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July Re-Cap
Once again, I have neglected my blog over the past month. Not out of desire but more of necessity. July has been another weirdly busy month where nothing has happened (if that makes sense). I hope to rectify things and return to my usual blogging schedule as soon as I can. In the meantime, here is a re-cap of my July:
House selling
Sadly, our house is still on the market as I type up this blog. None of the family homes around here have shifted, and more are coming onto the market every week. Since my last blog post, we have had no viewers at all; indeed, at times I forget our house is even on the market. It’s really demoralising. The “one viewer” that everyone talks about is strangely elusive and we wait on, clocking up more fees for storage and gaining more and more grey hairs and worry lines. There is a fairly big (I’m told) cycling event happening in nearby Glentress Forest at the end of this week and our agent is hoping that with a lot of visitors in the town we may pick up some interest. But, I am not holding my breath. I’m usually a positive person – optimism is my default setting – but this whole experience of trying to sell our lovely home is chipping away at that bit by bit. Maybe I’m just tired. I know I’m impatient. Both my husband and I are so keen to move back to the city as soon as possible and it’s frustrating when the ability to do so seems to not be happening imminently.
We are also in great need of a holiday away but because of the shenanigans this year with house-selling, that isn’t going to happen. Instead, it’s a case of trying to chill at home.
Anyway, maybe next month’s blog will be different (I’m sure I also said this last month…..).
PhD thesis
I have been trying to chip away at this over the past month. I have definitely left the most tricky chapter until the end. I’ve found some very useful background information, but Powell’s pubs, clubs, and restaurants are described minimally in his Dance novels. From these minimal descriptions, and from his journal entries and memoirs, I am trying to piece together subchapters which maintain the theme upon which my thesis is based. It is far from easy. Maybe I’m finding it more challenging with all that is going on (or not) with the house, but I’m keeping on going and am determined to have this finished next summer at the earliest.
When I was a child, my parents used to drag me to swimming lessons (which I hated!). The swimming teacher always used to tell us to “keep kicking” so that we could complete lengths, even when we wanted just to float or take a rest. That “keep kicking” concept has been very much in my mind, and – no matter how hard I wish this was all done so I can take a wee break – I have to keep going. If I don’t “keep kicking”, it won’t be finished for ages. And I (and I’m sure my supervisor) want this finished.
Reading
This month, when I haven’t been reading articles and books about Fitzrovia and Soho, or Powell’s novels (for the umpteenth time), I have been reading the first in the trilogy of Peebles-based novels by O. Douglas (actually named Anna Buchan, sister of John Buchan who wrote the Hannay books). I’ve only lived here 23 years and am reading them just as I’m about to leave! It’s easy-reading but a lovely escape as I try (unsuccessfully) to identify the locations of the houses that appear in Penny Plain (the first book in the ‘Priorsford’ series). Published in 1925, this novel paints a very different town to the one I live in, particularly in this description:
“I often wonder why Priorsford is so unlike a story-book little town. We’re not nearly so interested enough in each other for one thing. We don’t gossip to excess. Everyone goes his or her own way. In books, people do things or are suspected of doing things, and are immediately cut out by a feverishly-interested neighbourhood. I can’t imagine that happening in Priorsford”.
One just needs to look at the town Facebook pages to see that this isn’t the case any more! And gossip….. well, let’s just say when I was sick 11 years ago, I learned from various people “through the grapevine” that I had been at ‘death’s door’, or re-admitted for yet another operation among other falsities. I guess this is the ‘joy’ of a small town.
TV/Netflix/Streaming
I haven’t had much time to watch TV (as usual) except for the Sewing Bee (which I also mentioned last month). I can’t be bothered with TV, to be honest. I’ve been in a more creative/reading mood this month.
General
Unlike May and June, July has been cool and wet here. I don’t think there has been a day, since the schools broke up at the end of June, when we haven’t had rain. I’m not complaining though; the heatwave we had in the spring was more than enough summer for me. And, I’d rather have what we have now than the excessively hot temperatures seen in many parts of the world over the past few weeks. I’ve tidied out the garden in the drier spells but have been spared the watering – God’s done that for me! Perhaps when the schools go back in a fortnight, we will get summer again (even though I am looking forward to autumn!).
