Day One of Occupation

When I left you last night I was about to head back to the Old School having had a lovely meal with my parents at their hotel. I drove back at quite high speed, hitting some major potholes on the way and making myself reconsider my driving style around here; I may have big wheels and heavy suspension but that just means that any breakages will cost me double. At least.

 

That didn't last the winter...

My long held plan has been to sit on my balcony on the first night here, drinking an exceptional whisky, and listening to the sounds of the world at sleep. With this in mind when I arrived I went through the rigmarole of unlocking the front door (I had to pull Thomas round for light), going up to room 13 to get Julian’s keys (I had decided to leave them here; don’t ask me why!) and then going back down to get a torch out. From now on, one torch in each vehicle; for emergencies. It was a little eerie walking into the school and the sound of the wind flapping the rags of the plastic sheeting we had put over the windows in the upstairs landing was quite off putting. It really is a good thing that I’m not scared of the dark else I would have been running away at this point.

 

Lagavulin Feis Ile 2013 in hand

I carried a chair, my selected bottle of whisky, a whisky glass, the camera, the tripod and the torch round to the lowest corner of my balcony. Now I have vaulted myself up there before but in the dark and alone I decided caution was best so I went back to Thomas and removed the ladder from his roof. It did not take me long to be set up with the camera on timer and the whisky in my glass. The dram of choice was the very last of the spirit in my Lagavulin Feis Ile 2013; one of the best whiskies I have tasted and a really fitting way to empty the bottle. I posed for the picture, and then sat there sipping and listening and looking and appreciating the peace.

 

My local town glittering in the dark

It was so quiet I could hear some insects munching on the bark of the tree near me and I am sure that I saw Mars in the night sky; whatever it was it had a red hue and was not like any star I’ve seen before. The moon was out and very bright and it was not long before my eyes had become so accustomed to the light levels that I could see everything. My local town was glittering in the valley below me and I could even see the hotel my parents were staying in.

Too soon the whisky ran out and, as it was a little chilly, I climbed down and took myself to bed in Julian. It was so light that I didn’t need the torches anymore; having stumbled towards the balcony half an hour before I walked confidently in bright light back the same way. The eyes are incredible, and the moon was just so bright.

I lay in bed for a bit, made a deal with Sassy to keep quiet (which she did, amazingly) and texted a few people at 7p a minute; some people are worth texting I suppose. The night was so quiet I couldn’t hear a single noise; it was incredible I have never heard silence like it before. I don’t remember falling asleep but I did and I slept right through until about 7am when I woke to the sound of a few birds and cockerels, and the dog next door barking for its breakfast. I stayed in bed until the sun peeped through the windows and then jumped out of bed to start the day.

 

Sassy re-checking out her cage

The first task I set myself was to get Sassy out of Julian and into her normal cage in the school. This did not take me long as I knew where everything was (apart from the little plastic right angles which keep the top part rigid, but I have managed without them) and pretty soon I had worked out where she should be as well. I prepared her cage and then went to Julian. I had the travel cage ready but, when I picked her up, she was quite calm and so I just carried her in and upstairs and put her carefully on the top level, with the water and food and hay. She has (as far as I’m aware) stayed there ever since but her sulk is less than it was going into Julian because she is eating and drinking, and saying hello whenever I walk past. I now need to work out a way of letting her have a space she can run around in, unsupervised. It will happen in time I am sure.

 

Marking of the dates

One thing I woke up thinking about was having a wall calendar and marking the days off on it; I have never done this before but I think it would be nice to have this as a morning ritual and just to be able to keep track of the days as they pass. We’ll see how long this lasts but I did find a Thomann calendar that Dan had given me and hung it on the wall with a sharpie on a bit of string hanging with it. I’m all set for this innovation.

There then followed a few minutes of indecision; what to do first? I had a pile of stuff in one of the downstairs rooms which would need to be put into a more weather proof location (it has been known to rain every now and then in March and April) but I also had a pile of “saved things” from when the school was a school at the back of Room 13. I decided that the thing to do was to clear out everything that didn’t belong for my living space and move those items to a semi permanent location for storing until I had time to devote to going through them, cleaning them up, and restoring the ones I wanted.

 

The beginning of the fire...

However, as I think I will find a lot, there is never a direct path to an ultimate goal and before I could do anything I had to clear the room where I was going to store things; the nook just outside what will be the kitchen. I started out by pulling everything flammable out of the room; old clothes, pieces of paper, wood, plastic, linoleum, etc and took it out back to the burning location. I recovered the oil drum and carried that back there too and then, with a single fire lighter, I caused a conflagration.

 

Hot milk, with sugar to add

I was on one of many trips when the lady from next door appeared, having seen me come out of Julian, bearing a tray with hot milk and sugar on it. She had prepared three cups however I explained that the parents were in a hotel and so she said “you drink them all” and left me the tray. How lovely these people are. I am going to have to ask Bekir to negotiate work for Smiling Mush and Special Son to do the fencing of my land as soon as possible; it will be good to give them some real paid work.

