Archie lit up again!

Is this a series?

I was only saying to JR the other day that the pulley rope looked as if it was about to break at any moment. It was never a proper pulley rope - bits kept falling off every time it was used.

And so, today, with a load on, it crashed down, narrowly missing wee Archie. I popped down to our local hardware shop and got a proper rope.

'I know it's easy...' I reassured myself...
'It's basically a circle' explained the man.
'Ah yes,' I said, knowingly, while not really knowing...

I did eventually get it up, after many wrong goes, and many trips up and down the ladder. Who needs central heating? I was steaming by the end of it. I could have supplied my excess heat to the National Grid!

At one point, I was up the ladder, threading the rope through the wheel on the ceiling, holding the long loops of rope (15 metres in all) with Archie at the bottom of the ladder, going mad trying to grab hold of it. I needed two hands, so I popped the loops of rope round my neck... If anyone had happened to look in the window, they would have thought it was a would-be suicide attempt! But I was still quite hopeful of success at this point...

We are lucky with all the shops around us - the wee hardware shop sells just about everything. Even light-up dog collars! So I couldn't resist this one. Archie was delighted. I think...

I was at the doctor this morning checking on my drug dosage, and on the way back I popped in to the new cafe to have one of their very acceptable flat whites, and to congratulate the owner (whom I met the other night) on the coffee, the cakes and the menu. Then I went for the jugular - I mentioned their 'sound system'. It's about the size of a brick, with an old fashioned His Master's Voice horn thingie sticking up, which emits the most awful tinny scratchy pathetic no-base-whatsoever NOISE. Christmas muzak was weedily crackling out. He seemed quite proud of it, saying it was 'quirky'.

I asked if he'd considered the oft-forgotten 'peace and quiet' ambience, which nobody can object to. This idea seemed strange to him. But he did say he'd think about it after Christmas. Christmas muzak is obligatory, it seems.

I didn't linger over the paper, but left before Slade tried to wish me a Merry Christmas again...