One job leads to.....

Its hot already and three nights of tropical heat with no aircon has left me somewhat ratty.

Waking really early I decided the best use of the day would be to get some washing done and out on the line so it could dry before the heat became too much and started bleaching them out. That meant I had to go into the utility room.......

The washing went in and I dropped the liquid soap, which went everywhere.  Crouching down, I started to mop it up only to notice something in the cupboard had been leaking for a while, leaving a sticky mess. 

Removing everything from both shelves under the sink, I proceeded to clear up. Wash the shelves, sponge off the bottles and boxes, which, by this time,  everything was everywhere. 

Oh well, the washing in, cupboard empty, I decided this was the best time to read the gas meter. 

I found a torch and switched it on. It has three settings, I looked into the light to determine which it was. Blinded by the light I stumbled about, tripped over the bowl of dirty water on the floor and spread it everywhere.

Turning off the torch and abandoning that idea, I reached for the cloth and having stood in the bowl again, blindly mopped up the mess.

I had a clean dress on. It was now soaked with dirty, soapy water from inside the cupboard and the hem had absorbed more from the lake which was pooling around me. I had no shoes on, I was slipping on the soapy water, finding it even more difficult to cope. Space limited in this small room and hampered by everything everywhere I felt my emotional temperature rising.

I stood still and attempted to regain my eyesight. I could see the layout of the LED lights imprinted on my retina.

Note to self; check the LED display because it looks as if one has failed and two, don't switch it on into your face you stupid woman!

Eyesight slowly coming back I cleared up the worst of the mess and realised the overflow pipe from the sink was black with internal residue....that explained the smell.

Drying my hands for the umpteenth time I grabbed the torch, put it back on constant beam (its certainly powerful and yes, would blind an intruder) and went in search of a piece of paper and pen which, of course were split between the kitchen and the living room. 

Returning I realised I had walked soapy water throughout the downstairs and I was now gently slipping and sliding about. 

Mental note; clean the floors.

So back to the utility room and crouching down, I attempted to read the meter. Still too high I had to sit on the soggy floor. Now, not only the front of the dress was wet but so too was my very soggy bottom.

Ignoring the slippery feeling underneath me, I read the meter. Success! My original intention was complete but chaos still reigned and I resembled the classic bedraggled rat.

Washing now finished which told me 110 minutes had passed since I began this chaos.

I hung it out.

Second tick on the list of jobs to do but another three had been added.

Ok, the cupboard was dry enough to put things back but the overflow pipe really needed cleaning out. So, removing it I removed the black, smelly stuff, used my bottle brushes to get that sorted, cleaned the connections and put it back. 

Tested, no leaks, wonderful. 

Smelt the sink itself, phew, rodded that out too.

Smelt the sink again, phew, now put the washing machine cleaner in and set that off for an hour and a half.

Still very slippery everywhere so washed the floor twice to get rid of the soap. Whilst I was at it, cleaned the loo, might as well.

Backing out of the room as I cleaned realised I'd left the bowl with some very smelly water by the sink.

Went back in, rinsed the cloth, collected the bowl, washed the floor again as I backed out with the bowl.

Managed to drip water all through house to the kitchen sink, so went back and washed the floor as I backed back into the kitchen. 

Left the meter reading, pen and torch in utility room. 

Lifting my eyes to the sky I let out a frustrated note of exasperation. Swilled out the cloth once more, went back into the utility room, collected the last of the odds and ends and, backing out, cleaned the floor once again, wiping down the damp footprints I was now leaving all the way along the hallway, livingroom and kitchen.

I looked at my watch, it was 07:20, it had been a frustrating start to the day and I still hadn't had my cuppa!

I sent the meter reading off, put the kettle on and collapsed outside.

It was then I realised the floor in the kitchen was covered in cat hairs......I give up.

Feelings of irrelevance

Strange how age and circumstance can change us.

Prior to the onslaught of the pandemic I felt relatively secure within my place in the world. I had accepted my somewhat solitary existence and found pleasure in train journeys, exploration, travelling to other countries and experiencing how others live. I loved my small but tight knit group of friends and visited them often.

Then the pandemic hit.

 

 

Confined to home and the immediate area, I started a new routine, a solitary one. I started to read more, I watched a tremendous amount of TV, boringly,  and created a new and more interesting garden project which could keep me fit and active.

And that was it.

I didn't have family members phoning to find out how I was, I didn't share Whats-app chats or Zoom calls, there was no-one to call really, save for the very few friends who I chatted with on the phone. 

Strange when the world stops and you suddenly realise there are few who are even aware you exist.

 

Once, when I was younger and gamefully employed as a teacher, I was surrounded by people all doing their best to support the development of the children we had in our charge.

I developed programmes of study and taught staff members how to deliver them. I created examinations and trailed them. I was perpetually busy, I never had a moment to think outside the box labelled work.

 

I had a horse which drew me into a world of friends and companions. We laughed and cried together, went out riding, learning new and exciting skills and then played with our horses doing so many things together it was like being part of a great big family where the common denominator were our horses.

I had three cats and they lived with me ruling the roost as it were. To a very great extent they were the pivot around which daily life revolved; what they wanted or needed, I did my best to provide.

I had cars which I loved and worked on them as well as drove them. There were a group of people who held their cars and bike central to their lives; I had another group of people I interacted with.

My life was full, I had no time to worry about silence.

I left London chasing a job.

I lost my house and the cats, who had died by then, and all the familiarity which went with it. I had lived in the area for over thirty years, it was a hard wrench and my heart broke.

I lost my horse because I really didn't have the time to dedicate to him, so gave him to someone I knew would love him forever. Another wrench, a slow bereavement which took years to work through; the job filled every thought as I wrote, created, trialed and taught three subjects to those who most staff had rejected.

The car became a functional tool. I was far away from my security network and my partner and I were, how shall I say it, not surviving the distance too well.

Finally I lost my partner; circumstances meant he could no longer cope and wanted to try other things. That took nine years of bereavement.

All family dead, pets gone, partner gone and in an area a long way from 'home' post retiring, the pandemic hit and piece by piece it changed my outlook.

 

 

So used to being confined to the house, I find it harder to leave its security. Masks, social distancing and handwashing have suddenly been taken off the statute book and like many others, that feeling of vulnerability grows inside me.

Infections are rising and the young are not necessarily vaccinating in the numbers required.

My car takes on a different perspective.

 

I endlessly watch YouTube videos, look at different layouts and thoughts people have and come to the conclusion this is going to be my way forward. Maybe not as permanent as above but first find the car. It'll still be functional but a new function because now it will become a mobile living space; somewhere for me to travel locally and feel safe.

I am hoping the stealth camper will get me back to the wanderlust I had pre-pandemic.

I suspect I will be travelling down south for quite some time until I gain the confidence to go boomdocking  but I suspect it will come and until then, days here and there, camp sites and similar are opening a new life.

It's quite likely I will gain a new group of friends doing new things. Time to move down that bus as it were. Yes, I am probably irrelevant in today's society but I am relevant in my own and probably many who travel about the country rarely entering today's whirl.

Laughing to myself i think, yes the misfits, the loners and the opt-outers. 

Oh well, a new world perspective awaits and my garden project continues.