shingle all the way

My children came up with a song called, "Shingle Bells". It's about how I have shingles. Which I do. I am getting better... sort of. I have moved into the phase where things just plain hurt. I am okay for the most part but usually around 3 in the afternoon I have to take off my bra and get into really comfortable clothes because most things really hurt when it brushes against my skin. The headaches are also annoying. But I roll with it. This is what you do. You take meds if you need them, you take it easy -as much as you can, and you don't aim high in terms of what you accomplish in a given day.

We have to have some random inspection from the estate agents to make sure we haven't started a meth lab and the house is still standing. It's kind of irritating in that they like to come by every three months. We pay the rent on time, the neighbors haven't complained about noise or an ostrich farm going on, but I suppose they have to do what UK estate agents do best: be fucking irritating and incompetent. I mention that, because they emailed and said, "we can come by and these dates." We pick one and the damn broad emails back, "Oh I don't work that day." THEN WHY THE FUCK DID YOU GIVE ME THOSE DATES YOU CRAZY DUMB FUCK?

If/when we buy property in the UK, I would love to try and do it without having to use an estate agent. Because why hire a sociopath to work for you?

some places are best left alone.

I am reading this book called, "Sea Room" by Adam Nicolson. At the time of publication, Nicholson owned some islands in the Hebrides. They were teeny little islands right by the Isle of Lewis. His Father had bought them back in the 1930s, as he had inherited some money, a family member pointed them out, and hey when you are twenty years old and the opportunity to own some islands comes up, you go for it. The islands at one point had also been owned by Compton MacKenzie the writer. (well known for Whisky Galore -which I found an early edition on my inlaws shelves not too long ago. They had no idea they owned it. He also wrote Monarch of the Glen which loosely inspired the television series.) It's fascinating and timely that I find that he owned those islands (among others) because I read a DH Lawrence short story not long ago called, "The Man who Loved Islands". And the character in that story had a lot in common with MacKenzie. (though Lawrence denied it.)
Anyways, back to the islands that Nicholson owned, his father bought them, and then when Nicholson was twenty-one he inherited the islands, and Nicholson (after the book was published) gave them to his son. The book tells stories about the family's ties to the island, the land itself, the adventures had, and so on. It is really interesting and I am enjoying it. I looked up the island on line, and I saw that one could stay there, which of course piqued my curiosity.
I began to read about the... conditions.
First off there is no running water or electricity. I pause a little.
There is a tiny two room "cottage" (the roof often blows off during a good storm, so it has to be put back on.) where there is a table and chairs, and a gas (bottle) stove, and two hearths on either side. It is suggested that you stay in tents. Oh and there are rats, so you MUST make sure that food is kept in the cupboards and you better keep them closed, along with the door to the cottage because the rats are rampant on the island because of shipwrecks. I suspected that the island was not for me.
Then I read about the toilet situation. There isn't an outhouse. Instead there is an "inter-tidal area" for your toilet-needs. Yes folks, your options are to shit on the beach or just hold it. (the inter-tidal area allegedly takes away the waste.) Oh and there are loads of cliffs which are deadly, and again... the rats.
All I could think was, "nope nope nope nope."

BUT I do enjoy how much the place means to someone else. I will stay elsewhere. Away from rats and beach pooping.