A place for everything

Having spent Sunday night sleeping in a hairnet to protect my freshly trimmed locks, a quick pat had it back in place and saw me up and ready to face a new week. Unfortunately, what we saw when we opened the shutters were grey skies and light but insistent rain. Not that that was necessarily a bad thing, water being somewhat important to the burgeoning crops and for the newly planted vegetables in the lotto.

What was a bit of a nuisance was that the weather decided to go all British for three days, with persistent drizzle, and whenever we thought that it had actually stopped, a poke of the head outside showed that it had just been fooling us and was content with just spitting instead. This meant, obviously, that Stephen couldn’t carry on with his work in the garden and changed his focus to matters indoors, spending the next two days organising the large downstairs room that will at some point in this or the next life be summer loft living. He not only tidied the whole area but also rationalised where things were. This means that everything to do with the dogs is here, all garden tools there, general DIY stuff over there and boxes… well, you get the picture.

On the third rain stopped play day he gave the wood block countertops in the kitchen and bathroom some much needed tlc, by sanding them down and then giving them two lovingly applied coats of oil. This put them out of action for most of the day, but being enterprising types we were able to work round the restrictions to complete ablutions and cook lunch without getting so much as single renegade droplet on the surfaces.

Despite the sun reappearing on Thursday morning, when sometime after breakfast while Stephen was on his weekly shopping trip (nothing of interest to report, such things having now settled to being the new norm) the overcast sky gradually gave way to Simpsonesque clouds, he kept the tidying bit between his teeth. This time it was the turn of the garage-cum-wood store to be overhauled, even going so far as to clean the windows. I am aware that this is throwing a glowing light on my beloved, but I don’t want you to think that I was shirking. While he was going the extra mile I was carrying on with the daily routine stuff that keeps the house spick and span, the Cinderella work that all too easily gets overlooked.

Whilst all this was going on at LCDDB, there was less happy news about my father back in Sheffield, but not as bad as first feared. He was taken to hospital on Tuesday night after collapsing in the kitchen to be subsequently diagnosed with a chest infection. To everyone’s relief the test for Covid-19, which you automatically think about, was clear and he was expected to be sent home with medication for the infection when it was firstly discovered that he also had a deficiency of vitamins D and B12, and then that he had some slight problems with his internal workings. The upshot of all this is that he has been in hospital for the rest of the week, but the latest report is that he is doing well, sitting up and is as cheerful as can be expected under the circumstances. Hopefully, it won’t be too long then until he is back home.

Stephen again turned his attention at the end of the week to the bucolic side of life and to chopping down a bit more of the elephant grass overtaking the garden. What was also being chopped down to less than size, disappearing altogether, were some of his newly planted lettuces. For three nights running something had been making off with them, but whatever it was, was obviously a Virgo as one plant was taken each night working down the row from right to left. Stephen’s method of attack was, yesterday, to put down copper around the plants, which has been successful as far as this morning was concerned.

As if that wasn’t enough, whilst the lotto was being attacked at the front of the house, the back was also being besieged by two large colonies of ants, of immense proportions if my beloved is to be believed. These he has dealt a pre-emptive strike, which it is hoped will make them think twice as it was the last of Stephen’s ammunition and there is little chance of fresh supplies till the lockdown is eased and he can get to an ironmongers, ant powder not being something readily available at Sigma.

While Stephen was keeping the house safe outside, I had an unexpected call to action when I received a message on Friday from Daniela, mother of Marzia and aunt of Diego, my Montegranaro stars. With it being highly unlikely that the schools will reopen before September (something confirmed by Prime Minister Conte in his address this evening), and being concerned about keeping M & D on their academic toes, she wondered if I would be in a position to give them lessons by Skype. No doubt there are many who would see this as perfectly normal, but I hope neither of my readers will think the less of me if I admit that I have (a) never used Skype, (b) never had a group video call of any kind and (c) never given a lesson via this medium. So what did I do? I messaged back saying yes of course, of course, then set about a sharp learning curve, downloading the application and sorting out a lesson to deliver via it on Monday.

And that is about it, but I thought you might like to know that the quince tree I mentioned a couple of weeks ago and which I have been monitoring closely has brightened up the past week having opened up its delicately pink blossoms, reminiscent of wild roses. I had hoped that in a perfectly aligned synchronicity its blossoming would coincide with the end of lockdown, but that is obviously not the case. However, with falling numbers of infections and signs that the Government has plans for the staged resumption of quasi-normal service, the blossoms are a hopeful sign for the coming summer.