Well I'm back from my break albeit
reluctantly and still have a few days off to sort myself out before it's back
to work. It's odd to be home, my flat is taking a while to warm up and
everywhere I look there are jobs to be done. The biggest and most intimidating
of these is to sort out an incipient damp problem, my upstairs neighbour had a
leaky pipe which has left my bathroom ceiling in a state - this is no worse now
than when I went away so it looks like that problem is under
control, unfortunately there seems to be another leak in
the airing cupboard. It's going mouldy. I'm not happy.
Upstairs seem nice and will doubtless be
helpful but I still foresee weeks if not months of chasing plumbers,
house agents, insurance companies and all the other crap that goes along with
these things. It's not the start to the New Year I would have chosen but is probably indicative
of things to come - the best laid plans and all that. It's also another reason
why I'm not making any resolutions this year, I tried last year and
felt vaguely frustrated that all the good intentions, small as
they were, kept being pushed aside by more insistent issues - this year
I'm taking it as it comes, my resolutions will be made and carried
out on a daily basis rather than grand ones where I will constantly let myself
down by failing to be consistently better organised and such like.
Meanwhile the borders were as lovely as
ever, my favourite bookshop (Main street books trading) came up trumps, I read some
cracking good books, got disappointed at Glenkinchie distillery
(closed due to wind damage) but happily missed the worst of the Scottish gales
- although we still saw trees down everywhere - it really blew, froze looking
at Melrose Abbey, ate my chocolate reindeer, and generally wish I’d never left.
