The decorators should have finished doing their work today, but the massive task remains to them of moving the huge, but now emptied, display cabinet forward sufficient inches to paint behind it. Then, of course, after the decorators have departed comes the equally large job of restocking the display unit. I have in mind that this is a good opportunity to dispose of much of the historic china pieces which we inherited from Meg's parents and some glassware as well. I always like to keep in stock some of those large but flattish vegetable boxes in which supermarkets display their vegetables and I have in mind that I might fill these with some of the unwanted china and offer it to any of the carers. Some of them may want pieces for themselves or for family members setting up house and the remainder can go to the charity shops. As well as the china pieces, we have several table decorations ('runners' and tablecloths) that tend to come into play at Christmastime but which realistically really needs to go, I remember that when we moved house some seventeen and a half years ago, I adopted the philosophy of only putting into the study the things that I knew that were needed in the newly populated study so perhaps can do similar with our dining room. There are several pieces of NHS equipment which Meg now cannot use so these need to be returned as soon as it can be organised.
Yesterday morning, the world was holding itself in readiness for Donald Trump's 'Liberation day' when it appears that 20% tariffs might be applied to every product imported into the USA (but more for cars). To make matters worse for the UK and the rest of the DEU, Trump's financial illiteracy is deeming VAT to be regarded as a tariff. The UK government is grinning and gritting its collective teeth, hoping to secure a special arrangement with the USA but the omens are not good. If the rest of world trade is generally disrupted, then in the Trump play book this is a good thing because it appears to his followers that he is shaping the world in his own image. Due to the time lag between Europe and the USA, the full scale of Trump's measures will not be revealed until later on this evening. But some opposition to Trump is slowly starting to emerge in the USA. A senior Democrat has broken records with a marathon speech on the Senate floor against US President Donald Trump. Cory Booker, a New Jersey senator, began speaking around 7pm on Monday (just after midnight on Tuesday in the UK) and said he intended to disrupt the 'normal business of the United States Senate for as long as I am physically able'. Referring to Mr Trump's presidency, he said: 'I rise tonight because I believe sincerely that our country is in crisis' The 55-year-old senator has been speaking for more than 24 hours and 18 minutes - beating the record for the longest speech in Senate history. He remained standing for the entire duration, as he would lose control of the floor if he left his desk or sat down.
The decorators turned up promptly at 8.30 (even before the carers) and promptly got to work shifting our large display cabinet which I had emptied yesterday evening. This they managed to do quite easily, thank goodness, and promptly painted the portion of wall behind the unit and then got it back into position again. Then they needed to spend some time clearing up all of the carpet protection materials that they had put down and then left, leaving (almost) everything neat and tidy. Our domestic help and I put the drawers back inside the unit and I restored all of the liquors and drinks to their normal home but as far the rest of the unit, I am going to take the opportunity to rationalise, throw away, or pass one some of the contents. I was particularly pleased that our domestic help was delighted to receive a present of the entire set of a 'Ming Rose' tea service (inherited from Meg's parents) which she is going to be delighted to use when she has friends in the garden. At the same time, I washed some brandy glasses and some of traditional and modern champagne glasses that I am not going to use. Our domestic help was delighted with these and also with the Carlos Tercero (really old and special Spanish brandy) with which she was going to treat her husband. I restored some of the gardening books (big, heavy RHS tomes) to their traditional resting place but not before making a present of one of them to the District Nurse who called around to examine Meg's heel. As today was the day when our 'green' paper bins have to be wheeled for emptying, I also threw away a couple of Spanish encyclopaedias that I doubt I am going to read as well as some old memorial material for the Arena de Verona, dating back about 40 years which I certainly do not need now. Later in the afternoon, I restored some of the photographs to their place on our shelves and phoned up to try to dispose of some of the NHS equipment which is littering up our dining room. Despite getting through before closing time, they had closed their phone lines down so I must try again in the morning. Our son is due to call around in the morning and between us, we can rehang the curtain pole and put some other things to rights. The electrician is also due to call around tomorrow morning to replace the light fittings he took down so the decorators could do their work. Once I have got our dining room well and truly decluttered and turned around, it will give me a lot of incentive to start on other rooms within the house so that my new de-cluttering zeal will not diminish. Normally, of course, moving house is a good time to de-clutter but we have now occupied this house for 17½ years (the longest Meg and I have every lived anywhere) and when one moves house, this is normally the time to throw a lot of stuff away.
© Mike Hart [2025]