Pride before a fall and all that.
After all the highs and good news of last week if feels like the universe has
just flicked a massive two fingers up at us and said, "just hang on one
cotton-pickin' little moment there, that all sounded just a little too good to
be true….."
Just as we were patting ourselves
heartily on the back and congratulating ourselves on our great progress, BAM! The internet goes off. Just like that. From 85mbps to a big fat ZERO. After
years of an at best dismal broadband service, it turns out we were gorging on
data like a family of starved hyenas that have just wandered across a sleeping
zebra. We had somehow used up our monthly allowance of data in less than a
week. Oops. You'd think a simple phone call to buy more data would have sorted
the issue but no, it required about a hundred phone calls to get us back
online. Frazzled, cross and close to yet another nervous breakdown.
Then POW! The gas goes off. Right
at the exact moment that we have a group of esteemed guests assembled to watch
the flipping extravaganza. So, we then dabbled with physics, attempting to cook
our batter any which way possible (microwave, oven, wood burner…). Needless to
say, none produced anything remotely pancake-like and we ruined a fair bit of
kitchenware while were at it. Thankfully we managed to find a gas canister and
hob in one of the barns to save the day. The even worse news was that the gas
also powers our central heating so we've had to lug on average 10 baskets of
logs back and forth to the house to keep the house roughly above freezing until
the sodding gas company arrive to refill our tank. They assured us on Tuesday
(and every day since), in classic North Wales fashion that, "we'll definitely be there tomorrow". Still
no sign of them…. This wouldn't have
been so bad except that….
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| Can you cook pancakes on this thing?! |
BOOM! We all came down with the
flu. Huddled together like penguins round the fire to keep warm we've snuffled
and coughed our way to the end of the week, all four of us sharing a bed at
night to ward off the cold from the ice crystals forming on the insides of the
windows.
Then KAPOW! The final slap to the
chops was the phone call from the water board to tell us that we have an
"astronomically high" water bill. Like more than ten times higher
than expected. Shiiiiit. It turns out we have a suspected water leak somewhere
on our land. Our account has been frozen (yes, yes, very drole given current
battle for heat) until we find said leak. Trouble is we are all too poleaxed
with the flu and the freezing cold to do anything about it…. That or we’re too
busy dealing with….
SPLAT! Just when we thought we
had nailed the potty training with our youngest daughter and were smugly
telling everyone what a piece of piss it was (no pun intended) second time
around – we’ve had some catastrophic toileting disasters. Exactly what I needed
in my freezing cold, wife-free home this week, NOT!
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| Whole of the Deer course in full swing |
BUT it is not all bad. This week
has definitely started to feel like spring with the birds singing and the sun
shining. We've managed to plant our tomato, cucumber and pepper seeds and we've
thrown a few peas into the polytunnel to chance our arm on an early spring
crop. We’ve also run our first two bushcraft courses of the year: a full day
with a group of seven young people from the Centre of Sign-Sight-Sound in
Colwyn Bay and a Whole of The Deer course for three clients up from London.
1800 trees have arrived and are being planted to create our new woodland. Plus,
we've also FINALLY managed to finish our new websites. You can check out the Wild
Bushcraft Company here and The Forge
site is here. This means we are now
open for bookings from Easter - woo hoo! Please do spread the good word and, after
the week we’ve just had, help put the smile back on our faces!
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| Planting up 1800 trees to create our new woodland |
