A child's hat on a wall, knitted, patterned, Norwegian-style, blue, grey and white. Tufts of each colour on top. Long ear-flaps. It has emerged from the snow, which concealed it for days, and now looks damp and flat, far away in time from its owner, though not perhaps in distance. Many of the same people go up and down the hill each day. But maybe it belonged to a Christmas visitor, who has now returned to their home, far away from here, hatless. Or maybe they had several hats, and this one was not so special.
My coffee has a strange powdery scum on the top, which makes it look utterly unappetising, though it tastes good. I leant a long time on the grinder button, longer than usual, maybe inadvertantly reduced some of the beans to dust. I'm frustrated because it is proving hard to get a response to a request for attention to our boiler at the new house, which has stopped working... House cold, decorator not able to start til house warm, date now set for moving, stress elevated... No-one answering phone at carpet shop or pine furniture workshop. Only activity, a man coming to quote for moving our furniture.
It's bitterly cold here and pavements are treacherous with old snow, compacted and icy, though most of it melted up on the fields a day or two ago, when, briefly, it grew milder. More is apparently possible, though the forecasters are hedging their bets. This house at least is warm.
3 comments:
Oh dear, how annoying. I had an 87-year-old friend to coffee today and her heating broke down on Saturday - and she still can't persuade anyone to come and fix it. She has no hot water either, though fortunately an instant shower.
It's horridly cold here too. I spent some time and considerable effort this morning scraping the old squashed snow off the pavements near our house and now it's snowing thickly again. Hmm.
Hope the various types of scum leave your life soon.
Thanks Isabelle - I walked up to the house today to find the joiner busy with our kitchen floor, so although he could see his breath while he worked, I felt better to see some progress...
I like the thing about the hat, and how it's grown distant from its owner. I lost a glove in a field a while ago,and found it a week later. Though it was wet through and becoming slightly feral, I was able to bring it home, wash and dry it, and rehabilitate it successfully with its partner.
This dead time between Christmas and New Year is OK if nothing has to be done and the weather is manageable, but if things go wrong it's difficult. Hope you get things sorted.
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