Friday 7 January 2011

No, Not Again.

You’d think there’s nothing easier than getting a fully functioning car out of the garage this morning to go to the next town, a mere matter of a 20 minute drive away? Forget it. We’ve had more of the pretty white stuff.

I want it gone. Now.

Living in the furthest rural reaches of the country makes for a very exciting life. You can have hours of fun indoors, looking out on snow and ice, mud and floods, all shrouded picturesquely in mist and fog and impenetrably dull grey skies, and practice swearing, cursing, beating the husband – well, it’s not done to beat the dog, is it? -  shouting, railing against the fates, anything you’d like to call it. In fact, while you are swearing, cursing, etc. you could not only invent new curses, you could also find a whole new set of phrases by which to call the activity.

My, what a pleasure.

Sorry to go all whingeing and whining and moaning on you once again – I am getting good at it, don’t you think? – but I was all set for a pleasant morning of beautification and pampering; and I am not one to forgo such pleasures without a tantrum.

Besides, I look in dire need of some restoration work.

There was nothing for it but to give in with a seriously bad grace and grab a tin of polish and some rags and vent my fury on a couple of pieces of furniture that have been standing around, not earning their keep, but getting duller and more and more stained and finger-marked, and give them a polish to make them squeak, the first for more than a year.

It helped. I am now too exhausted to swear.



I also noticed just now, when I was walking the dog, that the tree I have thought of as an ‘ash’ up to now turns into  a dropoffilia in this weather.


31 comments:

  1. I'm sorry you missed your chance to be polished till you squeaked this morning but I'm sure you look perfectly dazzling anyway , without beeswax and turpentine , spit and polish .
    This new Ice Age is slightly trying , to say the least .... and your part of the world seems to be worse off than most ! Can't be too long till Spring surely?

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  2. ...restoration work! Ha, ha. I will never think of getting my hair colored and my monthly "beauty regime" as any thing but that ever again (now that I'm approaching (gasp) 45. It is now my "scheduled restoration work".

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  3. too tired to swear?! that furniture must gleam! you have my sympathies. I whine and whinge about much less but thankfully snow is not one of them.

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  4. I know people who would have tackled the drive anyway, but I am not one of them. I would have been just as disappointed as you were, but I wouldn't have taken it out in furniture polishing. I'd have gone back to bed, most likely, but inventing new curse words nevertheless.
    A very rousing post, Friko. I think you woke me up!
    -- K

    Kay, Alberta, Canada
    An Unfittie's Guide to Adventurous Travel

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  5. Your making me depressed...my furniture is covered in dust from the daily use of the fireplace! You are getting that horrible winter we had last year, it appears.

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  6. I have to confess I've never been so bored that I have turned to furniture polishing!!! LOL! Says a lot about me, doesn't it?

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  7. Du bist aber wirklich sehr fleissig im "posten"!! Eine sehr lustige Beschreibung trotz der ernsthaften Situation. Ja, wirklich lustig (ich habe mir vorgestellt, wie Du fluchst und mit den Händen herumfuchtelst und wie Benno und Beloved vor Dir flüchten ... haha!)!
    Aber nun mal ernsthaft, ich will auch keinen Schnee mehr. Hier regnet es wie verrückt, eigenartig und man fragt sich, was jetzt wohl noch kommen wird... Ich hoffe, es geht Dir trotz allem gut!
    Gute Nacht, liebe Friko!
    Renée

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  8. A friend of mine rarely grumbles, even she cannot stop going on about how awful the weather is. I guess we are all a bit fed up with it. Sorry about not getting for your pick-you-up but the furniture looks gorgeous.

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  9. Polish smells so glorious. Sorry your day was snowed off.

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  10. But haven't that beautiful chest of drawers and table come up a treat!! We've had white out here as well so I painted the kitchen ceiling and gave our bedroom a blitz - don't half make you feel better! :0)

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  11. Congratulations, Friko. You are perfecting the art of grumbling about the weather, something at which we in Wisconsin excel! We may have to make you an honorary resident if the heavy snows in your corner of the world continue. But not many of us turn to furniture polishing when the snow falls and falls and falls - it takes too much furniture (clutters the house to the point where walking from one room to another is dangerous).

    Hope you can get out for some pampering soon.

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  12. Now that does shine! Sorry you missed your outing but I'm sure you're beautiful wood furniture thanks you.

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  13. Oh those shrubs and trees. They need TLC too. Come to my house when you finish dusting yours. We have enough to make an archeologist happy.

