I look into Looki's
eyes sometimes and it takes my breath away when I see the love in them. It was not always there. When he first came to live with us he
hardly looked me in the eye at all.
He had to learn to trust me first, I guess. As I rumple his ears I often find myself gazing deep into
those lovely brown eyes and saying to him "How did you exist in that yard
all on your own for so long?"
I am amazed that he has come out so unscathed. He was pretty nervous when he first moved in, but over the
months and years since we got him he has blossomed into a very chilled, very
loving, responsive and usually obedient dog. I say usually, because there are times that his nose does
get the better of him and he will do anything to follow that alluring
scent. There are also times I
think that he does not quite understand a command and because my voice sounds
angry to him he slinks off under the table or into his little den. If I move towards him in what he
considers to be a menacing manner he goes all submissive and rolls over onto
his back. Usually I am only
approaching him with my arms out because I want to pick him up and give him a
good cuddle. If he rolls over I
just rub his tummy instead. I
don't mind really. I just want to
make contact and so does he.
 |
| They are all pretty chilled individuals |
The girls love me too but I think that they are
more self-assured as they came from a loving home. Candy often looks at me like there is nobody really home at
all, bless her little heart, and Kerry has the look of a patient adult, trying
to understand her unruly siblings…and me at times too. Still. I understand that of course they
had another mummy and daddy who they loved to bits before and who loved them
back. They do not have the total
need in them that Looki has.
Nonetheless, we all have our little moments together, when each of them
looks at me and into me and I into them.
Don't tell me that dogs don't have feelings, or a soul.
Of the three of them
Looki probably spends most time following me around though Candy is quite the
little follower too. In her own
fashion she trots along behind me like the little space cadet she is. Kerry is the most aloof. No, not aloof, that is the wrong
word. Just self-contained and
self-assured. She knows that I
will come and give her a cuddle in my own time and she also knows that come the
nighttime, when we all settle down into bed, she will be the one nestled in the
crook of my arm anyway.
I look down now and
all three of them are thrown on the floor at my feet as I write. Candy is under the desk, her chin
resting gently on my big toe, and Looki and Kerry, close to my chair, are both
keeled over on their flanks. Kerry
on the right, Looki on the left.
Their heads are gently touching.
And I never even noticed them arriving.
I write….
Ever since I bought
this house it seems it has ruled my life even though I swore it would not. From the early days of dreaming about
how it would look to the actual nightmare we had getting everything done and
now finally to selling it.
I can't believe that
it has come to this. Slowly the
wheels are turning and the documentation is being prepared. I have little to do with that part of
the process at the moment. All I
do is sign the odd permission and letter to the college of architects as they
slowly come to a decision on appointing me a new architect to take over the
legalization of our extension. If
we were going to stay in the house I know that I would not even have set those
wheels in motion. I would have
been content to let the legal aspects just drift on indefinitely while I lived
and loved inside these four walls.
But I am actually quite happy that my hand has been forced by
circumstances and I like the rigour of getting everything in perfect order. I glance at my notice board. My overruling New Year's resolution is
still written there at the top.
"Don’t aim for perfection." I always do. I
want everything to be perfect. Now
I want everything in this house to be perfect before I sell it.
Beneath the
resolution is a list. It says, amongst
other things:
Skirting
Solar service
Façade
Ceilings and vent
Railings
Handrail
Garden landscaping
These are some of
the things that have still to be done.
Some jobs are for the builder, obviously, but others are things that I
can do. The most important of
those is for me to finish terracing, landscaping and planting the garden. No small task I might say, but the one
that I am ordering myself to complete this summer. I have already begun the great work.
 |
| an earlier stage of the terracing |
A few weeks back I
tackled the weeding. I am always amazed the way the weeds, which are nothing
for so long, are suddenly up to my neck.
In the end it did not take that long really as most of them were not
deeply rooted. Once clear I could
see what needed to be done and I am now hacking away at the rock and rubble
under the terrace. The terrace is
built on piles and as such the earth beneath is not actually supporting the
weight of the house….I hope. So I
am taking some of it out to create my levels in the garden and to scrape for
mud for my flowerbeds. At the same
time I am clearing a space beneath the terrace that was always destined to be
my studio, but now never will be.
Instead it will be an open space which the Estate agent will describe
glowingly as "full of potential". He will assure any would-be purchaser that you would
definitely get permission for a plunge pool or Jacuzzi, or it would make a
marvelous gymnasium or extra bedroom or even a self-contained flat. The work is tedious and heavy, a bit
like taking off wallpaper, which always seems so easy when you start. The first sheets seem to lift
themselves off, but then you get to the strips of paper that are glued on for
all eternity, or so it would seem, and they drive you mad as you pick and
scrape. It is the same with
boulders. Some of the rock
crumbles like butter when you hit it with the pickaxe, but then you meet a
boulder which turns out to be solid granite and the pickaxe merely bounces off,
with the nasty strike reverberating through your arms and making your teeth
jangle. I went to school the other
day with a strange buzzing thumb.
The result of just such an encounter.
 |
| Profiles change and plants grow. Yes, that is a Christmas Tree. |
To make things more
difficult there are of course always one or two Westies close at hand. If I am going to make a little
landslide of rock and rubble I have to check first that no small dogs will get
crushed in the process. I am also
trying very hard not to crush any toes either. You need eyes all around you. You may think that the dog is over by the front, righthand
column, but when you look he has moved silently into a shaft of sunlight, or
indeed out of the full sun as he was getting too hot. Invariably when you start raking the rubble towards you to
put into the place where you want it there is a Westie in your path. Politely I ask him or her to move a
bit. They usually oblige by moving
about six inches further along the route that I wish to take. So it is a slow process. I am a very patient person. It is just as well really. Everything about this house has taken
an eternity to complete and now the rest of it is going to do the same.
 |
| Slowly the terraces become permanent fixtures |
I suppose I am lucky
that I do not have an irate ex-partner breathing down my neck, demanding his
pound of flesh. Victor is a good
man and he knows the speed at which things progress here anyway. The phrase "herding cats"
springs to mind and I think he knows that neither I nor Spanish bureaucracy can
be rushed in these matters. Me,
because I am only one little woman trying to move mountains right now (add to
that, the temperatures hit 40 degrees this week) and the bureaucracy because it
only has two speeds, 'slow' and 'stop' and to try to push it would almost
certainly make it stop.
 |
| Rock has to be broken |
 |
| The work is slow and often hampered by Westies |
While the paperwork
(slowly) takes care of itself and my list of jobs for the builder becomes
shorter I start to think about my next house. This was meant to be the last house of my life but plainly
life has another plan for me. I
wonder how many more houses I will build and what my next house will look like,
apart from having room for a few Westies.
I am assuming that it will be small, yet perfectly formed. Did I mention that New Year's
resolution……?
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