I’m not writing about scholarship today. Indeed, this is more a case of, ‘Don’t do as I do …’
- Buy old house
- After 30 years, learn that rewiring is needed
- Box most household goods (this is mainly my remit) to facilitate rewiring
- Pull a muscle in your back (ouch!)
- Vacate premises
- Return to scenes like this:-
Upheaval is Anathema
Now, having very elderly and neuro-divergent family members will make any upheaval twice as traumatic. It was. Keep this in mind.
- Despite the need for redecorating next, I was told that We could not live like that, so the majority of the boxes had to be unboxed (again, my remit) before Christmas. A painter was engaged to start after Christmas.
- But first, I had to coordinate Christmas and pack it away again, singlehandedly. The pulled muscle complained.
- And boxing up began again. (Again mainly, painfully, my remit).
- But this time, more of my books had to be boxed. Even for a former librarian, heaving big boxes of books about is strenuous work.
- There were delays. And timekeeping issues. The estimated 4-5 days (this is disputed; apparently they estimated 5-6) extended to 18 immensely stressful days. Testosterone Towers took it out on me. I’m mentally exhausted, and now the house has to be unboxed and tidied again.
- OK, so now is a good time to go for a shingles vaccination. Only a mild reaction, but temporarily adding physical aches and tiredness to the mental draining.
Between 4 and 10 pm yesterday, I emptied 12 boxes and cooked dinner. Testosterone Towers can’t wait for order to be restored out of chaos. It will happen.
In Fairness
- Three rooms completely redecorated
- Two rooms, hall and landings repaired
Although we had expected a couple of ceilings to be fully repainted, which weren’t, I have to say that the painter’s partial solution was masterful. The highlight of my morning today? Waking to this:-
Never was I happier to look up at a white ceiling. (Even if other parts of it are less pristine!)
I cannot think about research just yet. I don’t need to, today or most of tomorrow. My mind is still frazzled, and there’s major tidying to do. But hopefully a nicer environment will make for a calmer mind.
(Now, where’s the hot water bottle for my back?)
Writing a Review
We academics are good at writing reviews. I wrote a fair, but honest review of the work done. The ongoing outcome was a bit of a nightmare. Shall we just say, it was not well-received. (Some things are best left off social media.)
Suffice to say that I can recognise extortion. I spoke to Trading Standards and Checkatrade. I noticed last night that the trader is no longer affiliated to Checkatrade.
Karen McAulay, Musicologist 