I wrote last January that a written list of tasks can be a bit depressing as it just looks insurmountable and has the opposite
effect to what is intended. I had a realistic list of a few jobs planned for the year, so I thought that I should update my progress (this is also a self test as I haven't already checked!):
a. Finish the small brick wall and the barbecue stand at the back of the garden - Done
b. Get some more limestone and finish the wall down the side of the house/lawn - Done apart from the far end
c.
Get some more limestone and do the other end of that wall, where I want
to make a ramp up to the lawn with a retaining wall in front of the
shed. - Done except the coping
d. Finish decorating indoors (includes lime plaster repairs) - Done except for painting the repair at the kitchen door
e. Plaster the walls of the wardrobe - No
f. Fit the bath panel properly - No
g. Refurbish at least one of the sash windows - Still not even one!
h. Construct an 8' x 12' shed in the side garden - Done, and painted
i. Construct a store (for camping equipment and rarely used tools etc) round the back - Well, I rebuilt the earlier shed for that purpose
j. Repaint various bits outside where the black paint is peeling off (why?) - No
Other minor jobs here included a new lounge carpet (or was that last year?), finishing the tiling in the kitchen, laying some more turf, cleaning all the secondary glazing. I also fulfilled the promise to my oldest brother to go and help him do a job on his equally
old house for a few days. That involved four days to remove a flat concrete roof built on corrugated iron, mostly using an angle grinder, mallets and bolsters...
In a sense, that's a lot of work achieved here as we had a £200k job done in the Grade I listed church opposite - fitting a limecrete floor, new boiler and toilets (Whoopee!) - as well as planning for next year's £200k of stonework repairs (thanks to an HLF grant). Anyone who has ever been churchwarden at the time of having no vicar, and had to take on the treasurer job as well, will understand how busy I have been, even before the fight through the hoops of the CofE and the HLF and at the same time managing a contractor on site.
I should add a brief word on my operation - everyone (including the surgeon - "is it really a year?") thinks that the year since that event has just flown past. My brother is in excellent health and my old kidney is now helping him to enjoy life as he used to (i.e. pre 2006 or so). He really does have his life back. As his daughter said to me: "we have had a good time doing things as a family this year - we had got used to Dad just being asleep every afternoon!" I too am in excellent health and have had no real issues at all; the nephrectomy was effectively just two days of discomfort followed by a week or so of feeling delicate. I cannot even say that I had any pain as I just avoided doing certain things for the few weeks, like stretching in an odd direction, or lifting things etc. For the whole story see http://diaryofakidneydonor.blogspot.co.uk/
I have to confess to one downside - although I recovered my strength very well, I do feel that I have lost some stamina and get tired (or fed up) quite easily. Or is that old age just creeping up more quickly than I would like?
