A friend wrote and asked, ‘What are you
doing while all this work is going on?’ That is an excellent question. It must
look as if I am sitting on my bottom all this time, but in a sense I am. On
June 2nd I had a total knee
replacement and it is rather a big op. It is nearly 3 months, but I am now
beginning to glimpse what it will be like when I am totally over it. It has
been hard to stand and walk, and the rest. But slowly, slowly, it improves. The
docs say expect it to take 6-12 months.
The joys of underfloor heating
 |
| Hot pipes to keep guests warm |
Stefan suffered some nerve damage after
several operations on his back, with the result that it is very hard for him to
keep his feet warm in winter. We have a wood burning stove and central heating
in London, but no good.
In our Polish house, we have underfloor
heating. Suddenly he was warm, the first time for years. Not only is the floor
and house warm but there are no radiators taking up wall space, an added bonus.
Ever
used Commie loo paper?
I have.
One of Stefan’s cousins is married to a
builder. He is a good man, I met him in London. He works like a bulldozer and with
his equally hard working wife they have not only raised their now independent
children, but have built their own, rather splendid, enormous house in northern
Poland. While he still works, she manages the garden and grows and preserves
their own produce. They are generally doing alright; they could afford decent
loo paper. The brutal fact is they both hate to part with money. Though toilet
paper in Poland costs pennies, in their house I have used that dreadful apology
that Wikipedia describes as tissue,
that was all that was available in
Communist times. It is grey, corrugated, limp paper that separates immediately
from the supporting paperboard core, leaving it to drift around aimlessly while
you try to catch the end. It’s a mess and it doesn’t absorb anything. Not recommended. No pic.
This
week’s sadness
The razing of Palmyra is discussed here. I
can add nothing.
Comparative
dentistry
London,
UK:
It costs £44. It takes 15 mins. Equipment:
minimal. Appointments need to be made far in advance as she only works
Saturdays.
Warsaw,
Poland:
First it has to be noted Stefan is a long time patient at this rather
posh surgery.
We arrived for his appointment and on
request they agreed straight away to clean my
teeth; no previous arrangement had been made.
Cost, £40. It took 45 minutes. Equipment:
state of the art. Teeth felt fantastic, though it was dead painful. Who will I use in the future? No contest.
Tile
tip
I was pretty upset when I saw what colour
grout Stefan had used for our lovely wet room. He is a fabulous craftsman, as anyone who
knows him will testify, and tiling is his specialty. But he is not trained in the arts, and brown grout for very
light tiles was no problem for him.
I realize life is short and horrible things
are happening all over the place, but just now, grout takes precedence. I wasn’t
losing sleep, but it was a problem. Do I dig it out and get Stefan to regrout?
He was unenthusiastic.
Then the aha moment. I happened to have brought that very fine product, Lascaux
white acrylic, which I rubbed in and which did the trick. It took an hour, job done.
PS. The reason there is no before pic is because the minute we
crossed into Poland my phone demanded, for the first time ever, a security
code without which, nothing. Whatever I tried failed to work, so, no phone. I
researched enough to know treatment would mean back to factory settings, losing everything including the before pic, so
I decided a tablet, 2 computers and Stefan’s 2 phones were maybe sufficient gadgets to get through till we
return. Rough times.
Next week: cheesecake, art and neighbours
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