One window <Μικρό παράθυρο, πολλά δουλειά>

“Wouldn't it be simpler, even economical in the long run, to remove the whole window, frame and all, and have a metal opening window installed?”
"Yes and no" says Linda
Our dining room window is a quaint opening in the house, slightly hidden by steps up to the outside balcony, and pot-plant greenery.

It must once have been a wood-framed inward-opening window with transoms. Before we came here, that had been removed - regarded beyond repair. We have instead, a fixed pane that drips condensation in winter. It doesn't open.
6 years ago Lin and I made shutters to fit outside this window - adapting doors recovered from a discarded kitchen cupboard. The job was complicated because the exterior entry to the window, at the house wall, was inches larger than the square into which the shutters on their new frame were to fit flush against the window. The angles, front and back, were slightly different too. We ended up. after some minutes of fruitless offering up, cutting out a section from the frame to get it to fit; then rejoin the cut ends; difficulties that should have been avoided by proper measuring. Then the shutters had to be reshaped to fit the adjusted frame.
Because of the proximity of the external balcony steps, the shutters could only open if two folding sections were hinged on one side, and one on the other. In time, we worked our way through these difficulties. Our neighbour, Lefteris, watching us, mused <Μικρό παράθυρο, πολλά δουλειά> "Little window, lots of work"

The shutters were made to a frame that didn't fit

For the last year, Lin’s noticed that the inside of the old frame is rotting. On the dining room side, she poked a finger deep into the foot of it. Out came white insects. Procrastination no longer possible, we set to, chiseling out the wood below and beside the window. It came away in flaky chunks...

...some damp but not so much rotten as termite infested. The insects came tumbling out onto the interior sill to be killed with insecticide spray.

Our chiseling out continued along the bottom and the lower sides of the frame, until we were down to rocks and cement. I used the multi-tool wood cutter to remove frame-wood back to where it was still sound – hard old wood. As I expected more and more unsound, damp and rotten wood needed cutting out; more insecticide sprayed into the cavity.
"I'm glad we started on this at last" I said aloud, thinking how we could easily have invested in a new opening double-glazed window. But as, instead, we invested our energies repairing what existed, its value shifted.
"The rot's all out now. You've sprayed insecticide thoroughly. What next?"
"Lots of insecticidal wood preservative" said Lin...

...and then I'll spade the cavity with pudlo-ed mortar, and finish with plaster."

"While I unscrew the shutters. sand, undercoat and paint them and the external frame"
I'd seen there was a length of the lower frame topped by quarter-round trim serving as stoppers for the shutters to rest on, but serving, also, as a window-width rectangular 'ditch' in which rainwater was collecting - likely the main source of the rot.
From the apothiki I dug out a length of hardwood that, by good luck, was exactly wide and high enough. Offered up, and cut to exact length, sanded, preserved, undercoated, painted twice in Corfu green, it was put out on to dry - 24 hours each coat.

At the same time, after her plaster had dried, Lin applied undercoat and gloss white to her repairs inside.

"Looking good" I said "I'll get on with the frame. Same old."
Sand, undercoat, two layers of Corfu green, after removing the shutters. The gloss - sticky and rich - takes at least 24 hours to dry, indeed, better left 48.
Nice and dry, I inserted the length of wood neatly in the 'ditch' on top of a light bed of silicone filler; all remaining cracks similarly filled and smoothed, and the ¼ round tapped off and cut away, still serving as stoppers, but in three much shorter separate lengths. I poured water on the outer sill to satisfy myself it would now run away onto a concrete balcony step, and not just sit there encouraging rot.

On top of the renewed bottom frame I painted a further coat of Corfu green. When all had dried, thanks to a few rainless days, I re-attached the shutters to the frame, having cleaned the little brass handle used to open them.

