AFTERMATH

                                     AFTERMATH

Yesterday's catalogue of catastrophes had repercussions today, our little cat is thankfully much improved but the same cannot be said for the conservatory roof. Being somewhat distracted by yesterdays events I had failed to notice the shocking mess left by the contractor employed to deal with the leak.

What kind of builder rocks up to mend a roof with neither tools or, more importantly ladders? Answer, the numpty who came to fix our conservatory.

Having no means to reach the roof he climbed on to the rockery to gain a little hight and in doing so trampled the plants into the ground.

Unable to fix the roof without tools he abstracted a length of drain rod from our greenhouse and used it to hammer down a loose panel and rip off some Virginia creeper from the wall.

Having banged about for a while he then threw threw drain rod into the flower border demolishing several clumps of Tulip and dumped the massive hanks of creeper on top of a gorgeous display of Bluebells flattening them completely: No wonder he was in a hurry to leave.

After a night of rain I arrived downstairs this morning to find that not only do we still have the two original leaks, we now have a new onto add to the collection…. The floor was awash.

Evidently his violent attentions had made the problem much worse!

My son fired off an irate e mail but as today is Saturday we shall here nothing for at least a couple of days. I am to some extent to blame as I paid little attention to the builders doings while he worked on the roof, but frankly with everything that was occurring at the time I was too distracted to nursemaid this so called professional through what should have been a simple task.

A sleepless night followed yesterday's débâcle, pain caused by the arthritis in my hands reached screaming point around midnight and no amount of pain relief could ease it's onslaught.

Having at last managed to doze off I was awakened at three in the morning by the sound of hammering, it sounded as if someone was attempting to open someone's garage doors with a sledgehammer. I dragged myself out of bed, opened the window and looked out into the darkness and as I watched the lights in several houses came on, the hammering ceased and I returned to bed to sleep no more.

This afternoon our chatty neighbour came round to ask if we had heard the racket. Last time I was unguarded enough to invite her in for morning coffee she was still with us for dinner, I kid you not!

Determined not to make the same mistake again I stood in the porch while she prattled on about prowlers until I was frozen stiff and in urgent need of a pee! I take diuretics, sorry if that's too much information. Deciding that honesty was the best policy I declared my predicament and departed in haste.

In spite of all this it has been a pleasant day, the rain which came through the conservatory roof fell as snow upon the hills which surround our village and remained a beautiful sight throughout the day.

Sparrows were busy stuffing our row of terraced boxes with dead grass and the sun shone brightly although the day was perishing cold.

Being back in the countryside makes up for everything and each day there is something new to wonder at. This morning I noticed that our wild cherry tree was in flower and looking very lovely in the sunshine, and some of our remaining tulips are almost ready to open. Tomorrow, who knows?

Whatever the new day brings will be leavened by the beauty of this lovely place, I truly am much blessed.