Talking of which, yesterday was so wet and cold that I decided to make gingerbread. I felt autumnal and I wanted to make something to enjoy with a cuppa tea. I found an old recipe in a book my late Auntie gave me for my fifteenth birthday, and the end result is amazing. I’m going to make that again!
Our son was 23 last week, so he and my daughter came from their respective flats to stay for the weekend. It was lovely having the house full again. Now they have both gone, I really feel the vacuum they have left. Mind you, I have a lot of tidying up to do in their wake!
I’ve been chipping away at the cross-stitch picture that my Dad gave me for Christmas. It’s hard finding time as I usually feel guilty that I’m not writing my thesis, or doing my SST emails, or doing something else. However, I have done short bursts at a time and am two-thirds of the way through it. I think I have mentioned it before, but sewing – and art and craft in general – is my go-to de-stress activity. Also, there is a quotation in a book I read a few years ago (in The Dictionary of Lost Words by Pip Williams), which says:
‘”I clean, I help with the cooking. I set the fires. Everything I do gets eaten, or dirtied, or burned – at the end of the day there’s no proof I have been here at all”. She paused, kneeled down beside me, and stroked the embroidery on the edge of my skirt […]. “Me [sic] needlework will always be here […]. I see this and I feel….well, I don’t know the word. Like I’ll always be here”. “Permanent,” I said’.
That’s how I view my numerous cross-stitch pictures which will one day belong to the kids. They are lasting proof that I have existed. Does that sound sad?
Ooh, and also the new Karl Jenkins CD was released at the beginning of July; the CD for which our choir provided two songs: ‘Let’s Go (Babel)’ and ‘Savitur’. They sound a-maz-ing! Even better, the album reached number 1 in the classical charts, so now I can say that I have sung on a number 1 CD! The names of my husband and I are on the inlay slip as proof! See if you can see my name below…. (names listed alphabetically by first name).
So, that’s been July. I’m hoping August will see the changes we are seeking. Who knows?
Literary Quotation of the Week
“Knowledge=power=energy=matter=mass; a good bookshop is just a genteel Black Hole that knows how to read”. (Terry Pratchett, Guards! Guards!)
Thursday Photo
Long Overdue Catch-up and June Re-cap
Well, it’s been a long while since I wrote my last blog post so I thought it was high time I brushed off the dust that has accumulated on this website and write an update as to what has been going on chez nous during June. Buckle up, it’s a bumpy ride.
House Selling
In my last blog post, I mentioned that we had had an offer accepted on a house we bid on in the city, and our current abode was about to hit the housing market. As it turns out, we are having major problems selling our current place; the demand for family homes in my town went from boom to bust in literally two weeks. And our house is still on the market. We had two months without any viewers; last week saw our first two groups of viewers since the end of April! The demand for family homes in this town is that bad. This is really baffling, as the town is not only beautiful scenery-wise, but it is a wonderful place in which to bring up a family. Plus, properties here tend to be much cheaper than their equivalents in the city. We have heard of other sellers who had got offers and have had to put their homes back on the market again, which is a comfort that it’s not just us that is going through this. But it’s all a bit of a mess as a result of recent hikes in interest rates and mortgage rates. As a result of our house not shifting, we have lost the house we offered on (someone else swiped it away from us a fortnight ago – grrrrr) and are effectively back to square one. We daren’t look for houses yet, but I have seen one which isn’t far from the original place (looks much better too) but we aren’t arranging viewings for places until we get an offer on this place. Which is goodness knows how long away!
All this has had a bit of a roller-coaster effect on my mental health. In week 1, when we had three viewings, I was so hopeful that we would be on our way up the road and nearer to my Dad (who had had a fall and was subsequently admitted to hospital for tests), and then two months of nothing dipped me into despair. My town suddenly makes us feel like we’re livin’ it up in the Hotel California – once you’ve checked in, you can’t leave! The viewings last week again brought the hope back, but one couple didn’t want the place (not enough storage, apparently, which is perplexing as we have quite a lot of it!) and the other couple has gone quiet. As has the estate agent with further bookings. So, to avoid the despair again, I’m trying to keep myself busy, but it isn’t easy trying to live in a pristine showhouse all the time – and I’m beginning to need some of the stuff we put in storage (we thought we would be in the new place by now). Trust interest rate increases and mortgage rate hikes to happen the very time we decide to sell! I am an optimistic person, though, and I know that we will sell. Although if someone else comes at me with the phrase, “it only takes one viewer/buyer”, I may swing for them!
