Got up this morning and looked at the last three drawers in my chest which need painting and forced myself to do them. Sat drinking tea for ages and putting it off for as long as poss but then told myself to Get a Grip and get on with it. Once I get going I am OK and gave them their second coat of white silk finish in half an hour and then decided to paint one of those little wooden drawer sets that IKEA used to sell - probably still do. Have had this for yonks and on a yearly basis I have thought about painting it but now I have finally done it. Of course now I had the bit between my teeth and the brush in my hand and started prowling round the flat to see what else needed a lick of paint and knew that was the Road to Perdition and I ought to stop so did.
Now I don't know about you, but when I paint, no matter how covered up I am it gets all over me and this was the case as usual. Into the shower and scrubbed paint off with sponge and liberal amount of white spirit and then lashings of lemon shower gel to try and rid me of the Eau de Turps which was lurking. Hoping to finish the drawers tomorrow and have new knobs on way and then it will be down to me and my trusty screwdriver to get them fitted. It is all go here at Schloss Random I can tell you.
In between all this have been watching tennis on SKY and lolling on sofa awash with antiobiotics and cups of tea and though the tonsolitis is certainly on its way out, the pills I am taking are making me feel slightly odd so will be glad when they, too, are done.
But hey I have to be fit and well as Kathryn home in a few weeks and cannot wait to see her. I have ended up sorting out everyone's emails and dates and suggestions and put an itinerary together and it is going to be a mad two weeks as far as I can see and I will be up and down the A12 like a fiddler's elbow for most of the time. Never mind, it will be worth it to have my darling daughters together again and I am going to take loads of pics to sustain me in the winter ahead.
Managing to get through a few books as well and yesterday finished off another new mystery writer, set in Germany this time, very good though a tad complicated and feeling a bit awash with teckery at mo so re-read a few of Richmal Crompton's adult novels, all written in the thirties and forties and wonderfully dated and stylish with husbands and wives who light each other's cigarettes and call each other Darling all the time and say things like I shall miss you Frightfully. All rather Marvellous are they (I just wrote all rather marvellous they are and then realised I was slipping into Yoda speak - catching it is...)
Exciting news as well, the Great British Bake Off is back next week with the lovely Mary Berry and the handsome Paul Hollywood though he has rather blotted his copybook in my eyes. I know if I say What is it with Men who find themselves unexpectedly Sex Gods in their middle age and then bugger up their marriage and go off with some skinny wreck, I will be accused of being sexist. I can only pontificate from my own knowledge of the male sex and, as I have not had the best of luck with them, you can say I am a tad bitter, but I am not. Cynical yes. And his behaviour is sooooooooooo predictable and I think it is such a pity, but what do I know. Nobody has inner knowledge of anybody else's marriage so I will try and put this to one side and concentrate on the kneading, baking and panicking which will be unfurled before us over the next few months. There is usually a blog on the Guardian online and after a few weeks this can get quite fierce as we all have our favourites and defend their flapjacks and banana bread to the hilt. Can't wait. Simple pleasures..
I have not had a good old rant about the cricket yet and probably will, but will wait until the final test match in the Ashes next week when I hope we win the series 4-0 having drawn one game. Riveting set of matches and I have watched practically every single bat and ball and it has been terrific stuff. But more another day.
Nothing of vital import to import so off to put kettle on again and ponder on painting the kitchen which I am also thinking of doing. But not just yet....
