It was certainly the longest eight weeks in my life, and when at last the cast was taken off my arm, I nearly fainted, as My arm looked skeletally thin, and I couldn't open my hand. I was horrified, but the doctor assured me that with a bit of help from the physiotherapist it would be as right as rain in no time. I did not quite believe him, but after a few sessions with this lady, I could open my hand, and my stiff fingers were able to do what they were supposed to do, and that was giving me a huge sense of freedom, although my thumb was still not working properly, and it made gripping almost impossible.
At last Hendrix and self were on our way back to Haarlem, Irma quite upset at me driving already, but though my hand was still quite weak, it was now able to kind of grip the steering wheel while I changed gears.
It was so nice to be back home again, and first I inspected my veggie garden, not expecting much, but although it was overgrown with weeds and the killer kikuju grass, I had quite a good crop of butternuts, tomatoes, squashes, and beetroot.
Skramunkel didn't know me at first, and almost killed me when I tried to enter the camp she was in, so I had to sprint at high speed to the gate before she kicked me to death. She was very wild, I suppose from being alone all the time, as Sheila just saw to it that she had enough food, and could get to the water. But during the next few days I kept on talking to her, trying to get her used to my voice, and my presence, and she started to slowly relax, and after a week I was able to touch her again without her whole skin rippling in fear and anger.
One morning I was working away in my garden, when I suddenly remembered that I had a load of washing in the machine, this thing just having been fixed, as it pumped out all the water at the bottom. and on to the floor. Coming around the corner, still trying to get my back straightened out, I saw a lot of foamy water cascading from the little step at the door of the bedroom adjoining the bathroom! Went completely limp, as I knew immediately that the bally washing machine was up to its old tricks again, and this time it went the full cycle, pumping all that water onto the floor! The bathroom and bedroom floors were completely under water, and that, was that! This machine and self were parting ways after nine years of a good relationship, and any goodwill I still felt towards it evaporated while I was trying to get the heavy, sodden carpet out, and move the furniture around, without any success, as my arm was still too weak.
I was very happy when Charmaine appeared as if she had been sent, and she was a great help, as I was in a state of traumatic stress, but it took a lot of hard slog to dry up the floors, and I was so fed-up with the erring machine, and so glad of Charmaine's help, that I asked her if she would like to have said machine, and she was in seventh heaven. There was nothing else wrong with the machine, it doing the full cycle without a bother, the only fault being that the water is pumped out through a hole where the pipe is fastened to the belly of the machine. I had it fixed many times, but anyway, if the machine was put where the water could run away, it was still perfect, but as I had no where to put it for this, it had to go!
As I had so many butternuts, I cut them up, blanched it, and then bottled it, as I had done it before, and it worked well! But my arm hampered me a lot, so I decided to leave the garden for a while, seeing that it was almost time for me to go back to Scotland, and do some painting. I have started to paint on the computer with an old paint program, and I enjoyed it very much indeed, but got a bit frustrated because my broken arm's fingers did not always cooperate, and to draw freehand on the computer with the mouse was not easy.
The yellow cling peaches were also ripening, and Skramunkel just loved them, and the two of us spent a lot of time under the peach trees. It was so cute when she ate the peaches, as she would close her eyes in ecstacy, chewing very daintily, like a girlie should, and then, with a neat ploop, she would spit out the pip. She was now quite tame again, the only thing bothering me was her way of playing with me, or maybe showing affection, as she would still run up from behind and push her muzzle under my arm, and as she was now quite big, she made me stagger dangerously a few times, and once I even sprained my ankle lightly.