Musings from the Merse
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
Duns Plus One
No crows in the chimney so we had a quiet start after our first night in the Small House in Duns but no glorious vistas either. A secret house in a secret garden but we pay for the privilege by being hemmed in all sides; in Hutton the nearest visible house to the north was a clear two miles, here it is not quite two metres.
The only outbuilding, a dinky 'summer house' is crammed full of builders rubbish-builders who have so far built nothing, but then it is only 5 weeks since they removed a neighbours fence -the wrong one-right neighbour, wrong fence, filled the summer house with rubble, presumably from a previous assignment as they have cut no sods here, and buggered off. We hope that they will return if only to empty the summerhouse so as we can find room for an array of boxes for which there is no room in the s-h-i-d. So far the weather has been kind but come the rains (and it rains in Duns, unlike Hutton-the driest place in the UK bar* Dunbar-and even drier since they closed the pub 50 years ago)only a thin sheet of plastic protects Huttonian's remaining possessions from the elements.
AS for clearing the Old Manse-the feeding of the five thousand resonates here. Having moved most of our possessions, we thought, that we have not taken has so far involved 5 car loads and the rubbish thrown out has filled the biblical 12 baskets. In this case it is 12 recycling bags-clear and purple;plus 21 cartons for the Charity Shops** (very little is classified as pure rubbish under the scrutiny of the wife-save Planet first,move house next.) But in my view life is too short to save the Planet-leave that to the grandchildren; carpe diem and fill not only our Wheelie Bin but the neighbours' as well.
When the wife is not looking of course
* Pun foreshadowed
** Oxfam will have fun with the 53 baby nappies; unused (I think) but individually offered as their containers have been recycled separately on the wife's instructions
No crows in the chimney so we had a quiet start after our first night in the Small House in Duns but no glorious vistas either. A secret house in a secret garden but we pay for the privilege by being hemmed in all sides; in Hutton the nearest visible house to the north was a clear two miles, here it is not quite two metres.
The only outbuilding, a dinky 'summer house' is crammed full of builders rubbish-builders who have so far built nothing, but then it is only 5 weeks since they removed a neighbours fence -the wrong one-right neighbour, wrong fence, filled the summer house with rubble, presumably from a previous assignment as they have cut no sods here, and buggered off. We hope that they will return if only to empty the summerhouse so as we can find room for an array of boxes for which there is no room in the s-h-i-d. So far the weather has been kind but come the rains (and it rains in Duns, unlike Hutton-the driest place in the UK bar* Dunbar-and even drier since they closed the pub 50 years ago)only a thin sheet of plastic protects Huttonian's remaining possessions from the elements.
AS for clearing the Old Manse-the feeding of the five thousand resonates here. Having moved most of our possessions, we thought, that we have not taken has so far involved 5 car loads and the rubbish thrown out has filled the biblical 12 baskets. In this case it is 12 recycling bags-clear and purple;plus 21 cartons for the Charity Shops** (very little is classified as pure rubbish under the scrutiny of the wife-save Planet first,move house next.) But in my view life is too short to save the Planet-leave that to the grandchildren; carpe diem and fill not only our Wheelie Bin but the neighbours' as well.
When the wife is not looking of course
* Pun foreshadowed
** Oxfam will have fun with the 53 baby nappies; unused (I think) but individually offered as their containers have been recycled separately on the wife's instructions
Labels: Leaving the Manse, Small House in Duns
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