Last moments in Cambs...

[byslantedlight]

...well, here it finally is, after seven years of being temporarily in Cambridgeshire, I'm heading back west! Not quite as far west as Alaska, but west in any case.

Way back in 2008 I moved into this house, and I took a picture from my new window. Here's that picture, beside one I took just now... Everything has grown! I can't see over the hedge to the fields any more, Little Tree is big enough that I can barely see the telegraph pole, and look at the tops of the trees at the back of the field across the road! Even the two big trees across the road have grown a bit.

Cambs. has been a strange time - I never did warm to it, and because I was only here temporarily I ended up living in three different houses in the first year I was here, finally settling in this one and deciding to stay still for a while until things sorted themselves out. Eventually it was really clear that what with all the changes in the department at university in Alaska, and with my supervisor moving to another department herself, I couldn't finish my PhD - no funding. We tried to get funding elsewhere, so that it wasn't department-dependent, but no go. So I lingered in Cambs... I never did quite work out what I was doing next, but maybe Somerset will help with that!

One thing I have thought - that now would be a really good time to actually put into practice something I've been waffling about for ages. When I get to Somerset - I'm going to write every day, until I'm convinced that it's not worth doing at all. If I'm convinced of that, then I will stop properly - but until then I will write properly. So there. *g*

In the few hours before I do hit Somerset though - I'd better get on with packing and getting myself there! *g* It's been a week of lasts. Last tutoring with my wee lad, last trip to return books to the library (including one that I'd reserved and not actually collected yet - rats!), last day at NT place... We'd better have some pics... *g*

Statue cleaning at NT place... here's one I did earlier! *g*

It was a gorgeous day - all blustering wind and dramatic grey clouds...

And here's the urn that I was working on this time - not been cleaned for years and years. Funny how the middle does look clean, presumably protected from some of the elements by the top, which was green and grey and lichen-y...

So I stood on a ladder and scrubbed, and watched the world turn to autumn... *g*

And eventually I began to make a difference...
There's three hour's work there! Well, perhaps two - it was at volunteer-pace after all, which involves moving much more slowly than I usually do, various waiting-for-other-people, occasional stopping to chat, teabreak... quite civilised really... *g*

And here's yesterday morning, last proper day in Cambs, blue skies... Nipped into town one last time...

And then it was all mad packing and day-jobDo you remember my midsummer flowers? I liked the way they were drying, but yesterday I returned them to their field...

And now? Now I really must pack the last few things, have a wash (*headdesk* - can you believe that with two days to go, the shower broke on Thursday? I didn't even get to have a shower that day, because I was statue-cleaning, so I thought I'd just have a quick splash to wake up and shower properly when I got back... and the thing wouldn't turn off! I had to turn off water supply to the whole house, and got landlady to call the plumber - who came and pronounced it properly dead. Gargh!), shove everything else into the car (I was very efficient and packed most of yesterday!), and then... then be off! Somerset awaits!

Comments

[siskiou.livejournal.com]

Well, the hitch is something you couldn't have planned for! ;)

I bet, by now your room is much nicer, though probably still not big enough. Wishing you luck that S stays away another day, so you can get done what needs doing. Sounds like keeping things clean is not her forte. How old is she?

I was in Germany (and three days Dublin at the end) for most of the summer, helping my parents getting their apartment set up to be more senior-friendly. My mom is very stubborn, and did not want a washing machine in the kitchen, but the way down into the cellar was just getting impossible for both of them. Now she is happy having it there, and my dad said: "Only a Capricorn could have done it!" *g*
Everyone else had tried and failed. I also got the old carpet ripped out in the hallway, had new slip proof vinyl installed, and used the leftovers from the hallway for the kitchen. Did all the curtains, washed the windows, deep cleaned everything etc...
Now they can last in their place for a while longer, with the help of friends for shopping.
My dad is trying to talk my mom into getting help with cleaning at least once a month, as she just can't see well enough (macular degeneration).

I actually feel that I need a holiday now! ;)
But school is starting again this Wednesday, and I have to be ready, new principal and all!