Perous Secret Diary - Keep Out: December 05, 2006

no room at the inn

sped home to chaka khan's 'aint nobody' last night: '...and now we're flying through the stars'...etc.

it feels SO good to be back.
i've been on the road too long...which includes the 6 weeks of MMASM: feels like i've been away for ever.

z has learnt new words.

this morning, broke a filling in half, hit my head getting into mrs.perou's car (twisting the already pained neck) and took off for maximum's first school play.
he was an inn keeper (featured here with authentic tea-towel headscarf).
his line was 'there's no room at the inn'.
classic.

spent the rest of the day trying to stay awake.
posted some very overdue pictures here (including jay z, terry smith, the mmasm banquet, extended diary shots, kevin peiterson, and the killers from london and paris) more to follow...

bought some organic layers mash for the chickens and ducks and topped up the rat traps with poison.
bought a christmas tree and got it up.
maximum and mrs.perou decorated it.

a master thatcher drove up from somerset to survey our gr.2 listed barns and we had some good talks about what our plans should/could be.
a full re-thatch of the main barn (which was built in 1600 AD) will be about £50,000...which is actually less than we were expecting.
apparently the squirrels are to blame for some of the main damage.
so the moles can look forward to a break in the garden genocide as my cruel intentions are diverted to the rats that live in the trees (and who steal  straw for their bedding, out of our roof).
shame stratford can't fly: then he could earn his t-shirt honours.

i can't shoot rats with my 12 bore: it would blow holes in the thatch bigger than the holes the squirrels are making.
come back james with your night vision scoped sniper rifle...

the stream around the marshland is getting full.
it is part of the flood defenses.
we live on the edge of a floodplain.
we were used to flooding at the factory.
let's hope the sea level DOESN'T rise 2-10 feet in the next 10 years as former vice president al gore reckons.
hmmm.
:(

put up the inglenook fireplace guard.
not that this will help with global warming or potential flooding.
might keep the kids out of the open fire though.

my dad has been hospitalised with his leg/knee.
it's the first time he's been admitted to hospital since 1963.

his knee's not broken but it's not good either: it's all swollen and black and they can't 'drain' it apparently.

he's waiting for an ultrasound scan to find out if it's the ligaments that are knackered and if it is, they'll have to operate.
he was promised a scan today but of course the NHS being what it is, they just didn't get round to it.
(as it is, he's had to go 20 miles to brighton because the nearest hospital, which is 7 miles from their house, has closed it's ward).

he's not sleeping and he's not eating (because he hates the food: he used to be responsible for all the hospital food in hospitals around the newham health district up till the early 80's...before that he was a chef at the ritz).

my mum's paranoid (rightly so probably) about MRSA the ridiculous bug you can get from going to hospital in england.
her cousin died of MRSA recently.
such a dumb way to die: i can't believe the government/nhs can't sort it out.

we're going to hopefully put him in private somewhere.
if it is the ligaments and he needs and operation, he'll be 2-3 months in a hard cast.
:(

winter's kicked in: there's almost no leaves left on the trees: the grounds looks naked.