Family friendships that continue down the generations are especially lovely, I think. I've mentioned one or two before, such as Pam and Peter, whom I went to Corfu with last year. And the other day, we had a phone call from Fenella, whose grandparents were great friends with the Sage's parents and whose dad is Ro's godfather (or dogdaddy, as he used to say as a very little boy). She was going to be in the area for a hen weekend and wondered if we might be free on the Sunday evening? We said we'd pick her up and take her out for supper.
Well. Best laid plans ... would have been better if we'd done a bit more checking. We picked her up from the wilderness beyond Diss and set off to find a pub. An hour later - honestly, there were no pubs to be seen in miles! - we finally found one. And it was closed. Finally, we aimed for Diss itself, where all of one pub was open and it didn't serve food. The Chinese takeaway was open! - and it had a restaurant!! - and it was fully booked¡¡¡ for the Chinese New Year!¡!¡ but the very nice waitress relented and said that we could have a table if we could please eat up and leave within half an hour. Which we did, and many thanks to them for a very good meal, exceptionally quickly served. And Happy Year of the Snake.
And today, to celebrate my more-or-less return to eating, we went out to lunch - I know, darlings, boundless enthusiasm for fun and jollity and ha-ha-ha-ha - and in view of the perfectly horrid weather (and that I can't eat much) we had soup, mine was carrot and the Sage's tomato and red pepper. And the Sage bought me tulips, which was very nice of him.
I have also seized control of life by phoning an agency and arranging for two cleaners to come and spend an afternoon here tomorrow. They don't know what's going to hit 'em - this is a beast of a house to keep clean, and I've not been equal to the effort for the last few weeks. Once it's done, I should be able to keep it going for months again. I've come to the conclusion that this probably suits me better than having someone in to do a bit every week.
Well. Best laid plans ... would have been better if we'd done a bit more checking. We picked her up from the wilderness beyond Diss and set off to find a pub. An hour later - honestly, there were no pubs to be seen in miles! - we finally found one. And it was closed. Finally, we aimed for Diss itself, where all of one pub was open and it didn't serve food. The Chinese takeaway was open! - and it had a restaurant!! - and it was fully booked¡¡¡ for the Chinese New Year!¡!¡ but the very nice waitress relented and said that we could have a table if we could please eat up and leave within half an hour. Which we did, and many thanks to them for a very good meal, exceptionally quickly served. And Happy Year of the Snake.
And today, to celebrate my more-or-less return to eating, we went out to lunch - I know, darlings, boundless enthusiasm for fun and jollity and ha-ha-ha-ha - and in view of the perfectly horrid weather (and that I can't eat much) we had soup, mine was carrot and the Sage's tomato and red pepper. And the Sage bought me tulips, which was very nice of him.
I have also seized control of life by phoning an agency and arranging for two cleaners to come and spend an afternoon here tomorrow. They don't know what's going to hit 'em - this is a beast of a house to keep clean, and I've not been equal to the effort for the last few weeks. Once it's done, I should be able to keep it going for months again. I've come to the conclusion that this probably suits me better than having someone in to do a bit every week.
20 comments:
What did you eat? Sweet and sour horse?
Our cleaner is due tomorrow to do her usual 2/12 hours. Very effective she is too!!
I've lost track of the number of times we've said we'll stop when we see somewhere we like the look of and ended up getting no lunch.
Very glad you're able to eat again!
The nice thing about professional cleaners is they've seen it all. Probably they'll think your house is a pleasure!
When we first lived here I had a cleaner 3 mornings a week and it was still barely enough. This house does take a lot of cleaning! But it's not that bad, really, at present. There's just a lot of house.
I wait to see how long it is before I want to drink again now.
We have two cleaners. One for upstairs and one for downstairs.
They are both called Dyson and Holly goes ballistic when thay start up and we have to switch them off.
There's posh, Rog, I didn't know I had friends with two Dysons!
