Wednesday 23 May 2007

No crochet and no bathroom

There has been no blogging for the last few days due to the fact I am having a new bathroom fitted. I am sure anyone who has ever had a re-fit will share my pain! In the midst of all of this I am having a bad back pain week (anyone who knows me knows how much I suffer when I get one) and would have loved a soak in the bath but as the old one is reclining in the driveway and the new one is in my back bedroom (unconnected) there was not much chance of that happening. Oh for the good old days when I could have popped around to my parents to use their facilities.

The last couple of days it has been like stepping back in time to the old days with the all over wash in a bowl front of the fire. It's not quite the same washing in front of a radiator. Hasn't got the same magic as the open coal fire and tin bath of my youth. Washing my hair with jugs and bowls in the kitchen sink now seems somewhat unhygienic and yet when I was a kid the kitchen sink was the hub of the family hygiene until we had a bathroom installed. Strange to consider that we were considered to be "posh" as we were the only ones on our row of houses to have one. It was only 50yrs ago and now I doubt if there are many homes in the UK without indoor plumbing but back then it was the norm. The local swimming pool had "slipper baths" ( where does that name come from?) and every week people would go there for a bath. What doesn't bear thinking about in this day and age is that some older people only had a bath once a year when they were going away on holiday at "Oldham Wakes"!

With both of these things happening in my life there has been no time for crochet or knitting. I did manage to finish off my mohair cardigan so that is just waiting for buttons to be sewn on. I have a few projects in mind but can't concentrate with all the upheaval in the house.

Yesterday I was stitching the cover of one of the Goodman grow houses as the plastic had torn away from the zipper. I finished it and manoeuvred it back into place and then the other side tore. Aarrgghhh! I am not being picky but they are really a bit shoddy as I am very careful with it when zipping it every day as I had read the reports on Amazon saying that was a problem with them. I know they are only cheap but they still should be fit for the purpose. I just wish I could afford a proper glass greenhouse but £300 is a bit out of my league now as I have to pay for the bathroom re-fit. I keep looking out for any people wanting to re-vamp their garden and get rid of an old greenhouse. The woman down the road said I could have hers but nothing more has been said lately. I think she is waiting for her sons to help her with her garden re-fit. I hate to keep mentioning it to her so I will just wait and hope maybe someday soon I will get it. I hope I get it in time for the winter crops. I am doing very well with lettuce, radish, spring onions and broad beans etc but will need a proper greenhouse to grow things in the winter.

The dog is sulking today as he hasn't had his morning walk due to the back pain.I had gone to the doctors yesterday for my pain killer prescription and was in so much pain on the walk back down I was so grateful and thankful when a neighbour stopped in his car to enquire if I was OK and offered me a lift home. What a knight in shining armour. I was beginning to think it would take me hours to walk the short distance as I had to keep stopping to sit on garden walls to try to ease the pain. I am now linked to my "Tens" machine and hope that I will get some relief soon as the drugs don't work as they say in the song. Maybe this afternoon the dog will get his walk and stop giving me the sad eyed look.

The builder has said my bath could be linked up this afternoon so I should be able to get a hot bath tonight. Yeah! Another knight in shining armour. Fingers crossed all will be well.

I will get out my patterns and have a browse through them and choose a couple of patterns for the yarn I bought at the Black Sheep Sale. I still have to buy some yarn to crochet my step great grand daughter's bolero but her sister's christening is not until July so I have got time to search for something nice in 4ply white.

Just time for a coffee before I watch "Loose Women" on the TV. Maybe I will get to lie on the sofa for a while if I can oust the dog from it.

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