All those bills, it was alarming.  There were car and house insurances, R’s income tax, council tax, Calor Gas, credit cards, water rates, consultant and hospital bills – the list went on and then more arrived in the next couple of days.  Some £5,000-worth altogether and I hadn’t really seen it coming, apart from the gas and the monthly stuff.  I’ve paid ’em all, including the ones that could have waited another week.  JFDI, as always.

A lovely day out yesterday, I’ll write about that tomorrow.  Today, I woke up at 6.30 which was a bit unnecessary.  I didn’t get up, I listened to stuff on the radio on iPlayer.

Water poured out of an overflow pipe this morning, right up in an attic.  I have five attics, not counting the two in the annexe.  Five attics.  Oh dear.  I had a false start because I thought you could get to one from another and we moved furniture and everything.  I haven’t moved it back, it’s a piece of furniture I’ve always hated and it’ll go down to an outbuilding.  Although lovely wood, it’s worth little, I’m afraid, because it’s too damn big.  Anyway, good friend Jamie came to help me out and shinned up through the trapdoor, with Roses and Lawrence providing support beneath – and Roses herself went up to help after a while – “not with your hip,’ she said.  I was the oldest person there by some years, always a bit startling to remember when I’m the old dear that people are taking care of.

We couldn’t work it out, we’d assumed it was ballcock problems and so it must be, but we couldn’t find out where the problem was.  One tank appears only to serve the upstairs lavatory cistern, but that wasn’t it anyway, it was another overflow pipe.  Another tank didn’t seem to do anything much.  So I’ll just have to see where it is if it happens again.

Jamie wouldn’t let me give him anything for coming to help.  “Friend in need,” he said.  Such kindness.

I was going to spend the afternoon in the greenhouse but I’m tired and not in the mood.  I have work to do, have lit the fire and it’s far too tempting to sit by it for the rest of the day.  So I won’t.  I’m going to Norwich.  I hope to spend more money.  Because nothing I’ve paid, apart from modest credit card bills, is for anything I can actually see.  Car insurance, council tax, nothing tangible.  I’m going shopping.