emchi.co.uk

Is it so wrong to be wishing for the cold weather?  There is of course method in my madness, we have got a proper fire place, that actually works.  Only it’s a bit silly to have a fire when it’s not particularly cold outside.

The dog is curled up next to me on the sofa, breathing heavily.  She’s got bits of the local chalky mud stuck to her from our walk earlier, and she smells nutty.  I love her to bits, she’s such a pick me up tonic.  Well that’s when she’s not pulling me over and causing my hand to get cut to pieces.  That sucked.

As you can tell I’m a little on edge.  Waiting to hear back about something and as with most things, leaving things to other people makes me a little nervy.  Why oh why can’t they just pick up the phone and call me.

Ah great, the Hamster is awake now and making lots of noise.  Life with animals… it’s great! wouldn’t trade it for all the tea china!

Well a change certainly came.  I am now one of the many unemployed, but oddly enough I’m not too stressed about it.  Not too sure why, but I’m happier as a result.  Slept better, even if I woke up at 6ish and haven’t been able to get back to sleep.

So now I’m at home avec puppy… who’s being silly.  She’s in her terrible twos, well in dog years she’s almost seven, but even so, she’s a petulant little madam that thinks she can get away with murder (and invariably does).

Anyway, off to the Dr’s this morning, to change my asthma medication, as a bout of chest infections has wiped me out a bit.

More later…

Yet more autumnal days.  This morning it was the dark and light grey sky and the sprinkling of different coloured leaves on my car that reminded me that summer is most definately over.  I guess that’s the thing with Spring and Autumn, they maybe inbetween seasons but they’re probably the most defined.

You can be guaranteed that cold blustery weather will give way to the spring, when the temprature climbs slightly and everything starts growing.  With Autumn, you know that the days will get shorter, the weather will get cooler and things will stop growing.  Summer and Winter are a bit of a mis-nomer.  It doesn’t get blisteringly hot in the Summer and it sure as hell doesn’t snow in Winter.

I can almost forgive the weather.  It’s the atmosphere that changes as far as I can tell.  As I walked the dog last night, I could smell the different smoke coming out of the chimneys in the village, notes of wood, of parafin and of burnt paper mingled together to bring an altogether earthy smell.

All this talk of smoke reminds me that I need to email the chimney sweep to get the birds nest(s) out of the chimney stack so we too can enjoy a nice fire this year.

Well Autumn is upon us… I’m reminded by a recipees book I just got in Waitrose.  Anyway some things to evoke the senses:

Cold fresh mornings;

Leaves that float to the ground like a boat rocking from side to side;

Cold clear evenings with watery light;

Wood smoke that makes you think of places you’d rather be;

Warm winter casseroles and pies with lashings of creamy mashed potato;

Short days and long drawn out nights.

Those are some of the things I love about Autumn.  I won’t ruin it by listing things I don’t like about Autumn.

Sorry it’s been a bit quiet around here recently.  I’ve been back to a hellish commute and it’s kinda drained me somewhat.  Anyway, I now have four days off so I’m hoping to use my time creatively.  Although the dog is going to use my time to eat my legs, like she’s currently doing now.

Anyway, I think I’m going to make some slightly more than mid-way through the year’s resoltuions.  I need to do more writing more than anything.  Well writing that my employers aren’t paying for would be good.

Anyway, there it’s carnival week in the village from Saturday so our entertainment is thrown in for free.  Not to mention the dog provides ample entertainment withough going very far.

I’m thinking that normal blogging will resume when I don’t feel quite so frazzled.  Had my dad and the dog for a week, along with going to work.  Que lots of friction.

Sleeping better now R is back.  Still it’s bleedin’ hot.  Although being out in the country means it does actually cool down at night.  Which is bloody wonderful.

Neighbours have gone on holiday, which makes me want a holiday more and more.  All I’ve done since the end of May is think about the south of France.  Well the Verdon Gorge to be more specific.  The heat down there is overwhelming, but at least you’re near somewhere you can take a cooling dip and you aren’t at home.  It’s a break.  Not going to get either this year.  Four weeks at home isn’t really a break.

Oh well.  Off to do the laundry now.  Then find something to do for the rest of the day.

It’s all gone to pot.  I don’t mean the green smelly stuff either.  I mean urban life as we know it has gone.  Yes that’s right, we’ve moved to the country and got a dog, but now we’re going one step further.  We’re getting an estate.  Not just any estate, a deisel estate.  We have turned into the country set over night.  Oh and before you say anything more, I already own a pair of Hunters Wellies, but absolutely no tweed.

