When we moved into this house, there were two of these monstrous light shades – one in the bathroom (and it’s not a bathroom standard fitting) and one in our bedroom. We’ve been groaning about getting rid of them ever since. The one in the bathroom disappeared when the electrical work was being done – the sparkies couldn’t have legally left it in place and we had no qualms about saying replace it with a double insulated bathroom fitting.

This one bites the dust today because, once the bulb has cooled down enough for me to touch, it’s being taken down and replaced with something that, although a cheapie Trago thing, is actually quite nice and is the sort of shimmering gold (as shot tonight by DM) that I was talking about a few days ago.

In case you’d not noticed, I’m a bit more ebullient today. After a really dismal day yesterday, full of frustrations and anguish, we sat down to a meal which was a ‘Linda Experiment’ and even though I say it myself, it was a bit of a hit. We also decided ‘what the hell’ and opened a bottle of wine – I am officially on holiday and lots of folks when on holiday will quaff wine whenever they feel like it so I don’t feel guilty at all. We watched ‘Love Actually’ which I really love – brings out the sentimental old fool in me. I had a cry (the bit where the chap knocks on the door of his unrequited love – gets me every time) and we went to bed feeling much less blue.

So today there has been some progress. The leaky windows have been fixed so hopefully now the plaster will dry and we can get the painting finished. I’ve been painting in the dining room too so that is now underway at last. Finally, our bedroom has been cleaned up – no more plaster dust or rubble, the wardrobe is full of our clothes so they’re not piled up on the floor anymore and the bed is on its four feet, instead of its side. All of this feels like a major move forward.

This shot strikes me as looking a lot like a 1960s psychedelic album cover to me – something a band with a name like ‘honeylove’ might have put out. The lensbaby gives a kind of trippy effect (not that I have any idea what a trip looks like, I’m just surmising based on the visual depictions that were all around at the time). Although I have hated this thing with a passion, the lensbaby makes it look quite OK I reckon!

Last year, I was having a terrific evening with Liz and David....and their wabbits!