There's nothing like a weekend of must do office work to make composing a blog post seem ultra important.
I am in the middle of a lot of stuff and then promotion board stuff as well for which I have to record a one minute video. It's excruciating.
In other stuff, there are some signs of spring with blossom appearing and this weekend the weather seems quite mild.
How good are we to match Charlie's fur tones to the cushions? Of course, he is not allowed on the sofa.
I have a longing to be in the West Country at the homes of people who are no longer alive. My sister who lived in a charming converted vicarage at low rent in inner city Bristol and gave it up to move to a grim flat in Hackney and my father who lived in a house on a Ley line in sight of Glastonbury Tor.
Instead, I went to Sydney for the weekend to stay with my daughter in her first little solo home. It is small and charming and so lovely for her to have her own space. She has a new job and a new boyfriend who has much to recommend him and seems very content.
We did not do much but I did get my first pedicure in 6 months and bought some havaianas from a vending machine, which while not as lovely as the flagship store in Sao Paolo was very convenient.
I got home late in the afternoon and watched 4 episodes of Selling Sunset which is about all my brain can consume these days.
That was something else but I am mostly through it and nesting and trying to find new daily routines and not to be sad about my walks along the ridge. By the time I left that house, I was cranky and ready to be gone not least because the owners were super unreasonable for a house that was old and imperfect. Anyway, it is nearly all done now, I have made multiple trips to the new local tip. I have a lock up which I secretly love and make little trips to it to store Christmas decorations and a sofa which would not fit up the stairs.
The new house does not yet have blinds or curtains so it is chilly but it does have heating and a heated lamp in the bathroom so it is not all misery. I have a spot for my desk, an organised garage (I bought two sets of shelves to store paint and cushions and the detritus of home maintenance) and all my art.
The kitchen has a fierce induction cooker and I suddenly understand those people who love them for the speed of which they heat water to boil pasta. It is hard to get the rhythm though when you've been used to using the time it took the water to heat to make a sauce and more than one thing has been burned to cinders.
I have not read a book in two weeks. I've barely watched tv since I only just got the internet working. I'll get there.
I don't think I have ever been as disorganised for a move as I am this time. I started off well but have hit a flurry of chaos in the past few days as I am working such long hours. I think it is exacerbated by worrying where all the books are going to go. I am sleeping very badly. This morning I packed my car before work and took stuff out to the front in the hope that people will rescue my discarded furniture without me having to make a trip to the tip. I managed to net 3000 steps before 8am without even walking the dog.
Breathe and this time next week the move will be over.
Yesterday, I walked up the ridge and watched a hot air balloon above us make its decisions on where to land. It wasn't very high up but suddenly drifted in behind some cloud and went from being familiar and visible to something that sat behind a veil of another world.
I have no excuse. Just busy, work, work, pack, pack.
I have gone from being sad about leaving my house to happy on new beginnings. I am doing some tough things at work but learning new stuff from my colleague.
It puts all one's minor niggles into perspective when you hear of someone with a health problem. Really good health is all we need.
I am reading Rodham. I like it but it is long and the American trajectory for a career in politics is so different. I am sure someone smarter has unpacked it but the whole edifice underpinned by constitutional law is so alien to what I observe here where you either have a union based social outcome driver or a business driven reduce the imposte of government driver. I am radically over simplifying.
I am excited about cooking stuff in my new kitchen and for the days getting longer and living closer to the farmer's market.
I just need to get through to the end of the month... and then maybe the one after but come September I am going to take some time off and go somewhere high up where I can see for a long way and just read books for two weeks.
I am insanely busy at work. I have a large sales deal I am responsible for. I have the particularly busy time of year for my client. I have a significant promotion board I am trying to prepare for.
Oh, and I have to pack my house in the next three weeks.
But, I have an excellent and highly organised colleague who keeps reminding me of all the things we need to do for the deal, I have an excellent delivery team who just keep things ticking over and I have a colleague up for the same board who sends me encouraging texts. Yesterday she told me she dismantled her range hood to clean rather than do preparation for this board which is exactly my kind of distraction.
I did go and bath the dog as he was very smelly and also buy a new tape gun and 40 book boxes. I made soda bread to ganching's recipe* and while rather an odd shape it tastes good and I made vegetable soup to eat it with. I ate my dinner at 6pm in front of Hamilton and then was in bed (albeit with my laptop) my 8pm watching our CEO's speeches so I can sound like I remember the corporate strategy.
*I can't find where it is but it probably about ten years ago as I have a dog eared print out
Even though it has not been that cold, I was freezing all day, continually turning the heating up degree by degree, and bone tired. I did wake at 5 but I had been to bed early so it was not that bad but even so the day just dragged. If the dog walkers of NYC were available with their wonderful app, I would have done that, but instead shuffled round the block tonight.
I've had a hot shower and taken myself to bed. I have a very busy month ahead with work and moving so I really hope this is a temporary ague.
I posted the old sofa on a give away group. It had been living with my daughter in Sydney but came home when she moved out. I kept meaning to get it recovered but I actually had it in the house for a bit after I had surgery last year and realised that it was not that comfortable and very low and tricky to get out of so I consigned it back to the garage. It is another candidate for "stop hanging on to stuff you will never get round to and just makes you feel guilty". I couldn't get to it through all the rest of the stuff to take a decent photo so I searched my archives for old ones. The only ones I could find had pets on them so I had to include the disclaimer "dog not included".
Much as I despise Facebook, Facebook marketplace is so much easier to sell through than eBay or gumtree. There seem way less time wasters and stuff goes quickly. I have sold 3 items today which I would otherwise had to have transported to the salvos: a small bedroom chair, a fan and a garden bench. I also gave away the mattress to grateful young couple.
I arranged to pay a friend's teenager daughters to pack books which removes that anxiety. If they do an ok job they can unpack at the other end. I also drove up and had a look through the windows of the new house (currently unoccupied) and assured myself that it will be big enough. I got lost on my way to Ainslie shops which are impossible to find.
I've made myself a fish pie tonight as the fish hater is in Sydney and am looking forward to a night on the sofa.
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