There’s a good reason for wanting the estate, I’m travelling further to work.  As we all know the democratic government in the UK is going the way of a dictatorship, so the rise in fuel costs is not helping my pocket.  R’s, admitidly very nice car, sits on the driveway and does nothing.  Mine is seven years old and falling to pieces.  Add into the mix we have one dog and want another next year, we want to go out walking with her, so it’s only fair we give her a bit more accomodation when she’s in the car.  The choice has been made.

Also given the high cost of, well, everything, we’re going to get a tent, so we can go camping.  I can’t believe I said yes to that, but the thought of being able to go away with the dog, and cheaply is very appealing.  We can throw everything in the car and pretty much go, whereas with a hotel, we’d have to have a dog sitter and hope there was room at the inn so to speak.

If putting together flat pack furniture from Ikea could be conisdered a degree subject, I would now have past with a 1st and top of my class.

I successfully achieved the “2 Wardrobe frames” by myself, with only one cockup.  The bed was not a single handed subject.  It’s a divan, so I was expecting it to come already put together.  No.  It was flat packed.  It was also a frame that allows you to lift up the slats at the bottom for storage, so it was extra confussing.  Two hours I think it took to put it together.

My hands are sore, my knees are sore (from kneeling down), my back is sore.  I now have to go back to Ikea because they didn’t deliver the mattress.  That will come in the form of a rant about their somewhat useless customer service at a later stange.  I will top it off with the most helpful “You could go to the local store and get one”… do you think if I had transportation for four items that are two meters long, I would have bloody gone and got it.

Right… best get going.  Suspect the transport for delivering said mattress is on his way to Ikea, at dad speeds.  I bet he’ll get there and will phone me and ask me where I am.  Store doesn’t open until 11:30.  But need to go in and wrestle the mattress off the shelf.

Well I’m amazed.  I went to Ikea and I only spent £25.  I also bought only the items I wanted to get.  Go me.  Still I wouldn’t have gone to Ikea if they’d been able to include the hanging rails in the order for the wardrobe.  How stupid is that?  You buy a wardrobe online but you can’t buy the hanging rails with it?  Perhaps they should have an intelligent ordering system, whereby you order something like a wardrobe, and it suggests the parts you would want to have with it, pre-selected to the correct size.  Meh… It’s frustrating when you know you could do better.

Anyway, I bought an extension pack for the shelves in the pantry.  So now my pantry looks pretty darn good. I’ve got all the food on a double wide metal shelving unit inside the door, all the cooking utensils, dog bowls, storage items etc on the three units that are smaller in size.  My pantry now rocks.  Also as a result the kitchen looks spotless.  Later on I’ll be working a similar kind of magic with the spare room, as the wardrobes and spare bed turn up on Wednesday.  So all in all, the house is looking more and more tidy.  A feat that’s doubly impressive because the dog weaves a path of destruction wherever she goes.

The fact that it took me 2 hours to un-pack all the shopping as a result of putting the extra shelves up shall be considered a moot point.  Still it was worth it.  I have a place for everything now, and I won’t kill my back every time I want a can of beans off the shelves.

More on her second, even louder belch at the dog training school later. Also possibly a post about Goodwood Festival of Speed… perhaps a survivors guide to attending, and a note on how the catering was about a thousand times better than in previous years!

So I had to go into London yesterday… which was interesting.  Firstly I almost missed the train thanks to stupid traffic lights and stupid parking meters with no indicaiton of payment fees.  Bit annoyed at that.

Still, it was strange being back in my old stomping grounds.  Stopping for a drink in Leon on the Strand then going over to Bank to mee the wonderfull JJ for lunch.  It’s amazing how much of a tonic a good friend can offer.  I miss my daily conversations with JJ.  She made me realise everything I’ve been stressing over wasn’t exactly my fault and that other people should be held accountable for their behavior.  Soothing if nothing else.

Got back and my back ached, my legs ached, my feet ached and my head ached.  I woke up this morning feeling rather icky.  Still a walk with pupzilla (all be it a short one) was very restorative.  I felt a lot better following it.

Being in the country changes you.  Your mind set is different and things that were important before are no longer so.  You realise that quality of life is more important than other things.  The balance changes and it soothes you.  Well it soothes me.  I’m not a city person.  I go back and I see tourists, I see people as potential terrorists and I see people who are work obsessed.

The terrorist thing was interesting.  I got on the Central line at Bank and sat opposite someone and my hackles went up.  They never went like that before.  I never looked at someone and thought “are you going to blow this train up, or are you thinking about doing it?” I just got on with it.  Now I feel a little safer being out of London and not a constant target for someone who wants to do something silly.

As I said… being in the country changes a person.