Big Hairy Spiders, Speedy Mice and Nylon Tights.

Mice and spiders and nylon tights.

Monday 26th August 2013

It may seem as if I'm going backwards somewhat but I've decided to clear the coal house.  The coal house is a small out-building attached to the house. It's about 10ft wide by about 3ft deep and a single storey high. No lights or heating - basically a brick storage cupboard.  Back when I lived there when I was little it was used to store coal and wood for the fire.  Also, ever since I can remember it has been full of cardboard, plastic sacks and - junk. Nobody goes in it as it is so full.  If the door is opened the stacked stuff inside will leap out on top of you.  The cobwebs have lain undisturbed for decades.  I don't mind spiders so I got stuck in.  There were a few HUGE monster spiders in there and they were not best pleased to be turfed out.  They glared at me.

In my mind clearing this outhouse is a logical step as not only can everything in it be skipped, but once it is clear I can put things like wellies and garden stuff in it as this is what is currently taking over the kitchen.

In a house this bad it's not possible to just go in and clear as there's nowhere to put anything while you sort through.  You need to first clear a space outside so you can bring the stuff out to sort.  You also need a space to put this stuff temporarily because you don't want to have to take it back in when you run out of hours. As it is, if you're on your own it will take forever.  Forever will take even longer if at the end of your six to eight hour day you have to take the stuff you brought out to sort, back in because you have to go.  I am only grateful it is summer when the weather outside is warm and the day is longer.

I need some sense of order outside which is where I'll be doing the sorting as this is the only place there is a lot of space. It motivates me to carry on.

Either this or I am making any excuse under the sun to avoid going in...

Anyway I was only able to do two hours this morning as I had promised to take the kids out today as it's the last week of the school holidays. I feel as if I have neglected them a bit since this all happened.

I started pulling everything out of the coal house and chucked it on the grass. I'm sure I saw something disappearing sharpish out of one of the boxes. It had 4 legs and a long tail. No time to panic though, I kept pulling and found some form of nest and this time I did see a little fella run out. I must remember that for the future, it'll save me a fortune on nibbles for my pet snake.  Ploughing on, more of my mum's tights. They seem to have weathered well in that they seem to be the only things that haven't disintegrated over the twenty years or more they've been in there. I don't remember them being yellow and orange though. Plenty of huge spiders, lots of dust and more nesting fragments later, the coal house was half empty and Oggy (my car - little Toyota Rav4), was completely full. The recycling centre and skip are only about a mile away and with the windows open I could just about handle the musty smell. I also had two car batteries in the boot and twenty or so of the prehistoric food tins, Any of which could explode at any second in the back of my poor little car.

I squeezed in the driver's seat and...'click'. Oggy refused to start. No surprise really, if I were a car I would refuse as well with that rubbish on board. I had a word with her, I suggested the sooner she started the sooner the stuff would be gone. That and the single blessing that my dads house is at the top of a hill, I got her jump started and headed for the tip.

The funny little man at the tip nodded at me. 'back again?' he said.
'yes' I said 'and there'll be a few more too.'
Boy is that the understatement of the year!