The house into which we have moved didn’t seem to need any work when we looked at it the first time, nor the second, or even the third. We would, we thought, just spend time living in the house and slowly make changes to suit our taste. I have discovered that patience isn’t my thing where houses are concerned. I will blame this on my grandmother, who was legendary in our family both for punctuality and for getting things done immediately. The first time the writer her indoors met her was at 4.00pm on the dot, for tea. Sibling #1 arrived at 4.03pm, to find that the empty tea cups had been cleared away, cake back in the fridge. There was also the Christmas Day we dropped in to surprise gran, only to find that the tree was in the garden and decorations packed away: ‘I couldn’t be doing with the mess, so cleared the house yesterday and got Christmas done with for another year!’
The changes we have wanted to make to our house have necessitated several trips to the multitude of antique/junk/curios shops and reclamation yards which seem to flourish in this part of the world, as well as to the charity shops which are also thriving. We have one particular favourite antiquesy place. Their display cabinets host a really wide range of glassware (the writer her indoors’ obsession), coffee cups and saucers (my re-discovered obsession), surprising pieces of furniture and yes, vinyl. What is it about records that make them so appealing, especially to men (note to self, check this statement for lazy stereotyping)? The charity shops tend to stock the usual range of records, from ‘The Brotherhood of Man’s Greatest Hits’ – yes, I know, quite a short album, and ‘Mantovani’s legendary classical Hits, to ‘The King and I’, Handel’s ‘Messiah’ and more Roger Whittaker albums than you can shake a stick at. Our antiques centre stocks an altogether more ‘sorted’ range of albums and singles, from rarer Bowie and Stones picture covers, to some eclectic jazz and blues albums.
Reclamation yards are a whole new ball game for us both, but what a game! The sheer range and variety of things that you can find there is just unbelievable. Old wooden and metal tools, wooden decorative crates, toy model cars, and metal signs all mixed in with old doors, dressers, garden statues, mirrors, wash stands and even a Russian tank – bit steep at £80,000! We have been ostensibly looking for a door to fit an unusual shaped frame, but have been distracted by many of the above. The writer her indoors is more willing to dip into the bank balance than I am for several of these items. My defence strategy is to go down the route of: ‘Yes, it is certainly giving us food for thought. Are we ready to make a decision based around that colour yet? Or do we need to change our whole plans for the room?’
What is perhaps most exhilarating, or depressing, depending on your point of view, are the times we say: ‘Oh, we used to have some of these… I remember throwing my one away… Did you used to play with these when you were younger?’ Do these places thrive on some sort of national obsession with keeping ‘things’ in the hope that at some point it will be saleable, or the possibility that we are incurable romantics, often seeking to relive our younger days in some vicarious way. Or even, picking up on a really interesting discussion I heard on Radio 4 about changing concepts of ‘cute’ and ‘kitch’ (Thinking Allowed), to what extent do we seek to give ourselves meaning in the possessions and artwork we chose to display in our homes and gardens?
Eating: Dairy-free chocolate brownie cookies, recipe from all recipes.co.uk
Drinking: Dark roast Monsoon malabar (Whittards), last one of the coffees from around the world taster pack I received as present from child #1. Complemented the cookies perfectly!
Listening to: The soundtrack to the tv series Killing Eve. Family favourites include: Issues, by Julia Michaels, Killer Shangri-La by Psychotic Beats and We gave up too soon by Leigh Gracie. Personal favourite is Dark Eyes by Sergei Trofanov. Good luck to the nominated stars in the upcoming Baftas!
Cook.Eat.Blog.Repeat. 