OK!! Finally got the official keys (skeleton keys? really? they still use those?). It's rad. Here in London you have to have some sort of assessor come and literally document every paint chip, dark mark, loose screw, burnt lightbulb, spider web (not being sarcastic) ... in the place so they can charge if anything differs upon your leaving. This took almost 3 hours. Anyway, this moving in thing certainly is full of cultural differences. There is no repainting here - so a few walls are less than desirably clean, but not intolerable. On the up side (I think) nobody told me who to pay rent to either, so I think it is free. That Friday night I went for drinks with the coworkers, and then early to rise to get on over to pick up my keys, wonder around the new hood a bit (found a cute little antique market, breakfast joint, and knitting shop!!), stop over at the local hardware shop for some essentials and got to cleaning up that garden!
Fortunately there was a hose, some gloves, a broom, and a dustpan already there. However, there was also a serious amount of animalia - slugs! worms! centipedes! a wierd buzzing giant that I can only interpret as an under-developed beetle or cicada in some 5th year of its 17 underground - seriously though, lifting up pots that looked to have been sitting for years with inches of dead leaves and pulling out dead plants, I uncovered some freaky creatures. I screamed about 5 times and will never eat escargot again (anyone any ideas how to combat a slug problem??)
 |
| Cute? No. Tasty? Some think. Creepy? Yes! |
After 6 hours, it looks beautiful and I now feel I can sit and enjoy a coffee outside without wondering what is watching me from behind that pot. Now to get some flowers and a seat to sit in!
No comments:
Post a Comment