Saturday, May 6

 

 

I woke to a birthday surprise. Huawei had decided to upgrade my Honor 7 Lite phone to Android 7. This gave me four or five minutes of interest, as I puzzled out how to set up things in the way I wanted, and then how to find a theme I liked. I found one I liked even more than the one I had on the previous version of Android, so the day started well.

Irma appeared with something wrapped up, and I opened it. I had a lithograph by Netta Tiitinen in my hands: one of the ones we saw last weekend in Gumbostrand. I like it a lot. It shows a boy staring out into a blank sea. I also get a genuinely moving card, and a second card – by post – from Irma’s parents.

After breakfast I went up to the attic and cleared all the sawdust away from the parts where I sometimes find myself crawling. I wondered about the possibility of finding some proper old planks and making a permanent crawlway from the front to the back. I decided that I will do it as soon as someone offers me some floor planks from a derelict house, as they so often do.

This begins a day of outdoor action. We move some bits and pieces around and hang up some outdoor plant pots. I photograph the owl nestling next to some new plants. The sun beams down from a cloudless sky and, once the wind drops, the weather feels hot like the first days of summer.

We will clear the patio, and move the garden furniture from the terrace into its summer places. This will involve assorted sweeping, raking, clearing, and so on. I will then paint the outside of the terrace using a roller that creates a wonderfully uneven and amateurish finish to the whole thing. Despair will fill the air.

I will wash the terrace floor with an all-purpose cleaner called W5 which will start removing the terrace oil from the wood. We will agree that I will need to repaint the floor tomorrow. Despair will chuckle in the background.

We will go shopping for paint, groceries and wine. We will find each other amusing. Irma will ask me suddenly what I like shopping for most. I will reply “cheese”.

We will have salads and sparkling wine for dinner.