Categories: uncategorized
Date: 13 January 2007 22:04:49
This bit is quite fun, in a strange sort of way. I like doing paperwork - perverse, I know - and paper trails tracking down mysteries are rather fun too.
My brother and I are sorting out the bungalow. It was horrible at first - Dad's home without Dad. But now that the furniture is all higgledy-piggledy while we sort out decorating, somehow it's become a different place for a while. Doubtless once all the "doing" is over the emptiness will return. But for now I'm quite enjoying working alongside my brother to tidy up the bits which need sorting.
One fun thing was hiring a carpet cleaner to tackle the carpets. We have to do them one at a time as we sort each room out - the expensive way as there's a high charge on the first day of hire and then lower costs for subsequent days. So instead of returning the cleaner to the hire place in between, I have been going round the elderly neighbours and cleaning their carpets for them. I bet the machine has never worked so hard in its life (and certainly I would question whether my shoulder muscles have!) but it is worth a million pounds to see the smile on my neighbours' faces when they see their carpets transformed.
Another fun thing has been sorting through the attic. It's amazing the things we've found. Best of all was finding a massive box marked "fragile" and opening it to find some of my childhood treasures. My big dolls (one, when it was bought for me by my brother from a trip to Spain, was bigger than I was); the glove puppets (rather fine, if I say so myself) that my friend and I made from felt and papier mache when I was about nine; my genuine Russian doll from Murmansk that goes down to a tiny tiny baby right inside; and the exquisite china doll's teaset that I was given by my honorary aunt and which is almost certainly antique. It was such a trip down memory lane to find them there. And the wonderful thing was the response of my children who tenderly held each treasure with delight - despite their cavelier attitude to their own possessions - and sat for ages, my fourteen year old and nine year old boys, playing gently and "entranced" with the dolls and nursing them in their arms in the evening while they watched TV - clearly fulfilling a need that I'd never have expected.