I promised to be back here again in the Autumn but the horror of the building process plus all the moving out and moving in and packing and unpacking again - followed by the unstoppable juggernaut of Christmas - reduced me to a dust-covered wraith, fit for nothing. Not waving but drowning, as Stevie Smith wrote. Or, as in my case, not blogging but coughing. Not writing but whining. 
There's something particularly nightmarish about house-trashing. Builders take it in their stride - just knock this wall down, chuck out this bath, pile up more stuff on the garden, whey-hey, lets make a big heap of rubble! I hope these two photographs convey something of the existential dread I felt when I took them - direct evidence of impermanence - how easily things fall apart. Of course I chose all this - along with Him Outdoors. We made it happen, so have only each other to blame, and on bad days, we did just that. Whose idea was this? Yours. No, yours. Another perk of married life. My more positive-thinking friends remind me that life, even the difficult part, is about learning. Preparation maybe for some final exam? My trouble is that I seem to learn painful truths only after the event - in this case that I don't like DIY and am no good at it, that packing and unpacking is horrible, that mess and clutter make me edgy, that planning processes are labyrinthine and stressful, and that if you move house and start on a building project you get all of the above and more. I kind of knew this before, but now I really know it. A new neural pathway is gouged deeply into my brain. It says NEVER AGAIN. Too late
Of course, as other cheery-up friends and family say, it'll all be worth it when it's done. I've not reached worth-it yet but it is looking better. The builders have left, we are back in the house and the new extension gives us a lot more space and light. H.O.'s garden workshop is nearly built, the kitchen is modern and easy, most of the rubble heaps have gone. I've just planted two apple trees and spring will probably come.
Happy New Year!
Lovely to see a blog update and oh can so identify with what you've planned, done and now feel. Just finished a tapestry saying
ReplyDelete' Life is lived forwards
but understood backwards'
the extension looks fabulous and you are now on the right side of the whole project - in my experience often the worst bit - when the end is in sight but still annoyingly far away and you get stuck in can't do that job until that is finished and you can't do that until someone has the time to do this first - screaming ab dabs!!!
Jo x x
Thanks - tapestry sounds great. Are you selling them?
DeleteYes Heather I will be. They are all quite new and are about to be hung in Bleneo's Bistro
Deleteand are on my website as well joannamartinartist.weebly.com
glad you liked it
Jo x x
Hi Heather and Roger,
ReplyDeleteWell done having got this far. We're going to go through a similar process this year as we sell up and downsize, so not very encouraged right now! However, I bet your kitchen and workshop (and the rest) make it all worth it in the end.
Love and happy new year to both of you
Jo and Liz x
You're younger - and you haven't been to France and back in the last few years - which involved packing and unpacking twice - so it'll be a breeze for you! Fingers crossed.
ReplyDeleteHi, I've only come across your blog today - just the thing I needed. My wife and I are looking to move up to the Derbyshire Dales from the 'smoke' in the deep south (London)- who knows we may see you out walking with your camera! We will be the two unfit southern softees looking for the dog(!) who's run off having the time of his life.
ReplyDeleteGood to hear from you - where are you thinking of moving?
DeleteSomewhere between Ashbourne and Wirksworth or slightly more north, eg, Youlgreave, Winster.
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