Salad Days, Saturdays, And Who The Hell Did I Offend Now

Monday.

About a month ago now, or there about I think it roughly was, we made the decision that maybe constant cleaning of black mould from around windows, doors and ceilings was not such an appropriate exercise plan for me, myself. Jesse and my friend, Debbie, thought it time that I look into searching for a bigger dehumidifier. (Maybe industrial sized would fix it 😁) I have two small ones going round the clock (which I empty three times weekly) but still the mould relentlessly came. I tried bleaching it which, in my humble opinion, only encouraged it. Mould, it seems, likes a nice clean growing space. 😁 And while I don’t mind the smell, every room stinking like a swimming pool isn’t quite the nice fresh scent I try to induce about my home.

Recently Debbie and I spent a whole day battling the black creature from the bungalow, using all manner of weaponry, from ancient tooth brushes, to scouring pads, scrubbing brushes, or wire wool. One thing I can impart here, though, is that tea tree oil is fabulous for ye old mould removal. I had tried the bleach, expensive sprays, cheap sprays, even holding the odd seance for it to be gone!!!!! It was quite by accident I tried tea tree oil for its anti-fungal properties and to my surprise it actually works! But I digress somewhat, as is my norm. After much deliberation we decided to each check out the Facebook selling pages. Normally there’s a dehumidifier or three being sold off affordably. The next day Debbie was in touch. She had found one… not as cheap as I would have liked, but it had high rating on sales pages going for it. Not only this, it could, in fact, do more than one room at any one time! Seemed almost too good to be true but I decided to invest in it anyway. My health is more important, so Jesse tried hard to convince me.

It was all arranged, and what’s more the guy was even willing to deliver, which was another factor, me not driving… Next day I nervously awaited its arrival, the way things go wrong for me, I fully expected it to be broken somehow or that I wouldn’t know how to operate the blooming thing… It turned up okay, the guy not interested in showing me how it worked was off before I could even utter the words “how”? I didn’t however go into panic mode… (my usual MO). No I just sat over a coffee, looking at its numerous buttons and dials, until in my mind at least I had some sort of understanding of its uses… it’s odd up until I started living alone as much as I love gadgets, phones, tablets, anything electrical I had always stressed over how to use it, normally handing it over to one of my son’s or another… now I just keep working at it till I understand, this isn’t always instant or even in the first week, but after much trial and error, curse words abound,… a little light goes off, in this head when I get it… (And I’m proud to say now I’ve even begun to get some things straight off).

I turned on the new dehumidifier, it whirled into action, after only a couple of hours in my bedroom, the water collections drawer was full, not only full but was heavy… this fascinated me… I instantly turned it back on, for some days I was emptying it out up to four times daily… it felt instantly warmer while it worked, which was another big plus, after a week though I decided to give the filters a clean so it could to better effect… it had had a slight oily cooking residual odour about it… I washed the outside and where I could on its arrival, Now was time to brave its inner workings, at first petrified I would take it apart and break it somehow. And it was to be with some trepidation that I finally set to work… screw driver at the ready. Turns out even with the correct screwdriver I couldn’t get proper access to the huge filter in the back. I thought about this a second, then I did my bit for all woman kind😁 (ladies will get this, see woman up till now are never encouraged to tackle these jobs, well I soon had this figured out! Using a very soft two inch clean paint brush and my Hoover, I flicked outwards the dirt and dust from between the plastic grill covering the main filter. It was filthy, I ended up filthy, but it worked.

Don’t do this at home folks.

What amongst all this figuring though, I had forgotten, (slaps forehead) was to wear a mask (I know sighs). I had without a thought, care or attention, breathed in all these dust particles, dirt, dead skin cells😖, and need I say germs from who knows how long, let’s move right on quickly shall we 😁, I had gone about my days, happy that my home was at least drying out. Also I was no longer breathing in hundreds of tiny unseen black mould spores that filled my living space and even covered the kitchen work surfaces (much to my surprise and disgust). Two days after cleaning the filter, I began to show the first signs of getting sick. My nose ran, my throat became scratchy and that night I was burning up. Now if you’ve ever visited here you would know how cold it gets at night, but here I was soaked to the skin throwing off any blankets, no matter how thin. I ached from my head downwards.

At first I did my best to deny it. I don’t go out, much less have anyone in. How could this be happening? If indeed it was. I carried on with my normal routine as much as possible, ignoring the dull nagging aches, chills, or fevers. But you can only hide from these things for so long. As the days went on, the night fevers increased. Jesse had bought me a new mattress for the bed, both of us convinced that the old one was causing my pain. The new one helped. It’s lovely and supportive, but still I hurt. Time for hiding my head was to come to a rapid end, especially after my breathing became short if I was active. I didn’t want food, just drinking anything hot. This seemed to sooth my by now raw throat.

Monday morning.

On waking, I actually didn’t feel quite so bad, I had taken pain meds during the night, slept well and felt somewhat relaxed. That wasn’t to last though. I had one of my early morning coffees. (I say one, because there’s normally several throughout the day), showered, cleaned up the kitchen and plugged in my other phone while I wrote out my to do list. This phone I rarely charge. No one calls or texts so no real need. It suddenly sprang into action, screen flashing, pinging the music hurt my aching head. I picked it up, surprised, and right then and there my little world crashed around my congested head. I had just been given notice to quit the bungalow. I was too sick to really register the news properly, the shock set in sometime later! Much later!

Jesse was there thank goodness, as that’s no time to be alone. I felt sick to my stomach. I had, despite the never ending cold, out and out wars with the log burner, heating, mould… loved being here. It was my transitional home, a place to learn about myself, heal and wait till the time I get to be with Jesse. I had thought about moving on a few times, but it was just that: thought. Now I was once more homeless, without a base, an anchor. All at once exhaustion washed over me. I felt like weeping but to what end?

Since then I’m almost certain I’m on my third battle with COVID, I’ve little to no immunity, so it’s feasible, if not probable. Still in long haul from the first infection, I am amazed, if not astounded, at my body’s propensity to fight. Seems it’s as stubborn as I am. I try to keep busy during January crocheting hats for a charity. During this month I’m working on doing something for hearing dogs for the deaf. I know I need to fill my days, keep from dwelling on my health and the almost imminent move. The thought of packing, dragging stuff about alone, makes me feel old and only serves to remind me how everything is down to me.

I flick through endless pages of rental homes longing for one to speak to me, one that will feel like a home for me and Cinnamon. I worry: will I find us one in time? He’s relying on me, and I’m just longing to go back to the days when I didn’t have a care in the world… days of crafting and coffee. Now I’m beginning to wonder who the hell I peeved to be cursed so. One thing to come out of this is I no longer feel the need to comfort eat. I’m sticking to my sugar and wheat free diet, pea shoots, beet leaves, healthy salads… cooking low fat chicken recipes with Jesse. I know it will all work out for the best, it always does… it’s just when. Take care of yourselves folks. 💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