Z's Kitchen Countdown - 7 - slow and steady

 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.

Z ponders

 Russell took an odd pleasure in not finishing a job.  I never did understand it and, since he died, I've wondered how it was that I coped with it at all, because I'm a finisher.  I can take ages to start something because, once I do, I carry on to the end and it's the finishing that gives me satisfaction.  It wasn't just that Russell lost interest, but that he actively wanted almost everything to need a small job done that he never had the least intention of carrying out.  He'd stop a workman from finishing, telling him that he'd do it himself.  He made sure I didn't do it or get someone else and undermine all my efforts - not throughout, just at the last.  

The kitchen had two new oak windows put in, one each side of the Aga on the east wall.  The only other window in the room was on the north wall, behind the sink and faces the laundry room, which is between my house and the annexe and is used by both houses.  It was one of only two windows in the house that was not replaced when the house was refurbished, 40 years ago.  It wasn't in poor condition, so I suppose I understand that, but the odder thing was that, when the deep windowsill was tiled - it must be about 50cm front to back - it ended up about three inches higher than the bottom of the window and there was a small gap at the back.  And a few of the tiles were not grouted into place.  Nor were the tiles on the left windowsill on the Aga wall.  The ones on the right were.  I was discouraged from doing it myself and that was that.

Today, I started removing the tiles behind the sink and, when I cleared enough to be able to lift the whole lot out, I discovered that there was wood and then chipboard and the old Formica surface that had been there previously was still in place.  It looks so much better now that the whole window is exposed and makes the kitchen much lighter.  I have no idea.  None at all.  I had a small baby and two other children to look after and didn't keep my eye on all the details and, when I asked, I was assured that it had been necessary.

I wish I had been the nagging sort.  I despise nagging and Russell wouldn't have liked it at all, but it would have got results.  

Anyway, though it is a lot of work and can be quite worrying, having to take responsibility for everything, at least it gets done as I want it.  And if I make a mistake or leave anything unfinished, that's up to me.

I've ordered the skip for next Thursday and Friday.

Bright College Days

Z's Kitchen Countdown - 6 - Z feels efficient

 It's all gone well in the last couple of days.  Toasted cheese didn't give me any problems at all and I got up early and did a lot more clearing in the kitchen, before spending a few more hours on lunch preparations.  I know perfectly well that everyone would have been happy with more easily prepared barbecue food but, the busier I am, the more enthusiastic I tend to get.  Anyway, there is a lot more stuff stashed away, out of the kitchen and I feel calmer for it.  The mess was starting to get to me.

I really wish I'd thought of moving the broom cupboard contents to the larder years ago.  It's so much better.  Getting to the cupboard under the stairs via a door at the end meant that most of the stuff was only accessible if I took everything at the front out and then, inevitably, I didn't bother to haul it all out again to put the stuff back, so I had to do a tedious clear out quite regularly.  The three bins fit side by side and, on a shelf, I've got the cat's food and I've various other things on the rest of the shelves. I'll put a piece of leftover flooring down, to help keep it all clean.

All the family are on good form and, luckily, we'd come indoors before the heavens opened.  It rained torrentially for a long time.  I'm so sorry for holidaymakers - having grown up in a seaside holiday town, I'm always very sympathetic to them, when the weather is bad.

Tomorrow, I absolutely must do paperwork.  Next week, the forecast tells us of rain again, so I guess Scott will carry on indoors, for the most part.  I've still got plenty for him to do, though he's a very quick worker.  The joiner called round, to check the window latches to order.  The window is made and he just needs to add the glass, which he will order on Monday.  So, the week after, it will be fitted - hopefully, when the skip is here, so that the old one can go in that.

I didn't tell you about the skip, I don't think.  There's a sizeable Dutch barn, which Russell kept adding to and the additions are gradually falling down.  We need to remove some of it and go back to its original size, but there's a lot of Lord-knows-what that will have to be taken away.  I asked for any teenagers to volunteer for hard work for a couple of days, and Zerlina and Gus offered.  They will come and stay for a couple of nights and Stephen and I somehow have to be ready for them.  I don't really need another job, but I want it done, so I'll just have to manage.  It's possible.  I am wildly overconfident.

Z's kitchen countdown 5

 It's been a productive day.  Wink and I went back to the tile place and showed my Lowestoft mug to the owner, who was so helpful.  He is going to do a sample tile next week, so that I can go and see if it is the right colour - I still don't know how much these tiles cost and suspect it's a lot, but I'm not too bothered about that.  Honestly, with all I'm spending this year, a couple of hundred pounds over standard price on tiles is not an issue.

