Christmas Greetings 2011

I can't see Christmas robins, nor doves a-cooing-so
Cat never neared a cradle in a stable 2000 years ago.
I see that ox and donkey arrived without ado
but ostrich was excluded and terrible tiger too.
Camels got an invite, as did three wise Eastern kings
giving gifts of gold and myrrh, frankincense and things.
Bankers and financiers mumbled murmurs in disguise
and thought the sleepy shepherds were sensible and wise
to gift soft lambs and washable wool, never to be fleeced.
Herod later came to tell that he wished the baby seized.
Frankincense was costly, as indeed it is today,
signals opulence in churches, mosques, special for the Lord's day.

Will Ethiopians continue to export this wonderful aromatic resin,
When Boswellia trees fail to reproduce for the Christmas season?
Will they continue to tree-tap and let long-beetle attack,
let cattle graze at bark, for this amazing aphrodisiac,
let it no longer help depression, nor give medicinal purpose,
nor serve the perfume industry?  O yay, it'll cost more to purchase.

HAPPY CHRISTMAS 2011

The Oval Room Chimney and Flooring

The Oval Room Chimneybreast was fireproofed with insulation materials and plasterboarded but the flexible flue liner had to be pushed up the chimney. The proprietor was alone to instal the flue liner. He was at the top of the stack pulling the flexible flue to the top of the chimney and luckily a friend was present to help push.

Then it was sealed with fireproof bricks leaving a hole in the insulation material for the rigid flue.

Covered with fireproof plasterboard

Cut a hole for the rigid flue - requires mathematics!

Beauty after the slog!

An old original door against the new one.

Wonderful!

Towards the small room

Towards the kitchen and the courtyard

Towards the kitchen

Although three times the anticipated price the flooring is beautiful

The Oval Moulding that attracted me

Travertin tiles in the doorway so that the oak flooring does not get wet or damp if the door is left open when it rains.

Detail of the ceiling which took forever to correct the previous damage.

The rest is history!

The Swollen River

On the night of Thursday 15th December the winds and rain of Storm Joachim caused the waters of the river to rise.

No sign of the weir!

The path from the bridge is under water.

By a hill top deviation the path could be accessed.

One can normally walk here though I think it is private.

The water on the path allowed access to another footpath going uphill.

Within two days the waters had subsided.

Winter Solstice Solace

The days get longer from here on in!  Next year the sun will shine optimistically and all our troubles will apparently disappear as we sit in the lounge chairs in the garden or on the beach!
French Hanging Santas will have better things to do!

Two-bite Almond Buns

Two-bite Almond Buns - that taste a bit like macaroons

1. Buy some ready made marzipan.

2. Sieve 170g flour, some salt and ½ tsp baking powder. Rub in  85g margarine/butter. Mix in 70g sugar and create a paste with one egg. Add another egg if necessary and add more flour if it is too sticky. 

3. Roll the paste into balls. 

4.Roll a small 1cm cube of marzipan into a ball using the palms of the hands. t

5. Wrap a flattened ball of paste around the marzipan ball and seal it in. Repeat…..

NB too much marzipan will seep out of the buns like volcanic lava!

6. Roll the balls in ground almonds or brush with beaten egg and sprinkle with almond flakes.

7. Place on greaseproof paper. Bake in a hot oven for 15 minutes.

Oh woe! Not the woodburner again!

Quel horreur!
This was not supposed to happen! But it has, just one week before Christmas!! Just when I was beginning to think that for the winter I could move to an uncluttered, renovation-free environment of a new bedroom,  just beyond the oval room that contains the woodburner! How unjust!
Now, on the shortest day of the year I await the woodburner installer and know I am just within the guarantee period.  It was good that we used fireproofed plasterboard.  However, it wasn't waterproofed and the wall surface has bubbled. The glass hearth has to be cleaned and it seems that the oak flooring below has been stained. Certainly the skirting board and air vent are sticky.  Whether any of this can be cleaned and with what substance or whether items have to be replaced as yet is unknown. I would prefer the minimum of replacement!  Goodness knows how many more labour hours, material costs, and worry will be needed to create calm from this chaos.

I feel devastated and tired with all this renovation lark! I want my life back. I am sure my friend who is helping me to renovate feels the same if truth be known!
A record of the event
On Saturday night 17th December 2011 I thought I would sleep in my brand new single Victorian iron bedstead with brand new duvet and bedlinen in a totally uncluttered room,  free from office stuff, free from renovation materials,  free!  Indeed it felt as if I was on a retreat and all was calm and still in my life!  I lit the fire in the oval room about 6pm that evening.  By 8pm it was cosily warm.  I went to bed about 10 and woke unusually at 4am on the Sunday 18th December,  made myself a cup of tea and did some writing.  Then I slept like a hibernating hedgehog until late..11h30 in the morning!  I was tired! The fire was alight with glowing embers so I cleaned the window of the woodburner which was unusually difficult as the resins on the glass were stubborn.  Eventually, after rubbing the glass with vinegar, ash and the special cleaning product, it was perfect.  I laid the fire, closed the door safely, and went to have brunch.  When I returned to the room and saw the fire had not taken, I suddenly saw the wall!  The way in which the resin had dried on the glass hearth indicated that it had been like this for some time but certainly it was not there when I went to bed on Saturday evening.  

UPDATE: 21 December 2011

The two employees of the company arrived instead of the proprietor as promised.  Hm?  At first, the one who speaks English suggested it was not their fault and that water had fallen through the chimney breast, not the flexible flue liner, and penetrated the plasterboard and that old resins in the chimney had mixed with the rainwater.  Hm?  Apart from the lowest point in the oval hole there is no other moisture.  Eventually the same person accepted blame.  He'd climbed the ladder and was trying to convince us that he needed to put in some other flexible tubing to allow air pressure to escape, when we insisted  that we wanted to go up the ladder and quick-thinking, I dashed indoors for the camera.    It is as we thought: the chap had never cemented the chimney pot onto the chimney stack properly.  He says the high wind of last week had removed the metal that they normally put around the pot! Hm?  Whilst my friend and I were indoors discussing the phone conversation that I'd just had with the proprietor who tried to wriggle out of  responsibility, the men had removed the ladders and they refused toput them back for us to goup and see what they had done. The flaunching was not done correctly because moss should not be there nor the gaping hole for rain to tumble down!

There was some suspicion about his workmanship earlier in the year.  I'm cross that we never insisted on climbing the ladder when the chimney pot was put into place.  I thought that maybe they had dislodged the cement when they 'swept the chimney', when the woodburner fllled with smoke and it burst through every orifice and filled my room, but no that was not the reason.
However, there is a happy outcome - December 22nd. The charming director, conciliatory when he arrived, said he would pay for the interior decoration to be made good as he took responsibility.  The men will return in January so that we can see their work, take a photo, and be assured the work has been done properly.   If I were running his business this man would be justly fired!