The weekend at last, after this crazy week of home repairs and work! Despite the fact that I spent two days this week sitting around waiting for repairmen, I feel like I haven't had enough home time. So I'm looking forward to relaxing.
We do have a few tasks on our agenda. Tomorrow we have to move our gigantic old couch out to the street for the council to carry away on Monday. This is going to be an adventure. Stay tuned.
I'm also thinking about defrosting the freezer, which is once again so icy that the drawers don't easily pull in and out. I don't understand how I managed to go seven years before doing this the first time in 2021, because I had to do it again in 2023 and it needs it again now. We have somehow switched to an every-two-years defrosting cycle! I guess I just waited that first time until it was really, really, really bad.
And finally, I gave Dave a gift certificate to a local cookshop for his birthday back in June and he hasn't used it yet. I'm getting nervous that we'll never use it if we don't do it soon -- it's been hanging on the refrigerator so long it's basically become invisible to us -- so I'm going to apply some gentle, loving pressure to get him to redeem it.
Some graffiti on Finchley Road. "To infinity, and beyond!"
Someone has tidied up the broken bench, removing the rather useless warning cones and sweeping around it. But whoever is responsible still can't bring themselves to remove it entirely.
(Top photo: Colorful balconies on the Barbican estate, last weekend.)
Does "gentle, loving pressure" involve shoving Dave's arm up his back and growling in his earhole, "Spend the ****ing voucher Dave!"? As for the old sofa, do you possess an axe?
ReplyDeleteMy father and I once sawed a 9-foot sofa in smaller pieces to fit it in the elevator. (Movers had carried it up 16 flights of stairs.) I hope you don’t have to do that. That bench is an eyesore and a hazard, but it’s fairly well swept.
ReplyDeleteMost likely, the drain holes are plugged up which causes it to freeze instead of being able to drain away. Another thing I have seen is that the coils in the back of the fridge can get coated in dirt which doesn't allow the freezing/cooling to be as efficient and sometimes giving them a bath will help prevent things from freezing up.
ReplyDeleteSofa. If I have said it before forgive me to be on repeat. A large sofa's ends can usually be taken off making it much easier to manoeuvre it out and about. Trust me: I am not your mother but have large sofa.
ReplyDeleteAs to defrosting the freezer: I am frozen in shock, Steve. Defrosting every few years? That's insane. You either do it every two/three months or invest in a new fangled American one (SMEG) which doesn't need to be defrosted because it does so on its own volition.
Gift vouchers: Just ask what someone would like. Get it. Wrap it - maybe in one of your banana tree's leaves or whichever plant is currently having its day, hand over.
You can tell, can't you: I like to go the way of least resistance; no loose ends left dangling.
Hope your new sofa and rug will live up to expectation. Enjoy,
U
You've got your work cut out for you this weekend. Just think how lovely it will be to relax on your new sofa, your feet resting on your new rug - you will have earned your relaxation.
ReplyDeleteGiven your tendency to find treasures out on your walks, I expect to soon see some portion of that bench cleverly incorporated into your garden.
ReplyDeleteI've a feeling the bench will stay until it turns to dust and blows away.
ReplyDeleteToo bad you don't have open fires now. That bench is nicely dried firewood.
ReplyDeleteI hope we get pictures of Dave stuck in the doorway with the sofa.. The idea of sawing off at least one arm sounds good. At least you don't have to navigate stairs.
Sofa arm, I'm adding hastily, realizing what that sounded like.
ReplyDeleteI really cannot imagine how you're going to get that sofa out of the apartment. Too bad the Russians are no longer upstairs. I am sure they would have loved the challenge AND had the proper tools of destruction.
ReplyDeleteGood luck!
I wonder, do the flats come with the planter boxes? Gift cards are iffy. I got one back in April and I used it for the first time a couple of weeks ago. Still have a good amount on it.
ReplyDeleteThe balconies on the Barbican estate look wonderful. I love a good 'garden in the sky', and I bet the little wildlife do too. I'm surprised no-one has taken the wood of the bench to burn in a log burner, but maybe with Bonfire Night being on the horizon it might disappear then. Don't forget when getting the sofa out to ... 'PIVOT'. ;-)
ReplyDeleteThe poor old bench is a mess. Why doesn't some one move it ?
ReplyDeleteCodex: It's just a couch not a reno. Can't you use the gift certificate? Is Blogger acting up?
ReplyDeleteThat is the problem with gift cards, at least for me, they sit in my purse and I forget about them.
ReplyDeletePerhaps you could purchase a small ax and chop up the bench:) In small enough pieces it could fit in the bin next to it, although I can see how a man wandering down the street with an ax might cause some alarm:)
Perhaps there's a trip to the cooking store in your future too! Something nearby you will enjoy? I'm surprised no one took that one long piece from the bench to turn into a table or some other upcycling thing! (Would I? Well, probably no...) Good luck with the sofa!
ReplyDeleteI look forward to hearing about your sofa shenanigans.
ReplyDelete