Every time I've wailed to the Resident Fan Boy about the latest house-sitting frustration over my past nine Persephone-returns-to-Demeter summers, he has calmly responded: "At least you're miserable in Victoria."
He's right, of course. This newest house-sit has been a particular challenge. The owners have clearly never had a house-sitter before and I've been given a rather daunting list of do's and don'ts, which, although guidelines are welcome, have made me feel somewhat like an interloper. (I'm not to sleep on the husband's bed. I'm only to use the computer for emails. I'm asked to knock down any wasps' nests I see.) I'm keeping in mind that these people have had an extremely stressful year, and using my own judgment on what I will do or won't do. It's not like they're paying me to do this...
However, Hades is sweltering under a prolonged heat wave. A 44 humidex last week (that means the humidity made the temperature feel like 44 degrees Celsius). A 38 humidex this week. Tornados within 60 kilometres of Ottawa last night. This past week, the temperatures in Victoria have been hovering between highs of 20 to 25 degrees Celsius. The air smells like the sea. Red-tailed hawks have been doing mating circles high above the house at sunset.
Yes, I'm stressed. It's a huge house and I'm learning how to take care of it. But I'm in Victoria. And since I'm planning to ignore the stricture about e-mails only on the computer, I hope to do a bit more blogging...
And no, I won't be knocking down any bloody wasps' nest. Sheesh...
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7 comments:
Unless they come back and find lots of wasps nests on the house, how will they know if you've knocked some down or not?
Good luck with subverting the 'emails only' rule.
The rage in the hardware stores in Victoria this summer are phony wasps' nests. I've hung two in the backyard and am cautiously optimistic. I imagine I'll have to find a way to erase my trail on the computer. I think she thought my daughter was going to download all sorts of games.
Those temps sound like our summer ones. *hates on summer*
Blog some more. Here's to a stress free (eventually) house sitting and teenage daughters who know how to hide computer trails (fingers crossed).
Have fun! :D
greetings from a longtime housesitter in a different Victoria far far away.
I've had some shockers over the years, and will now only do return-gigs and never sit for virgin-Hosts.
You must not clear wasp nests.
That is most definitely above and beyond the call of Housesitter duty.
I hope it all goes OK from here on though.
Actually, SOL, it's me who needs to hide my computer trail! Fortunately, I seem to have figured out how, at least, to hide my viewing history.
Don't worry, Ann OD, I'm far too cowardly to take on wasps. This is something like my seventh house-sit over the past nine summers and I think the majority of them were "virgins"; fortunately the majority have also had me back! (Not sure I want to come back here, though. They mean well...)
Are you getting out of the house around town to enjoy the area?
Here is a hope to no computer viruses.
You better believe it, Joe! The main point of these Victoria summers is to spend time with my mum. We're a fifteen-minute walk from a bus exchange and get into town every day. The computer has been checked by a little man. (I couldn't turn it on when I first arrived.) It's old, but functional; I'm sticking to web sites I normally use.
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