As the weather had improved, Scott has been working outside much of the day, but he finished the first coat in the study.  Thomas, poor lad, took up all the cork tiles and it was a painstaking job.  They were stuck down hard.  I cleared the cloakroom cupboards except for the bottom level, where things will stay, and have started to shift kitchen stuff in there.  I've also moved the bins into the former broom cupboard, now the bin cupboard and am managing to remember not to go to the former place, so far.  I've moved enough stuff out of sight to feel more tranquil.  All the clutter and mess was starting to make me anxious.

It was Ro's birthday yesterday and the whole family, except for Squiffany, will be coming over for lunch.  I spent the evening making marinades and preparing food, having said I will go to no trouble at all.  I'm an idiot.  Finally, sometime after 8.30, I turned my attention to dinner, being very hungry.  I made toasted cheese.  And then, taking it to the dining room, I managed to tip the plate and it shot onto the carpet.  I'm happy to report that butter side down didn't apply, it did a neat flip and landed cheese side up.  I picked it up and ate it.  No visible fluff, it was fine.  There was absolutely no question that I'd do it all again.  I trust that toasted cheese at 9pm will give me neither nightmares nor indigestion.  

Z's kitchen countdown - 4 - Z pays for the kitchen

 It's raining hard and has been most of the weekend, which is what tends to happen when school holidays start.  So Scott the painter can't work outside, so he's been stripping the wallpaper in the cloakroom and bathroom and will do the lining paper next.  After that, there are still several indoor jobs to do, so I'm glad he won't leave to work somewhere else.

That was what I wrote on Monday morning, before being called away to something I don't remember.  So, to catch up from then.

The wallpaper has been stripped from both rooms, the lining paper applied and the first coat of paint, just to seal it, has been applied to the cloakroom.  From my angle, I've chosen the paint for the cloakroom, study (aka kitchen) and (actual) kitchen, though I might change it once I've seen how it looks in the study.  I've also chosen and ordered the wallpaper for the bathroom and the colour for its paintwork.

I've cleared out the larder and put everything from the broom cupboard into the larder (now, officially, the broom cupboard).  

I have decided on the colour of the painting on the tiles to go behind the Aga.  As they will be Delft-style, I wanted them to be blue, but Delft blue is too blue for the kitchen cupboards.  But I happened to have bought, recently, a Lowestoft mug in a soft grey-blue that, it suddenly occurred to me, might be the right shade.  It is.  It goes well with the cupboards but it is not green enough to be wrong for Delft.

I'd meant to go to the tile place today, but lunch out took longer than I'd expected, so I left it.  Maybe tomorrow.  I've been into the flooring place in Yagnub about new flooring in the cloakroom and bathroom.  I have yet to choose.

Scott has taken out the breeze blocks and opened up the doorway between the main kitchen and its adjunct.  He didn't need to remove the cupboards to do that.  That was a mercy.

Today is Ro's birthday and yesterday was the anniversary of moving to this house, 39 years ago.

This afternoon, I paid the whole bill for the kitchen and for its fitting.  I've already paid for the flooring in both areas - all three, in fact, as I'm also having the lobby re-floored.  

I will clear the cupboards in the cloakroom and use the space for kitchen stuff.  I'm pretty triumphant about that, as it will save me from having to have a lot of stuff just dumped randomly in boxes.  All the same, the house has a lot of random stuff, dumped.  

I've ticked off so much on the to-do list that I've been able to add more things to do.  I have, in fact, more to write, but I'm too tired.  

Z has been happier

 Pam's appointment was for 11.30, but she was asked to arrive half an hour early for the pre-appointment checks.  I'm not sure why they didn't just say 11 o'clock.  In any case, we arrived early and were seen almost straight away as the earlier appointment didn't arrive.  Perhaps they didn't notice the half hour early.

All went well and we took less time than we'd expected, so called in to see Peter on the way home.

Yesterday, I was supposed to carry on with freezers and I didn't.  I couldn't face it and started on the larder instead.  The kitchen is more chaotic than ever.  Tomorrow, I must finish emptying the larder, then clean it, then empty the broom cupboard and put stuff from there into the larder, then wonder where the hell everything from the larder is going?  I'm pretty miserable.  But it has to be done.

Wooden it be nice

 Having the outside woodwork sanded and recoated with wood preservative was long overdue.  I should have had it done ages ago and just didn't get round to organising it.  But the local painter and decorator started on Monday and it's going well.  He's done all the front of the house and the east side and is working on the front of the annexe.  He's got his teenage son working with him for the summer, so that's speeding it up - the boy is sanding, father finishing off and then painting.

