You weren't there, you didn't see, you won't understand...
Wasn't too bad a weekend, that. Still wasn't 100% over the lurgy, but it didn't stop me doing stuff, which is a plus.
I've started doing some of the little jobs around Current_House that really should be done if we're to leave it in a condition where the landlord can't easily turn around and go "you're not getting the deposit back" (not that we think he won't try, but we'll make it harder for him to do so). So Saturday afternoon was mostly spent out the front trying to tame 'Nam. Sadly, the consignment of Agent Orange and the team of machete-armed Amazonian foresters failed to turn up (I'm blaming FedEx) so I had to attack that on my own, but I reckon I had a reasonable turn at it. Still fairly wild and relatively untamed, but there is a clear(ish) pathway, and the worst of the overhanging tree branches have been taken down.
Also, the damage to the front door from Idiot Boy at New Year 06/07 has (finally) been mostly filled in with wood putty, and I've put a couple of coats of wood stain on it. In the next few days I hope to finish this, get the wood putty sanded down and the last couple of coats put on the door (as the wood putty is a slightly different shade to the door, hopefully it'll take the stain and blend in better).
I've also been hoovering, and washing clothes and sorting them into piles marked "Wear Now", "Wear Soon", "Pack for the Move", "Bring to Charity Shop" and "Use as Rags/Chuck". One way or another, whether New_House is ready or not, I have to be out of Current_House by the end of the month, so I've started the packing already. Most (not all, but most) of my videos and DVDs are now in archive boxes in the living room, my books will follow in due course (and will probably take up just as many boxes, if not more, then it'll be records/tapes/CDs and other bits & bots. If the move to New House isn't finalised before I have to leave Current_House, most of mine and Lucy's stuff will have to go into storage, but I reckon (hope!) I should be able to blag a few weeks in a garage belonging to a relative without too much hassle. Regardless, the next few weeks are going to involve an awful lot of cardboard boxes.
I have also finally started transferring my tapes across to computer. Most of these will (eventually) either go onto ebay or to various charity shops, though some (doubtless) will have to be trashed (if they're not eaten by the tape player first), and hopefully what's left will fit neatly into a single tape case. Eventually, when I'm in New_House, I hope to get the necessary kit for doing the same with my assorted VHS cassettes, which will get rid of a huuuuuuuge amount of clutter (sadly, at the moment I have neither the funds to make the necessary purchases nor the time to do the transfers, otherwise that would make quite a difference to the amount of stuff I'll have to move). Of course, this does mean I will have to rely upon technology to store the viewings of yesteryear, but tbh a 1Tb external hard drive and a 500Gb back-up won't really take up that much space, will they? :)
I also had fun at Cornucopia. A stomping set from Lana (even if I didn't recognise >80% of the tracks) and lots of dancings with thebiomechanoid, iylliana and Glenn (idkiholjon) were had, which was all good fun. Following that was what may well be the shortest stay at a house-party ever - what else could one do in a house that looked like the walls were being cross-bred with Triffids? There were at least 3 huge plate fungi growing at various points out of the walls, and a background smell, which a room full of 6 smokers couldn't quite mask, that is best described as a cross between (1) the bottom of an old laundry bag when you've just bunged the manky pair of socks and the set of undies that have been mouldering there for the last 4 months into the washing machine, and (2) the Mushroom stall at St George's Market at the end of a trading week in the height of a dirty hot summer. Not nice. This has, though, given me a fresh perspective on Current_House in that, despite it being untidy, despite it having 'Nam out the front (if you weren't there, you won't have seen, you won't understand), despite bits of it beginning to fall down (and, indeed, bits of it seeming to actively be trying to get us to leave), it's still reasonably okay, merely a passive rather than active health risk, and the walls do not look as if they might send out a tendril-like stinger to immobilise you and then secrete digestive juices at you any time.
