It’s been a splendid break.
I’m back to the life routine tomorrow.
To celebrate, and remind me of messing about on boats, here is a picture of Alfie consulting me on a very important issue;
Doge business.
I believe he was extolling on the virtues of Cheese and Onion, over Salted, over Salt and Vinegar.
Important Doge issues.
The Chimney Sweep came round today to sweep my chimney.
There were no children involved.
He didn’t speak in a mockney accent.
He didn’t dance…..not even once….
There were no penguins.
However, he is a splendid bloke named Ahmed who indulged me in conversation about Lebenon, global economics, chimney seeping techniques, birds nests, large birds nests, music, the life span of chimney sweeping tools, hoover voltage, gaffer tape and a happy life/work balance.
‘kin legend!
Left not a spec of soot!
I have a fully prepped chimney for all my open fire needs…
Good job with the weather the way it is at the moment.
….wait, wut?
Got wood.
Apres delivery (that’s French)
Kevin and his brother turned up with a trailer full of dried, sweet smelling woody goodness! My garage has to this point reeked of damp and…well….damp, but not anymore! It smells fantastic!
Apparently, I don’t need kindling either – just a hatchet to trim small kindling via the grain…
A hatchet….
That’s a small axe.
During the discussion, I was thinking more along the lines of hefting a massive axe, maybe double headed beast like some kind of Viking Legend, howling at the moon whilst driving the axe head into soft wood….
Apparently, kindling can be created with moderate force, hacking along the grain.
‘tevs.
Turns out, a sunny Thursday is an ideal day to go to IKEA – who knew?!
I’m a fan of IKEA. I’m amused by their policy of confusing everyone to walk a particular way around the store. I amuse myself by deliberately going ‘the wrong way’. I’m not convinced that the majority of customers appreciate this, but it’s like an old school arcade game…Dodge the people not looking where they are going…Drop the shoulder here, shuffle here, dance, spin, mirror, signal, maneuver – BOOM! I’m in the Lounge section…..shit…I wanted the shelving bit…..shuffle, dance, spin, mirror, signal, maneuver – BOOM! I’m in the pillow section….Bollox!
I eventually made it where I wanted to go.
Is there an algorithm for how visiting IKEA for 1 item, results in the purchase of about 10? Yes, it’s the IKEA algorithm – it suggests an excellent business model based on excellent products that suit the target demographic!
For instance. I went to IKEA to find a table. I came back with a rug, candles, pillows, bedding, a chopping board, a washing up brush, a kitchen utility table and a mattress cover….no lounge table.
I don’t think my experience is an unusual one.
Am I unhappy?
Nope! The rug is awesome…
Lounge….for lounging…
I feel very boring, but productive….and the house is beginning to feel like a home.
Yep – the virus did it’s thing today and much to my chagrin, I possessed very little energy.
Enough energy however, to clear out the fireplace in the music room!
I have been trained (Tony/Dave/Arbe) in how to build a decent home fire.
I have a working chimney and fireplace.
So what the actual ‘eff has been stopping me getting the chimney swept? I mean, WAAAT?!
Well, nothing now. Le Chimney Sweep (that’s French) is coming on Saturday to..well…sweep. I hope he doesn’t send a small boy up there to do it, though I suspect that technology has moved on a bit since Victorian times.
Whichever way – logs are on order and I’m hoping that this space will become a serious brain-space area, the spot to compose… Donaldo and I have plans to have a permanent recording area in that room to experiment with music ideas. Who knows what will come out of it.
Ready for sweepage!
Once that was done I duly collapsed into a heap on the sofa.
I hate being ill, but at least I’m managing to be mildly productive 🙂
True to form, today was a ‘not feeling so wiped’ day – so I got fully involved in the careful balance between procrastinating, and bursts of energy!
List of sorted shizzle:
– Utility Room: de-cluttered, cleared, organised. This needed doing badly, but had hovered on the list “really didn’t want to spend my spare time doing it”…. This time off is exactly for this kind of thing.
– Garage: Cleared out, organised, multiple tip-trips (no LSD involved). I have spent some time considering what to do with this bit of the house. It sits separately to the main building, and has a very leaky roof… There were a whole bunch of ‘things’ sitting around in there that had come to a grizzly, mouldy, warped, cobwebby demise. It wasn’t pretty, but on reflection, if I could fix the roof it would be a much more useful…well…actually usable space. Quite a lot of space. Need to speak to a roofer!! But for now it’s squared away and only contains things that can handle a bit of damp.
– Garden: Mowed. I really want to build a Rockery, and had fully intended to do that very thing this week. However, turns out the ‘few’ jobs I wanted to get to around the house are in fact, a lot of jobs! The Rockery is going to happen, and commit to documenting a in the Blog Guide; “Crap Gardening – The Rock n’ Rollery”…coming soon…
Other than that, I’ve been collapsing on the sofa.
Recovery is a bitch, and this virus is very annoying!
Eurgh – this was a day best left alone.
I think the ‘cold’ is whatever Mum had in Salcombe. It’s a weird one, good day, then a bad day, then a good day, then a bad day…
Today was a bad day 😦
I am exploring the desire to procrastinate and bimble.
It’s going very well.
Although, this kind of mental space can lead to dark thought journey’s, so one must be careful. I have a week off work to do with as I please, and I have decided to do exactly that – whatever I please, at whatever time I please.
Let’s see where it leads. I have some ideas as to what I would like to do in the time, and inevitably I get to a few of those things because sitting around in the house on my own would basically drive me (more) mental?! The house has a whole raft of things that probably need to be done, some of them dangerous…I’ll probably do those one’s first – I truly detest boring jobs…
Now then – where is the best source for really big ladders?
Yep, Saturday was unashamedly a day of not really paying attention to anything – head was very think with swollen sinus action and sore throatage… eurgh!
Therefore, mostly bimbled around feeling like I should be doing things, then deciding that it was more important to sit down for a bit and play Diablo 3…
That was it for the day really.
Felt like crap, played a lot of Nephalim Rifts and explored the extended features of the D3 expansion… I’m impressed?! They’ve tweaked the right bits, nerfed the bits that were wrong, and added new content that actually adjusts the playing experience for the benefit of the player not the company finances.
….not that I noticed much.
They have also added some comedy special items… For instance, a pair of ‘Legendary’ trousers (that you add to your character to buff skills) called “Hammer Jammers”. The description? “These trousers can not be touched”… Well played Blizzard, well played…
Man – I seem to be spending a lot of my time collecting new additions to my immune system recently?! Another ‘cold’ smashed into the back of my nose today…. You know the feeling, dry painful sinuses? Slightly think head… I thought it was a hay fever which I get a little bit of come springtime, and that was a reassuring feeling that springtime is hitting the land…but nerp! Time for a thick head.
I did however have an evening eating Pizza and a long overdue start to watching the Harry Potter films….to quote the vernacular <ahem> “MOAR PLZ! kthnxbai!”
This obviously has to have a brief review;
Cracking!
I think this film is the weakest of the lot – and it’s still excellent! respecting the fact a large part of the cast are inexperienced kids, the abundance of acting titans more than makes up, and the kids don’t do a bad job at all. Richard Harris *is* Dumbledore for me, he’s the Dumbledore who appears in my mind when I read the books. There were a few aspects I’d forgotten; the Unicorn/Firenze the Centaur, Norbert, the Troll, and over all, I got loads from watching it again…. Roll on The Chamber of Secrets 🙂
Adventures and experiences in my Forty First year. 