Meanwhile, I have been getting on less well.  Upstairs is a disaster area, but at least the study is nearly clear.  I still have some books and papers to move upstairs - it's been so hot that I can only take a few trips with heavy stuff at a time.  And I've been too busy for the last three days anyway.

Next week is only marginally less busy, but I can't delay.  I've got tomorrow free and must look to the List.  Then on Sunday, I'm taking Pam to the hospital for her pre-op checks and I'll be with her much of the day and won't be fit for a lot afterwards.  I have Monday free and on Tuesday I'm picking up Roses, to take Rummy to the vet (Rose is currently carless).  After that, I'll go over to Magnet, the kitchen people, to make the final checks with the order and pay the balance.  On Wednesday, I'm taking Pam into hospital for her operation.  I'm not sure how long she'll stay - she thinks a night or two, which it may be, or could be longer.  Her daughter will come and stay with her once she's out, I hope - not sure how her childcare is being organised, but we'll get it sorted out.  Then I must crack on for a few days.  I'll visit Peter when I can, while Pam is out of action.  I do hope and pray that her op is successful this time.

I've been getting up early, as Scott starts at 7.30, so I must set the alarm again and actually get up.  I have a tendency to lie in bed reading.  Freezers are the priority tomorrow.  If I can get those sorted out before Thursday, so that Wince can help me move the emptied big one, then I'll be back on schedule.  

Z's kitchen countdown - 3 - the approximate design

 It's clear that I have no idea how to use Blogger nowadays.  I've just dragged and dropped the photos,  hoping for the best.  This is a computer mock-up of the units, but it's not as the kitchen will actually appear.  There will be rather more on the walls.

I like to have things where I can reach for them.  So, behind the Aga, I have racks with hooks for utensils and, to the left of the Aga, on the beam, I have more hooks for saucepans.  These will stay.  

I also will have more shelves than are shown, but it's just as an example here (they're too high, for a start).  The main differences are the doorway on the right, which now is just a hatchway into the next room (it originally was the back door, but we'd incorporated two small areas into one room) and I couldn't leave the doorway, as I had nowhere else to put the fridge.

The window on the left will be replaced - the two each side of the Aga are oak and so will the new one be.  Russell, who couldn't bear to complete a job, didn't have a new window. though all the others in the house were replaced.  The sink is now further over to the right than it will be, the new placement is better and I don't know why we didn't do it in the first place.  There will be open shelves for jars of ingredients, because I like to grab those too.

The colour of the fittings is 'Ludlow Washed Cotton' and the Corian worktops are in Sandstorm.  At present, I have a patterned wallpaper with a darkish background and the room is fairly dark overall, with oak cupboard doors - I took the view that it was not a light room and to run with what it was, but I'm having a complete change.  I'll probably keep the central table that's now in the kitchen, if only because the cat likes to eat there.

Through the doorway is now the study - we briefly used it as a dining room, which is the reason for the hatchway - and I'll have the same flooring in there as in the kitchen, so that it's effectively all one room.  I'll have the fridge and upright freezer in there and a table and dining chairs, because it faces east and south and is lovely in the morning.  It'll be my third dining room.  A Z can never have too many options for eating.  I will also keep my cookery books in there, bringing a big bookcase down from the landing for them.  It's mahogany,  but we'll politely ignore that.

Through the doorway on the left of the bottom photo, there's a lobby leading to the larder, the back door and the laundry room, which is also a passage to the annexe.  Wink and I share the laundry room, each of us having our own equipment, though either of us is welcome to use the other's.  I'm having more kitchen units in the lobby, where there is currently a large chest freezer.  On top, I'll put the wine rack - it's sizeable, being a metre wide and nine bottles hight - and the microwave, which will fit sideways.

The wall that isn't pictured won't have any units or furniture, as there are various doors at that end of the room, leading to the passageway, the dining room, the broom cupboard and the back stairs.  The larder is being cleared and will become the broom cupboard and the broom cupboard will house the three bins - rubbish, recycling and composting stuff.

It all looks rather more stark and pale than it will but, if you've been here, you'll recognise what a huge change there will be.  The room will, of course, be considerably more cluttered than it is here - Jonathan put in a token mixer, but there will be a lot of equipment out, because if it's all in cupboards, it doesn't get used.

List ticking

 I'm plodding through the list.  It's so hot that moving heavy furniture upstairs is a challenge.  Wince and I have managed everything we've set out to do, so far, but I needed a break after a particularly heavy cupboard.

Since the study will become part of the kitchen, I needed to put study stuff somewhere else.  I decided that the landing would do.  We've moved the linen cupboard to the main landing (I'd already emptied the bedlinen to the towel cupboard) and the big bookcase, that will end up downstairs, to the landing in its place.  Then we moved the stationery cupboard to the main landing, which knackered me and, I suspect, Wince too.  Once we'd reached the top of the stairs, my arms hardly worked.  But I was okay later and took up various papers.

