Australian visitors

Så har jeg lige haft besøg af mine australske venner, som var på tur rundt i Europa. De var her en lille uges tid, men desværre viste vejret sig netop i år fra sin værste side, hvilket jo ødelagde noget af fornøjelsen af vores udflugter men vi nåede da en del rundt på Sjælland og lidt af Lolland.

Just had Australian friends staying for a while. They made a short stop in Denmark during their tour round Europe. Unfortunately May/June had not been worse since 1902 and of course this made our excursions less plesant. Anyway we managed to see a lot of Sealand and a bit of Lolland.

London

Så er jeg tilbage fra min tur til England med en hel masse ny energi. Skønt at se alle igen. Min engelske familie er bare fantastisk og bekymrer sig om en. Jeg kom jo specielt for at se Mandy og Len igen og se hvordan, at de klarer hverdagen nu hvor de er hhv. 80 og 86 år gamle. Len er en fighter, der ikke beklager sig trods et skrantende helbred og Mandy er hans sygeplejerske med et helbred, som også skal repareres af og til. Tak til jer begge for at vise mig, at jeg ikke skal have selvmedlidenhed samt for alt hvad I gjorde for mig mens jeg var ung i England.
Kim kørte en omvej og hentede mig i lufthavnen (kære Kim). Vi boede begge hos Michéle og Rodney, som altid åbner deres hjem for alle os, der har brug for et sted at være. Kims søn Sam boede også hos Michéle midlertidigt indtil han flytter for sig selv i maj.
Michèle, Kim, Mandy og jeg var på nogle hyggelige indkøbsture i Londons forstæder og  jeg havde en dejlig afskedsmiddag sammen med hele familien hos Michéle før jeg tog hjem. Jeg vil savne jer alle som jeg plejer.

Just returned back from a trip to England with a lot more energy. So lovely to see everyone again. My English family is just amazing and always cares about me. I went especially to see Mandy and Len again and how they were getting along at the age of 80 and 86. Len being a brave fighter with no complaints in spite of his poor health and Mandy being his nurse with a health also needing repairs now and then. Thank you both for showing me that I should not feel sorry for myself and for all you did for me when I was young in England.
I was picked up by Kim, who made a detour to get me in the airport (bless you). We both stayed with Michéle and Rodney, who always open their home for all of us, who need a place to stay. Kim's son Sam was also staying temporarily before moving to his own place in May.
Michèle, Kim, Mandy and I had some nice shoppings around the suburbs of London and I had a nice goodbye dinner at Michéle's with the whole family before I left. I will miss all of them as I always do.

Badeværelse/Bathroom

Ind imellem vandskadereparationerne måtte der også lige et nyt badeværelsemøbel op inden Robert og Lesleys ankomst i maj.

In preparation for the arrival of Robert and Lesley in May a new bathroom equipment was mounted in between the water damage repairs.

Skorsten fjernet/Chimney removed

Så skete det igen - vand ned ved skorsten og et ødelagt loft. Denne gang ikke kun i entreen men nu også bryggerset.
Løsningen med ny inddækning og fugning af skorsten var ikke problemet, men gjorde det bare værre. Ingen håndværkere kunne forstå årsagen til indsivning af vand.
Hvorfor har vi så dårlige håndværkere i Danmark, at man selv skal prøve at finde løsningen? Måske derfor at polske håndværkere bliver brugt. Man kan lige så godt bruge en billigere løsning, når den rigtige alligevel ikke kommer i første hug.
Det helt store mareridt startede allerede inden jul, hvor jeg ikke kunne gå nogen steder, hvis det regnede og det hele var først slut i midten af marts
Det endte med at koste en bondegård alt i alt, men løsningen blev at fjerne skorstenen. Bagefter kom så det store arbejde med ny nedrivning af lofter og genetablering af nye. Det hele varede flere uger, da jeg ind imellem ville have en pause, så jeg kunne tjekke, at der ikke kom mere vand ind. Selve nedrivning af skorsten, flytning af antenne og ny tagbelægning med nye gaspibe tog kun nogle dage men selve loftudskiftningen tog over 1 uge, så det magter jeg bare ikke igen.
Min løsning på sigt bliver salg af huset inden for de næste par år. Nu gider jeg bare ikke mere. Det har været dejligt ikke stille her. Det vil jeg savne, men det nytter ikke, at jeg ikke har tid til andet end hus, have og reparationer/vedligeholdelse. For meget arbejde for en enlig kvinde.

It happened again - water came down from the roof by the chimney and destroyed the ceiling in the hall once more but this time not only in the hall but also in the utility.
The new cover around the chimney and repairing joints did not solve the problem but just seemed to make it worse. No craftmen were able to understand why and how the water came in.
Why do we have such bad craftmen in Denmark that you have to find the solution yourself? Måske that is why Polish craftmen are in demand. Why not use a cheap solution when the right one does not come the first.
Anyway the real nightmare started before Christmas and I was not able to leave the house when it rained and everything was not finished until mid March.
All in all that chimney ended up costing me a fortune but now it is gone and hopefully the problem too.  However after the chimney came down ceilings inside had to be replaced by new ones. The entire issue lasted several weeks because I ordered a pause between fixing the roof and mounting new ceilings to check that the roof was waterproof. Tearing down the chimney, moving the antenna and fixing the roof with new tiles and a pipe for the gas took only a couple of days but replacing ceilings took more than a week and I simply cannot do that again.
My solution for the future is selling the house within a couple of years. I am done. It has been a very silent place to live but too many repairs and too much to maintain for a single woman.