Shifting…AGAIN

I was so pleased with myself. Defying all the odds, I managed to get most of our worldly possessions into three tiny rooms. I looked upon my work and was proud of myself. But, as Trudi “Peggy” Hobson was so fond of saying “Beware hubris, Doris!” And I’m not talking pizza toppings.

The reason I say that is because yesterday Paul the Brickie asked me if I could move everything in the Old Rose room into the Blue Room. Actually, he also volunteered to do it himself but, given those two rooms are the only nicely decorated ones in the house, I rather preferred to do it myself. Given that today I had a Talking Newspaper in the morning, I figured I’d just go to the house afterwards. Which I did.

And I was so pleased with myself. Defying all the odds, I managed to get most of our worldly possessions into two tiny rooms. Mind you, nothing else could now get into our bedroom. I’m hoping I can move it all back once the steel beams are put in. That’s why I had to move everything. It was too heavy and directly over the dining room. Anyway, it’s done now and I’m well pleased with myself.

I was also very tired, having woken up at 5:30 in order to get to Talking Newspaper in time for the first edition. You see, originally I was down for the Haslemere slot but then swapped with Janice who didn’t want to do Alton. I then had a frantic email from Tony to say that Janice had fractured a couple of ribs in an accident and couldn’t do any of the editions. He’d managed to find one other person, who could only do the Alton one so would I mind doing Farnham. In essence, I’d been down for all three editions through no fault of my own.

To be fair, I’d much rather do the early slot and it did mean I could go over to the house afterwards without having to work in the dark. But I did have to wake up at 5:30 to get there from the flat.

So, needless to say, I wasn’t that perky when my readers turned up (the Evanses and a new chap I’d not worked with before, Brian). Of course, June and John soon woke me up and when it came time to record the paper we were all as jolly as usual. When we’d finished, Brian shocked us by declaring it was the most entertaining and funniest session he’d ever recorded. I was well pleased.

Back at the house, Paul, Clive and Robbie had been very busy finishing up removing the floors and ceilings. This is how the dining room looks now:

Dining room

For security, Paul has put a big padlock on the laundry door (for when they’re not there) and screwed the dining room door permanently closed, which made me happy. When the laundry door is open, however, this is the view:

View from the laundry door

Having slaved for a couple of hours, it was soon finished and I hopped on the train back to the flat.
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I’d just like to add a funny (and ironic) little story I read in the Metro this morning. In China, prior to burial, relatives will ask a feng shui master to check out the location. Clearly, it’s important that a dead body should be comfortable after being buried in the ground.

The family in the story wanted the best so they called Feng Shui Master Zheng Guoqiang, renowned throughout China as being one of (if not THE) best. He met them at the cemetery and cast his expert eye over the prospective place of burial. He pronounced it the perfect burial place.

Then, without warning, there was a sudden landslide, burying Master Zheng and six others.

I’ve always considered feng shui as all mumbo jumbo, like religion or fairies or aliens (but not pixies, of course) but I feel I may have been wrong all of these years. After all, Master Zheng stood there and claimed the spot was perfect for burial and then, seconds later, was successfully buried. You can’t get better than that.