I Live in a Windmill

When Covid-19 hit, I was living in a city in the north of England. It was a great city, with lively bars and clubs and restaurants, along with wonderful music venues, museums, and galleries. But during shutdown, everything closed. And a city with everything closed becomes a concrete prison.

During that prolonged(продолжительный) Covid-19 shutdown, my yearning(тоска, сильное желание) for open spaces was almost unbearable(невыносимым), and I started looking for alternatives.

After an internet search, I found this windmill for sale in rural(сельский) Wales, took a virtual video tour, and knew I wanted it. Many months later, during which my city went back in a second shutdown, I finally completed the legal proceedings, and the mill became mine.

This place is my escape, my refuge(убежище), and my special place. I feel lucky to have found it. But some things are difficult when your residence is a windmill.

You are certainly closer to the weather.

For example, right now, while sitting here and typing this, I can hear the wind thrashing at my windows and the rain slicing sideways across the glass. Water tumbles down the panes(вода стекает по стеклам) and looks for entry.

The water flowing across the sills(подоконники) took me by surprise at first. I have since learned to keep a supply of towels(полотенца) handy and lay them out along the wood as a precaution(предосторожность) when a rainstorm first hits.

Windmills are, of course, deliberately(умышленно) placed in windy situations. My mill stopped working in the 1930s, when its sails blew off in a storm. But the wind doesn’t care that the mill is no longer needed. It hurls(швыряет) itself around the structure, howling(воя) and growling(рыча), like an enraged(разъяренный) monster frantically searching for those missing sails.

My first night here, I couldn’t sleep. Such a noise!

But I should be used to(привыкнуть к) noise. I had moved from a house where there were two pubs at the end of the road and a social club a couple doors away. I was regularly kept awake well past midnight by the sound of car doors slamming and long, loud goodbye conversations among late-night drinkers right outside my window. The traffic noise continued all night and revved up around 6 a.m. There was also the occasional excitement of a police helicopter hovering overhead and the constant symphony of car and house alarms.

The mill, in comparison to my former house, is an oasis of peace. It’s just that here the wind seems to have a personal interest in me and my home. A malicious(злой) interest.

When I woke this morning, it was to blissful(блаженная) calm. Yes, the wind was still blowing around the mill — it never stops. Even better, the sun was shining. Light and joy flooded(залили) the place.

I put the damp towels in the dryer and remembered how wonderful it is to live in a windmill on the top of a hill.

Tonight, the wind and rain are back. The towels are in place, just in case, and I must get up and check them in a moment. But the storm is less vicious(беспощадный) than yesterday, and as the dusk(сумерки) turns to darkness outside, the wind seems to be subsiding(затихание). Settling down. Running out of puff.

The wind is not exactly my friend, but it is not my enemy, either. It is up to me to find a way to cope with it, to accept that it exists, and to adapt my life to its loud demands.

But first, I must go check on those towels.

Когда я создавал канал инглиш ридинг, конечно я делал это для себя, что бы быстрее выучить язык. Во первых я хотел путешествовать, а без общения с местными познать все культурные особенности невозможно. Во вторых я думал, что английский откроет передо мной, новые карьерные возможности. И если с последним так и произошло, то первый вариант из-за ковида отложился на неопределенный срок. Пока что мои самые длинные путешествия, на дачу к друзьям. Так совпало что один из моих друзей, купил себе недавно участок и делится сельским вайбом на ютубе. Поддержите его лайком, а еще лучше посмотрите и оставьте коментарий с советами, чего не хватает в видео, о чем было бы интересно посмотреть...ссылка на ютуб