I made toast (with peanut butter and marmalade) and
peered into the Internet. I’ve kept up a passing acquaintance with it this last
week, but today I had a look-see to find out what I had missed. So many emails;
none of which were of any interest to me. I unsubscribed from seemingly a
million and one mailing lists. Does anyone read the corporate drivel these
companies and charities send out?
Being Saturday we drove round to the Repton estate for Dog Club. As we drove so the heavens opened, but we thought we’d chance it. Attendance at Dog Club was down, but a dozen dogs ran riot for half an hour or so. Morgan got rather over-excited as he does; Treacle grumbled at all and sundry as she does. But a good time was had by all; even if most of it was spent standing under the trees sheltering from the rain.
As we drove home Steve was doing the Mystery Year on the radio. I thought it was 1980 but it might just possibly have been 1981. It was 1984.
We came home. I put a load of washing in to scrub, had a
cuppa and a bit of cake, and had a look at the final accounts for Dad’s estate.
Here’s a tip. If ever you find yourself being an executor, when you chase up
companies and councils for outstanding money and you are told that the bills
are all settled and there are no refunds, wait a while and ask again. The pension
people gave us a bung a month ago when they said last year there was no more
money to be paid out. And the council tax people who told me the bill had been
finalized last year have now told me they owe us over five hundred quid.
I then decided to take the bull by the horns and had a serious look at the new pond pressure filter. Every week or so I run out the hose and give it an emptying, but according to the instructions the thing needs a “deep clean” a couple of times a year. So, deep cleaning it was. I knew it was going to be a mucky job and without going into graphic detail, let’s just say that there was fish shit everywhere and I had to send for an utterly unimpressed “er indoors TM” who was wearing a dustbin liner for protection.
The biggest problem I had was that because the electrical extension I’d installed specifically for the new filter didn’t work I’d buried the filter’s electrical cable to channel it to another power socket. I’d mistakenly put most of the slack cable at the wrong end and had left myself an incredibly short length of cable with which to work. Oh how I laughed when I found that the reason that the electrical extension didn’t work was that I hadn’t plugged it in.
Having had a go once I now know how I will proceed in
future. I shall turn it all off, disconnect the hoses and the leccie, carry the
whole thing to the drain and upend it into the humungous flower pot (suspended
over the drain) that I used to use for cleaning the old filters. Being a
sealed pressure filter I will be able to get the device to the drain without
making a mess on the way.
With most of the fish shit mopped up, “er indoors TM”
took the dogs to the Warren with Cheryl. I would have liked to have gone too,
but instead I finished up the clean-up and then dug up the filter’s cable (when
I installed it I’d buried it!), and made that all good. A few seconds to
type, an hour to do.
With cable sorted I hung out the washing. Just as I
finished, my phone rang. It was Cheryl. Would I drive over to them with my keys
to the “er indoors TM” – mobile? “er indoors TM”’s
set was locked in the car. I would have driven over *if” I had my set of
keys, but they would have been either in the key cupboard or in my pocket. They
were in neither place. As an emergency locksmith was phoned for so I ransacked “er
indoors TM”’s handbag collection (she has a few) and
found her set of keys. Clearly she’d taken mine… though how remains a mystery.
With emergency locksmith cancelled I drove over to the
Warren and opened the car.
We came home, had a bit of dinner, and sat by the pond for a bit. And then realizing that gardening doesn’t do itself I cracked on cutting back the jungle overflowing from not-so-nice-next-door, and then re-arranged the rockery a little.
“er indoors TM” boiled up a very good bit of dinner which we scoffed whilst watching the first two episodes of the new re-make of “Quantum Leap”; not so much re-make as a continuation some thirty years later. It was rather good…
No comments:
Post a Comment