A mammoth undertaking

Yesterday was the end of the financial year at work, and I’m pleased to report that I made it in one piece.  When I think of everything that’s happened over the last year, that seems an achievement in itself! I delivered the last remaining milestone reports  on time, then came home with a throbbing headache and collapsed. Today I took off as “time off in lieu” of some the crazy hours I’ve been working recently. I had an enjoyable and useful day off.

In the morning I had a visit from a local joiner, whom I’ve asked to quote for replacing the last remaining window in the cottage which isn’t double glazed. The offending window used to be in a tiny study off the kitchen and opened into a rather decrepit back porch. When we had the extension built, we knocked down the porch and opened the study up into a much more useful utility area. But now the washing machine and tumble drier are directly next to the single-glazed window, and the amount of condensation it gets in the winter has to be seen to be believed. It’s something that Chris and I talked about having done, but it didn’t get far enough up The List before such things were rendered unimportant. Still, it will be good to get it fixed. If the chap comes up with an affordable quote, I’d love to get the window replaced with a double-glazed timber window over the summer, so that I don’t have the same problem next winter.

In the afternoon, I went out for coffee with an ex-colleague of mine who retired a few years ago. I haven’t seen him since Christopher’s funeral, so it was really good to catch up with what he’s up to, and to hear and pass on the latest gossip.  Then I bumped into another old friend and colleague in Waitrose, and we had a good long chat too.

I think a day off has done me good, especially combined with the knowledge that all the milestones have been submitted on time, and that work should therefore be a lot calmer when I go back next Monday.