A cleaner is good but I need a tidy upperer and general organiser, do they exist? We had a brilliant one when I was a kid, Mrs Slade. She let me sit in her pull along vacuum as she worked and always had enough lids from cereal packets to order the toy from the back. Brilliant. She is probably about 110 now so I think retired.
We also have two Dysons. And another vacuum for the workshop.
Agencies around here insist on inspecting a house before they'll quote.
Two cleaners for an afternoon won't even get through your house, let alone do it thoroughly. Unless they are superwomen.
That's what my previous cleaner tended to have to do, Zig, tidy up first. It wastes a lot of cleaning time - though sometimes it's worth it!
Two efficient people for five hours will do a fair bit, and I'm paying by the hour. I only phoned up yesterday morning and they had to juggle to fit me in - I'm very glad to have them. Whatever they do, I won't have to.
I used to have two vacuum cleaners in my last house, but that was a bigger house. I've nowhere here to store an upstairs one - besides, I only hoover when I have to.
Enjoy the feeling of a freshly laundered house.
Are you feeling a bit better my dear? What's this, still no booze? That's very worrying.
Talk soon lovely
xx
I always thought that if I got desperate, I would prefer to have a thorough clean than a regular cleaner. We do seem to be heading towards that eventuality,and I found myself pocketing a flyer in Thetford for a cleaning company and pinning it on the board.
When a friend's husband left her with three children, in Kent, she joined a widoed friend in starting up a cleaning agnecy specialising in houses with antiques. They did very well and had to take on quite a few staff who all had to learn how to dust and clean antiques. It quite appealed to me - but I can't be bothered to clean my own house!
One of my friends is a cleaner. She works for herself and chooses her hours (and indeed her clients) to suit herself. Unfortunately, I don't think she would commute to your neck of the woods from Lincolnshire. She has suggested that I ought to go into that line of business myself but it's not really my forte.
It sounds as though eating out in rural Norfolk on a Sunday is about as easy at it is in Lincolnshire. The only pub near my parents that does food on a Sunday is booked up weeks ahead. I remember driving back to my parent's house after a day out one Father's Day. We stopped at 3 pubs before we found one that was serving food. One of the places we tried greeted our enquiry "are you doing food" with such an astonished "on a Sunday?!" that I couldn't help laughing.
No, still no booze and not much food. I did manage a pancake, mind you, which Squiffany cooked for me.
I'm very good at housework, it's just that I can't be bothered to do it. Being paid might tip the balance. Fortunately, I'm unlikely to ever have to actually do it!
To be fair, a lot of places do Sunday lunch, but I've not come across pubs actually shutting on a Sunday evening before.
Sorry to hear you've been feeling rubbish Z.
I'm with Zig. My house is clean, it's just messy. I need a psychic cleaner - who knows where to put things away.
I'll be back to normal soon, I'm sure. I feel fine, just not a lot of energy, but that's because I can't eat.
I don't feel particularly relaxed in an immaculate house. I like to feel as if people live there. And the thought of being afraid to sit down in case a cushion is rumpled isn't my idea of a home either. Nor is anywhere without lots of books.
Years ago, before I acquired a modicum of tact, I walked into a house and asked where they kept their books. I had always assumed that everyone had a wall of books in at least two rooms.audesG
That last bit is part of my WV. I wondered where it had got to!
I've just realised that neither dining room has a bookcase in it. Every other room does except the bathroom, which just has piles of books, and three rooms have at least one wall of books. Actually, we have too many books. It's hard to admit, but true.
I do find that difficult to believe, Z. I appreciate that sometimes the information in out of date textbooks can become superceded by more up to date research, but I can't think of any other reasons for getting rid of old books. When that happens I always retain the older books anyway, as a sort of check/comparison system.
Only a few weeks ago, i had occasion to look up our '60s copy of Encyclopaedia Britannica - no, it's the thousands of books I inherited from my mother plus the thousands of our own, many of which will never be looked at again, a lot of which are potboiler novels. And there are a lot of duplicates, especially of classics. Reference books aren't the problem!
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