Hard Day

First of all - I thought Duchess Catherine looked lovely and so happy. So did her new husband. That is, when I caught up with the wedding news @ 7pm.

I had a broken night, little bear came downstairs at 2pm, then I was awake every hour putting a blanket back on him. Then darling brother came and picked me up @ 8am and I went to help sort out darling uncle's house.

I just cleaned in the bathroom. It needs further work. The big thing was the bath. It was filled to the brim with clothes, as darling uncle doesn't really have a place to dry clothes if it isn't fine weather, and he has really been too poorly to use his twin tub washing machine (he refuses an automatic). Dirty clothes are stacked in the bath and there is a bit of strata. He has been quite poorly with his eyes for some time, making washing clothes in a twin tub a problem.

Unfortunately he is also losing his hearing and didn't hear that over the cold weather the cold tap in the bath started running. What with one thing and another he didn't notice. So when I came to clear the bath I threw all the clothes away - with darling uncle's permission I hasten to add. They were mouldy. They were horrible. And what was worse, they had a huge crop of Jews Ear Mushrooms on them, some of the mushrooms were really big, four or five inches across. AND SOME OF THEM WERE ON A SWEATER THAT I HAD KNITTED HIM WITH CABLES AND EVERYTHING!

I also disposed of a sewing machine last used by by late grandmother who passed away in 1987. There was a teasmaid of similar vintage that went, and a lot of miscellaneous awfulness, including newspapers from 1997.

One thing that saddened me was getting rid of a towel rail of 1930s vintage, probably oak, a little bit deco. I loved it, but it was in mouldy pieces.

I suppose at least another 20 bin bags were added to a growing heap for when we get a skip.

And I wish I didn't notice things. The chimney not only has smoke coming out of the chimney pot on top, but also at the base of the brick stack where it meets the roof. New liner needed, along with plumbing, rewiring, redecorating, etc, etc, etc. I had the fire on to heat water. It was not effective at heating water, but at least it got the air moving and chased away some of the damp.