Wednesday workday

This is a sight rarely seen at 136A -

The ironing board is out, and the table has no cloth on it. In fact the "new" spotty tablecloth is rolled up, sprayed to moisten, awaiting the touch of the iron after its first washing left it very very creased (jolly dots but cheap fabric).

I have a little list for things that need doing before I leave the house in 2-1/2 hours. It's good to have a deadline!

Not on the list is a clean sweep of the desk area. Its lovely emptiness has been rather compromised by having to move books around and possibly also by the purchase of as many of the about-to-be-discontinued A6 Rymans sketchbooks as I can get my hands on, kept in plain sight till I can find a safe place for them.

The bit of tape on the left wall indicates how low the intended bookcase will come - to match the case on the other side of the room, it will come to forehead height. The original plan was for the desk to be right against the wall, ie 20cm in, once those books have been removed. There's got to be a rethink on this - it will be psychologically uncomfortable to sit with a solid shelf 15cm from my forehead.

The "final" layout of the room is still in flux. Everything is getting very solidly and beautifully built, but even with trying to build in flexibility, there hasn't been enough planning - or time to reconsider some of the basics. For instance, when deciding on a shelf width of 20cm under the window (for plants), I didn't consider how big - or rather, small - the drawers underneath it would be, or how it would affect the desk drawers, once the desk was back in its former position.

The little inconveniences become great grievances, and it's hard to know where to start to unravel those.

Today, though, the sun is shining, and I have a little list. The tablecloth will be moistened by now and hopefully those deep creases will flatten out somewhat. The laundry is churning away, there is soup to be made from parsnips roasted last night and - let me check the list - it's high time to send the final meter readings to the utility companies. Where, though, is that list?