More best laid plans.....

I suppose that in this most disconcerting of years, I shouldn't be surprised that I'd be thrown another curveball.

For the past month or so I've been experiencing weird nerve pain on my right side, running from my neck, down my spine and right leg into my shin.  I put it down to my MS, which often causes neuropathic pain in odd places, but not usually in the same place over such an extended period of time.

Anyway, yesterday morning I woke up, turned over in bed then wailed like a banshee as an excruciating bolt of pain shot through my lower back, locking me in position.  I couldn't move. 

Buggrit doesn't even come close.

A hefty dose of painkillers later I managed to struggle downstairs, doing a creditable impression of Quasimodo. Needless to say, Prexmas plans for working on my little half scale shop have been shelved. 

PP, who is a back pain veteran, reckons I have a prolapsed disc, which after an ad hoc appointment with Dr. Google, sounds plausible.

Back in the day (no pun intended) the advice was to remain horizontal for several weeks but in these enlightened times, regular, gentle movement is recommended.  By dint of trial and squealy error, I've identified which specific movements unleash the worst of the pain and am doing my level best to avoid them, while still remaining mobile. Although tap-dancing is definitely out of the question.

Small Dog has taken up residence on the sofa nearby, and there's a roaring fire.  There are wall-to-wall festive films on TV today so between tentative peregrinations I'm spending my time gainfully, doing some 'research' and forward planning.

Unintended consequences....

I discovered this morning that during its two years of storage, the lift-off shop front has partially broken away from its base, so I've had to re-glue it and attempt to repair and strengthen the splintered section. 

A minor setback, and probably not the last.

I've been thinking more about the exterior decoration of the building, and how to achieve the overall look of a lithographed doll's house.  Every doll's house I've ever built (and over the past 35+ years there have been many), I've strived for realism, inside and out, but I want this little half scale shop/house to look like a Bliss-style house, which requires a very different approach.

I had already printed out some sheets of Ashlar blocks for the facade of the ground floor, but they were on plain buff-coloured card and looked very flat and uninspiring.  So yesterday I spent hours making a new sheet, using Photoshop to create subtly different coloured blocks, similar to the ones in the image above.

I'm undecided about whether to 'age' them so I'll wait till I've completed the front before committing.  They do still look rather flat and featureless as they are, but when they're in situ they should look better.  In any case, I'd have to practice on some scraps to refine the technique as it would pain me to mess it up.

I've also been searching for suitable frieze sections to use on the front and round the sides and have found a good selection online, some of which might work well.  I'm also going to use some around the edges of the internal floors, to echo the outside decoration.

Finally today, I made more windows for the sides of the building. 

I used the original windows as templates and cut more from thin card.  then I glued several together to make thicker window frames.

I thought that I might do something similar to those in the photo, with coloured card in the top sections and paper curtains in the bottom.  However, using card in the front section, where there are window openings, would block any light from the inside, so perhaps tissue paper would be better.  I'll have to experiment to see what works best.

All in all, not a bad start over the past few days.  Let's see if can maintain the momentum...

Prexmas....

I've invented a thing.

Long term readers will know that in the past I've written rhapsodically about Twixmas... those days between Christmas and New Year where time turns in on itself and the days are measured mostly in the consumption of cheese.

Well this year, in the absence of all the cleaning and whatnot, I've discovered a new time period.... Prexmas.

Prexmas: The period of time, prior to 24th December, normally a whirlwind of activity but in 2020 a time of calm, with the unaccustomed freedom to pick up abandoned projects in advance of Twixmas

My Prexmas began on Saturday, when, at a bit of loose end on account of having no frenzied cleaning to do, I decided to revisit my Christmas present from 2018.

Now, in my defence, I did actually manage to get a fair bit done back then, in terms of planning and such, before I hit a snag and 'temporarily' packed it away in a cupboard.  Of course 'temporarily' is an elastic term and most miniaturists worth their salt will know exactly what it means.  A truly dedicated and committed miniaturist will, at any one time, have several unfinished projects on the go, with any number of them 'temporarily' shelved. 

In this case, out of sight is truly out of mind, and although I've occasionally caught a glimpse of it over the past 2 years (TWO YEARS!!!?) I haven't had either the time or enthusiasm to get it all out and resume work.

However, with the advent of Prexmas, a whole five days have mysteriously materialised, and I've had the sudden urge to unearth it and crack on.

So on Saturday afternoon, I took all the boxes of bits into the sitting room and sat by the fire in front of the twinkling Christmas tree, and sorted through them all, trying to get an idea of where I'd got to.

The answer to that is - not very far.

Granted, it may look like substantial progress had been made, but aside from the base floor, sides and back wall and the lift-off shop front, which have been glued, everything else is dry fitted, as the aforementioned snag was whether I should glue the floors in place before or after installing the lighting.  I still haven't decided on the best course of action on that particular conundrum, but while pondering I've been familiarising myself with all the bits and trying to remember my plan.