So very tired now.  It's not yet 9pm, but I have a book by my bed that's calling to me, though I may only read a page or two.

I ticked 6 items off the list, which is satisfying.  I haven't tackled the challenging bits, nor the items I hadn't the fortitude to put on the list.  But, as far as it goes, it's comfortable.

Morning on the tiles

 We went over to the tile company and really liked it.  I have to say, Boris (I'm perfectly sure there is no connection with the dreaded Boris) is no salesman.  He suggested I wait until the kitchen is fitted before I choose the tiles, he didn't take my name, he said I'd be welcome to have samples but didn't take the opportunity to draw me in by offering me any - but never mind.  He also said that they could do the shade I wanted, that it would only take 3-4 weeks, that they'd be hand-painted and made on the premises - and the tiles are beautiful.  

I looked up my to-do list from several weeks ago.  Most things on it are done and I've written a new one, typed on the computer this time, so I don't have to find the notebook and update it.  Wink and I have set timings for some items.  So I've got plans for this Thursday and a list of things that have to be ready for next Thursday.  And, if I hope to get to Scotland in August, everything else has to be done too.

Later, we went through our mutual diary - we each have a diary and there's also a joint one.  It was good to sort everything out, until I got into September and then I felt overwhelmed.  So we had a nice G&T and then I went and cooked trout for dinner.

When I went outside this morning, first thing, it felt quite autumnal.  But another heatwave is hinted at.  The seasons are all awry.  That is, we hardly have them any more.

Z and Wink get our timings wrong

We're planning a couple of days in London, but we've made a mistake.  We intended to go to a play on a Friday evening, a matinée on Saturday afternoon and then come home - also a couple of exhibitions on the Friday afternoon and Saturday morning.  Efficient and perfect, hey?  Except, having booked the trains, the hotel and the Saturday, we then discovered that we were a week out for the other show.  The Saturday is the last day for one, but the other doesn't open for another week.  D'oh, darlings.

All the rest works, so we will choose something else for Friday night.  But we can't see how it was that neither of us noticed.

Tomorrow, we will go and look at tiles.  I feel overstretched and harassed, but I can't let the pace slip.  

Z's kitchen countdown - 2

 I've emailed the chap at the kitchen company, who's back from holiday now, to clarify a few things, he's phoned back and I'll go in when he's got answers - I've assured him that I'm not anxious, just making sure that there are no issues later.  I've also phoned about getting the flooring fitted, which will be a fortnight after the kitchen units are started, but I am not sure if there might be a clash there, so I'll find out next week.  

I'm looking online at taps, which is fairly boring, might go over to the next town where there's a supplier of that sort of thing.

Yesterday, the lovely family who live in Glasgow called in for lunch - parents, two boys and the youngest child, their five year old daughter.  All delightful people and the children are so naturally polite and helpful.  You can never pick anything up without one of them offering to carry it.  They've very kindly invited me to stay when I go to Scotland - I'm happy to stay in a hotel, but they're so hospitable that they may insist.  I really hope I might manage to fit it in with everything else, but it's going to be a squeeze.

Fiona also recommended a tile company and I looked them up.  The tiles are lovely, but they're 150+ miles from here.  I'd really need to visit.  That's possible in a day, but it prompted me to look up a local firm and they look promising too.  So Wink and I will visit there on Monday and, if we don't like their offerings and there doesn't seem to be somewhere else nearby, then it's off to Wiltshire for a day trip.

I really want to get to Scotland next month.  That won't happen unless I focus on it and on everything else I need to do before I go.  It'll be a push.  But I'm good with a deadline.  I'm going to crack on with the work and believe I can do it.  Next week has some capacity, the week after doesn't.  From then on, I'm pretty busy up to the blog party.  So next week it is.  Apart from Tuesday and Friday.

Z's kitchen - Two month countdown - 1

 Tomorrow is always a flexible word.  I still haven't uploaded pictures.

However, I have got a date to install the new kitchen, so that's good.  It'll be started on 1st September.

I've texted the decorator/carpenter to ask him to sort out the doorway any time in the 2nd half of August.  I've also gently asked when he's starting the work on the outside of the house (not right now, it's far too hot).  I've also texted the joiner about the window - not heard back from either of them yet, but it's a working day and that's fine.

I've agreed with the water softener people about the approximate date for fitting that, I've said provisionally 3rd week in September.  The fitter can do the rest of the plumbing.  I have yet to choose a new tap, but I'm going to look for one with an extra pipe for the filtered water, rather than have a separate tank for drinking water.  I don't expect this to be a problem.

