Sunday, February 19, 2006

What are you supposed to do with the photographs?

Being back in the house is a double edged sword really.  I love my home, but that’s exactly what makes it so painful.  The aim is to get it on the market by the end of the month, and in order to do that there is a certain amount of work that needs to be done – cracks to be filled, architrave to put up, walls to be painted, garden to be tidied up after the winter period and made to look appealing and presentable.  And that’s just it; I’m spending time in my home preparing it for someone else.  

I cut back my hydrangea the other week and generally pruned and weeded and as usual found it immensely satisfying and rewarding, right up until the point where I realised that I wouldn’t actually be there to see my garden come into flower, I wouldn’t be there to sit and take in the smells and look at my view from the comfort of a squishy lounger and a glass of Pinot.  That was when I realised that I had to get out as soon as I can.  Then to add even more urgency to this decision TEH’s living arrangements came to an abrupt end and consequently has been living out of a suitcase with various friends, who may cease to be friends if this goes on much longer …

I’ve been looking at flats, but it needs to be something I can be comfortable in for a good 8 months ie. up until the Inca Trail and whatever lies beyond; there’s no way of knowing how long it’s going to take to sell the house after all. It also needs to be something that TEH and I can afford between us, on top of what we already pay on the mortgage etc and without both of us turning into hermits …  Not an easy task as I discovered.  There really are some grim places out there.  My pre-requisites are proving somewhat elusive:

  • Ground floor or maximum 1st floor (Unpacking shopping …)

  • Studio or 1 bed (if a studio I want one big enough to have a separate bed rather than a sofa bed)

  • Gas Central heating (heating!!!)

  • Washer, fridge, freezer, oven & hob

  • Somewhere to park the bloomin’ car
But which ever way I look at it, the process of moving out (properly this time) whether it be in 2 weeks or 2 months, is going to be a painful one.  I’ve made a start on packing up my stuff, but of course, in order to identify my stuff it means sorting through our stuff and I keep coming across memories all wrapped up in inanimate objects.  For example I have just packed up a box of children’s books.  The emotions packed away in that box are just phenomenal and an experience I don’t want to revisit for a wee while.

Strangely CD’s have been the easiest job – not sure why that is.  Maybe because modern technology has taken the angst out of decisions about whose is whose etc – just copy the damn things.  There are 5 piles:

  • Mine

  • TEH’s

  • Mine that I think TEH would like a copy of

  • TEH’s that I would like a copy of

  • Pile that we can’t remember who’s they are – they were just ours.  Solution for this one – copy them all and then have a lucky dip for originals.
But I think the worst job, and the one which I keep skirting round, is what are you supposed to do with the photographs?  I think I’ll leave it there …

Saturday, February 04, 2006

Well that’s the last of the Christmas cake then …

It’s amazing how long it lasted really – probably because I was away in Germany for a couple of weeks and forgot to take some with me – but either way I’ll miss my slice of cake for elevenses!

That was the week and a half that was.

Well, I’ve pretty much settled back into life in the house – I’ve really missed it and I hadn’t really admitted to myself how much, so I’m going to try and enjoy it while it lasts. Mind you, bearing in mind that the plan is to get the place on the market by the end of February that might not be as long as I would like.

The last Requiem was another good one – I’m sorry it must be boring me saying that every time! Sadly Elizabeth Jansson, the Alto soloist who toured with us couldn’t do the concert because she was ill (tour cold got everywhere it would seem), so Catherine Wynn-Rogers stepped in. She was really good, but it was really disappointing that Elizabeth couldn’t be there with the rest of the soloists that we’d toured with.

It was a long old day – up to Birmingham on the coach and then back to London after the concert – but it was good to get together with everyone again and make commitments to meet up for photo swapping, trekking (practice runs for my Peru trip) and general social stuff. Keeping it real, our time keeping challenged members came up trumps with an unscheduled loo stop on the way up the motorway; well, we had planned to stop to pick someone up from a service area, but we hadn’t planned on peanut bladdered members nipping off for a pee; it didn’t make us late or anything, but I guess it gave certain of us the opportunity to “exchange glances” etc in remembrance of the tour. (God I’m a grumpy bird sometimes!) The bus ride home was very quiet and all journey I was feeling sad about the fact that I’ll not be singing with the guys and won’t be seeing Craig and Jenny, all of whom felt like part of my family by the time I got back from Germany, for quite some time to come.

The rest of the week was pretty much as usual, too much to do etc. I feel like I’ve had a really productive week, but when I actually look at what I’ve done against what there is to do, I’m really only just scratching the surface … Ah well, I managed to get my registration form filled in and sent off for the Inca Trail nonetheless. Hurrah! Provisional dates are 14th to 23rd October. Now I just need to keep cracking with the fitness regime with the PPT, get the house sold and work out what else I want to do with the rest of my life. Easy …

Well the first step is to get the house sold, so after doing my washing, shopping and general weekend sorting out (I woke up at 6.30 am in spite of the fact that I could have had a flippin’ lie in …) I managed to sand, clean and paint the bathroom, scrub the bathroom window and blind – looks much brighter now. Tomorrow – as long as it’s not too cold – is earmarked for tidying the garden and maybe a bit of noodling on the old piano. What am I going to do with that???