I'm making progress with the List. Today, I bought the new kitchen tap - it's got three controls, for hot, cold and filtered water. That's the last thing on that list, apart from the tiles to go behind the Aga and on the windowsills each side. The third windowsill behind the sink will have Corian. The sample tile should be ready by the end of the week.
I've chosen the flooring for the bathroom and cloakroom and they're coming on Saturday to measure up. They expect to fit it in early September - the same time as the bathroom fitter is here, but that doesn't matter.
The decorator has done as much as he can for now, though he had underestimated the rolls of paper he'd need for the bathroom and I've ordered more. Hoping it arrives by Thursday, so that he can finish off on Friday, but it's okay anyway, it's got the lining paper so is clean and tidy.
The job I've been putting off is emptying the big chest freezer in the lobby at the back. However, at last I've finished emptying the other chest freezer into the new upright freezer and I've defrosted it and switched it on again. So tomorrow is absolutely the day for the full chest freezer. I dread it, but I'll have to be ruthless with anything that's clearly been there too long. I chucked out some elderly vegetable dishes from the bottom of the one in the porch and I'll be so glad to have the second one done that it'll be worth the awfulness.
We went to London for a couple of days at the weekend and had a really wonderful time. We saw three exhibitions, at the Royal Academy and the National Gallery and two plays, at the Barbican and the Bridge Theatre. We walked a lot. On the Saturday, from Piccadilly Circus to Trafalgar Square, then down to the Embankment until we crossed the river and kept going to the theatre. Afterwards, across Tower Bridge and up to the railway station. I was very happy and even managed to relax somewhat and forget about everything there is to do.
I will say, however, that the Transport for London route finder is awful. The website used to be pretty good. You put in where you wanted to go and it gave various options, by bus and tube. Now I have the app too and it's useless. It gives a circuitous route that's not even the same as the website does - the latter only gives one or two options instead of the whole range. We wanted to get from Piccadilly to the Barbican and the app wanted us to take a bus, then the underground, then another bus. The website was slightly better, but wanted us to go to Baker Street (which is the wrong way) and then to the Barbican. I looked on the Tube map - it's very simple. Piccadilly line to Kings Cross and then two stops east to the Barbican. To add to that, they always start by trying to persuade you to go by bike, which is just silly.
It doesn't detract from my love of London, however. There are a lot of tourists there, looking happy, which is lovely. A good many American accents, including a very nice couple we chatted to while we were sharing their table for a drink at the Barbican bar. They live in Idaho, which you wouldn't think of as the most cosmopolitan state, but they have visited 70 other countries, which is a lot more than I have.
