Yesterday did not go quite as planned. Started by making a couple of tubs of "spreadable" butter and doing the weekly clean of the cat drinking fountain. While I was doing that our gardeners arrived to do the annual clean-out of the small fishpond near the house. I decided to be helpful by dis-assembling part of the filter to remove the old UV lamp and clean up the overgrown glass test-tube that the lamp sits inside, protected from the water flow that it's supposed to clean up. I told them what I'd done, showed them where the bits were, and assumed that I didn't have to spell absolutely everything out for obviously pond-competent people.
They did a good job on cleaning out the pond, they turned all the electrics back on, they packed up, they left. Half an hour later we went out to have a look, and I found the test-tube thing still sitting where I'd left it. Water had been flowing directly over the new UV lamp and into the electrics behind it. Needless to say, lamp not working.
I'll spare you the details. They involved a hair dryer, a couple of phone calls, and the purchase of a spare part from Amazon that we hope to be able to return un-used. And - here I finally get to the point - a lot of fiddly work in cold temperatures that I couldn't do with gloves. I fear I have at least one finger split opening up again, and the right thumb one isn't looking too good. Later today I have more to do - checking the power supply, maybe taking things apart again to double-check that the new lamp is inserted properly. And re-building the anti-heron defences that we had to take down so as to let the men in to work on the pond. All in weather that is likely to be finger-splittingly cold again.
The myelomatous moral, if there is one, is that you can't avoid "normal life". At least, not at the stage I'm at. One way or another you have to find ways to cope, even at risk of opening those infernal splits again. At least doing all that met my activity targets, even though I never made it out for a walk.
Stock photo, but nice-looking cat.
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