Whenever this happens for me when Mars is in Leo it morphs almost immediately into Mars opposed to the Moon, and it's not easy to sort when one ends and the other kicks in. The Mars trining the Sun came at the end of the full moon on Uranus with me picking up Mr. Patches at the shelter and friend X going off to stay with her sister, and as the opposition to the Moon began, I had the Keystone Cops disguised as handymen here putting up French doors for me.
When I moved into this apartment 35 (!) years ago there were a set of French doors dividing the front room from the room next to it, but when I took all the other doors off to make the railroad flat airier, the French doors came off as well. Last year the illegal sublet above me was asked to move by the landlord as he wanted the apartment for his son, and I asked illegal sublet if I could have the French doors from that apartment. He took them off for me, brought them downstairs, and ever since they've been attractively propped up against a wall in the living room. When my friend upstairs moved down to St. Croix permanently last month, a friend of hers referred a supposed gem of a handyman to cart away all the stuff from the apartment that wasn't being shipped, sold or given away. He did indeed cart away the refrigerator, two huge couches that no one else wanted to get down three flights of stairs and assorted other flotsam and jetsam. She had bookcases attached to the wall which I decided I wanted, and somehow Mr. Gem let it be known that he could detach them from the wall for me, put them up down here and also do any other odd jobs I needed doing that I'm not capable of doing myself, and would charge only $25 an hour for his services.
A deal was struck, and as Mars began to oppose the Moon along he came, complete with helper, to put on the doors and hang a big mirror that had needed hanging for about three years, since I managed to get it off the wall myself when I painted the bedroom. I made a cave retreat for Sweet Pea by hanging a blanket over the upturned bed platform, new poor old sick cat stayed where he was, wheezing and sneezing behind a filing cabinet, and I retreated to the computer to catch up on The Silver City Sun-News and the Daily Mail.
Then began a great discussion between the Gems on how exactly to hang the doors, which quickly became and remained heated as they realized not only were the doors mis-matched but there's a slope of about ten degrees to the floor of the building. Quite why Gem hadn't noticed this when he came earlier in the week to suss out the job I'm not sure, but there is a lumber yard quite close by and soon what looked to me like two-by-fours were being nailed all over the inside of the frame of the doorway, accompanied by constant and loud instructions from Gem and non-constructive and louder criticism and carping from his helper. Fine carpentry we are not talking, neither are we talking any kind of model for employer/employee relations.
Even the two-by-fours didn't do the job because once the doors were hung there was still a one inch gap in between them and another one inch gap to the floor in the middle of the doorway, which Gem assured me could be fixed by a piece of molding that he would bring the next day. I was so horrified to hear that they would actually be coming back the next day I agreed that this would be a wonderful solution, and asked if they could please hang the mirror before they left so I could put the bed back in place.
Nothing if not willing, they began to put the mirror back into its frame and I returned to the computer, where I was catching up on Victoria Beckham's latest footwear when there was a loud crack from the front of the apartment, followed by dead silence and then muted hissings and whisperings. I knew what had happened before Gem appeared in the doorway, extremely apologetic and embarrassed. Promising to return the next morning with the molding for the doorway and a new mirror, the two of them left their tools behind and slunk out of the apartment, and as this is already far too long a post and has turned itself into Mars opposed to the Moon, it shall be continued under that heading.
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