) rectangle which was used to weight the paper so that you could draw very accurate straight lines along its edge.  Well, Keith said it must have weighed nearly half a hundredweight, though it was small and looked innocuous.  There were two lads who work there, stood by the metal bin which Tam would have thrown it in had she been able to get it high enough.  They saw her get it to her waist, and taking pity (and thinking she must be pretty feeble) said to hand it over and they would chuck it in.  The lad got the shock of his life when Tam DID hand it over and reckoned it must have dented the bottom of the skip!

    We thought we had sorted out all the things to go to the Charity shops, but just the start of a new Sweep (down in what was mum's flat and my larder) has already provided at least two boxfulls and there will be MORE!  1940s greaseproof paper anyone?! We need to get this sorted just in case they shut the Charity Shops/Tip soon.  They almost certainly will in January, as I am sure we will go into total Lockdown again then - just when we will be actually MOVING!



Current reading and re-reading


Blown the dust off this one:



Sorry, I took the photo twice and both were blurred!

    Here's an extract:

    CATS AND TOMATOES:  "Our cat's eagerness for the fruit caused a breach of its usually impeccable manners: it would reach up a paw and try to snatch tomatoes from our forks while we were eating.  Thinking to satisfy its remarkable appetite less expensively, we bought for the cat the cheaper imported variety.  Puss was neither amused nor interested.  We had to eat them ourselves." - E E Gilbert, Llangollen (1950).

DISCIPLINE (as it once was):

    "The records of the Sidcot (Quaker) school show that, in 1821, the governing committee was seriously concerned about the frequency of flogging.  Accordingly Joseph Storrs Fry, an active member of committee was requested to procure three boxes for the solitary confinement of refractory boys.  Seeing that these boxes measured 5' 6" high, 20" across and 21" deep, they might almost be described as coffins.  There was no seat, and not much air, though a boy was sometimes sentenced to "reflect" in one of them for two days."  (I would have thought the boys far preferred the flogging).

    Today I treated myself to this:


It's always good to learn a bit more about antiques (though the ones in here are generally WAY out of our price range!!) and I love to look at room settings in houses where antiques are collected and cherished.

    Well, looking up Donovan's Season of the Witch has led to lots more sidebar plays and I am currently greatly enjoying Peter Green's (Fleetwood Mac) The Green Manalish. Those were the days.




17 comments:

  1. My friend lives next door to the original publishing place of that issue of The Countryman. I like the peas joke.

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  2. The Countryman was such a special magazine, until it got all updated and high-fallutin'. I just collect the much older copies of it now. Proper country volk . . .

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  3. Still cheering you on, but feeling that I've run out of anything original to offer in the way of encouragement. Our longest real estate procedure was in the selling of the second Amish farmhouse several years ago. The contract had to be extended while the buyers, using a gov't loan as ex-military, were put through various ridiculous postponements. Wondering if you've been back to the Builth property, also will the buying process take as long as the selling? I surely hope not!

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    1. Just knowing you are there, in the wings, willing us on is enough my dear. It has been like the blardy Spanish Inquisition! Even at this stage, we have another Stranger coming to the property today to look at the fitting of the UV filters for the water (possibly outside) to give our buyer a quote so that the fitting can take place once we have exchanged (and before they move in).

      The buying process is the spoke in the wheel at the moment as our vendor's solicitors are as slow as molasses in January! Had to give their phone number to OUR agent yesterday so they could chase them up over some paperwork from 3 weeks ago!

      We've been back to the Builth (pronounced Bilth) property a 2nd time, to measure up for furniture etc but I'd love to go again . . . Guess it will have to wait until we move in.

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  4. I just noticed that You have added me to you blog roll. Thank you.

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  5. Hi BB. I'm glad things are a little more cheery for you. Jon and I watched Shameless when it was originally aired and we loved it. David Threlfall was brilliant. Our boys finish school today to complete their learning online for the final week. There is talk of another firebreak after Christmas so I'll be stockibg up, not panic buying, inbetween getting Christmas things in. I'd planned to do this anyway so no big shakes there. Our boys hsve a barber appointment tomorrow so I have few things for the charity shop near there to hopefully drop off. Take care. X

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    1. He's a wonderful actor - he does drunk/drugged staggering around like no-one I know! He comes from the same area of Manchester as my husband!

      We have kept stocking up over the summer, just a few extra things here and there but I do worry about having to totally empty our freezers before we move.

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  6. I loved the cat and the tomatoes. My little cat still shoots out a paw to scratch whenever I put her food down, no matter how much I tell you don't bite the hand that feeds. Actually my animals make me laugh out loud, I am wondering if madness is setting in?

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    1. Is she out to dab you or grab her food I wonder? Our Theo (who still acts like a lunatic teenager) will rear up on his hind legs and try and grab the food, and if you aren't quick enough feeding him, he will dab your leg (claws in).

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  7. Glad things are getting gradually easier to bear.

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    1. Well, we are slowly getting there now Pat, and all I can say is, NEVER AGAIN!!

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    2. Reading your saga, I find myself deciding quite firmly, that moving is just too hard. I'm staying right where I am.

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  8. Glad to hear you are feeling better and laughing again. It is bad enough coping with the pandemic but with your house move on top it must be so very stressful. Stay positive :)

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    1. I must say RR, it hasn't been easy. Hopefully we are nearing the exchange and we will all feel much relieved once that has taken place.

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  9. So happy to see that laughter is beginning once again.

    God bless.

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    1. Us too. It's been a bit of a challenge, this house move.

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