A Change of Scenery

For the last 3 months I have been sleeping on a sofa-bed in our "small room", which Susan and I first equipped in February this year.

This has been pretty good to me - the room is cool during the evenings, is REALLY dark when I close the shutter, and because it is at the back of the house, is even more quiet than usual. (The only noise we get is the poubelle collection on Thursday morning at about 5.30).

Before we moved into the small room we had been camping in a tent in the front room.
Now I have done some work in the front room - I removed the panelling in September 2007 and the old wiring in may 2008, so last week I swept, re-swept, vacuum cleaned (6 bags worth in a room 5mx5m over the course of 2 days!), then hand washed the floor tile by tile with a soft sponge and very little water, followed by rinsing with an almost dry cloth with vinegar on it. I have also effected a temporary fix on the side door, which had a 2cm gap around it after I removed the panelling.

This has been so successful, I have decided to move back into the front room - now the room looks like this:

I have run an extension cable through the holes in the wall the permanent wiring will eventually go through, put a bed and a sofa in there with a couple of lights - and all of a sudden we have what almost looks like a studio apartment. Next move is to buy some cheap curtaining (and some nets for the front window) and I will have a home away from home, rather than what looks like a refugee camp. (The more observant of you will notice that I put the bed in there before I washed the floor, and that one section of dry lining remains. I am not sure why that panelling remains - but I probably had a good reason when I did it!)

This means that Susan's sister and brother-in-law can stay in the small room on an airbed when they visit at the end of the month - our first house guests. The fact they are staying means I have to sort out the bathing/washing thing soon, because we can't rely on invites from friends to use their bath if we have guests.

Simon