50 years, hard labour and the GPS

Do you ever get the feeling that things are spiralling out of control ? It would be overdramatic of me to claim that life was spiralling out of control but the housework certainly is. Partly due to all that Playmobile, partly due to last weeks infestation of teenagers but mainly due to the fact that I am once again ill with another virus – this time sorethroat and earache.

I have also, thanks to the latest installment of the saga of our neighbour, emotionally been from upset, to incandescent with rage before finally settling for “right that’s the last time I try and be a considerate neighbour”. The event that triggered off all these emotions was a letter from her insurance company claiming that our building work has damaged her drive…which is a bit rich since most of the “issues” relate to the fact she won’t let us finish off our building work as she claims there are boundary problems.

Anyway, this spurred me to arrange a work party for saturday as I decided that the time had come to reinstate our back garden without paying any further attention to her allegations.  I did not feel guilty about the fact that I was making Husband work hard on his birthday either, as I’d sprung a surprise party on him several days earlier (will write about the FGM’s magnificent cake later in the month when I have all the photos).

The wonderful amazonlike Wingnut chugged over from Solihul in the Swampthing and was more than happy to assist, firstly with toasting the birthday boy with his birthday whisky(s) and then the next morning when everyone resurfaced with hauling load after load of hardcore to the local tip.

Unfortunately I arranged the garden clearance before I came down with the virus, so after 6 trips I was begging to stop as I couldn’t go on. We downed tools and headed off for a spontaneous birthday picnic and Wingnut introduced us all to the mysterious and secret world of geocaching which involves looking for things that shouldn’t be there.

Anyway as a result of shifting 50% of the rubbish in the back garden (we worked sunday) and having found a new hobby which will get us out of the house and away from the wicked witch of the west I think I may have found the will to reverse the spiral before I nosedive into the ground.

I also have quite a backlog of things to write about dating back to budget day – being as I am some 3 chapters into Delia’s cookery course.

Neglected

Apologies. Cooking is happening here, its just being slightly more unsuccessful than usual, such as the Flapjack that welded itself to the tin…my composure is ruffled somewhat due to the wicked witch of the west deciding to sue us for damage to her drive totalling £500…I am livid as we haven’t been able to do any work to that side of the house since January last year due to her disputing the boundary…oh and the actual damage complained of is due to her 3 deliveries of building materials, top soil and turf when she had her garden done.

Not worried though. £500 is well within the small claims court limit and there is no entitlement to costs. Fixed costs (about £50) are available at the Judges discretion…and 4 years in private practice means I do know how to “play the game” so even if I don’t win the case I won’t be unhappy.

At least if we get this sorted I will finally be able to sort our garden out and get rid of the building site…

I do have some things to write about and it may even involve some cake

Blue Friday

Feeling down again today. Don’t usually come into Reading on a friday, and whats more I’m working here all day, having used my leave to cover the time I spent in yesterday’s traffic jam.

Yesterday’s problems are still there waiting to be dealt with, I had fun in Stratford yesterday but that was really a more enjoyable form of sticking my head in the sand.

The financial problems are the easier one to sort out. Don’t know how to sort out the boundary issue, both choices (instruct a solicitor or employ a builder to finish off the work we didn’t have done in February because of that woman claiming that it would mean going over the boundary of the properties), are likely to prove expensive.

Dead Time:M40

Didn’t make it to work today, instead spent almost 4 and a half hours in a traffic jam on the M40, most of which was spent covering a distance of 5 miles – so I phoned in and took the day off – I gave the Brownies to luscious Lulabelle, the other bag was to go to the ladies at Spider’s pre-school but I didn’t get back until 1pm.

I was cursing myself for having removed my book from my bag in a misguided attempt to carry less junk around – at least I had the radio to keep me company and a Toddler cookbook which I was taking to lend to a colleague. Got back home just in time to see the wicked witch of the west taking photographs of the drive…looks like we are in for a boundary dispute, fun, not !

So headed off to Stratford, my feel good town as having found the bank statement on the mat I really needed cheering up…

It has not been a good day but at least we all came home in a Christmas mood