Stormy Sunday

Last night was quite a disturbed night. First of all the wind was so bad that Julian was rocking and rolling which prevented me dropping off and then the same wind drove me out and upstairs onto the balcony as the plastic sheeting window frame, which used to be in the bedroom and had been put out on the balcony. The sound of it flapping and banging was just too loud so I dashed upstairs to put it inside as the thought of it blowing off the edge and landing on Julian in the night really perturbed me.

The morning dawned lovely and bright...

Once I got back into bed the wind dropped which was just typical, but at least the wind was no longer rocking the camper and I managed to drop off eventually. Later on I woke in the night to the sound of rain falling; not heavily but it still woke me and, unusually, I was unable to drop off and I lay there for an uncertain amount of time before finally getting back to nod. From that point I did sleep OK but woke feeling a bit tired and jaded and attempted to pretend I was still asleep for a fair while. Initially I thought it was cloudy and miserable again however when I emerged I found that the wind (which was up again when I woke) was blowing underneath a clear blue sky.

I put the kettle on, made the brew, but then without even taking a sip I went back out to do my chores. Rambo was suitably super bouncy as befitted the sunny weather and I got everything watered quickly and easily with the bez pare water running so I could use the hose for the pots. I know it had rained in the night but still the trees are bedding in, and I was also aware that the wind would be drying out the plants faster than usual.

.. but twenty minutes later it was horrible

As I was doing the rounds the lovely weather changed rapidly and this picture was taken twenty minutes after the first blue sky shot, from the balcony, and you can see the rain falling from the clouds just up the valley. The rain didn't actually go over the top of me but the high winds did keep blowing some drops in my direction. This would be the pattern for the day.

I headed back inside, drank my tea, had some (not very nice) toast and sat and stared at the wind blowing the trees wildly out of the window in Room 13. A feeling of uncertainty came over me and the more I watched the trees thrash, the more overwhelmed by this feeling I became. I have noticed a lot since I've come here just how much the weather has been influencing my mood and the restlessness of the wind was really affecting me.

A bit more scything done

After a bit I decided to snap out of it and get some stuff done, namely get out and do some more scything. The simplicity of the action and the repetitiveness I felt sure would ground me again and the feeling of satisfaction at achieving a target would also help. I took my kit round, did a little sharpen, and then got myself swinging. I was disturbed once by the cousin from the farm below who was again saying I was working too hard, but he left quickly and I got back onto it. I stopped a couple of times to cork the hay over to the drying area and after an hour or so I had done enough for me to decide to go in and have a cup of tea and relax.

Jesus is a determined little chappy

When I got upstairs I realised that I had forgotten that I'd arranged for one of my good mates, who emigrated to Australia last year, to speak on skype with me but I was only a couple of minutes late and he was still there so we had a really lovely chat, including me taking the laptop for a walk around upstairs to show him a few bits. I had to call the call to an end after half an hour as I hadn't had a chance to get a brew and while I was thirsty when I first came in I was gasping by that point.

Loose plaster all removed

I had my brew, and a bit of a chat online, and then I put my safety equipment (hard hat and safety goggles) on and climbing the ladder started pulling the loose plaster from the ceiling in the bedroom. I was not at it for long but did everything that I could safely do while climbing a too-short ladder. I have pulled every single loose piece down and now I really need to get a tall platform so I can reach the plaster to use a more subtle tool. This is now top of my list to buy this week. The noise the plaster made as it crashed nearly 3m to the floor was incredible, and I'm really quite surprised I didn't do my head more injury the other week when I came down on me.

The plaster I pulled down

Having completed this task to my immediate satisfaction I went and had some baked beans on toast for lunch. I was feeling a lot less unsettled than first thing but still today has been an unusual day and I was uncertain what to do next. Having done a small amount of scything my immediate feeling was that I should go out and do a bit more however I was feeling hot and sticky and also every time I left Room 13 the mess out on the landing was upsetting me. This decided my task and I first of all went and cleared all the fallen plaster from the bedroom then swept and cleaned and tidied the landing, top corridor, and hoover and cleaned inside Room 13.

My super sized Sunday roast

Feeling much better (maybe the untidiness that has been building the past few days had also contributed to my mood) I went and had a lovely shower and this completed the improvement of my mood. I had defrosted the chicken over night and put it on to cook after lunch on a low heat and the tatties were already in roasting when I came back upstairs. I chopped the veg and parsnips and then put them on to cook at the correct time and finally, looking as good as it has smelt and tasting even better, it was time to eat. Wow what a lovely meal and I am now officially stuffed.

As per usual I have loads of chicken left over so I'll be dealing with the carcass tomorrow, and maybe even do the boiling down to make stock as well. So that's the end of today as I'm not going to type any more now. This week is looking busy with me hopefully getting Lucy back tomorrow and maybe even collecting the four chickens, then on Wednesday I'm going to pick up Rocky the new dog and also have lunch with Chaz and Ivan. A week tomorrow I think T is back and Bekir and Sally will be over, with some other workmen, to start the roof so I need to get back into the attic to continue clearing it. On top of this I obviously have paid work to do as well.