From home to house

I am currently having work on my home done which in the end will be great but has taken much more toll on me than expected. I had anticipated mess and disruption but not quite the difficulties that have ensued. It is more the to-ing and fro-ing for extras of something or a new something else because inevitably things have gone a bit wrong. The worst has been the water downstairs being cut off since 8.30am Monday. The other unforseen issue was the plumbing problem for the downstairs loo that is also going in. Monday was supposed to be an easy job of laying some cold water pipes for it but the job had to be changed and got complicated, hence the no water situation. It has been very wearing going up and down stairs for water. I haven't washed up since Monday until I uttered the unusual phrase 'I'm just going to wash up in the bath' to the carpenter this morning. But then, I haven't really cooked either, so four days of washing up was just a bowlful. I was trying, up until yesterday, to look upon it as posh camping. This morning I was ready to throw in the towel. I have lost several things this week, misplaced, one of them nearly included my mind. I left over two hundred pounds of fees in cash at a pilates venue, which was found and returned. I went to buy a bowl and bin only to get to the till and find I didn't have my purse. That was because I had used a different bag earlier to try and find a tap washer for an antique brass tap - to no avail. I have been sleeping very badly. I sent a snotty text to my partner working at Glastonbury, I bemoaned my lot to my mother but ended up laughing with her (God bless my mother - she is a marvel!) I sent several whiney self-pitying texts to a friend who politely asked how it was going, and was told in no uncertain terms. This morning I got to the point of not being able to speak to the workmen and had to leave before I broke down into some sort of sobbing mess. The 'toilet guy' was drilling holes in the wall to move a boiler vent and install a ventilation fan. I honestly think it would have been quicker and quieter to knock the damn wall down and build it back up with the holes in place. The poor cats looked at me frozen to the spot at the top of the stairs in abject horror and I had to carry and escort them to the garden. At 1.45pm I retreated to my summerhouse with books and charged laptop, where it is markedly more peaceful. Misty, the older cat, and Oscar, the dog joined me. Rosie has decamped next door and who can blame her. I woke up this morning, exhausted and very sore, low and tearful. I only just made it downstairs as the plummer arrived. He took one look at me and decided not to try his usual peppy chatter, which I have managed to engage in up until now. Then he apologetically presented the tap, and so the day began. At that point, I didn't think I'd make it through and was concerned how I would handle work later at the therapy centre. Luckily my shift will only last from 6pm-8.30pm. I may have a bath later now I have removed the washing up and have water and a working tap downstairs to do the dishes. The carpenter, bless him, still asks me questions about what I want and how and where and I just smile and say, I have no idea - what do you think? The ability to think and decide left me Monday evening, a fact I think he and the plummer are aware of, but they humour me and try to give me a sense of being involved in the work on my house, even though as soon as I've given my comment, I can't remember what I've agreed to. Oscar, having spent his first six months of life on a saw mill site, has befriended the carpenter and sits by the saw and tile cutter watching him work and getting covered in dust. Perhaps I should bath him and not me later. Mind you the whole house is so dusty it looks likes Mrs Haversham's from Great Expectations. I wouldn't be at all surprised to find a spinster in a wedding dress and a mottled old wedding cake when I next go back in. Ah well, it would be something different to cheese and crackers to eat I suppose. Best go check all the clocks haven't all stuck at twenty to nine...