'NEW SKILLS' TOOK A BACK SEAT! - Jan 2015

So ... for several weeks now, or even months, I have intended to inform you of my new found skills but other things keep getting in the way. On this occasion, I blame 2015 which has crept up on my blind side like Stealth itself and hit me smack in the face at point blank range. 

Sometimes it is necessary to write a blog entry which is topical or seasonal, and if it is not written there and then, the moment has passed. However, it can take a while to prepare for publication. Once a topic has been chosen, I sift through folders lurking in the depths of my laptop for suitable photos to illustrate my stories. I read, re-read and spell-check my efforts. If it takes such preparation to create something as simple as a blog entry, why was I ever fooled into thinking something as potentially complicated as Jools Holland's Annual Hootenanny show was live? It was only last night as we celebrated the arrival of the new year that I was informed that his show is pre-recorded. So maybe, I should take heed from Jools and prepare my blog entries in anticipation of the event - but that's difficult when I can't predict what could be worthy of an entry.

So, if I were to spend this very moment writing about my 'new skills' and allow my festive entry to take a back seat, I could find myself wishing you a Happy New Year some time in the future when your thoughts are focused on what to pack for your summer holidays. 

Not that I have much to say about Christmas and the new year other than to say,  just like 2014, it's come and gone in a flash!

We have spent the last two winters and Christmas around the log fire in the lounge. But our lounge has been out of use for several months. We had the intention of spending the summer months working on it so it would be ready for us to take over again once the cold weather returned. 

However, summer was unexpectedly hot and dry. It seemed a waste of good weather to spend it working inside a dark, damp room, so a decision was made to only work inside during rainy days, and we would work outside during the fine days. But . . . throughout the whole of the summer, we only had about 4 wet days. This resulted in the cold weather appearing well before the lounge was anywhere near ready.

Approximately 3 weeks before Christmas, this was the state of the lounge . . .

We spent three solid weeks pointing up walls, sanding and oiling ceiling joists and boards before painting any ceiling and walls we could. It is now starting to feel homely.

Then, with only 3 days left til Christmas day, just as we had started tiling the floor, we discovered that what we thought was a soundly rendered wall, which just needed a coat of paint, was in fact far from it. The cement was crumbling and had to be completely removed. This revealed some very wet stonework which needed time to dry out. 

Tiling the remainder of the floor was put on hold until the festive season had passed. So we moved back into a half finished lounge for Christmas.


Each year we buy a real Christmas tree. This year was no different, but as the lounge wasn't ready, we temporarily erected it in the room we had been using as a makeshift lounge. 

As it happened, this small tree fit so expertly into the small space it occupied, so we decided to leave it in its place, and I put an old artificial tree into the lounge.

Now with seasonal celebrations well behind us, and the tree now well and truly unceremoniously dumped outside waiting for the secateurs to come and pluck it like a Christmas goose, into sizeable chunks for the log burner, I am left scratching my head wondering how it is that the fake tree has left more fallen pine needles in its wake than the real one!!

All that's left is to wish every one of you a very enjoyable 2015.




Next blog - New skills ... maybe?