I still want it to have the look of a Bliss house.... not a realistic building but a more toy-like rendition.  I'd put aside two little tester pots of green paint but now I'm not so sure about the colours.  I'd also printed out some sheets of buff-coloured card to represent Ashlar blocks, but now I'm thinking that maybe I should use a different colour for those too.  

This is exactly how I get derailed with projects.... I hit a problem, can't decide how to proceed, pack it all away and BAM.... two whole years whizz by.

I've lost the signage piece for above the shop front, which isn't in any of the boxes.  I have the piece of card it came out of, so I can make another the same shape, but it's annoying all the same.  I'd forgotten that I'd also made lots of additional windows to go on the sides... I must have spent a fair bit of time on it.

Yesterday I managed to track down the folder on my laptop, with all the resources I'd found. After some consideration I think I'm going to go with something like this....

Rather than this....

Or maybe something between the two.   See.... this is what I do, indecision can so quickly become inaction.

But it's all out on the table in my workroom now, so during Prexmas and throughout Twixmas I shall tinker and dabble, and hopefully my meandering method will yield progress.

We shall see....

Best laid plans.....

It's finally, predictably, official.

Christmas is cancelled.

Well... not the actual event, but all the plans which have been made for it.

Normally at this time PP and I would be frantically cleaning, shopping, cleaning, making lists, cleaning, writing meal plans, cleaning, making up guest bedrooms, cleaning, wrapping presents, cleaning... 

Ordinarily my daughter would have already arrived for our early Christmas celebrations, then from 23rd onward the rest of the family for several days of carousing.

None of that will be happening this year.  It will just be PP, SD and myself.

We aborted our tentative plans for a restricted Christmas family get-together over a week ago, while our PM was still asserting that we would all be able to enjoy a jolly safe 5-day celebration.  At the time we were in Level 3. 

Of course since then, the 'revelation' that there is a new mutation of the virus, which increases infection transmission exponentially has meant that U-Turn Boris has had to perform yet another in a long line of volte-face moves, and essentially, Christmas is cancelled.

Hastings & Rother, which for most of this year has seen the lowest infection rates in the whole of the UK, has recently seen a huge spike in cases, and as of midnight we've now been moved up to Tier 4, which effectively means that we are currently back in full belt-and-braces lockdown.

It's like Groundhog Day.

Of course, the one ray of positivity in all of this, is that we now have one vaccine approved and in the process of being rolled out, with hopefully others on the near horizon.  Less encouraging is that only about 140,000 doses have already been administered, out of the 800,000 we received a few weeks ago. Progress seems to be painfully slow.... I'd hoped that they would already have powered through the first batch.  At the current rate it will be March/April before our age cohort is in line, which means another 3+ months of self-isolating, and effectively a whole year during which, apart from a few brief breaks during the summer, we were mostly at home, seeing almost no-one from one month's end to the next.

In the meantime we will be staying as safe as we can while spending a quiet festive season together.   

Take care all of you, and I hope you have as Merry a Christmas as possible, with the prospect of a Happier, Healthier New Year.

Sxx

Cross purposes....

 Scene - It is a mid-December afternoon and the skies are grey and full of foreboding.  It's not cold enough for snow, although it is chilly, so we are likely due yet more rain.

In the sitting room, the Christmas tree lights are twinkling and the fire is lit..... the room is full of cosy warmth and I am sitting on the sofa, notebook on my lap, idly flicking through TV channels looking for a festive film.

Small Dog enters....

SD *perkily* Ah... yuve litt the fyr.  Thatts gude. Ai mite just hav a littel liy daown on the harthrugg.

Me:*warmly* Feel free SD. I didn't think you'd be long after hearing me light the fire.

Silence, except for the occasional crack of a log in the woodburner.  SD eventually gets too hot, and retires to her blanket on the sofa, taking time to carefully scratch it up and arrange it to her liking.

SD: *enquiringly*  Whot ar yue doen?

Me:*distractedly* Hmmm?  I'm writing a list.

SD:*curiously*  A lisst.  A krissmus lisst??  A lisst of delishus treets fore me???

Me:*crushingly* No.  Not that kind of list.

SD*disgruntedly* Hmph. Wel ai hoap ai do gett krissmus treets.  Mai stocken remanes disapoyntinlie emptie.

She stares pointedly at the Christmas stocking, hanging from the mantlepiece, emblazoned with her name and an embroidered Yorkshier Terrior.

Me:*placatingly* OK... if you must know, I'm writing a list of projects for next year.  Miniature ones.... I might do a few valedictory kit projects.

SD:*baffled* Valley Dick Torie???  Whose he?

Me:*patiently* It means a sort of goodbye.

SD:*bamboozled* Gudebie??  Whare ar yue goen?  Yoove onlie jusst litt the fyer.

Me:*calmly* Not that sort of goodbye SD.  It's just that I'm gradually winding down the business. I want to retire, like you and PP.

