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| The Faithful Old Friend--Good-bye |
I wrote
in my diary/calendar, “Faulkner—8.00 to 9.00 am—boiler replaced.” Each morning my alarm goes off at 7.00 am, so
I get up and take my morning medications; unfortunately my bad habit is to
return to bed for at least another hour.
But Tuesday morning this was not an option. I got dressed in anticipation of the workman
coming. It was 7:45 am, and I thought, “I’ll
lay on the couch and snooze. I have
between 15 minutes and an hour and 15 minutes.”
I had just settled when the buzzer shrieked at me. It was 7:50 am—forget 15 minutes! I didn’t even get five!
The
young man who was at the door was over six feet tall, and solidly built. After inviting him in I directed him to the
kitchen to show him the boiler. He was
so energetic and enthusiastic, I couldn’t help but ask: “Have you always been a
morning person?”
“Oh
yeah. I’ve been down in the car since 7.30
am, waiting. But I thought I’d ring the
bell and see if it was okay to come up.”
“That’s
fine.” I said, secretly wishing I could
go back to bed. “By the way, my name is “Lady
Helene”. “
The
young man was bending over, removing cleaning products and laundry detergent
from the sink. He was getting to the
stop-cock under the sink. “My name’s Harry. They call me Harry Potter.”
“Would
you like coffee, Harry?”
“That
would be perfect.”
I
poured coffee for him, and for myself.
Harry made short work of the coffee and then made another trip to his
vehicle to get equipment.
As
Harry got to work, I excused myself, telling him I wasn’t feeling well and
laid down to doze on the couch. I hate
the trembling, weakness, and weariness that comes over me at times. But at least I was out of Harry’s way. I dozed about 90 minutes. When I got up I made some phone calls. I had learned that indeed I would need to work at home on Wednesday. That meant a phone call to the Vicar to inform him. After that I made a couple of other personal calls.
It was after lunch and I was
checking my e-mail in my studio when Harry interrupted me. “Do you want the bad news first or the good
news?”
I
turned the chair to face him. “Well,
Harry, the bad news first. Always the
bad news first.”
“The
bad news is your cooker is disabled. I
found a gas leak. “
“Great!”
I said with droll sarcasm “What’s the
good news?” I asked a bit disheartened.
“You
need a new cooker (stove & oven).” He said, philosophically.
Well, I
wasn’t pleased by that news. It broke my
heart to hear that I had to say good-bye to the old stove. That faithful gas cooker, with the grill at
the top, had served me well in the eleven years I’d lived here. Every time I lit a match to light the burners
or oven I was reminded of stove in Grandma’s kitchen. A new cooker would mean no need for matches;
no more lighting memories along with the matches. Deep sigh.
Equally,
I did not fancy having to spend money on a new major appliance. “The Maverick” is now seriously training for
his 2,300 mile ride to raise awareness of human trafficking and raise support
for two anti-slavery organisations.* He
still needs to purchase plane tickets, some specialised bicycling clothes, and
have cash for buying food along the way.
The timing is just not good for needing a new cooker.
*(See “the Maverick’s blog” http://www.themaverickrides.blogspot.co.uk/).
But, “The
Maverick” is using some of his limited spare time to search on-line for a new
stove/oven/grill. He is great at doing
research.
So,
good-bye faithful friend.
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| The New Duvet, awaiting the duvet cover |
Week
before last I was at Sainsbury’s, shopping for groceries. Remembering that Sainsbury’s was the store a
friend had bought some tea towels that looked very similar to Cath Kidston
designs,( https://www.cathkidston.com/)
I went down the house wares aisle. I didn’t
find the tea towels. But I DID find a
beautiful duvet set—luscious yellow background, with red roses and peonies. It was
£20, very reasonably priced. The last
time I’d bought duvet covers was 2003 in South Africa. We were due!
So, I bought it! Say hello new
Duvet cover.
The
duvet on our bed was on “The Maverick’s” bed long before I ever arrived here in
England. It was old, stained, and
getting flimsy. I refused to put the new
duvet cover on the skanky old duvet. This time I asked “The Maverick” if our budget
could afford a new duvet. While it was
possible to get one for about £20, I wanted to invest in a high quality duvet. I found what I wanted on clearance price at
Soak and Sleep, an on-line store. (http://www.soakandsleep.com/).
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| A Fresh Bed! |
So,
good-bye stove, hello, duvet set, and new duvet. Now, I’m just waiting for hello new cooker!
Serving Jesus, Author of our faith
“Lady Helene”