I've given no thought to the colour of the walls and I'm not worrying about the tiles yet.

I need to contact the flooring people to tell them when they can come and do that job.

I have bought a new upright freezer, which has to live in the porch for the next three months.  I'm turning out the smaller chest freezer into it, then I'll defrost the latter, then sort out what's in the bigger chest freezer and defrost that, ready to be moved into the workshop (If I can't do without it yet) or disposed of.  

In regard to the study, that will be knocked into from the kitchen, most of the books and bookcases have been removed.  This Thursday, Wince and I will move Tim's big tv and hifi equipment upstairs.  I have also decided that, instead of it being a part-time study, I'm moving all that stuff upstairs onto the landing.  Once the new (present) study floor is laid, the bookcase on the landing will come down into that room, to house cookery books and it'll be replaced by my desk and the stationery cupboard.  On the landing, I also have the cupboard where I keep bedlinen and I'm thinking where I could rehouse the linen, so that I'll have room for papers there.  Bobby the leopard also needs to find a new home, which may be in my bedroom or else in my dressing room, as it might spook guests in a spare bedroom.

I have started to move a lot of kitchen stuff into the further dining room.  It's all going to be quite a challenge for a while, but no matter.

I don't know what to call the ex-to-be-study.  Morning room or breakfast room both sound wildly pretentious, but that's effectively what it'll be.  Kitchen annexe?  3rd dining room?  Probably, I'll just call the entire space the kitchen.  Once all is sorted out, the new upright freezer will live there, I'll have a smaller  dining table and chairs and maybe an armchair or two.  I'm also toying with having the fridge in there, which I think would be quite convenient and keep the kitchen uncluttered (I will have plenty of stuff in there, I like having ingredients to hand in jars).

I have to move a lot of papers and general stuff from the study, I've been dumping stuff there as it's chaotic anyway.  Then I have to sort them out.

My tidying up deadline is the week before the blog party.  Then I'll have to shift the final stuff from the kitchen.

I sleep really well nowadays, better than I have for years.  It's surprising.  What is even more surprising is that I've turned from an owl to a lark.  This is a lot less welcome.  I miss late nights and I hate getting up early.  I don't mind waking up early but, if I get up then, I'm ready for a nap by 11am and that's just silly, especially as I don't have afternoon naps normally.  

Z really doesn't like Blogger, but sorting out the old one is still beyond me

 When I try to do anything on Blogger, I'm reminded of why I abandoned it.  I haven't got the photos of the digital version of the kitchen on the computer, so I wanted to upload them from my phone, but I've been going to and fro for some time without success.  I'm too tired now,

If you've been here, you'll know that my kitchen is quite dark.  Two small windows either side of the Aga, a slightly bigger one behind the sink and a hatchway through to the study opposite the sink,There are doorways to the passage, the dining room, the broom cupboard, the back stairs and the lobby to the larder, back door and laundry room leading to the annexe.  At least the doorways are all at one end.  Then there is a big old central beam across the room and beams down the length of the room.  With no explanation, Russell refused to let me have any light above the Aga and there are fluorescent light strips hidden behind the beams near each side of the room.  A few years ago, I had spotlights put above the Aga, so I can finally see what I'm cooking (Russell had many good qualities, but few people could have remained married to him).  We have fairly light oak units and a boring laminate wood effect floor (all we could afford at the time) and quite a dark floral wallpaper - I couldn't do anything about the darkness, so I emphasised it.

Now, I'm going completely the other way.  It's all about light and openness.  I'll sort out photos tomorrow.  I'm having the units from Magnet and I'm having Corian worktops and sink, with light oak-esque vinyl tiles on the floor, which will be carried through to the study, to which I'm opening up the hatchway to a doorway again - it used to be the back door and we half-filled it in because I needed cupboard space.  

Descriptions and pictures tomorrow, I'm too tired to see, let alone think.  I'm going to take out my contact lens and go straight to bed.  Indeed, the lens has gone in the bin because it's nearly a new month and I won't need to put one in for the next couple of days.

Good news is that the fitter is coming round tomorrow afternoon to size up the job and I hope he'll give me a date soon for the kitchen to be done.  As long as it's not during the blog party, it's fine.  Actually, I don't care.  Whatever he suggests.  I'll always have the Aga.

Which reminds me, I've bought new Aga saucepans.  Z doesn't do extravagance by halves. 

Z's wall of books is dead. Long live Z's wall of books.

