When It Rains, It Pours

You’ve probably heard the saying, “When it rains, it pours” (or the British version, “It never rains but it pours”). The idiom refers to a series of unfortunate events occurring within a short amount of time.

I wouldn’t necessarily limit it to unfortunate events; sometimes they’re just inevitable occurrences or busy times. The latter two would describe my past few months: From mid-January to last weekend, one of our nephews was staying with us every weekend when he had time off from his basic military training; this 18-week period is mandatory here in Switzerland, but our nephew is half-Swiss, half-Mexican, and is currently living in South Africa, so he actually volunteered. Not only did he want to be near Swiss family and have the experience of being away from his home and in a camaraderie, but when he returns next autumn to begin university studies here, it would be easier for him to be accepted if he did so.

What that meant for us is that, though we really enjoyed having him here and spending time with him, the things that normally happen on weekends simply had no room, and the weeks were ultra-busy, leaving little time to tackle those things. When our nephew was here, the focus was on him; “Tia” (Spanish for “aunt”; Tio is “uncle”) was frequently heard. Laundry (tons of it!), cooking, shopping, meal-planning… they all happened much more frequently – he was a bottomless pit, as most teenage boys are. The first month or two were most intensive, as he had grown up with a maid – which he rapidly learned I am NOT. He learned a lot of “life lessons”, and about family house rules – things he’ll need to know when he finds a student flat-share; he learned to cook a few new meals, clean up the kitchen after himself, and how to cut his own hair. He learned that if he put his socks into the laundry bunched up into a ball, that’s exactly how he’d get them back – that, and we have no clothes dryer (only drying racks) – so timing on getting his clothes back clean and dry for the following week was a crash course. He learned to think about and change habits to reduce his environmental footprint.

My weekends were usually when I could plan, write and edit blogs. Because that time was either reduced or swallowed up entirely every weekend, some tasks took precedence; when I had time, focus and energy for writing, it went into getting my five books prepped for paperback release, and gradually getting them sent off for proof copies. So far, I’ve been able to release two of the five novels. The printer (who is either in England or in France) doesn’t ship to Switzerland (why do companies frequently act as if Switzerland is on another planet?!); it’s been a challenge getting the books to me – fortunately, some of our family lives in France, so they can receive it. Sometimes the packages are sent, sometimes carried by hand to closer family, sometimes handed off in car parks!

Two weeks before our nephew’s time here came to an end, we accidentally discovered that we’ve got a huge problem in our flat: Water damage coming from somewhere that will now require walls, floors, balcony tiles, windows and downstairs ceiling to be ripped out and repaired! Raining, pouring… For the past four years, repairmen have come and gone but none of them have gotten to the root cause. So this time, I’ll be watching them like a hawk and pestering them to push beyond their nose to find the actual cause, repairing that first! And that all begins this week.

After the past few intensive months, I’ve been trying to catch up on those things that, of necessity, were neglected, and those things I need to prepare for when our home is invaded by an army of repairmen – at least that’s what I’m imagining, though it will more likely be a steady stream of comings and goings, appointments, and cleaning up the aftermath of dust and debris…

And now that my schedule can resume a partial semblance of normal, I want to get back into creative writing – my next novel, as well as this blog! So many projects, so little time! But if a day had 40 hours, it would still not be enough to accommodate everything I’d like to do. Maybe it’s God’s mercy that we don’t have 40-hour days!