09:00 I go up in the loft for the first time in nearly a year. February 4th was the last time - yikes! Luckily everything works ok - the attic hatch opens and all is well up there, with the lights still working and all. I bring down the Christmas tree and the ornaments, and manage to close it all up again afterwards. I also get down from the attic without breaking my neck, which is a bit of a relief, to put it mildly.
Ten months ago, on my last visit to the attic I reported in my blog that I had collected up a bunch of old broken or worn lampshades, and even more
broken or worn old toys, board games and the like, dating from our 2 daughters'
childhood in the 1980’s and that I had stuffed them into various size bags. These old
historical remains had been stored in the attic for decades, for reasons not entirely
clear, to put it mildly. This work of collecting a few of the many items stored up there was part of the downsizing mini project I was (and am still) responsible for.
I reported that the attic was becoming more and more empty with each passing week, but unfortunately this downsizing mini-project has been at a standstill now for the last 10 months - damn!
the only well-documented area of the attic, the bit right next to the hatch:
- but note the large empty areas!!
I don't think our attic is in any way unusual. In Onion News I recently read the report of a new study, that claims that 79% of the world's attics remain unexplored.
ITHACA,
NY—Describing the vast, undisturbed regions as one of the last true frontiers
on the planet, a report published Tuesday by researchers at Cornell University
has found that at least 79 percent of the world’s attic space remains
unexplored.
According to the
report, the little-understood lofted areas of most homes across the globe have
not been studied beyond a radius of approximately an arm’s length from their
entrance hatches, leaving what remains in their further reaches a matter of
pure speculation.
“Apart from a small
region illuminated by a single pull-chain light bulb, we know very little about
attics,” said the report’s lead author, professor Neal Hutchison, noting a lack
of data on both the size and contents of the elevated enclosures. “While we
suspect that some form of insulation could exist up there, perhaps along a wall
or the roofline, we haven’t yet been able to travel far enough inside to
confirm or deny that.”
“Right now, most of
our explorations involve climbing up a stepladder or the built-in pull-down
stairs, quickly poking our head inside, and returning with almost no new
information,” Hutchison continued. “Even after all these years of retrieving
Christmas tree stands from right inside the entryway, the darkest recesses of
our world’s attics remain a complete mystery to us.”
It makes me feel a bit better when I recall this article and the publication of the study's results. In fact our attic is if anything slightly better than the world average, in my estimation!
11:00 Our friend Fran calls - but Lois keeps her talking on the doorstep. No need to take any risks by inviting her in during a pandemic! She has a book to lend Lois - "The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society". We recorded the film of it on our TV's YouView device a few months ago, but have never got round to seeing it.
Lois in any case wants to read the book before she sees the film. She thinks it's better that way round, so she gets what the author really wants to tell her, before she sees some director's interpretation of it - makes sense to me!
"The Guernsey Literary and Potato Pie Society" - a still from the film
We were due to see the film on our last visit to Australia to see our daughter Sarah and family, in 2018, but again, something went wrong, and we never saw it. I can't remember what happened to stop us seeing it.
Perhaps our temporary acquisition of Fran's copy of the original book will break the spell, end the extraordinary sequence of bad luck, and enable us to get to grips with this modern classic before it's too late! Let's hope so, at any rate.
12;00 We go for a walk on the local football field. On the way round Lois stops to put another bunch of Christmas cards in the post-box. We thought we'd done them all a few days ago, but have discovered a load of people we'd forgotten about - oh dear! Let's hope we really have done them all now.
we go for a walk on the local football field
Lois stops to put another bunch of Christmas cards in the street-corner post-box
14:00 After lunch I have an extended nap in bed, while Lois watches a couple of the usual afternoon Christmas tv-movies on Channel Five, while she puts up the Christmas tree and adds lights and ornaments.
15:30 I get out of bed, do my usual daily 5 miles on my exercise bike, come downstairs and make us a cup of specialist peppermint tea.
19:30 Lois disappears into the dining-room to take part in her sect's weekly Bible Seminar on zoom. I settle down on the couch and watch Episode 7 of the new Icelandic crime drama, "The Valhalla Murders".
Oh dear, I think I am just about keeping up with the plot here. I think that now Magnus, the big police chief in Reykjavik, is suspected by detectives Kata and Arnar of being the man behind the regular night-time rape of boys at a boys' home called "Valhalla" out in the frozen wastes 30 years or more ago.
Big cheese Magnus is also suspected of being the killer of one of the boys in the 1980's, also the recent killer of Gudmundur ("Gummi"), a former member of staff at the home who was just about to tell a TV station about all the shenanigans that went on at the home.
But there are lots of sub-strands that I'm not too clear about - damn!!!!
21:00 Lois emerges from her Bible Seminar, and we watch our two favourite TV quizzes, "Only Connect", which tests lateral thinking, and "University Challenge", the student quiz.
On "University Challenge" we don't do as well as usual. We answer probably about a quarter of the questions correctly, but there are only 3 questions tonight that we can answer but the students can't - not good! We're definitely slipping!!!!
University Challenge tonight - Corpus Christi, Oxford vs. Magdalene, Cambridge
1. What is the surname of Robert and Frances, the title figures of a portrait by Thomas Gainsborough?
Students: Gatsby [say what???!!! - Ed]
Colin and Lois: Andrews
2. Identify this variety of apple from the description: named for its hometown, it was introduced in 1874. The variety has a sweet taste and a unique strawberry-like flavour with a strong aroma.
Students: Braeburn
Colin and Lois: Worcester Pearmain.
3. Another apple question: identify this variety - developed in New Zealand, visually exciting, juicy, and developing a great balance of zing and sweetness.
Students: Gala
Colin and Lois: Braeburn
Thank God for apples!!!!
But not much for 30 minutes of questions is it! Oh dear!!!
22:00 We go, suitably chastened, to bed - zzzzzzzzz!!!!
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