Mattresses and garden make-overs

The only downside to my petite maison is the stairs leading up to it. Being on the second floor does mean I get a fantastic view of the gardens from the verandahs but moving furniture up to the bedrooms requires brute strength and steel determination. Especially when you decide to do it yourself. I can tell you that bed frames are relatively easy to push up a flight of stairs but mattresses are not. Manoeuvring a drunken elephant would be less trouble.

I think there is a family trait when it comes to finishing what you started even if when you take on more than a human should. Pushing a reluctant double mattress up an incline by yourself is one thing but trying to attach a curtain pole to the wall is another. I have to admit failure here. Trying to balance a six foot metal bar and drill a hole through a brick wall was one bloody finger too much even for my DIY skills. Depressingly, I have to wait for the builders to pop in again.

Still, it’s been an unseasonably warm week with temperatures peaking at 19 degrees so the woofers and I have been making the most of it. The front garden is almost ready for the Spring although the lawn does need a bit of a trim. Having planted, pruned and plucked our way through what was once a neglected landscape, the beauty of what the next few months will bring is beginning to show its face. Looking back on the first photographs taken, Denis and I have certainly put the work in. There is still much to do in the courtyard and the back garden still needs its potager and pool but with the lighter days and a bit of sun, the tasks ahead seem less daunting. We have yet to see any construction start on the main house yet which is frustrating, trying to get a team of builders and electricians to set a date is a skill in itself. Alas, even my do-it-yourself single mindedness cannot extend to ripping up floor tiles and laying cables. I have become quite the paintbrush expert though and I’m very handy with the hammer drill these days. As long as I don’t have to be up a ladder with a six foot curtain pole…..

“I must finish what I started even if inevitably, what I finish turns out to be not what I had began” (Salman Rushdie”