*** *** ***
From the Ano Korakiana website:

Των Αγίων Αντωνίου και Αθανασίου ~ Of Saint Anthony and Saint Athanasios

18.01.18

Του Αγίου Αντωνίου χθες και στον Άη-Νικολόπουλο τελέστηκε η αφιερωμένη Λειτουργία, μετ’αρτοκλασίας. Η γειτονιά και όχι μόνο, έδωσε όπως πάντα το παρών. Στη συνέχεια προσφέρθηκε κέρασμα στην εορτάζουσα οικία του Φωκίωνος Μάνδυλα. Σήμερα, ανήμερα της εορτής του Αγίου Αθανασίου, με λιακάδα και αέρα, το ενδιαφέρον και ο κόσμος συγκεντρώθηκαν στην ομώνυμη εκκλησία, την αποκαλούμενη και  «μητρόπολη» του χωριού.  The whole neighbourhood came to celebrate services at the churches of St.Antonios and St. Nikolaos yesterday, followed by a party at the home of the village Mayor Fokion Mandila. In fresh and sunny weather, for today's celebration of St. Athanasius, everyone gathered in Agios Athanasius - the 'cathedral' of the village. Εκεί, παρουσία του Μητροπολίτη ΚερκύραςΕκεί, παρουσία του Μητροπολίτη Κερκύρας σεβ. Νεκταρίου και αρκετών ιερέων, τελέστηκε η Λειτουργία και ακολούθησε η χειροτονία ως Αρχιμανδρίτου του ιερέα μας, πατέρα Ευδόκιμου, με το εκκλησίασμα να αναφωνεί τρεις φορές «Άξιος»!. Το παρόν έδωσαν επίσης ο πρ. Βουλευτής Στέφανος Γκίκας, από το Δήμο Κέρκυρας οι δημοτικοί Σύμβουλοι Γ. Ρεδαιστινός, Σταμάτης Απέργης, Φανή Τσιμπούλη και Δημήτρης Μεταλληνός, ο Πρόεδρος και τα μέλη του Τοπικού μας Συμβουλίου, καθώς και οι μαθητές του Ειδικού Γυμνασίου και του Νηπιαγωγείου Κορακιάνας μετά των καθηγητών και δασκάλων τους. Η δε Χορωδία Σπαρτύλα συνόδεψε από το γυναικωνίτη το ψαλτήρι. Μετά το πέρας της Λειτουργίας τελέστηκε μνημόσυνο στη μνήμη του αγαπητού του μας παπα-Κώστα. There, in the presence of the Archbishop of Corfu, his Grace Nectarios, and several priests, the Liturgy was observed for the diocesan ordination of our priest, Papa Evthekimos; the congregation exclaiming three times 'it is meet'. Also present, from the Municipality of Corfu, were Councillors G.Rethystinos, Stamatis Apergis, Fani Tsimpoulis and Dimitris Metallinos, as well as the President and members of our Local Council, and the students of the Special High School, the Korakiana Nursery School with their teachers. The women of the Choir of Spartillas added their voice to the psalms. At the end of the Service, a eulogy was given in memory of our dear Papa-Kostas. Στη διάρκεια του κεράσματος πΣτη διάρκεια του κεράσματος που ακολούθησε στο «Κελί», ο Μητροπολίτης ευχαρίστησε ιδιαίτερα το Επιτροπικό Συμβούλιο για την άψογη προετοιμασία της εορτής και έκοψε την πρωτοχρονιάτικη βασιλόπιτα.. .....During the meal that followed, the Archbishop thanked the Commissariat for the perfect preparation of the feast that marked the New Year's Eve. (Trans: My rough understanding!) ...though this event was, of course, 10 days earlier, I could not forbear to record the wonderful scene in Ano Korakiana's Church of St George for the Epiphany on 7th January *** *** *** With Dr Benoit Smeuninx on the first day of 'The Bed Rest Study'   I've finally started as a subject in a 'bed-rest study' at Wellcome Clinical Research Facility (CRF) at QE Hospital - 5 muscle biopsies, blood tests, urine and saliva sampling, balance testing, BMI measures, ultrasound scans, Magnetic Resonance Imaging, diet logging, prior daily pedometer readings (up to the 5 days in bed) plus a wrist activity meter, and prehabilitative weight exercising before and after 5 days in a hospital bed during which I'm asked to do a few minutes of mild exercise every waking hour, wear special blood clot reducing socks, have my temperature and blood pressure read and my BMI measured, and have an anti-coagulating injection (which I can't feel) in the middle of each evening. Nurses wait on me almost hand and foot bringing me bland but perfectly eatable meals and cups of tea on request, wheel-chairing me to the washroom and WC when required (I must not be on my feet)... ...  'Skeletal muscle mass plays an essential role in activities of daily living and regulation of metabolic health. Ageing is associated with a progressive decline in skeletal muscle mass (sarcopenia) that compromises tasks of daily living, metabolic health and increases the risk of falls, fractures and mortality. The healthcare costs associated with treating age-related musculoskeletal decline are vast, and continue to grow with our expanding ageing population. Of concern is that ~30% of those aged 75-84 years suffer from sarcopenia. Thus, interventions to reduce the progression of age-related muscle wasting will improve the quality of life in older individuals and have a profound impact on healthcare expenditure. To place this into context, a 10% reduction in the incidence of sarcopenia would result in an enormous reduction in healthcare expenditure associated with muscle deterioration (estimated annual cost to the NHS of £5.7 billion).....A cohort of healthy older individuals will complete single-leg exercise prehabilitation (for comparison with the untrained control leg), consisting of either single or multiple bouts of resistance exercise. Immediately following exercise prehabilitation, participants will undergo 5 days of strict bed-rest. Detailed assessment of muscle size, architecture, and strength will conducted prior-to and following bed-rest. Furthermore, we will use sophisticated measurement techniques to understand the precise mechanisms that underpin alterations in muscle size and strength during short-term bed rest, and whether adaptations in these mechanisms can explain the protective effects of exercise prehabilitation on muscle health. Ultimately, we hope to demonstrate that exercise prehabilitation is an effective means of preventing muscle deterioration during short-term disuse in older individuals, which will ultimately slow the trajectory of sarcopenia and promote healthy, independent ageing in a diverse and expanding older population.' Anyone interested in taking part in this study as a subject (like me - over 65 and under 80 male in good health) should contact Benoit Smeuninx (School of Sport Exercise and Rehabilitation Sciences, Birmingham University) This involvement comes via my membership of the Birmingham University 1000 Elders Group researching healthy ageing.  I've been a member for about 4 years now and taken part in quite a few experiments, but this is the most involving. At midnight I will be half-way through my time in bed at the CRF.

