So what did you do on St. David’s Day?
We had a fun-filled, action-packed day. I woke full of
enthusiasm for the day ahead. Actually, that’s not true – I never feel like that in the mornings. I’m
not a morning person. Annoyingly, Barry is. He’s very chipper from the moment
he wakes and still, after four decades, attempts to engage me in conversation
first thing. Two of the daughters are larks like him. Gillian is ready to talk
as soon as she gets out of bed. Susannah gets up ridiculously early – half-way
through the night, really – and is busy and bright all day until she’s exhausted
and ready for bed by six o’clock eight o’clock nine o’clock. The
son and the other daughter are more like me. Gareth’s approachable but quiet.
Bethan has warning signs all over her. She’s polite but don’t push your luck.
As for me I’ve learnt that if I chatter and smile too early in
the day I’ll end up in a bad mood. I’m an owl. That’s to say, I used to be an owl, able and happy to
stay up half the night. Things changed when the babies came along. What a silly
expression that is – ‘when the babies came along.’ It sounds as though they had
free will in the matter and trotted into my life as and when the mood took
them. What’s that? Gooseberry bushes and storks? Really? You believe all that?
Tsk!
These days I’m more of a half-past-two-in-the-afternoon sort
of person. I build up to that pinnacle which lasts about an hour and then experience
a rapid decline. Then I sleep. At least, I try
to sleep. I’m a light sleeper and the smallest sound wakes me. My theory is
that I’m alert all night because of the training I received at the hands of the
crying babies who became comfort-seeking infants and then trying teenagers.
Some days one teenager would be getting up in the morning as another came
through the door to go to bed. Barry slept through all of that. I don’t mean he
was Rip Van Winkle, just that as a young officer he acquired the knack of
sleeping through anything. Army training, eh? Bit worrying, though - if these
army types can ignore disturbances how do they know when it would be advisable
to wake up and do something? Does part of the brain listen out for stealthy
footsteps or differentiate between the insistent cry of a toddler and the
approach of a rioting crowd?
Anyway, last night the dogs were restless. Bertie’s tummy was
gurgling and whistling and the last time that happened, a couple of weeks ago,
he made a hasty and unsuccessful attempt to vacate the house. Instead he
vacated himself on the stairs, poor boy, at two thirty in the morning. So,
while I was cleaning and disinfecting the stairs Barry and the other animals –
no, let me rephrase that, the rest of the animals and Barry - snored through
it. That night I didn’t get back to sleep until dawn.
As it turned out Bertie was fine. Frodo was bumbling round and
somehow got tangled up in the chair that serves as my bedside table (!! that’s another story!!) and knocked
it over. Barry snored!
It was foggy in the
morning but gradually the sun burnt through and it was a lovely day, perfect for
a bracing walk with the dogs. I intended to go in the gym and also have a swim.
At one o’clock the washing machine and tumble dryer switched on. At the same
time the pond pumps came on. A couple of minutes later the internet went down
and half the electricity in the house cut out. That’s when we discovered the
meaning behind ‘emergency cover’ and that our insurance didn’t cover us because
we still had some electricity. We also discovered that the main switch for the
electricity was locked on and we could no longer shut off the power.
The electrician who came admitted that he came into the house
full of optimism that a solution to the problem would soon be found. An hour
later he was less hopeful. Two hours on he was wishing he was a plumber! He checked
all the sockets in the house – oh, the shame of it! If I’d known every nook and
cranny was going to be investigated I’d have vacuumed every corner and washed all
the paintwork and put away all the piles of (Barry’s)
stuff.
Eventually, Dave-the-Electrician located the problem in a
forgotten and unused socket in the dining room. Sawing noises ensued as the
floor was opened to reveal sixty-year-old wiring that had seen better days. By the time he left, around six o’clock, the
dogs were tired from the unusual activity and we called it a day and had supper
early.
It was an interesting start to the month. In the summer we’ll
have the wiring replaced in the old part of the house. That will be fun!
