Tuesday 1

Yesterday ended well – a Skype message from J requesting help with her knitting brought the cavalry round in the form of J’s husband, D, who was able to lift the glass pane outside and offer it up to the frame for Mr L to screw it in.  A little muscle at just the right point. Thank you, D, very much indeed. I am grateful.

The job is not as good as we would have wished, this due mostly to the fact that the previous window had been fitted with a very large gap around it. Our new window, measured up to the apparent size of the old hole, also now has a large gap about it. This means that our screws are on the short side. Longer ones have been ordered to make the next two windows easier. We’ll replace the shorter screws in this one later on.

A window that I can see out of AND it opens!
A window that I can see out of AND it opens!

So, I now have an opening window in the kitchen and a view that I can scarcely drag myself away from. The difference made by choosing not to have the quartering is really far greater than might have been imagined.

I’m happy.

The noise that woke me today was the sound of Mr L removing a door frame. He had already put the expanded foam around the window gap from yesterday and also removed the inside front door from its hinges.

I want to rehome this door
I want to rehome this door

All before breakfast.

He really has the bit between his teeth and despite all the glitches yesterday, is wearing a broad smile on his face. I know his secret; he actually enjoys getting physical and it makes a pleasurable break from his desk-bound job. He really should have gone for a job that involves more activity rather than have spent a frustrated life at a keyboard. I am beginning to see that retirement will suit him and he will find plenty of things to do.

Speaking of which, I have had words with the old man again to see if he might like to get behind a camera lens a little more. Now that we have a camper van and will be seeing new pastures, I shall want to hang around a lot with my camera. This could be boring for him – all those churches and graveyards and gardens – unless he develops his enthusiasm for the lens too. He’s up for it!

I don’t think it’s just words because he has already suggested joining the NTS to save money on entry fees to interesting places. It’s fortunate that Mr L is already a garden enthusiast. He’s never been one for actual gardening but he does enjoy a wander around somebody else’s hard work and will actually stop to smell the roses.

I keep smiling when I see yesterday’s photo of Mr L hard at work. That work shirt that he is wearing – that was his dress-up clothing in 1999. I remember very clearly that he was wearing it on a hot and sunny Saturday, 28th August that year. He was also wearing jeans (ooh, lovely bum), a brilliant smile, and carried with him a grey wool suit jacket. Timothy Taylor’s Landlord Ale was consumed. That was the day that we became a little more than acquaintances and actually got as far as holding hands. I don’t think Timothy Taylor was in any way responsible. Also present: Fenny, Nevilley and Loretta. Much as we love them, we could not wait to see them leave… A week later, on September 3rd, Mr L moved in to my little cottage and my life has never been the same since.

Lunchtime approaches and the door frame is off on one side. It’s hard going and what is being revealed is a little worrisome. It is clearly going to be more of a job than expected. There’s some Orkney construction techniques been involved in the past, that’s easy to see.

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