... the thump woke us both up. I looked at my bedside clock. The digital readout said 05:11. Great. What was that? I thought. He went downstairs to investigate. The dog remained silent. Some guard-dog he turned out to be. On his return he said the mirror had fallen off the wall and onto the sofa below. It didn't appear to be broken, so it could wait until morning. An hour later the alarm clock went off, and it was time for him to start the day. Groggy, but not from alcohol, I turned over and dozed a little longer until it really was time to get up....
No. Not the start of my latest American detective novel. This actually happened last night/this morning. Luckily the mirror didn't break, as the sofa below had cushioned its fall, but it could have been very bad. It's a huge mirror. Quite simple and modern in style, and can hang either way - full length it's probably 1m75cm by 60-70cm? and is surrounded by a maple frame which is very wide, say 15cm all round - so total size something like 2m x 90cm or so maybe, I suppose I should measure it, but hey-ho. It's big, and something that big falling off the wall in the middle of the night is a bit alarming, to say the least....
On closer inspection it appears that the two picture hooks it was hanging by(!) had, over time (quite some time, it's been in the same place for 6 years...), stretched, so they didn't point upwards any longer. Hence the weight of the mirror, combined with the pounding the sofa takes with children bouncing on it, making the mirror rattle, and my nerves jangle, had accumulated the effect so that this event happened when it happened.
I've added another picture hook to the wall, and re-positioned the others and re-hung the mirror, and so far so good. Watch this space, as they say.
Last month we had a couple of birds fly into the kitchen window. It happens. And when it does, it's a split second thing, the bang, the peripheral vision, the wait for everything to be allright.... And then the inspection below the kitchen window when after some time nothing happens, and you start to doubt yourself, to doubt your hearing, your periphal vision, your mind playing tricks again... And you go outside to see is there a poor dazed bird lying there? And there was.
So there was this poor juvenile thrush, clinging to the potted courgettes I'm growing below my kitchen window. And there in the pot next to it was it's poor dead friend. Must have broken its neck on landing badly. Were they fighting over territory, or both avoiding a predator? We'll never know. My Mum shooed it away, and disposed of the body of the other one. All part of life's rich tapestry...
Night night. Kat.
No. Not the start of my latest American detective novel. This actually happened last night/this morning. Luckily the mirror didn't break, as the sofa below had cushioned its fall, but it could have been very bad. It's a huge mirror. Quite simple and modern in style, and can hang either way - full length it's probably 1m75cm by 60-70cm? and is surrounded by a maple frame which is very wide, say 15cm all round - so total size something like 2m x 90cm or so maybe, I suppose I should measure it, but hey-ho. It's big, and something that big falling off the wall in the middle of the night is a bit alarming, to say the least....
On closer inspection it appears that the two picture hooks it was hanging by(!) had, over time (quite some time, it's been in the same place for 6 years...), stretched, so they didn't point upwards any longer. Hence the weight of the mirror, combined with the pounding the sofa takes with children bouncing on it, making the mirror rattle, and my nerves jangle, had accumulated the effect so that this event happened when it happened.
I've added another picture hook to the wall, and re-positioned the others and re-hung the mirror, and so far so good. Watch this space, as they say.
Last month we had a couple of birds fly into the kitchen window. It happens. And when it does, it's a split second thing, the bang, the peripheral vision, the wait for everything to be allright.... And then the inspection below the kitchen window when after some time nothing happens, and you start to doubt yourself, to doubt your hearing, your periphal vision, your mind playing tricks again... And you go outside to see is there a poor dazed bird lying there? And there was.
 |
| dazed and confused ... I know how it feels! |
Night night. Kat.
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