 

A traffic jam in Old School land

As I was moving things around I went into one of the upstairs rooms and looked out the window to just take a breather for a minute, and survey the view. What should I see but the morning rush hour, bustling across my front yard. How busy it gets around here. In all seriousness I have seen one car so far today. That is it. One.

 

Chimney effect on my fire

I pulled the last of the burnable items out of the nook and took them round to my burning drum and shoved them all in and then realised that I had probably over filled it and I would have to stay there until it had burned down to a safe level. As I was putting the wood into the fire I arranged it in such a way to cause a really impressive chimney effect with the flames roaring up through the channel, and the air being pulled in down the other side. I stood with the fire for a good 15-20 minutes, picking up burning items which had fallen out every now and then, and attempting to encourage the fire to burn down. Finally I was able to leave it as everything was below the level of the barrel. Another lesson learned.

 

Look at the knees on that!

I set myself the target of clearing the whole store room, and getting everything I wanted down there moved down before I would allow myself breakfast. I achieved this goal after a lot of sweeping and heaving and lifting at about 10.30am and then I was in Julian and frying myself a couple of bacon and egg butties. I probably slightly overfaced myself with two and should only have had one but I enjoyed them, washed down with a couple of the orange juice cartons. Once again the tripod and timer came in useful as I was able to get a self portrait of a Bearded Man At His Breakfast.

After the initial promise of the sun shining into Julian this morning today has been overcast and a bit chilly. The sun has poked through every now and then and, thankfully, it did just that while I was eating. I was not cold even in my shorts and sandals and I savoured the smells of my land; the bushes I was sat next to are really fragrant and every now and then a waft would enter my nostrils. Lovely. A couple of finches were chatting and flitting through the trees above my head and all in all it was a lovely way to spend a few minutes contemplating and relaxing.

 

I have a larder

No rest for the wicked though as now I decided I would put up some shelves and also set up my desk in room 13. I picked the small book shelf as the first thing to put together and, after starting off doing it the most difficult way possible, I remembered the easy way and it was put up and bearing my larder in almost no time.

And so to do the desk. I could not find the fixing for it anywhere and I searched and searched and then suddenly had a brainwave and sure enough, they were in a plastic bag tucked at the back of one of the cupboards in Julian. Every single other set of fittings is in a jiffy bag, labelled, and packed in a specific place but I had put transported these ones completely differently. Sometimes I wonder about myself I really do.

Butterfly stretching its wings

As I was walking down the corridor to the store room with another couple of bits to put in there I noticed, on one of the window ledges, a couple of lovely butterflies huddled against the pain; I fancy that they were in there trying to warm up behind the glass. I may try and encourage them to go outside a bit later but I don’t want to harm them trying to pick them up; hopefully they will fly out on their own.

 

Slightly clearer Room 13

True to my previous comment that the path to a goal seems to be very winding here, before I could bring the desk up and assemble it I decided to scrape the walls around the window; these hadn’t been done before because of all the saved stuffed piled up. I spent a very satisfying half hour or so with the scraper taking as much of the loose paint off as I could. I think this room will stay very much as it is until the first stage of the renovations is complete so it is important to do a few things before putting furniture in place.

 

Desk station

A couple of trips with the bucket full of flaked paint and I was ready to bring the desk up. I huffed and puffed and lifted the individual components up the stairs; no mean feat as they are very heavy indeed. I then set to and very quickly assembled the parts. I bribed myself again that once I had the frame (the drawer uprights, and the back piece) assembled I would put the kettle on and then after I had put the top on I would sit down with a brew and start writing this blog. My bribe worked and here I sit, at my desk, writing this blog and looking out of the window.

 

Unhomed spider looking for a new place to live

I disturbed a family of spiders when I was scraping the walls and I have just seen one of them creeping along the windowsill and hiding underneath it; I welcome spiders as they eat nasty bugs and horrible flies so I said “hello mr spider” and took his picture.

 

Housewarming gift

I also remembered that I meant to take a picture of this lovely flower which my friend left for me to welcome me here. Thank you so much, it was such a pretty thing to walk in and see and really helped to welcome me last night.

My plan now is to go and empty the roof box on Thomas and remove it, and then put up the two large book shelves into this room. I had thought about getting my amplifier and speakers out, and my record player, but I think I need to get a rug down in this room to keep the dust down a bit before I start thinking about that.

Later on I will be at my friends house with my parents for dinner which I am really looking forward to. It will be good to see her again, and for my parents to meet her. I will possibly add to this update later, but I can’t promise to. Right, I’m back to it.

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So I am back but not much more to add. Had a lovely evening with excellent food and good company with my parents and my friend. Tomorrow we may meet her again into town but maybe not. I need to sort my local health insurance out, and I need to get my residency but that will have to wait for the insurance. I am gasping to get internet in at the school, after the MiFi has just failed totally; maybe tomorrow I'll get to this satellite company or maybe the day after. Anyway, gonna sign off now and go home to sleep; thanks for reading.