Upon escaping the house, our small group of intrepid adventurers braved a local eating establishment, whereupon I discovered that ze Goggles do not'ing! and that it almost invariably is the women you wouldn't touch with someone else's 20-foot pole who go commando. (If you weren't there, you won't have seen, you won't understand.) I mean, when I'm going "dear gods, woman, put it away" you know things must be bad! There were unfortunate flashbacks to Abrakebabra (A-D-A Dublin-Invasion members were there, they will understand). :D
I've started doing some of the little jobs around Current_House that really should be done if we're to leave it in a condition where the landlord can't easily turn around and go "you're not getting the deposit back" (not that we think he won't try, but we'll make it harder for him to do so). So Saturday afternoon was mostly spent out the front trying to tame 'Nam. Sadly, the consignment of Agent Orange and the team of machete-armed Amazonian foresters failed to turn up (I'm blaming FedEx) so I had to attack that on my own, but I reckon I had a reasonable turn at it. Still fairly wild and relatively untamed, but there is a clear(ish) pathway, and the worst of the overhanging tree branches have been taken down.
Also, the damage to the front door from Idiot Boy at New Year 06/07 has (finally) been mostly filled in with wood putty, and I've put a couple of coats of wood stain on it. In the next few days I hope to finish this, get the wood putty sanded down and the last couple of coats put on the door (as the wood putty is a slightly different shade to the door, hopefully it'll take the stain and blend in better).
I've also been hoovering, and washing clothes and sorting them into piles marked "Wear Now", "Wear Soon", "Pack for the Move", "Bring to Charity Shop" and "Use as Rags/Chuck". One way or another, whether New_House is ready or not, I have to be out of Current_House by the end of the month, so I've started the packing already. Most (not all, but most) of my videos and DVDs are now in archive boxes in the living room, my books will follow in due course (and will probably take up just as many boxes, if not more, then it'll be records/tapes/CDs and other bits & bots. If the move to New House isn't finalised before I have to leave Current_House, most of mine and Lucy's stuff will have to go into storage, but I reckon (hope!) I should be able to blag a few weeks in a garage belonging to a relative without too much hassle. Regardless, the next few weeks are going to involve an awful lot of cardboard boxes.
I have also finally started transferring my tapes across to computer. Most of these will (eventually) either go onto ebay or to various charity shops, though some (doubtless) will have to be trashed (if they're not eaten by the tape player first), and hopefully what's left will fit neatly into a single tape case. Eventually, when I'm in New_House, I hope to get the necessary kit for doing the same with my assorted VHS cassettes, which will get rid of a huuuuuuuge amount of clutter (sadly, at the moment I have neither the funds to make the necessary purchases nor the time to do the transfers, otherwise that would make quite a difference to the amount of stuff I'll have to move). Of course, this does mean I will have to rely upon technology to store the viewings of yesteryear, but tbh a 1Tb external hard drive and a 500Gb back-up won't really take up that much space, will they? :)
I also had fun at Cornucopia. A stomping set from Lana (even if I didn't recognise >80% of the tracks) and lots of dancings with thebiomechanoid, iylliana and Glenn (idkiholjon) were had, which was all good fun. Following that was what may well be the shortest stay at a house-party ever - what else could one do in a house that looked like the walls were being cross-bred with Triffids? There were at least 3 huge plate fungi growing at various points out of the walls, and a background smell, which a room full of 6 smokers couldn't quite mask, that is best described as a cross between (1) the bottom of an old laundry bag when you've just bunged the manky pair of socks and the set of undies that have been mouldering there for the last 4 months into the washing machine, and (2) the Mushroom stall at St George's Market at the end of a trading week in the height of a dirty hot summer. Not nice. This has, though, given me a fresh perspective on Current_House in that, despite it being untidy, despite it having 'Nam out the front (if you weren't there, you won't have seen, you won't understand), despite bits of it beginning to fall down (and, indeed, bits of it seeming to actively be trying to get us to leave), it's still reasonably okay, merely a passive rather than active health risk, and the walls do not look as if they might send out a tendril-like stinger to immobilise you and then secrete digestive juices at you any time.
Upon escaping the house, our small group of intrepid adventurers braved a local eating establishment, whereupon I discovered that ze Goggles do not'ing! and that it almost invariably is the women you wouldn't touch with someone else's 20-foot pole who go commando. (If you weren't there, you won't have seen, you won't understand.) I mean, when I'm going "dear gods, woman, put it away" you know things must be bad! There were unfortunate flashbacks to Abrakebabra (A-D-A Dublin-Invasion members were there, they will understand). :D