 I seem to have bought another piece of Lowestoft china, but I part swapped it for two others that aren't Lowestoft.  Lucky I'm not normally extravagant in other ways, notwithstanding the expensive kitchen etc.

Today, Wince and I manoeuvred the bookcases up to Ronan's bedroom, where they take up most of a wall, and it's a big room.  They look great.  A wall of books is a wonderful thing.  I haven't yet started putting the books on the shelves, that's for another day.

I ordered a freezer.  A big upright one - at present, I have two chest freezers, plus a freezer compartment, not a tiny one, on top of one of the fridges.  The thing is, I want to come down to one chest and one upright, but when one has been moved, you have to leave it to settle before plugging it in.  So what is one to do with the contents of the old freezer in the meantime?  I can tell you, darlings.  You have three for a while.  What I have to guard against is having three forever.  I'm a bit anxious about that - mission creep and all that.

The plan is that I have the new freezer put into the big porch (this is an actual room, the corresponding room above used to be a double bedroom, though now it has a lot of wardrobes and a big bookcase in it).  I put in everything I can from the smaller chest freezer, then move that sideways, as soon as I can, then empty the bigger chest freezer, then move that beside the smaller one.  Once it's settled, put back what wouldn't fit in the other two (having kept them with ice blocks in coolboxes) and work on running down what's in them all.  Once I have done all that and have a spare freezer, I'll order a new fridge and pay to have whatever I don't need taken away.  

I'm also getting a new water softener organised.  

What I haven't mentioned, because I promised to be upbeat last time, was the awful thing that happened a few days ago.  I was working in the house and heard a bit of squawking, though nothing much, but three bantams didn't come home.  And they haven't ever since.  I'm pretty sure that a vixen was teaching her cubs to hunt, because one fox couldn't have grabbed three agile chickens so quickly - it really didn't sound a panicked cry, I thought it was a minor squabble.  They were Millie, because she loved mealworms, Mary, because she was an only chick, of Polly Garter, who loved her very much and fed her so much that she became the biggest bantam, and Plank, the white one who foolishly slept out for several nights, a few years ago and was thick as.  I don't name all the chickens, but these three were pets and I'm desperately upset.  One loses a chicken every so often, but three in daylight - early afternoon - in one fell swoop, as Shakespeare put it, is rough.  I haven't risked letting the rest of them out since and they're not happy with me.

I'm also pretty agitated about the Pam and Peter situation, but I'll leave that for another time.  Today, I'll finish with positives.  The porch where the new freezer will go has been cleared, Kenny's shed has been tidied up and I've room to store things there, the bookcase, as I said, is in place and I can fill it gradually, I've returned my library books on time and I cooked a really nice cauliflower cheese for dinner.  I can also tell you - from last night - that a strawberry Zaiquiri (named after Zac, the lovely new husband of Miriam) made with fresh strawberries is totally divine.

Miriam's mother discovered a love for strawberry daiquiris in Mexico but, after a few days, she asked if she'd got it wrong, as she'd been asking for Zaiquiris. I said, technically yes but it was brilliant and that was their official name from then on, and told everyone in our What'sApp group.  It has completely taken off.

Zoë is busy and purposeful (yeah, right)

 I promised to be upbeat.  So a progress report.  

Of arrangements for the kitchen, I've got the units, work surfaces, floor, window, door and fitter sorted out and am waiting for the fitter to get in touch to tell me when the job can be done, which will inform the ordering of everything else - deposits have been paid.  Weeza thinks I should have tiles behind the Aga, which is fair enough, but I haven't found anything suitable yet.  I haven't given any thought to the colour of the walls.  I've ordered a new, big upright freezer, which is arriving on Saturday.  The reason I'm getting it now is that I need to empty the big chest freezer in order to move it.  Ultimately, I'd like to just have my slightly smaller chest freezer and the upright, but I'll have to juggle between the three for a while first.  I'll get a new tall fridge after the kitchen is installed, to replace the two I have now.  The new freezer will go in the porch to start with, but the tortoise run will have to be moved first, the tots being outside all the time for the next few months.

I moved the lovely oak dresser into the dining room some weeks ago and I've put mostly blue and white china on it - some Lowestoft, also old Delft tiles and some other random china, I don't want it to look too tidy, of course.

A great many books have been moved upstairs, to a room with a very good floor (you know how heavy books are) and the bookcases had to be cut in half to get them into the room - that will be done on Thursday, when Wince is here.  He'll put them together and then the books will go back.  I've set aside a few hundred to dispose of, so far.  

