Wednesday 5 August 2026: Lots of good news!

Wow, so here we are in August and it’s already the fifth of the month! What a fast and busy year we’re having.

We were rudely awakened on Friday at about 5:30am when the dog started to bark. We ignored him because he’d not long been out, and we reckoned he’d just heard another dog barking somewhere, or something like that. Less than 30 minutes later, there was a load of banging outside. I asked what all the noise was and the poet mumbled that it was probably the window fitter come to collect our old windows. Satisfied that was the likely answer, we both went straight back to sleep.

When we got up an hour or so later, the windows had indeed been taken away. What a strange time to come and cart away a load of rubbish! They’re gone now, though, so that’s good. Yay!

The poet had a number of Teams calls throughout the morning and while he joined some of those, I put a couple of washloads through and hung them out when they were ready. I could feel rain in the air, but there wasn’t any forecast, so I wasn’t unduly worried. (Don’t get excited! We didn’t get any rain.) Within an hour or so the sun was baking hot again and it was almost unbearable outside, again.

I researched a few calls for submissions I wanted to respond to throughout August and I finalised Friday’s blog, chose the picture, and posted it everywhere.

The MOT on my car runs out on Friday, so I had to make a phone call to find a mechanic who could do the test for me this week. The first garage I called, the one literally on our doorstep, was closed for the week for holidays. So I called the garage I used to take my car to when we lived over here before. Yes, they could fit me in this Friday morning. Yay!

An email came in from the editing client with the proofreader’s report and the author’s report on a job already edited. She asked if I could prioritise this one over everything else as we were so close to getting it out on time. Because I was already working on my calendar, I was able to slot it in and move a few things around to accommodate it. I’m keeping my writing hours and my republishing hours. It’s the client work, the same client, I jiggled around.

A call came in on the poet’s personal phone, which he got excited about before even answering it…It was our former letting agent with good news. The keys for our campervan (and the compound, and the storage box on the back, and the cupboards where we keep the gas bottles and ramps, etc) had turned up. Yay! They were exactly where we thought they’d be – on a hook inside one of the kitchen cabinet doors. And could one of us go and meet the owner on site on Tuesday (yesterday)?

Well, I have builders here for four days this week levelling and turfing the garden, so I couldn’t go. Fortunately, the poet was able to arrange a meeting in his dinner break.

But, phew! That is going to save us so much time and money, and lost face at the secure compound. And now the new windows are in, and the garden will have been done by the end of tomorrow (yay!), the poet can go and get it and see how easily he can get it onto the drive alongside the house. AND… we might be able to go off on a surprise trip in between all the hassle of the new house and the poet’s daughter’s wedding.

The big thing is having it at home with us where we can keep an eye on it, run a trickle charger on the battery if necessary, do any work that needs doing to it, and just go off somewhere on a whim without worrying about getting back before the gates close.

Quite a few items of good news there, actually. Thank you for listening, Cosmos!

We didn’t do very much at the weekend other than have a bit of time off. We did the shopping in one trip with us taking it in turns to sit with or walk the dog. We did the weekly shop. We chose some wallpaper together when B&Q said the dog could come in with us. We bought the dog another puzzle, another stuffed toy (they’re lasting a little bit longer now), some treats that might fit in the puzzles, and a toothbrush and some toothpaste. We tried to get some TCP a couple of times, but it’s in very short supply at the moment. And we visited the mother-in-law.

On Monday, the builders were here early having a JCB delivered to dig the garden. They boarded the front lawn so they had somewhere to put all the debris they dug out. And they started to dismantle the raised patio, the aviary cage, and the old coal bunkers. The two of them worked really hard all day in hot sunshine. But it was easier than any of us thought it might be as the raised patio was made up of sand and top soil and compacted within a low wall. It could have been filled with rubble, cement, rocks, anything.

I say it was easier. I mean for them. I couldn’t have tackled it. The poet could have, but it would have taken him a lot longer.

While they did that the poet worked at his laptop and I brainstormed a brand-new short story in the breaks between checking on them, making drinks, watching the dog. I wrote Monday’s wrap-up blog and posted it. I created the two August graphics. And I wrote the Hello, August post. I didn’t publish it yet, though. I left that until yesterday morning.

The poet also took the dog for a long walk to wear him out a bit and calm him down.

On Tuesday, the builders were an hour later, which was nice, actually, as it gave us time to get up without rushing. We’d had a drop of rain overnight. It wasn’t forecast and it was probably just a shower. But we had a drop of rain overnight and everywhere smelled lovely when I let the dog out at 4am.

The poet had a couple of meetings and a couple of errands to run, and while he was out he bought some flowers for our joined-on next-door neighbour as a gesture for all the noise and upheaval recently. When we moved in, she was very quick to assure us it was only to be expected when you move into a new house and there’s work to be done, but she has been concerned about the nurses not being able to get their cars in and out while they’re tending to her husband. It’s the neighbour on the other side of her who’s partially sighted.

The big news yesterday was that we now have the keys to our campervan! Yay!

After the builders left, the window manufacturing company sent someone to repair a chip in one of our new windows. We don’t know if it came out of the mould with the chip or if the window fitters damaged it. If it couldn’t be repaired, though, we’d be expecting a new window. Turns out he wasn’t happy with the finish and will try again with some different material. Meanwhile, the window fitter has said that if it isn’t done, then we will get a new window. Free of charge.

The dog had a lot of fun zooming around the garden, but he kept sitting or lying down on the dirt patch that will be our lawn. It’s obviously already much nicer than paving slabs and concrete. He’ll be so giddy when the grass goes down.

I spent most of the day on proofreading the first of the client edits on my list.

We had more rain overnight that wasn’t forecast. This time it actually left puddles. Yay!

Today a truck is expected to arrive to cart away all the rubble and debris that’s been on our front lawn all week. I had a text the night before warning me that it would be here at 8am. Boo! The turf is also coming today. Yay!

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