where art collides

It’s early morning. Dark out, presumably. I can’t see because the curtains are drawn but I’m sure I’d notice chinks of light had the dawn arrived. We are heading towards the shortest day and whilst it is still six weeks or so away it feels as if we are already nearly there.

This morning last night’s sounds of fireworks have been replaced by the regular whoosh of cars on the road outside. Odd that I can hear so many cars on a Sunday morning. People going to work I suppose, or taxi drivers taking the last of the Saturday night party animals home. I’m sat in the TV room which is at the front of the house. It’s slightly warmer than the conservatory which also my office and my normal choice of spot to sit and write. At least during the day, and in the early hours of a summer morning where I can see the garden wake up.

Yesterday I made inroads into the jobs list. This is a never ending task because as soon as one list is finished another appears not to mention the fact that new jobs appear on the sheet of paper before I’ve been able to cross them all off. Yesterday I replaced some light bulbs, installed a new curtain rail in Joe’s room and fixed Hannah’s.

I’m not a particularly diligent doer of jobs. I have to be in the right frame of mind. It’s partly because during my working life I’ve spent most waking hours working in one way or another. Now I’ve started to throttle back I’m trying to spend more time getting other things done. Tidying up the garage for instance which desperately needed doing. Sorting out the attic is going to be a big project and not a one man job. Mostly it needs Anne there to decide what stays and what goes. We’ve thrown a lot of stuff up there over the years. It’s a big attic.

Originally we lined it and boarded it over to be my office. Then we built a train layout up there which was an ongoing project and never quite finished. Finally it just became a dumping ground. Every bit of school work the kids ever did is up there. Those 3rd year history notes are going to come in useful someday I’m sure. The latest talk is of turning into a den. We shall see. It may happen if there is enough support to get the clearing done.

Yesterday I also spent some time finishing off the spec for our new website annesvans.com. It’s our new campervan hire business. At the end of the summer we bought a 1971 VW T2 bay campervan. We won’t be using it all the time so figured out we would hire it out when we don’t need it, which will be most of the time.

We’ve named the van Betty which feels right and because Anne’s middle name is Elizabeth. Betty is yellow and is in near perfect nick. Just needs a few mods doing for when we hire her out. She is sat in Dave Cooper’s garage in dry storage. Dave is going to maintain her and be around for the handover between clients.

vw campervan bBtty is a fun funky project. Everybody loves these campervans. I had her pop top up in our drive one weekend and someone came in to talk about her. Then when I drove her to the cathedral to take some pics, tourists kept coming up and having their photographs taken with her. Hey! Cool 🙂 I’ll get someone started on the website this week. The graphic design is going to be important.

Although I’m up early I was quite late to bed last night. 11pm is late for me. Early to bed and up early has been my habit ever since we had kids. Now they don’t get up at the crack of dawn themselves but I still haven’t been able to get out of the habit.

Time to make the tea…

Not many of them left now,  the leaves. On the trees that is. They are mostly on the ground psyching themselves up for removal into a black plastic bin liner and thence either to the compost heap or the green bin. The green bin most likely. Our compost heap is no longer a heap but a black plastic container purpose built for composting. I think it is still full from a couple of seasons back. Outside the light is beginning to fade. It’s only just after 4pm. Doesn’t seem like yesterday when at this time of day I would have been wearing a pair of shorts sipping a cold beer and getting ready for the bbq. No matter. I like the Autumn. I like the slow slide towards Christmas. I like all the planning of parties that goes on. I like the parties themselves too of course. I’m wearing a coat as I write this. I put the heating on but it takes a while to kick in. I figured I’d just sit here and write. No agenda. No specific subject. Just killing a bit of time. It’s an odd concept the killing of time, especially when employing a keyboard to do so. Die time, your time is up!! The wind is getting up. I can hear it. Maybe it gets louder as the trees lose their foliage. The conservatory is a noisy place to be when the wind is like this. Looking up I can see sycamore seeds bouncing around.