Wink is away for a week and I'm being very busy in her absence.  I'm emptying the kitchen cupboards and taking a lot of things out of the larder, which I use for storage rather than for food.  I'm putting pots and casseroles and plates and so on into the big dining room - unfortunately, I wanted a tablecloth today out of the chest that a lot of heavy stuff is on, so that ain't happening.  I'll just have to wash a tablecloth, dry it and put it back on the table.

I have a lot of papers to sort out.  That's a job for tomorrow.  The start of it, anyway.  There will be a lot I can get rid of and the rest will be properly filed - I always used to keep up with that, but it slipped a while ago and, once that happens, it's very hard to get back under control.

I've got a very big wine rack, a metre wide and I know where it will go in the end but, so far, I'm not sure where it'll be in the meantime.  I want to declutter the kitchen completely in the next few weeks, though it'll make the rest of the house crowded.  I also need to empty the study, so it can't go in there.  

Within the next few weeks, I should hear from the listed building people about my application to alter the drawing room fireplace.  They may need the chap from the council to come round - I don't mind what they tell me to do, as long as I'm allowed to do it.  I really don't want to have to reinstate the bricks that will have to come out to get the old fireplace and chimney liner in, but surely they'll prefer me to have a stove than an open fire.  It's going to make a huge difference to the warmth of the house in winter and be easier and safer - much as I love an open fire - and less polluting too.  I don't have central heating and it really isn't feasible to put it in.

The house will be at sixes and sevens for the blog party, but it really doesn't matter.  It's the company that counts.  And the food.  

Age is more than just a number and we shouldn't pretend

 Various things have been ticked off the list, but it still gets longer.  However, I feel generally optimistic about a lot of them.  And my next post will be a cheerful one about the progress I'm making.

What is less cheering is the matter of the problems facing Pam and Peter, in part because they can't accept how grave these are.  It's nearly 4 months since Peter had his stroke and, though he's a lot better than he was then, he has no movement at all in his right arm or leg, he still needs a small amount of thickener in drinks and not much texture to chew in food, or else he might choke.  He still believes he will recover, but he does little to help that to happen.  He has some simple exercises to do - basically, to lift his bad arm with his good arm, to exercise them both.  He's supposed to do 10 repetitions of 4 exercises, 3 times a day and he doesn't.  I'm not confident he does any of them.  Nor does he do the cycling exercise, where the good leg powers the cycle machine, but it moves the other leg too.  I think he believes he will heal spontaneously, like a cut or a fracture does, but he's not making progress in his physiotherapy sessions either any more, and complains that they hurt him when they move him - it's really that he's not trying very hard, so they have to push and pull him more.  They have made it clear that he has to do the work and ask to be taken to the cycling machine, it's his effort and mental attitude that count.  He's a lovely man, but will relax as long as he can, it is always Pam who's been the driving force.

Yesterday, he was very upset, because he had been told that he won't be likely to drive again and that the DVLA should be given his licence back.  He asked Pam if she thinks he's fit to drive and she said no.  He said, she had really disappointed him by saying this, as a quite hurtful criticism.  Yet he cannot sit up properly, unsupported.  He can't, for example, sit on the edge of the bed and move to a wheelchair.  He needs a hoist and two people to be moved.  He does nothing to help dress himself or really do anything else.  The OT woman used the fact that, though he can see on his left side, he is unobservant as a result of the stroke and it would not be safe for him to drive.  She kindly didn't point out that he can't even get into the driver's seat.  With a paralysed left leg, he could not move from a chair to a car seat on the driver's side, even if he could then operate the controls.  Which he couldn't.  He's totally in denial, but if he truly faced the situation, he might give up hope.

A social care woman came to talk to them while I was there and I stayed, with permission.  She gave options and their likely costs, which shocked them - as well it might.  Peter is determined to go home and not into a care home, but he has no comprehension - this is not a lack of intelligence or mental ability, but an inability to face up to it - of how disabled he is.  Even Pam, who is facing it more, thinks that, once he's home, she'll get him to do his exercises and it'll transform his abilities.  This is unlikely to happen.  They need various adaptations to the house - mostly, the ground floor is all right, but there are no suitable washing or toilet facilities.  He thinks that the bathroom would be usable, but it wouldn't, the shower is a good size but there's a step to get in it and it's not wide enough for a wheelchair and a carer.  Besides, he hasn't given any thought to how he'd get upstairs.  He wouldn't be safe on a stair lift and the staircase isn't suitable anyway as it has a half landing and the wall is on the wrong side (the staircase splits to left and right at the half landing and the bathroom is on the banister side).  A lift would take up half the landing and half the study and a hoist would then be needed in both the living room downstairs and the bedroom upstairs.  He needs a wet room downstairs instead.  Rather than give up the study, however, he wants to use part of the garage and access it via the utility room.  But the wheelchair doesn't have room to manoeuvre around to that, it would need two tight turns, and a lot of building work would be needed.  Comparatively easy would be conversion of the study to a wet room (the small downstairs toilet is next to it) and I suggested to Pam, on the way home, that she asks her plumber to come round, look at it and give an opinion and say how soon he could do it - they want him to move out in the next few weeks.  She said, he's very helpful, he even kindly offered to drive her over to see Peter if she needs help.  I explained that creating a whole new bathroom is a bit more time consuming than two hours to help her visit her husband, which hadn't occurred to her.  

