It’s funny, but while everyone else seems to be binge watching their favourite shows, we haven’t really changed our habits at all. Haven’t even watched any movies (if you know me, you’ll know about my DVD habit!), although I confess to watching a stack of YouTube videos. Lots of Graham Norton - especially when people like Judi Dench are on, and Celeste Barber ‘challenge accepted’. I am trying to get over my horror of housework and actually do things like ‘dust’ and ‘vacuum’, two concepts mostly foreign to me. I remember a quote from ‘The Naked Civil Servant’, who once admitted that he never dusted (I think Peter Goers has also admitted as such, as well as an unhealthy obsession with Op Shops…). And whilst we’re on quotes - Beau Brummel said, when asked what he thought about vegetables, that he “once ate a pea”.
The sad part about cleaning and organising is, that once you clean one bit, another bit seems to have attracted all the stuff you just got rid of, and with Op Shops being closed at the moment, there is a steadily growing pile of plastic bags that I will have to hold onto until I can sneak them to Vinnies.
We are also having fun with the renovation of the house, and restoring the front facade. Although it won’t look quite the same as it did when it was built in 1868, it will be pretty close. The portico will look much the same, but we’ll only have the inner doors, rather than the banks doors, and the two side arches will be open, not windows. (The other arches that people passing may notice are actually where two arched windows were. They will be reinstated, and we have one on the left hand side of the house for reference.) These will be open because we will be adding a verandah. There are other houses like ours, of the era, where verandahs were added, as it didn’t take too long for European imports to understand that our summer was a lot hotter than the northern one. This journey started more than three years ago (if you don’t count the years we had to save up for it!), and it’s nice to se it underway. Our builder is one we’ve used before and he’s keen to see the house restored as well. There have been a few hold-ups, namely the fires and COVID-19, but it’s now well underway and the first concrete pour should commence tomorrow. Meantime, we’re busily planning our first front yard, and just how many plants we can pack into a really small space!
So, for your viewing pleasure, check out these offerings from YouTube, and have a great afternoon.
