Posted on

On changing jackets and beds

I have a cycling jacket which I wear when I go cycling.

I have a coat which I wear when I go anywhere (outside) without my bike.

If I am likely to be going anywhere after cycling, or cycling when I get somewhere, I wear one and take the other one with me.

Today, I cycled to work, worked, walked to the station and caught a train to where my driving instructor picked me up. I came straight home after my driving lesson.

Guess which coat I was wearing when I got home this evening?

Guess which coat I put my house key in when I set out this morning?

Bonus points if you also guess who was out and who was asleep when I rung their respective phones and doorbells.

***

I luckily have a

<Ok. Life is crazier than I could make it up. I got to here in my write-up before Unexpected Things happened. I’ll go back to telling the story in the right order tho..>

I luckily have another set of neighbours who don’t have a copy of my key, but DO have a big sofa. L was in and still awake when I phoned (around 9:30pm I guess).

“Yeah, no problem, come in! I’ll find you a duvet.. Do you want anything to eat? What happened?”

Within very few minutes I had a huge sofa, a blanket, a duvet and half a million cushions.

And it was warm and dry and I didn’t have to go back to work to get my key (which would have been my backup option).

And I could finally go to the toilet 🙂

L finished unloading the dishwasher and fed her animals and we yakked for a bit and watched the dog for a bit before it was time for bed (or sofa).

Instead of instantly falling asleep (which my body wanted), I started writing (because obviously the world needs to know about how I lock myself out..) and then this happened:

L knocks on the door and comes back into the sitting room.. “Jess? I’m really sorry about this.. E (her boyfriend) just phoned. He’s bringing a guy from work home for the night and I don’t think there’s enough room on the sofa for both of you…”

Oh. Well that’s great, I guess I’ll go back to work after all….

“…but I phoned the landlord and he was on his way over anyway so I asked him for your key..”

Uh.. What..? He wasn’t there earlier.. But cool! Am I asleep? Did he really just give you my key?!

“..I’m really sorry to wake you up and bother you..normally you would be really welcome to stay..I didn’t know anything about this guy coming over until just now..I’ll put your key on the table and let you get dressed..”

***

And that’s how I came to be sleeping in my own bed after all.

Zzzzz

Posted on

On the best thing about having one’s own freezer

You can fill it with icecream – and it’s nobody’s business but your own 🙂

A couple of years ago, the last tenant bought a fridge freezer unit to fit the kitchen, and because it’s a weird size, she left it here when she left.

If it was officially made part of the flat’s inventory, the landlord would be responsible for making sure it works which he didn’t want to be or do.

Getting rid of it in order to buy a new one would be ridiculous, so he offered it to me, for free, to use as long as it lives (and to theoretically take with me when I leave).

So it’s mine.

And it’s full of ice cream 🙂

(And pizza, though that’s not as exciting)

***

Once upon a time, in my other flat, I had a chest freezer… Theoretically I still do, it’s just 50 miles away and full of sensible things like homemade ready meals and bread which need eating before it’s moveable. It’s huge, and that’s good too, in a different way from the tiny one I have here. The best thing about it is always having space for leftovers 🙂 and having loads of things to choose from when you don’t feel like cooking.

***

Back to the ice cream.

When your house is full of boxes and things that need cleaning, sometimes the best thing to do is find something to lean on, and lean on it while you eat ice cream directly out of the tub and look at all the things you will do ‘later’…

Which is what I spent a very pleasant half hour or so doing just now 🙂

Posted on

On landlords, strange noises and holidays

Well.. that was weird.

I was in my dining room, with music on, when I heard a noise in the hall. It sounded like something opening; a door or a cupboard or something. Living by myself means if I’m not opening anything, nothing should be being opened. So I went to look.

Apparently my landlord had heard a noise too and come to investigate. Only he’d heard a different sort of noise and created the one I heard by letting himself into my house.

Hmm.

I’d told them (technically I told his wife) I was going away for Christmas and not told them I was back, so I suppose I don’t mind them checking that everything’s ok… Not sure I appreciate them coming in without ringing the bell though. Even if ringing when you’re sure enough that whoever you’re visiting is away to make it necessary to check everything’s ok is kind of silly. But if they’re not there, they won’t know how many times you ring, and if they ARE, then it saves yourself the embarrassment of being caught red-handed breaking into your tennant’s house like my landlord just was.

Now to look for the ‘Original Noise’, the one he’d heard, the one that caused all this breaking unlocking and entering.

‘peep-peep-peep    peep-peep-peep   peep-peep-peep’ (his description of The Noise)

Sounds like an alarm clock to me. Or a baby chicken.

I don’t have any baby chickens. And all my alarm clocks are unplugged (ooh! must remember to plug them in over the course of the day) so the only thing that could make peep noises is my phone. Since I got up it’s been lying on my desk in the dining room. Silently.

Hmm.

It’s a mystery. I will have to look for stray chickens.