Stair Lift

The old stair lift broke down on November 23rd last year. Since then Ailz has mainly lived upstairs. Yesterday- after much bureaucratic fumbling- the new one was installed. It is less cumbersome, a little faster and a very much quieter. 

All Done

Mohammed and his gloomy old men have been and fixed the things that needed fixing. They have sanded down rough plasterwork, replaced badly jointed beading, filled in holes, mended a broken waste-pipe and so on all the way down the list. Tick, tick, tickety-tick.  They even scooped the muck out of a blocked drain by hand- which wasn't their responsibility.  I suppose it took them a couple of hours. I had forgotten- or pushed to one side- just how grim it was to have them here- with strangers coming and going and blocking up passages, every room a mess,  both doors left open and the reek of cigarette smoke drifting through on the winter wind...