Neglected

Which is what blip has been for me! However lots has been happening! 
Firstly many of the swimmers came down with covid! Well they partied on New Years Eve and on New Years day after the swim they went back to someones house - I sensibly did neither of these! They all recovered but most were in bed for several days! So much for wild swimming boosting ones immunity!
The next news is that The Exile has gone back to France. I spent a weekend helping her pack up - and finally on the last day with others took her stuff to a storage unit- took 5 fully packed cars! I spent the rest of the week letting people into the house to clean, collect stuff for the charity shops and the tip. I took Oscar up each time in the hope he would realise that they have moved! He did look for them each time! The last time the renters were moving their stuff in so he met them!  In the evenings as I turn immediately left as we go for our last walk he doesn't look for them to join us so maybe he's got the idea? 
I'm pleased to say my bathroom and hallway has now been finished! Stairs now oiled wood and new wooden landing, new door on toilet, and walls and doors repainted. The latter was a bit annoying as they had been done  way before xmas but the walls became "dusty" and produced a white powder and the doors began to go pink! Now my paintings have been hung and it all looks rather fine! Unfortunately the next job of doing up the utility room has been hit once more with my decorator coming down with covid! His family have had it numerous times despite being vaccinated and boosted! So I have boxes in my conservatory and bathroom! It's now been 5 days since I last saw him and so far I'm showing no symptoms! Good job I had the booster 2 weeks ago - The Exile and I took a break from packing to take stuff to Oxfam and for me to be jabbed! 
Last week our village and surrounding villages were hit by water problems - burst pipes and flooding galore! I had a leak into the kitchen which took me 24 hours to track down! I thought it was maybe one of the pipes under the new hall floorway - but the following day I tracked it down to the water pipe going into my immersion heater. Bizarrely my water supply was fine unlike the people further down in the village - but I had no water as I had to turn it off at the stop cock! I didn't bother phoning a plumber as I knew others were having a much worse time. This turned out to be a wise decsion as after the weekend the leak stopped! It turned out that the problem occurred when South West Water were replacing a pipe, air got into the system so  they increased the water pressure to clear them and lo and behold the ancient pipes and ill fitting attachments couldn't take it! There was a leak in the lane outside the empty house which I did report - meaning the owner had to come out to give permission for his water supply to be cut off - ironic as the house has been empty for over 4 years! SWW workers were everywhere in our village and neighbouring villages sticking rods down water holes to locate problems and one worker I spoke to said he would refuse to come back to the area as people were not happy! I did feel sorry for them as it wasn't their fault! SWW dropped pallets of water bottles at the local Donkey Park for those without any water! 
Finally in my news catch-up I had the ultrasound on my neck- there were nodules in my thyroid but all within acceptable range of size - I did ask if the nodules were an age related thing and of course the answer was yes! 
So now it's Imbolc! For the last few weeks I've seen all sorts of Spring flowers appearing - snowdrops, cyclamen, camellias and even daffodils! All seems way too early but it has been a very mild winter down here in Cornwall at least! 
I wonder what else February will bring! The resignation / dismissal of Boris I hope - words fail me as to the news of all the parties and his response - not least his lie re Starmer and Saville. It's the first time I cheered at Theresa May - revenge is a dish served cold! Loved  the SNP leader refusing to take back his accusation of Boris as a liar and walking out before they could throw him out -  so Boris can avoid, bluster and lie but The Speaker does nothing to correct him? Bring back Bercow!