On Thursday a second gardener came. He had a notebook and made notes while I was pointing out where we had ivy and would like to not have ivy. What was there to write? Anyway, he quoted £475. I’ve had holidays that cost me less. He pointed out that this included a discount though for what I’m not sure. I told him that we’d be getting a second quote and he told me that anyone who quoted less than £300 was a cowboy and that he’d been in gardening for 20 years and had undertaken 1500 vine removals. I tried to work out 1500 multiplied by £475 and wondered why he hadn’t retired. I said I’d let him know.
That evening the two of us began removing the ivy and continued with this work on Saturday morning. I’d estimate that we’ve done 90% of it so far and have probably spent 4 hours on it. That’s a hell of a good hourly rate for the 'professional' gardeners. I may change career. The only noteworthy incident during our ivy clearance was that behind a section near the guttering Marianna found Basil’s credit card screwed to the wall.
On Saturday when it was raining and we couldn’t work on the ivy we finished gutting the front bathroom, especially dismantling the shower. We’re limited in what we can remove without tackling plumbing or electrics. When that was done we removed the fitted wardrobes in the front bedroom.
I was feeling rather overwhelmed by it all at the weekend. Overwhelmed by work and constantly rushing from one task and place in the country to another, tired of being surrounded by chaos everywhere in the house and deflated that we’re living in a house which doesn’t always feel fit to live in. I have untouched personal and professional 'Things to do' lists and the one for the house is endless. The space between my ears feels as chaotic as the space within these walls. There must be cheaper ways to have a nervous breakdown. Last Wednesday our kitchen lights suddenly stopped working. It seemed to happen as water boiled over from a pan on the hob. I opened the cupboard beneath the stairs to check the fuses and the lights came back on. Could the hinges on the cupboard door be linked to our kitchen lights? In this house it is possible. I discovered that the fuses for everything in the kitchen are separate from the other fuses and are right beneath the hob. But it doesn't seem to be the fuses causing the problem. The lights came and went again on Thursday but died for good on Friday. We can prepare food during the day or have the fridge door open and hope that its light will reach across the room.
We took turns working on the shower
and took turns photographing each other working on the shower