First world problems

Arthur Rackham - an illustration from Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens

Magpies leap around inside the frieze of black branches at the bottom of the garden. Unruly wind stirs a medley of orphan leaves; stripping the trees of the few that remain, reminding me of infancy. Some I’ve gathered on our front lawn where a few rainless days will dry them, so I can run the mower over them, bagging their grated remains to join the compost on my allotment or use them for mulch, food for worms.

John comes to the door with Dieter, who rolls, delighted, in wet leaves. Oscar joins him barking welcome to “walk time” in Handsworth Park.
The weather’s mild. Lin complains “it’s cold” so now I start inroads on the logs I cut and split in summer; lighting the wood stove in seconds – top-down – the warmed flue whistling, wind drawing up the first flames, crackling, roaring. I’ve worked through my in-tray since we came home. On recommendation from CS, improver and restorer of houses, I brought in Wayne and Barbara of Genesis to clear all our roof gutters. Booked an eye test to check a small cataract in my left eye, made appointment for a flu jab,  and for the dentist; filled in the form for my 126th blood donation, confirmed an appointment with Mr Martin Sintler at City Hospital to assess me for an operation on the inguinal hernia I developed in August.
On Monday, recruited from the 1000elders, I kept an appointment with Dr Benoit Smeunink at QE Hospital to be briefed, and sign consent forms, for participation in the ‘Bed-Rest Study’ in the New Year – official title Exercise 'prehabilitation': A novel intervention to protect against disuse-induced muscle atrophy and sarcopenia in the old. 
The drift of government policy is to keep those of us who might otherwise be reliant on the burdened NHS, healthy and fit until we drop painlessly and naturally - what ever that means - dead (like in the movies!). The main killers of the elderly are heart disease, cancer, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, strokes, Alzheimers, diabetes, pneumonia, flu, nephritis - a kidney thing, septicemia - and there's another list of illnesses that contribute. The whole population is susceptible to the same dangers, but getting older increases susceptibility, hence so much research on reducing the ill-effects of 'slowing down', and in this case, being confined to a hospital, and worse, to a bed, after a procedure. How can I avoid sarcopenia, or worse, cachexia?  Like an old horse, once I lie down, the chances of getting back on my feet lessen. The vet can gently finish off a horse, but I could be bed-ridden, with occasional wheel-chair forays, for an unpredictable age.

