Pee Stains On The Landing

 


Old Albert has been having accidents fairly regularly now
I think his “ thinking” has changed a little…some organic changes perhaps 
He’s clingy and reluctant to go outside. 
He paces the house and is awake on the bed at night when he used to patrol the garden.
I’ve tested his wee stains no sign of infection.
I’ll buy a litter tray on Saturday 
In the meantime I’ve got a carpet cleaner.
I looked at the old boy this morning before leaving for work.
And my heart ached for him just a little 

He was sitting on the window sill , his deformed leg bent painfully to one side. 
Waiting for his breakfast .
He’s been a constant here for fourteen years
A best supporting actor to the leading dog actresses 

They break your heart don’t they?



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Job

Job

On Monday, I received a letter from the Teachers' Pensions organisation telling me that they had made a mistake when first calculating my occupational  pension. They were very sorry but as a result of this error I owed them just shy of £100.

On Tuesday, I received a letter from the NS&I (National Savings and Investments) telling me that I had won £100 on the Premium Bonds - inviting me to confirm my identity and secure the prize.

"The Lord giveth and The Lord taketh away"  - Book of Job (Chapter 1). Or in my case "The Lord taketh away and The Lord giveth" - Book of Pudding (Chapter 13).

Pressure from her ladyship has resulted in me agreeing to update our small front room. We have already paid out almost £1000 to replace our old inefficient living gas fire with a new glass-fronted, and infinitely more efficient fire that we might actually use this winter instead of always relying on the central heating radiator.

We have also arranged for our leather Layzee-Boy sofas to be reupholstered. They should have served us far longer but two of the armrests have disappointingly worn out in just five years. The new covering will be of a lighter coloured, good quality fabric.

On Monday, we went to "Atkinsons" department store to order a new carpet and we have plans to decorate the front room when the sofas have been taken away but before the carpet is fitted. As you can imagine, there's a bit of juggling and finger crossing to do before (hopefully) it all comes together.

But then...

We have never had any significant damp problems in this house. It has been  pretty water tight. But two weeks ago we discovered a possible damp issue on our bedroom ceiling. Maybe the flashing around the chimney has been compromised. And then yesterday in the very room we are updating I discovered certain damp on the pillar wall adjacent to our bay window. Oh no!

It is not rising damp. It is rain water that is somehow penetrating the brick wall but where is it coming from? It can be very hard to determine the source of such problems but we really need to solve the matter before decorating the room.

Today I was up our tall stepladders removing the silicone that sealed the gap between the external brickwork and the UPVC bay window we had installed over twenty years ago. I could not see any glaring gaps or cracks in the sealant but there's a good chance that this may be where the water has got in. 

Tomorrow morning I will be up that ladder again with a sealant gun re-filling the gap with fresh silicone but with very limited confidence that this work will solve the problem. I just can't figure out where else the water might be coming from.

To finish, here's another wise quote from The Book of Job: "Yet man is born unto trouble, as the sparks fly upward". He must have been thinking about our damp problem.


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Latin flair

 Latin beats

Match the Cuban roots

And I’m swaying

Hips groove

Knowing 

Our heritage

Never leaves us

My soul smiles

With the rhythm

And rhyme

With the knowledge

That my abuelita

Would laugh

And say

I told you so



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Objects Of My Affection

 


The Anonymous Arsehole Commentator will be shaking themselves into a apoplectic fit of the vapours with today’s post for sure as I’m talking money. 
Ok I’ve got a few theatre trips booked, ok I’m off to London with my nephew, but like everyone else in the country, I have and increased amount in bills per month now so have a need to save a bit of money where I can.



I’m going to have clear out.
Only yesterday I looked at a wood cut print of two geese, I have hanging on my stairs .
I looked at it as if I had never seen it before.
It’s pretty enough, I thought, but over twenty years it has been ignored and not enjoyed and so I moved it where I could see it more clearly.
This one thought and action has prompted me to sell some of the unseen, unwanted and not needed items I have around the house. 
I feel a car boot on the way
With a few smaller items earmarked for eBay 

Within three minutes I had the starters collected
A bespoke early Victorian corner cupboard from a Northumbrian farmhouse.( above)
A broken Art Deco mantle clock
Some silver pieces, tarnished and isolated on a bookshelf 
A pretty Staffordshire sheep
A tea caddy without its liner
Old dvds and books , flamingo containers, bits of treen, plant pots , an Art Deco bedside cabinet, 
Oh and some antique Italian marble fruit bought from an antique shop ran by my sister’s mother in law in the 1980s.




I must admit that a proud little Staffordshire Greyhound who was sat unloved in the duck egg blue bookcase I fell in love with all over again and I moved him to a new spot in the limelight in my bathroom but the cull will be extensive yet compassionate me thinks 
Sentiment is a big emotion with me and the pieces that I love will be kept and dusted and looked at with affection. 


I will leave you with this video. 
An audience made into a choir
Rather stunning
I have sung in a choir that seemingly out of nowhere made something equally as emotional and as beautiful as that video and it’s a magical place to be 






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