So, we wait. The estate agent reckons it could be the end of July before we see things picking up again. To me, that is too far away. But, patience has never been one of my strengths and this whole experience is teaching me to be patient, so maybe I will be a changed person afterwards. One thing I do know is, our next house will be our last house – I’m not doing this again!
PhD progress
When we put the house on the market, I took a two month break. Time which, we were initially assured, we would have sold and probably moved out. That two months ends on Sunday; I am back at work on my PhD on Monday. I have pondered about extending my break, but literally what is the point? I have no idea how long this place will take to sell so maybe I should just concentrate on work as a distraction. The break has been really beneficial for my mental health though; selling is enough of a stress without adding on the fear of falling behind. I’ll just do what I can, when I can until we settle into our new place. I am forever thankful for a supportive and patient supervisor, and a really obliging university faculty. They’ll be glad to see the back of me next year!
Reading
I’ve been trying to read to keep myself distracted during the past few weeks, but it has been hit and miss in this aim. I’m currently reading Patrick Hamilton’s Twenty Thousand Streets Under the Sky, a novel which is set in London’s Soho and which I am reading as background for my thesis chapter. But, as I say, I haven’t felt like reading a lot and so this book is taking ages to get through (it’s also 580 pages long which doesn’t help either!).
Oh, and I gave up on Finnegan’s Wake. I’ll come back to that another time.
TV/Streaming
Again, I haven’t watched much TV other than The Great British Sewing Bee on Wednesday evenings. It’s one of my must-see shows. I have a sewing machine, and made myself a couple of tops when the children were small, but that’s as far as my dress-making goes. The programme always inspires me to make some more things; I wish I had asked my Mum to show me the basics when she was alive. She was a brilliant dressmaker.
Other than that, and old Neighbours re-runs on FreeVee, I haven’t watched much TV. Again, I haven’t felt like doing so. Bah to the mental turmoil of selling the house!
General
It has been very, very hot here right since the end of April. By mid-June, it was 34C in our back garden (we have one of those geeky weather stations so our weather is personalised!) and it remained above 28C for nigh on a month. Our lawn slowly turned from its lovely green colour to the burnt colour of a cricket pitch, both in the front and back gardens. The dogs were not fans of the heat, and – to an extent – neither was I! I was able to take some of my sewing outdoors to work on, which was a treat now and again (before it got too hot and I scuttled back indoors again, closely followed by my sidekicks). Our back garden seating section is a suntrap so in hot weather you can only be out first thing, or last thing at night.
However, over the past couple of days, we have had some much-welcome rain. The flowers have been loving it (as have I as it spares me yet another round with the watering can!) and the grass is loving it. I stood out in our back garden as the rain hammered down the other day, with distant thunder rumbling, and soaked in (pun intended) the scent of petrichor and the sound of the large raindrops hitting the bone-dry ground. I don’t think there is anything nicer than the first rainfall after an unrelenting heatwave.
So, I think that is about all that has been happening here over the past few weeks. Not a lot, but yet weirdly it feels like it has been a lot. My Dad is doing well again after that little health scare at the beginning of May, and I am hoping he stays well for a long while! Maybe by the end of next month, I will have better news to share on this blog in regard to our house sale/move.
One piece of good news we got was that my husband has been promoted to a Professor in his university faculty (or Schools as Edinburgh Uni calls them). He has worked so hard for this, and we are all delighted for him. In other family news, my daughter starts a clinical internship in the labs at Ninewells tomorrow. Over the summer break, she will be focussing on diabetes research. These internships were very competitive and she did very well to secure one. She is very excited to get going. Just the encouragement she needs as she prepares for her last year on her biomed degree. My son has also had a promotion in his workplace and now is responsible for the interns who have recently arrived there. I need to get my last chapter written to complete the ‘full house’ [June tries to muster up some enthusiasm and discipline for next week, but decides she needs a cup of tea first].
I’m now hoping to re-start my usual blog posting days again of Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday, and Sunday. I’ve missed not spilling my brains out on this platform! Thank you for bearing with me during my absence.
June's Jottings 