Where did today go?

I’d set aside today to put away the remaining boxes and clutter from in the living room and clear the dining room table so I can have friends around for a meal on Boxing Day, my birthday. There wasn’t much really to put away but the problem was that everything on the table was there because it didn’t have a home to go to. I got most of it sorted but it still left a pile of CDs with nowhere to go so I set about putting up the shelves I’d bought for them.

The shelves hadn’t gone up earlier because I needed one more bracket and one more shelf – they are the type where you have 2 metal runners on the wall and brackets that hinge into the runners. In typical fashion here there wasn’t everything I needed in the shop and I’ve been waiting a month now for new supplies to appear in the shop. Asking at customer service is a waste of time. You are assured that they will be in next week, and they never are or you will be told that they are discontinued and lo and behold fresh supplies appear on the shelves the following day.

Having looked at the CDs I reckoned I could get them all on the 4 shelves I had so thought I’d spend an hour putting the shelves up. That hour turned into about 5. The walls in the living room are built with terracotta lattice bricks and while they may consist of mainly air, the smooth surface of the brick is extremely hard. After 5 – 6 minutes of drilling away with a masonry drill with hammer action, leaning on the drill as hard as I could, I began to think I was never going to drill the hole. My arms began to ache with the effort and just as I was about to give up it breaks through and I‘m lurched 2 cm forward as the drill passes through the first gap inside and hits the terracotta behind. Repeat another 9 times and recharge both drill batteries as well half way through and most of the day is gone. Still they are up and all the general CDs have a home.

Having spent so much time on the shelves I didn’t get any of the food preparation done so everything will have to be crammed into tomorrow (which is actually today now as it’s just gone midnight). That will teach me to watch Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. It was on French TV tonight and I though it would help improve my French).

Now when is Christmas – I need about another week to get ready.