Here we are - Lois and I have been living in this recently-purchased new-build home in Malvern for over 6 weeks now, and yet we're still spending most of our time sorting out some of the absolute basics of our life here. It's total madness!
When will our normal life - the life we used to lead in our old house in Cheltenham - when will our normal life resume?
our newly-purchased new-build home in Malvern:
(left to right) our granddaughter Rosalind, our daughter Alison, and me
Lois spends this morning sorting out things to put in our airing-cupboard on the first floor - Stephen, our young handyman friend from Cheltenham put two extra shelves in there this week, but this has been Lois's first chance to decide what we're going to keep on those shelves.
Lois showcases all the belongings that we've so far been able
to stuff into our new-look 3-shelf airing cupboard
The ground floor timings are fine. I managed to set the controls for the ground floor radiators soon after we moved in, but so far we've been switching the upstairs heating on and off manually - we couldn't seem to get it off "manual" mode. Today I finally succeed in setting the upstairs heating to come on and off automatically at the times we want it to haha!
I showcase the tricksy upstairs thermostat
with its overly-complicated "menu"
Mostly we're not upstairs during the day, but it's nice to have the heating come on upstairs early every day, at the time when we're starting to think about getting up, so we don't have to rush downstairs just to get warm, which would be quite mad! It's also nice if the heating upstairs comes on an hour or so before we go to bed, so we're not freezing when we're getting ourselves ready. And once in the bed we've got our electric blanket.
We're not asking for much, are we haha! And on the days when we're upstairs in the afternoon having a nap or a shower it's probably going to be best to switch the heating on and off manually for that. See? Simples really isn't it haha!
14:30 I'm a member of Lynda's Cheltenham U3A Middle English group, and today is the first of the group's monthly zoom meetings that I've taken part in for about 3 months, due to the pressure of work, firstly, of selling our old house, then of finding one to buy in Malvern, and then aiming to reduce the volume of our furniture and belongings by about two thirds to try and fit into a much smaller space - a process in which we have only had quite limited success, I have to say!
In our group meeting this afternoon, we read through a bunch of medieval carols and learn about all the sins that people had to try to avoid committing in those far-off days. We learn about the Middle English word "avoutré", a sin which medieval married couples were warned against: and we find out that this sin included not only "adultery" but also "intercourse for recreational purposes".
You can't say these sessions aren't educational haha!
I check with Lois later, and she confirms that the Church was only interested in marriage as a way of making more children.
What a crazy world they lived in in those far-off days !!!!!
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