Other things, vexing in their banality; long spells sitting in our kitchen half-heeding recorded phone messages, pressing handset keys between sales talk, wrestling gently with human respondents working to a script, striving to sort confusion between energy company Npower, who we’ve left, and energy company Solarplicity, who we’ve joined, about gas and electricity supplied to Rock Cottage during what appears to be a difference between the two companies’ switch-over dates and their use of estimated meter readings as against the actual readings they were sent by me - an issue also described as 'cross metering' or 'erroneous transfers'. Solarplicity says switch over was 3rd Aug for gas and electricity. Npower says it was 2nd Aug for electricity and 17th Aug for gas, and insist this is confirmed on the 'national data base', an entity I can't even find on the web, but which may be the National Meter Data Base or could it be the Meter Point Administration Service (MPAS)? I'm being mailed court order threats from Npower – on and off the most complained-about of all energy companies in Europe -  in pursuit of gas and electricity bills for whose payment I have dated receipts. The sums involved are under £5. The transfer process began mid-July 2017. Over these four months consider the cost of our time and their time pursuing this ageing company-made error. Result of our time (Lin and I share this sort of chore) on the phone so far? Agreement by Npower to stop phoning (they even phoned us in Greece) and mailing demands – until the dispute is resolved.

24/11/17 Your reply from npower. Your account number:12601** Code: E1*T. Hello Mr Baddeley. Thank you for contacting us about your account. I am sorry to learn that you have not received a resolution for your complaint. I am aware from reviewing your account that this is still ongoing. Our Complaints team is working on resolving this for you and I have made them aware that you have contacted us again about this issue. Rest assured, Mr Simon Baddeley, we will be in touch soon. Your unique reference number for the complaint is 12601**47, please quote this should you wish to speak to our Complaints team directly on 0800 316 9328. They are available from 8am to 6pm Monday to Friday and 8am to 2pm Saturday. If you prefer, you can email complaints@npower.com. Thank you for your patience in this matter, Mr Simon Baddeley. I am confident that this will be resolved for you shortly. Kind regards Chris Thewlis, Customer Services Director, Customer Services

‘Our’ (No! ‘your’) problem according to Solarplicity - another 25 minutes on the phone - is that the sums involved are too small to ‘raise a dispute’, which means we can’t recruit them in stopping Npower in their system’s automated tracks. Fascinating as a symptom of the times, this tiresome ‘first world problem’ vexes but doesn’t worry me. If it ends up in court – unlikely - I shall, as both of us have in the past, enjoy telling this well documented fiasco to a court. (We’ve never lost a case). There are places where, in a different world, I might be trying to get Linda out of solitary confinement based on mistaken identity, or travelling to the Hague to bear witness against Ratko Mladić for the murder of our child.

29/11/17 Email from npower, to back up a phone call from the company, that looks to have sorted 'our' problem:

Unique Reference Number: 10157***   Dear Mr Baddeley. Further to our telephone conversation this afternoon, I can confirm that in line with our agreement, I have now removed the outstanding gas balance of £28.47.
As I have been unable to contact Solarplicity directly with regards to the closing meter readings, I have confirmed that we could either continue to contact your new supplier and re-agree a new final meter reading. Alternatively, we could remove the balance however, no further amendments would be made to the final meter readings.
You have confirmed that you would be happy for me to remove the outstanding balance without agreeing a new meter reading with your supplier. Therefore, I have applied a credit balance to your account today and this leaves nothing to pay. 
I can confirm both your gas and electricity accounts have now been closed to a £0.00 balance.
If you’d like to discuss this with me, please call me direct on ****etc.  Kind Regards, Bev Young, Specialist Advisor, Executive Liaison Team

* * *  * * *
A meeting was held at Dot’s care home the other day. Anticipated this last fortnight, it was to determine whether Staffordshire NHS Trust could continue to pay for my dear mother-in-law’s care, or whether this should be handled by Staffordshire County Council’s Social Services who would seek funding from the family. Amy, our daughter was at the meeting at the care home, attended by an NHS manager and nurses who look after Dot. She phoned us to say the NHS, after 17 months at the care home,  would no longer pay for Dot’s care. We await a rubber stamp to this decision after which we have about 6 weeks to continue paying the care home out of Dot’s inheritance, such as it is, or make alternative arrangements.

