Spring-cleaning came more than a little late this year to one house. In fact it's just finished. It was further complicated by the urgent need to repaint two rooms and to do some infilling to a wall where the paint had become flaky. Nothing was neglected. The lawn, on a fine day, was covered with kitchen drawers which had been emptied of their contents - much of which was binned - scrubbed, disinfected and fortunately, had good sunshine to dry them quickly. There were shelves of books which were emptied, and after the shelves had been scrubbed each volume was dusted, before being put back - say, about 300. Many were of the 1930s, including detective stories by the score. Then other names of the period or earlier: Priestly, Edgar Wallace, Thomas Hardy, E.M. Delafield, Compton Mackenzie. Then a reasonable selection of books of the Irish revival period. They had one thing in common - dust, and, in many cases, fragility.
To come down to kitchen level again, not only had every cup, saucer, plate and other utensil to be given a special going over, but every ornamental vase, ashtray, and many of the trophies of family or friends returning from France or Germany - or even Portrush or Cork. How did this come to be here? What ass in the family bought that? Seeing women, just two of them, giving a going-over to a house in this way, makes you wonder at the acquisitive nature of the human being. Outside help, needless to say, was required to have the chimney swept, and also the greenhouse painted - so that it would continue to stand. And all the odd things that you forgot. Why did no one ever notice that the display of shells on the windowsill half-way up the stairs, when lifted, concealed a fly cemetery?
Some of the lagging on the pipes up in the attic had been eaten away by mice or rats. A few new items in the cookery line were needed. More logs to be brought into the house, the herbs to be repotted. Various branches of over-intrusive shrubs outside important windows to be pruned away. And, inside, one of the wonders was the number of spiders' webs which were lurking in every room. Old rubber boots, patched and not too clean, but still serviceable, were returned to their cupboards. Remnants of fishing tackle tidied up.
And yes, the advice of experts had been that if the owners wanted to avoid last winter's plague of mice, the traps, or that electric device, should be installed in early August. Last Monday, July 10th, a friend was washing his hands at the kitchen sink, and a mouse ran past his foot.