It begins

So.  Phone call from the painters today, wanting to go round to my house to scope out the job. I arrived home to find that my largest windows have already been masked off with transparent plastic, so I guess that they are going to spray paint the house. We are starting the repair/repaint process. My poor little house. Tomorrow I'll start packing all my ornaments and tchotkes away and figuring out where to move the furniture while they pull down the ceiling and take the paper off the walls. I'll be glad when it's over - its like having teeth pulled. However, I'm mindful of the fact that many people in town would be only too glad to have the process underway, as many have waited for a long time with worse damage than I have.
Spring continues to rush forward. Camellias, narcissus, snowflakes, primulas all in bloom. The excessive rain doesn't seem to have slowed anything down, but the lawn is still too wet too walk on, and there is a very muddy patch where the 'pond' was.
Reading Colleen McCulloch's 'Anthony and Cleopatra' at the moment, I do like ancient history, it's so modern. The focus in this book is less on the relationship of Antony and Cleopatra than on the political wrangles of Antony and his arch-rival Octavianus, who would later become Caesar Augustus, husband of Livia and grandfather to Claudius. (Brian Blessed!) Anthony was a wastrel playboy, whose loyalties were only to himself. Octavianus had a longer, less selfish view, but ultimately both were very interested in power. Getting it and keeping it and using it. Just like modern politicians. Imagine John Key in a toga! First among equals, yeah right.