I’m very aware that there has been a slight hiatus around here. So as a catch-up here’s a bit of what’s been happening.

A number of things have contributed to the hiatus. Prominent amongst them is that the house is even more upside-down than usual because we’ve had our friend Tom decorating the hall/stairs/landing, and it hasn’t gone as smoothly as we all wanted. We urgently needed to replace the carpet, which was literally falling to pieces – hardly surprising after 30+ years of wear – and it seemed sensible while we were ripping out the old carpet to apply a coat of paint.

The painting etc. which should have taken a few days to do has now dragged on for 6 weeks or more, for at least three reasons: Tom does things well and doesn’t just slap on a coat of paint, but applies two or three coats if required; in an area like this there is a lot more to paint than one expects – not just wallage but all the wood of dado rails, bannisters, and so on – thirdly, and most significantly, Tom has been ill (with the current flu) which has meant he’s had something like three weeks of enforced idleness. Oh and along the way we’ve also had Tom put some paint on the ceilings and small amount of wood in the kitchen and bathroom, so they’ve had a quick refresh.

(Someone is going to ask what colours we chose. The wall below the dado rail has existing, and quite old, Anaglypta-style paper, which is white, as are the ceilings and the woodwork. The wall about the dado has been painted a lovely sunny pale yellow – as chosen by Noreen. It does look rather good.)

But we’re getting down to the end now. There is just a small amount of painting (like a couple of doors) left to do; refettling the door furniture etc. and snagging.

So Thursday of last week we went off looking at carpet. We decided what we wanted, brought some samples home and then changed our minds. The guy came yesterday to take the detailed measurements, which took about 15 minutes. And in the middle of writing this I’ve accepted the estimate and paid the deposit. Will we get the carpet laid before Easter? It’s going to be touch and go.

(The carpet will be a mid-grey with some flecks of colour; hopefully dark enough that it won’t show too many muddy paw-marks – feline or human – but not so dark as to be oppressive. It is also a fairly tight loop-pile as in our experience this is fairly cat-scratch resistant: it had better be, it’s costing enough!)

Meanwhile, I’ve had the flu for the last week. I started to feel rough as we left the carpet shop Thursday a week ago. On Monday my GP insisted I went to see her, despite spreading my germs and not feeling at all OK on my feet, as she rightly assessed that I needed antibiotics to clear my chest. They do seem to be working and I am beginning to recover, although I’m still lacking energy and have a cough and a head full of gunge. It’s been quite a few years since I had flu, and I’d forgotten just how debilitating it is, although luckily it doesn’t seem to have left me with overwhelming depression as it sometimes does. I’m hoping I might be back to what passes for normal by Monday.

And I could do with getting back to “work” as I have an ever increasing pile of stuff to do – every day seems to bring a new demand that I attend to something important.