The Leveller

I have been levelling things.

My little red Jimny got a brand new tyre on Wednesday to replace the one on the front right which had a slow puncture and not much tread. Driving it home I found the car wanting to veer to the left all the time which I eventually twigged must be because the new tyre was pumped up too much. So I levelled the car by releasing the air until it reached a pressure more equivalent to the others. Hey presto! Now it drives straight.

My little white caravan has been ever so slowly sinking on one side due to the general sogginess of the earth on which it rests. To the casual eye it did not appear to be lopsided but a permanent resident, such as myself, swiftly becomes accustomed to correcting for the lean when walking around inside it. Little annoyances such as the (hot) oven door swinging shut onto one's arm due to gravity, the oil in a frying pan always congregating at the lower side, and being close to rolling out of my narrow bed every night began to take their toll on my sanity.

So one fine Saturday afternoon, or at least a Saturday afternoon without driving rain, I co-opted Anna to help me get it straight again. As there's only one person who can actually operate the jack at any one time, the presence of another was mainly to provide a sense of mutual encouragement, and to call the emergency services if the caravan decided to fall on my head.

Nevertheless we took turns at the jack and I found a large rock with a vaguely flat surface to jimmy under the newly-raised wheel of the caravan. This was a messy muddy job entailing the digging-out of soil with a trowel and forcing the heavy rock into a hole not quite the same shape as it. Eventually it seemed in position and we lowered the caravan onto it and checked the spirit level. Success! It was, almost, centred.

Weeds killed with an organic homemade weedkiller - vinegar and salt.

I couldn't stop grinning when I entered my small home at how pleasing it felt to be level. A pound coin placed on its edge on the counter did not, as before, begin rolling downhill but just sat where it was. The oven door when opened, remained open. I have rejoined the ranks of the perfectly-horizontal, but unlike the rest of you I am, for the moment, very aware of what a blessing it is!