The
nose piece of my CPAP machine burst in the small hours and I woke with a nose
full of what I can only describe as warm Vaseline. Yuk! I didn’t (couldn’t)
get back off to sleep after that.
When
I tried to get up I could barely move; those rocks in the garden are too heavy
to keep moving them about (like I seem to be doing an awful lot these days).
But I heaved my carcass out of its pit, tiddled the puppies, and made toast
which I scoffed whilst having my usual trawl of the Internet.
As
I peered into the Internet Bailey came downstairs and asked to go out. I’m
taking that as something of a result as “doing their business” is still
very hit-and-miss. Mind you I’m hoping she went out to make a deposit and not a
withdrawal. She still does snack on the occasional turd; seeing them as
something of a delicacy.
Can’t
see it myself.
The
internet was still there. I used it to send out my birthday video to “My Boy
TM”, and to one of the girls at work. She looks about the same
age as him. I wonder if they were born on the same day? I wonder how I might
ask without appearing nosey?
I
read that “Wheels of Time” had received an Ashford Borough Council Platinum
Jubilee Civic Award yesterday. “Wheels of Time” is a local heritage
group about which I knew absolutely nothing. It
looks quite interesting; I wonder how many other local groups like that are out
there about which I know absolutely nothing.
As
I walked out to find my car I saw a “For Sale” notice board on
nice-next-door. I wonder who will move in there next? No one ever stays in that
house for very long. We moved here in September 1991 when that house was
occupied by a little old lady who kept herself to herself.
She
was replaced by the mother-in-law of the other neighbours. We got on well with
her to the disgust of those other neighbours.
After
her it is all something of a blur. I can't remember the exact order, and I may
have forgotten some ...
There
was the drunk Irishman who would play crap music incredibly late at night.
There
were two young Australian ladies who would sunbathe in the garden in the nip (I
liked them).
There
was a Nigerian family who would never pull the blind in their toilet window.
There
were two young lads who were great fun.
There
was another Nigerian fellow who would regularly have a "crafty Joddrell"
into the toilet in the evenings; the shadows of which on their bathroom blind
were rather entertaining
There
was the odd couple who tried to blame the flood in their upstairs bathroom on
my downstairs washing machine.
There
was the young family who ran away owning thousands (we had the debt
collectors asking after them for months).
There
were the people with three dogs each of which was the size of a cart-horse.
There
was the nice couple who moved round the corner to Francis Road.
There
was the lot who did noisy sex and who moved out in May 2018
There
was the lot who used to run the Elwick Club and went on to run the Albion.
There
was the lot who felt they were paying far too much rent who moved in on 9 March
2020 and left 1 August 2020 to go live in a caravan on the Romney Marsh.
The
current chap moved in sometime in September 2020… and now he’s going.
In
between all of them the house was empty for a year (on two occasions)
Mind
you I wouldn’t want to live next door to me…
I
drove round to the abode of the first fruit of my loin and collected “My Boy
TM” and Cheryl. We left Lacey with instructions to make sure
that Ro-Ro was sent out for a tiddle. I suggested her boyfriend also be sent
out for a tiddle too (better safe than sorry), but favourite oldest
granddaughter wasn’t amused.
We
went to the pond shop. I needed a fountain attachment thingy for the pond. But I
didn’t know what model of pump it was for; the chap who lived next door three
neighbours ago gave it to me (and it was years old then), so I took part
of the pump into the pond shop. The nice man rummaged in his box of spares and
gave me exactly the bit I needed. And didn’t charge me for it either.
From
there we went on to Dad’s house where we made a start on clearing up. Ornaments
and keepsakes need distributing, photos need scanning, shed needs emptying… We
got loads done. There’s still loads to do, but we got all the family photos
down and the ornaments out of the living room. It doesn’t look like mum and dad’s
living room any more, and that is a good thing.
With
tidying tidied we then went up to the
Conqueror’s March for a family dinner; after all today was “My Boy TM”
‘s birthday. I must admit that I wasn’t expecting much of the place. I thought
it would be just like a Wetherspoons with microwaved ready-meals. I was wrong.
The food was excellent. And as an added bonus we met an ex-cub scout, and a
friend from my days in the Boys Brigade that I hadn’t seen in over twenty
years.
We came home. I installed
the pond’s new fountain attachment, unpacked the ornaments from Dad’s house
that I’d wanted (I expect I’ll go back for more…), supervised the dogs
doing “shares” with the lamb bone that “er indoors TM”
brought home from the pub, and then watched the dogs eating a celebration tea
of sardines. Today was also Treacle’s birthday…
I really do feel that I
now need a day off to recover from this weekend…
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