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  14. You've had more snow? Blimey. Is it coming to Warwickshire? But polishing is great for de-stressing. I love polishing. And it smells so good. (Although I do remember when our hall floorboards used to get polished when I was a kid, and the dog would run along the hall and then not be able to stop. Bang! went its nose on the front door!)

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  15. The polishing was worth it! The furniture is GLOWING even if you aren't!

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  16. I don't suppose it helps to see yourself in the shining wood. You probably won't want to come visit my site in Florida since you've been snowed in. I'm sending you warm thoughts anyway!

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  17. We've got wet, sleety stuff here. It's unpleasant but doesn't prevent us getting around.

    Hope you are able to get out for your beauty treatments soon. Meanwhile, your furniture looks wonderful.

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  18. Beautiful though it might be (and I seem to recall complimenting that very thing on your last post), snow can indeed get very, very old. I, too, cannot say I have ever come up with furnish polishing as a way to get through it, but there is no question but the result is gleaming! Hope the stuff subsides soon so you can set the polishing rags aside and get out into the world again!

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  19. friko - it's crazymaking when an act of kindness for onself turns awry! but then it's good to turn that into an act of kindness for all who get to look on and wonder at the lovely pieces you polished. steven

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  20. Big sympathy for the snow.
    Should I tell you that when I turned on the radio this morning I heard the announcer issue a severe weather warning? Seriously. Police were warning of Severe Rain. Imagine. In winter. On Vancouver Island. I was almost tempted to stay in.

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  21. SO satisfying a result of your tantrum! And now you won't have to do it for another year! Better yet!

    You're beautiful as you are anyway.
    How long will you have to wait for a rescheduled appointment?
    I have an appointment tomorrow morning for a haircut, and I would love to skip it and stay home and read. But I'm beginning to resemble a Scottish Highland cow, and the least I can do is tidy up my HEAD! Not much I can do over the weekend about the rest of me...

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  22. I so relate to your "tantrums" and love you all the more for them!



    Aloha from Hawaii

    Comfort Spiral

    ><}}(°>


    <°)}}><

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  23. Gorgeous photos, your lovely pieces of furniture do look so very nice after all the attention you gave them. Hopefully the weather will clear again soon ...but I would love to experience a wee bit of your cold right now. It's such a hot humid evening here.

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  24. so you dolled up your furniture instead of yourself? Good call. If you look half as good as that small chest, you are a real looker.

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  25. Crap, my comment went to Error 3.
    The good thing about being house bound by snow is that you can accomplish Spring cleaning and be totally free when Spring does come.

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  26. Friko I will just say amen to your post as I feel the same. More snow all day Friday. The sun is shining this morning however that makes it a little better. I can sashay around the deck and take some more macro photos maybe. I won't be long. Look Forward Angel.( The name of a song, I think)
    QMM

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  27. Who said 'brown furniture is out?' I love it, and have it all over the house. Give me solid wood any day over plastic or chipboard rubbish which has no value once it leaves the shop.

    Polishing is my favourite chore...well, it isn't a chore it's a pleasure.

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  28. Looks as though you would just have to wait a little for mother nature to do her restoration work, adding a dab of new styles here and there. I'm sure the 'ash' tree is looking beautiful with its new top.

    Love the chest in the photo, simply fantastic piece. But I have always favored the dark woods, and a good polish adds to the life it expresses.

    Hope you don't have to wait for mother nature to long to let you reschedule your restoration. :)

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  29. Love the chest of drawers and the tureen! Good job with the polish.

    We too are seriously snowed in with more to come.

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  30. This post, this stinging rant
    is a terrific adjunct to the former
    post, THIS AND THAT.
    For there you are, face to hip
    with old man Winter,
    lovely to peer at out your
    windows, while sipping tea,
    and feeding a roaring fire in
    your fireplace,
    lovely to write about, searching
    for the poetic beauty of the
    the frozen landscape,
    lovely to walk in, sort of,
    if you do not get frostbite,
    or fall on your keester,
    lovely to see in the English
    moonlight, like your great
    new header, but just a pain
    in the backside, a frozen
    white bitch, an ice harpy,
    when it begins to interfere
    in the conducting of your
    life, with transportation,
    with shopping, with some
    pampering. Thanks God
    you do not have to commute
    somewhere for work now.
    You have my heartiest
    condolences, for Winter is not
    my favorite plaything.

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