The Clean

Now begins the big clean. We concluded a few years ago that we were quite fortunate to have a time set aside each year for all those "little" cleaning tasks that are so easily overlooked if one lives with them on a daily basis. After a long absence the dirt and mould in the driveway concrete and the decks is just as obvious as the weeds in the garden. It's an easy decision to spend the first week back attending to all the annual chores. A week out of each year to do the gardening and household maintenance doesn't seem like too much of a burden after all.

At least this year we didn't have any dust storms in our absence, just (it seems), relentless rain, so we can stall cleaning the outside of the house until the rest of the work is done.

The car battery was flat so a bit of conditioning was in order, and of course the pressure cleaner didn't work, so the first "proper" job was to dismantle it and find out why. This naturally means grease and tools and things in pressure pack cans and noise from the compressor.

I wandered into the kitchen to make a cup of coffee.

"You smell like workshop" she said.

Welcome home.

(thanks to Carola for the inspiration for the photo)