About the house

The thing with having Mirinda at home over the Christmas period is the number of house jobs she finds me to do. It’s remarkable. Of course it could be just the accumulated unstarted jobs from the previous 12 months…I couldn’t possibly say.

And so, after Skyping and shopping and making lunch, I hung a couple of glass robins, a massive mirror and a small blue cupboard. Then I made dinner.

The robins were bought at the Bath Christmas market and required a couple of hooks in the underside of the bay windows. We’re hoping they’ll catch the light in the brighter months when the sun is a bit higher than at the moment.

The mirror was the big blue one that hung above the mantelpiece in the lounge room (that was). Mirinda wanted it on the wall in the bedroom between the door and the giant chest of drawers. It was a bit more fiddly than hanging a couple of glass robins. Still, I eventually had it hanging where it should. It certainly makes the room look bigger though it’s a bit disconcerting seeing myself in the morning when I lift my head from the pillow.

The first two jobs were easy enough but for the small cupboard I needed Mirinda’s input as to the finished location. Given that Mirinda was off walking the dogs through the muddiest parts of Frensham, I had to wait for her return before progressing.

Then, after lunch, a chap turned up to fix our extractor fan. It just stopped about a month ago and I’ve been trying to find someone to fix it. The people who sell them in the UK sent me a new starter unit (it’s a touch control panel), saying this is usually the problem. The guy on the phone told me it would take me about ten minutes to fix it myself. I had a good look and decided I’d rather pay a professional person something to do it properly.

To be fair, the guy on the phone was right, it took the professional about ten minutes to fix it. I was worried it would prove a bit of a mystery to him but he told me that, believe it not, he’d already fixed one just like it. This prompted my always positive wife to ask if this meant it was going to happen again…and again…and again…

Anyway, fan fixed I tackled the little blue cupboard which very quickly joined the other two jobs in being completed.

It was a good day. Oh, I also hung an Arts & Craft key-holder thing that Mirinda bought years ago because it has copper on it. I don’t like copper very much so it’s good that it’s in the library.