“I can build ramps” I said to Lin
“Yes” said Lin "and we can clear the sitting room at our house, put in a bed and all that’s needed, and have a visiting and occasional live-in carer service.”
Dot can hardly stand, let alone get about, but she can be gently moved from bed to wheelchair. She can feed herself but her care must involve washing and therapy to deal with the risk of sores from spending most of the time bed-ridden, as well as “going to the loo and all that”. Now should be payback for all the National Insurance Dot's paid through her long life but what’s been paid out so far, for her care in old age and disability, can no longer be paid, and the state wants, now, to dip into her savings. Arthur, her husband of 70 years, died in April 2016 at 98. She’s regularly visited by her grandchildren, her niece Janice, and Lin and I and the grandchildren, and also Oscar dog, who is welcome at the care home.
“I knew the NHS wouldn’t continue funding” said Lin, “Mum’s situation didn’t meet their criteria”
Just before we left Corfu, there came a message from Epirus asking if it was true that XX, a mutual friend we knew had been ill, was confined to a care home in Perama. We made some enquiries, located the place and visited - a 15 minute walk across the causeway from below Kanoni. I promised after our visit to write to him, care of another friend, he being without phone, radio, tape player, books or computer (not wanting them even when offered)...adding that I'd put the letter on the internet to ensure that, one way or another, he'd get to read it, or, at least, have it read to him:

xxxxx

House of Elderly Care

Perama Gastouriou,

Dear Xx

I’m sending this via our friend Yy, who promised to bring you and, if necessary, read you this letter. I’d prefer to hand write, but the letter may be easier to read, typed. I’ve used larger than normal font; your description of me as ‘distinguished’, as I sat at your bedside, being a measure of your disability.

I’m so glad we met you again just before we headed back to England.  Despite your circumstances, you entertained us for two hours with the same thoughts and words that marked our first acquaintance.

We’re back in Birmingham after three days in Venice, chased up the Adriatic, from Igoumenitsa, by a gusting gale. 

Passing the Karaburun Peninsula, on Anek Line's F/B Asterion, before a southerly gale

Those big ferries are floating warehouses with noisy accommodation. They clang, echo and rumble, almost ignoring the sea. We snoozed in armchairs, among truck drivers.

As our ship approached Fustina, the clouds pealed back, revealing distant peaks across the horizon – snow-topped Dolomites. Lin and I roamed the lagoon by water-bus. On Torcello we ascended the restored campanile of the island’s Byzantine cathedral. 

Up the campanile of Santa Maria Assunta 

A young man at the ticket office said we could ascend the tower, but its belfry was open only “to priests and children under 6”. Only at the top, having breached this rule, and admired a sunlight panorama of marsh and water from the vertiginous belfry, did we grasp the Italian leg-pull. “Only priests and small children! Ha!”

Venice sparkled. One afternoon, we sat in the sun at Pellestrina, a village on the narrow lagoon spit, sipping coffee and local wine, hearing the sound of Adriatic surf from over the mighty sea wall that protects the city and its islands.

Back in England we’re working through in-trays; the largest challenge - arranging to move my bed-ridden mum-in-law from her care home, for which the NHS will no longer pay, to a room in our house, which will be equipped with kit and care brought in to help us out, leaving Lin, when I ask her if we can be in Corfu for next Easter, saying, of our next flight, already paid, “I hope so”.  Lin’s mum has been a wonderful grandma. Like you, it’s not good to see her bedridden. She’s without her husband of 70 years, who died 17 months ago. These things are tests of character. Mine not hers.

There’s junk mail, bills to be paid, and jobs to be done – like cleaning out house gutters. The wood I collected, sawed and split last August is feeding a wood stove in the kitchen....Lin and I are working on your escape plan. We’ve got you faked papers, cunning disguises and skeleton keys, and a scooter that will be left near the end of the causeway to Kanoni, where you will be met - password ‘λοιπόν’ - and escorted to a safe house until the hue and cry has died down. Love, Simon & Lin XX

Ernest Hemingway with the sculptor Toni Lucarda on Torcello 1948 (Archivo Cameraphoto Epoche. NYRB Oct 2017)

On Torcello - we crossed the ditch on the planks

The other side of the sea-wall at Pellestrina

On Pellestrina - a long narrow strip of an island at the edge of the Lagoon of Venice