The alarm went off and Skye and I went for a walk. All good so far. I had my shower then. Still no sign of my father getting up, half an hour later than usual – not so good. He finally appeared and started his breakfast while I got changed. While I was having my breakfast I suggested he drove to Tregurnog. He could stay as long as he wanted to look for paperwork. He agreed. As I had to move my car to get his car out, I decided to go to Garth Hall in mine. I started it up to warm it up while I transferred things from the truck. I gave him the things he needed and left. At that point I put the back window demister on. When I was coming up Stinkpot Hill, I turned the demister off because the glass was clear. I pulled up at Garth Hall to more fly tipping. I got out to see what it was. As I walked towards the pile there was an almighty explosion type cracking noise.
I turned back. My bloody back window had a fist sized hole in it. I looked around. No sign of anything hitting it. It had just cracked! Well wasn’t that just absolutely f-ing splendid? I reversed down and parked up so I could find my insurance details. About 10 minutes later I had a replacement booked and Autoglass are coming on Tuesday. That threw me to be honest. I didn’t know whether I was coming or going after that. I really could have done without it but then no-one would want it really would they? Suck it up Hel. I fed the wellfield crew which settled me a bit. Walking down to the alpacas then I reminded myself what I had to do and rang Jordan to say I wouldn’t be able to see Ally as planned. Unfortunately. I also needed to get alpaca mix and ram food in the mule. But first I fed the alpacas. I tried to give Leo and Al Paccino a bit extra because they are skinny.
The mule is temperamental in weather below about 15°. I knew this would be fun. Not. It took ages. Things were really going my way today. I’d also forgotten the bloody squidgee to clean it so even when I got it started it was almost impossible to see. Cloudy windscreen, fog and an opaque side window. Give me strength. Then when I trued to line up the tracks through the mud, Molly was in my way. I must have missed her by an inch. The skidding was worse than normal and I missed the wall by a centimetre. I opened the gate and drove in. Oh yeah, Neil had left a pile of posts. They were to my right where the bloody opaque window was. I swear it was a miracle I didn’t have an accident in the mule today. Somehow I lined myself up perfectly outside Cai. I loaded the alpaca mix. Easy. The ram food was in a bag that’s too big . It’s all floppy. Really difficult for me to carry. I managed it so off I went. The journey down was as touch and go. I could not see the best route down. I took a wild guess. I was wrong. I was heading for a big hummock but managed to swerve enough to avoid it and get myself back on track. What a day and it was only just after 10 🤦♀️
I parked up and got the alpaca mix. It’s difficult even to see my feet with the size of my chest. It’s impossible when carrying a 20kg sack. I would have to proceed very carefully through the brook with the luck I was having today. Easy did it and I made it across. If I take too long the sack becomes too heavy. I hitched it up once and opened the gate of the livestock trailer with my foot. I got the sack in and emptied it out. Phew. Job done. Hopefully I’d be home before my father and I could tidy up a bit. Of course that did not go to plan either.
I turned into the drive and straight back out again. His car was in my place. I parked outside next door and went in the house. He’d just got there but I had to move his car. I hate it. It’s the shittest car ever and I had a Lada once! It’s much worse than that. I hate driving it. Anyway, I moved it and reversed my car in partially. I had to find a tarpaulin to cover the window for now. I knew there was one in the attic. I took off my wellies and ski trousers and climbed the 2 flights. I found the tarp. It probably would have covered the roof of my house. It was huge! I tried folding it but it was too big. I gave up and went in search of feed bags to use instead. Fingers crossed it won’t rain. I reversed back and then had to reverse the bloody Duster in. What rough handling. Awful. Anyway I backed in and locked it. No early finish for tidying. I put a load of washing on and started dinner. My father had trouble at Tregurnog too. He didn’t have a penknife on him and the layers pellet bag needed to be opened. He struggled trying to get it open. It took him ages and wore him out so he didn’t have time to look for his paperwork. Bugger, I’d forgotten that needed to be done.
We were chatting over food. “I’ll have to borrow the Duster on Tuesday for the click and collect” “Yes OK.” Then about 10 minutes later: “The boot doesn’t work. I couldn’t open it.” I went out to check and it worked fine. He said he’d been using the key rather than the remote control. My patience was wafer thin at that point. I shrugged. And then he said “You’ve got to do the VAT return by the 7th.” I blew my top then. Final straw time. I’d had an absolute gutsful. I stomped around a bit and made another cup of tea so I could start on it. I did a lot of huffing and puffing too. Luckily I’d been on top of most of the receipts. I made a list of the missing ones that I need to make invoices for. I did about 8 this afternoon. I’ve got twice as many to do tomorrow but that’s manageable. Just. Then it’s only the actual return. Anyway, it was time for Garth Hall and some fresh air.
I got the ski trousers and wellies back on, hat, gloves etc and set off. I was cold from just sitting in the house so the heated seat went on. When I got there I put two pairs of gloves on. The walk would warm me up. I felt better after a bit of walking. I headed for the mule and the bag of rams food. It would be tricky but it would warm me up. I struggled to get the bloody sack out of the mule and it was every bit as difficult as I thought it would be. I struggled all the way to the livestock trailer and had to put it down there because I’d tied the gate shut. I undid the baler twine and then took 3 hours (felt like) to get the bloody sack back up. But it was that kind of day. While waiting for Neil, I fed Hennessey’s lot. We had planned to set up the plastic shed and the feed bins. Message: “I won’t be long.” I replied “I know, you’re short” He ignored that 😂 Then a few minutes later I heard the quad. I’d just dropped the bucket back off so I walked towards the plastic shed. Silence. No more quad noise. Now I’d had a funny old day but had I actually lost my marbles? Message: “I’m putting the wheels on the trailer.” I walked up. It was hard going. Neil was struggling with the wheels as well. He had to get the tractor to lift the trailer up. There was nothing I could do to help. End of the work day for me. I was happy to be finished. It had been one of those days…
Helen x
