October 13th 2008

Spent the weekend surveying mess and wondering if I should clear up but there seemed no point as the kitchen wall is coming down this week which means more chaos and dust. You might get the impression that I'm feeling sorry for myself, you would be right.
Feel a bit guilty because Brian and Iain have been working all day long taking out the old kitchen and constructing it as a makeshift in the laundry room until the new one is fitted. Men love making something out of old bits and pieces and they are really enjoying themselves but I can't shar their enthusiasm for what now looks like a botched together series of battered white units, ancient cooker and hob all in a tiny space where you can't swing a cat. Made the mistake of saying this and referring to it as a 'bodge job' which didn't go down too well.
I remember Iain leaping into action to save the hideous old kitchen units at our cottage in Hertfordshire so he could turn them into a workshop at the back of our garage. He was in his element while I was fuming that despite spending a small second mortgage on a new kitchen, I still had to look at the naff stuff we'd just replaced. In the spirit of recycling and being green, I shouldn't moan I know. At least we have ordered a new kitchen, despite the fact that we are rapidly running out of cash. It's high gloss, red and very modern, and is arriving the week before Christmas. With our usual immaculate timing, it is being fitted in three days and the granite is arriving on the day we leave to go to the UK for a pre-Xmas family visit. The kitchen guy said of course it will all be finished that Friday, or else at the very latest the following Monday, three days before Christmas! And in the presence of a house sitter rather than us. I have a feeling this is another episode that will not go to plan.
On the plus side, I have joined a running club in my village. It is full of very fit French runners which serves two purposes - I am running faster and further than I usually do and pracising my French between puffs. It should be good training for the Londn Marathon next year, if I don't collapse on a hillside anytime soon.