SD:*grandly* Ho yus.... reetyrmint is knott to badd. Allthoe ai do miss knot bein yore Hedd of Markitten & Komewnikashun.  And bein Emploiyee of the Munth.  I reememb....

Me:*interrupting* Yes, yes SD.  You were an excellent member of the management team and your input was always valued.

SD:*dreamily* Ai maid sum ecksillent sujestjuns abowt biskitts.

Me:*grudgingly* Yes, well.  Anyway... I'm just making some notes about a few final kits that I'd really like to work on for next year.  In fact SD.... one of them is a paean to you.

SD:*incredulously* A PEE ON!!!  Luke... thatt was a wun-off acksident and it wudent hav hapinned if yude lett me owt kwicker.

Me:*placatingly* Oh SD.  Not that!  A paean is a creative work expressing enthusiastic praise.  It's a tribute to you in recognition of all your many years of dedication and hard work.  I've been thinking about it for a while and I think I've hit on just the thing.

SD:*mollified* Ah... THATT kined of peeon.  Why dident yue sai so then.  *thoughtfully* a tribewt to me.  Liek a sort of prise.... or a *hopefully* treet?

Me:*hesitantly* Well yes... I suppose so.  In a way.  It will commemorate you and your invaluable contribution to Tower House Dolls.  It's just an idea at the moment... I'll have to design it and make up a sample first. I'm just making a few preliminary working sketches if you'd like to take a look.

But SD has settled down on her supersoft blanket and is already fast asleep. 

The End

Out with a bang.....?

 2020 has been the strangest and scariest of years.  In common with others who have medical conditions which make them clinically vulnerable, I've spent most of the year, from mid March, either shielding or self isolating.  I haven't seen my daughter since early January, and only a very few close friends during the brief summer hiatus.

I planned a carefully calculated circuitous route round our garden so that I could rack up a reasonable daily steps tally, and we carried out a garden makeover to make the many lockdown hours we spent there more pleasurable.

Small Dog and I both had fully lockdowned birthdays in April, during the worst part of the first wave. Not seeing anyone, family or friends felt very strange and we'd usually have had a few days away to celebrate.

We did manage to take our little caravan out for two short holidays during the summer. Being completely self-contained meant we felt safe, and the rigourous infection control measures in place on the Caravan Club sites we visited, further increased our tentative confidence.

Of course it's all gone base over apex since then, and here in the UK we have only recently emerged from a second lockdown.  Pandemic fatigue and complacency have been rampant, and compliance with the rules has been slipping for months.

Predictably, as soon as the lockdown restrictions were lifted, people were again out in their droves, Christmas shopping, plunging many areas into the higher levels.  Here in Hastings/St. Leonards we had the lowest Covid rates in the entire country for many months, but recently we've seen cases rise alarmingly and when the tiers are re-assessed next week, we fully expect to be moved up to level 3.

The government, in its infinite wisdom, has granted a Coronavirus armistice for 5 days over Christmas, where up to three households can mix indoors.  Perhaps the virus goes home for the holidays, or simply stops infecting people in a spirit of goodwill.                                             On the threshold of a third, even more punishing winter wave, that seems to be a strange decision.  The latest in a long string of strange decisions. 

As if all that wasn't bad enough, after four and a half gruelling years, we're teetering on the brink of a No Deal Hard Brexit, the worst of all worse case scenarios, and even in normal times,  this coming January was set to be chaotic and depressing.  Don't get me started.... I haven't got the energy for a rant.

Good things to come from 2020....?

Well, our little family unit of myself, PP and Small Dog is still alive and kicking. Apart from the odd minor squabble, mostly engineered by SD who has taken to squealing at us to go to bed at 7.30pm, we've all supported and cared for each other, bolstering flagging spirits and enjoying sharing small projects throughout.

I finally finished my book.  Who knew it would take a global pandemic to give me the kick up the a*se I needed, to buckle down and really work at it on a daily basis, relinquishing my previous tactics of spending a day or two messing about then putting it back on the back burner?  With nowhere to go, nobody to see, and nothing else to do except work, I've accomplished more in the past nine months than in the past nine years!

There is also the prospect of an end to the pandemic with the rollout of a slew of vaccines, although it will take many months to make any serious inroads into a global vaccination programme. 

Normally, at this time of year, I'd be making plans for the following twelve months... working out projects, kits, new dolls etc, but my heart just isn't in it.  I feel exhausted and really need some downtime to relax and regroup and hopefully regain some of my joie de vivre.  I've worked solidly from March, weekdays, weekends, evenings, with only about 14 days off.  Apparently it's possible to feel burnt out even when doing something you love.... who knew?!

So I'm looking forward to using the time between now and the beginning of January to recharge my depleted batteries....dabbling with some new miniature projects, and hopefully taking up a new hobby (depending on what I find under the tree on Christmas morning!)