Emma and the sparrows

I was sitting in my office today, Day-z lying on the chair behind me, and I happened to glance out of the window. The hebe was full of sparrows (at least 20) and Emma was sitting on the grass beneath it, staring up at them. Just to the side of the hebe, Mirinda had put fatballs in a bird feeder.

A couple of the sparrows would flap down to the fatballs and peck away for a bit and Emma would just watch them, intrigued. Obviously the sparrows didn’t see her as any kind of threat (they would fly away if Day-z sauntered passed) though they watched her from the bush. It was very amusing and she kept it up for ages. Perhaps she was wishing she could fly.

There was also quite a bit of action in the house today. Mainly by me, it should be said, but also by the flooring guys (Sean and an older chap). They had turned up to fix the top step of the stairs.

Before they arrived, I’d primed the manifold cover in preparation for painting it tomorrow. This is something that has been simply ignored by everyone. I don’t mind painting it (in fact, I rather enjoyed it) but it’s extraordinary that not one of the decorators asked me if it needed to be painted. And it’s not small.

I then, accidentally, found the house numbers. Tatt-man had suggested painting the numbers black…months ago. I’d agreed that they’d look good painted black and he said he’d do it. And here was something else that was forgotten…and lost. After painting the manifold door, I dabbed some black paint on the house numbers. Seriously, why suggest something you’re never going to do?

Just before lunch, the floor guys turned up and set to work. It took a bit of deliberation and inventive carpentry but, eventually, they’d fixed it up. It feels a lot safer now.

And yet again, a tradesman leaves something unnecessary behind. You probably can’t quite make it out in the photograph but on the left of the penultimate step, there are four nails. Why do they all do this? They all swear they clean up and then, once they’ve finished for the day, I go and check and there’s always something there. Bits of worn sandpaper from the decorators, nails from the chippies, small copper pipe offcuts from the plumbers, slivers of tiles from the tiler…the list could just go on.

I realise that these guys aren’t cleaners and, therefore, they’re not going to do a perfect job of cleaning up but they do claim that they do a ‘builder’s tidy’ every day. Clearly that means they have to leave a little something behind. I’m not having a moan, it’s just an interesting observation. And rather odd.

The other big job today was making a start on clearing out the front room and returning it to some semblance of order. However, before that, I had to start my Christmas cake.

First job of the Christmas cake preparation is to fill a bowl with dried fruit, pour brandy over it, stir well then leave for a day.

Job done, I draped a clean tea towel over it and headed into the front room. And so commenced the job that would occupy me for the rest of the day.

By dinner time, I’d half emptied it, cleaned the empty half, rehung the (enormous) mirror and neatly put stuff back. I was more than ready to stop when Mirinda called just before 6 o’clock.