I'm so sorry for them and I'm doing what I can, whilst not getting emotional about it, which wouldn't help.  The social care person is visiting their house next Thursday and I've offered to be there.  I'll take notes and help to explain.  She said she appreciated my input, when I asked if I was a nuisance when I chipped in and I think she meant it.  

It makes me annoyed when people say 'oh, but age is just a number."  Really, it isn't.  Fine if you're in good health, but even then being 80 is not the same as being 40.  Your attitude and approach to life makes a huge difference, but age counts.  We are all in denial.  I am, I'm not pretending I'm not.  But at least I know it.

Zoë''s busy but excellent day

 It's been a better day than I'd expected.  First I went to Rose's place, to drop of some suitcases as she's moving house tomorrow,  Always lovely to see her, of course.  Then, Wink and I went into Norwich and had a straightforward lunch in the cafe at the Forum, of bread and soup. We went our separate ways after that, as we both had some shopping to do before my optician's appointment.

It became a bit amusing because the chap who did the sight test didn't ask me to remove my contact lens and we mutually apologised, when my eye test make so much little sense.  But even after that was sorted out, my sight has improved, oddly.  I need new glasses and new contact lens, because - excuse me while I speak up - MY EYESIGHT HAS IMPROVED, markedly.

I'm not complacent, just grateful.  I can still read without glasses.  I'm 71.  My sight isn't far from perfect and I have no idea how I've come to be so lucky,  If it all goes tits up in a year or two, you absolutely can remind me that I appreciated it while I had it

I wasn't right about the separate ways at that time, because we both went to the market after lunch, I bought local peas, potatoes, cucumber, raspberries, tomatoes and a few other less local things.  So delicious that I ate most of them raw, rather than waiting for the local crab that was meant to be the main course.

Now, I'm so tired that I've had to edit almost every word in the last paragraph.  Tomorrow, darlings.  I've got a whole lot of library books and, if I have any more energy (spoiler: I haven't) I'll just read.  

If Z's epitaph reads 'She was useful' then Z will be fine with that

 I've booked nearly all the speakers for Nadfas next season, which is September to June.  I'm waiting for two replies and I've kept one more month free, in case someone can't do the month I've suggested.  I've also booked October next year, as that speaker can't come in January.  It's taken hours of work, but I've enjoyed it.  I wish I could book all the speakers I want, but there are only ten months when we meet.

One speaker has a disability and walks with a frame, so I'm just making sure all the arrangements will work, which I'm sure won't be a problem.  There's level access to the theatre, as long as he can manage a gradual slope and he can stay at ground level instead of the stage.  The pub where we have lunch is an old building, with several steps down from the road, but there's level access from the car park and we'll ask for lunch in the dining room rather than the smaller room we usually have to ourselves.  You know, I've been put on this earth to be useful, it's what I'm best at.  

I woke up early, around 5 o'clock, though I didn't get up for a couple of hours because I hate getting up early.  It's now 6pm and I'm feeling almost ready for bed, which is silly.  Sometimes, after rising early, I need a nap before noon.  Which reminds me, the chickens are still being such good girls.  They're thrilled to go out and croon happily all day in the garden, but put themselves to bed in the middle of the afternoon. 

Tomorrow, I'm taking some boxes and suitcases over to Rose, because she's moving house on Tuesday.  She hasn't got all her furniture where she is, as it was a temporary home, but clothes, books and so on take up more boxes than you'd think.  After seeing her, Wink and I will mooch around Norwich for a while and then I'll have an eye test, just a routine one.  Then back the next day to be useful again, Nadfas on Wednesday, return to Norwich to the dentist on Thursday morning and then back to take Pam to visit Peter - I'm assuming that, as I haven't been in touch yet.  Friday, meeting Weeza - yes, in Norwich again - to choose tiles for the kitchen and I may have time to go into the wallpaper shop too. 

I seem to have offered to cook for 50 people for Sunday, but I need to check the arrangements.  It's just slow-roast pork overnight, as far as I know, but I may have volunteered myself for more.  Useful, you see.  It's what I am.