Morning Mugs,
I have been bloody slack haven't I? May the 18th since last blog post....,lazy old bastard me then.
There's so much going and paradoxically so little. Well of any real interest....
Wife and youngest daughter are still furloughed. I'm still working though. I did take a week off in June, but ended up spending that time doing 'stuff' around the house and garden. There was a time when this would have been an anathema to me.....breaks from work are exactly about that...taking a break doing nothing except visitng somewhere nice, going to the mobile or just frittering away hours in an off hand way (apologies to D.Gilmour and R.Waters there...) - but there is a weird desire to purchase and use 'man-tools' and get stuff done.
It has been an expensive time.
The consequence of this is the garden looks ...well not good..but better than normal for this time of the year. Trees have been pruned using the new cordless recip saw, the lawn is cut weekly using the new cordless lawn mower, ladders are hung on the wall and new pictures added to walls thanks to holes drilled by the new cordless power drill, and screws attached using the cordless screw driver. A new plastic shed was bought and constructed, a new hose wasbought and attached to the wall, a new picket fence in the front garden, a complete tree cut down (by visiting...ahem...tree surgeons), a new fence sits proudly down one side of the garden rendering the whole garden 90% dog proof (nothing is entirely dog proof in my experience) . New grass has been sown at the bottom of the garden on a rough old patch, with about 70% success (more overseeding needed) and in July the patio was repaired and will, in August, be covered with artificial grass.
In this lockdown period I have bought the cordless recip saw, a paint sprayer, a shaver, ladder hooks, a cordless battery powered lawnmower, new dog tracking devices, new trainers for walking the dogs, a new patio table, new sun loungers, a cordless power drill, a scarifier/aerator for the lawn, a lawn spreader, a new rake, a wheel barrow, new headphones, a new wall mounted hose-pipe, new hose spray and sprinkler fittings, grass seed, grass feed and weed, weed killer, a weed burner, a new small handy cordless screw driver, a new CO alarm to replace the end of life (after 7 years) of the previous one, a new soft bristle wide broom for the artificial grass, a trowel set, dining room seat covers, a new toilet flushing thing, new slow feed dog bowls, a mulching kit for the lawn mower, a glue gun, new vest tops for me, new shorts for me, new t-shirts for me, a kitchen whiteboard, new Blink security cameras, a new Ring Video doorbell, lawn mower blade sharpening bits, a new head torch for winter dog walking, an outdoor clock and thermometer, an Echo Show 8, a new folding trolley, new iMAC speakers (replacing blown old BOSE ones), kiln dried sand for the block paving, pre-mixed mortar for brick and path repairs, tile paint, kitchen cupboard paint and new dog harnesses. There are other bits as well, but here is definitive proof of the cognitively dissonant side of lockdown. Are these things 'must-haves' or 'nice-to-haves' or just indulgences? There does seem to have been a weird coincidence between the failure rate of some bits (lawn mower, iMAC speakers, doorbell, old dog walking trainers, insufficient sun loungers, CO alarm and loo flush mechanism) and the sudden desire for things to help me occupy my time.
Maybe the lack of a cruise to spend money on has played a part, along with an inability to get to the mobile home due to quarantine and COVID fear, have just meant the funds are redistributed, and the truth is with no main holiday looking likely this year it has been a good chance for some capital investment in tools and the house and garden. it's been a good chance to get stuff I think I need and do stuff I think needs doing.
But.....I am banking on any winter lockdown being far cheaper though. or just hoping the virus is fucked off or a vaccine or treatment found to mean this crap doesn't happen again, or if it does then has a far less pernicious impact on life.
Later Mugs, GJ
