Thursday 6 September 2012

Ergonomic Joy And A Bonkers Interruptus Update

There is nothing like looking at an old “to do list” to fully realise how far you have come.

“Did I pay for train ticket twice?” (what train ticket?)

“Diagnose squeak”

“Another microfibre duvet?”

"Hilary crates"

“Ask fire station re contaminated diesel”

“Say Ryan said wld give me a few pallets”

“If people don’t know whether GCSEs count, shld we tell them?”

There’s even an idea for a blog post in here:

“Eating food with your fingers”, but it may take me a while to recall the exact angle I had in mind with that.

So yes, things have moved on a lot since I wrote those lists, but as regular readers will have noticed, I am still not managing to post very much myself – or read most of my usual set of favourite perfume blogs. This is partly because I am busy addressing the hidden flaws this lovely old house keeps yielding up, and partly because I have been receiving a number of supportive emails back channel with which I am gradually catching up.

But though I am behind on so many fronts, I have a proper desk now, which is a giant leap forward, to come over all Neil Armstrong for a moment. It is technically a table, not a desk, and belonged to a friend’s grandmother – it even boasts an actual indentation shaped like an iron where she used to rest hers face down (which, as a born again lover of antique furniture, I would not recommend). If you look closely at the photo above, you can make out the mark, just down from the succulent. As you might expect, the table also features a robust work surface to – strange but true! – actually PUT MY LEGS UNDER and THINGS ON. Yes indeedy. The sense of wellbeing that descended last weekend when I first pulled up a chair AT the desk was hard to put into words, and was topped off by a rather fine sunset, to which this side of the house is pleasantly prone. Okay, so there are still a few vestigial pink splodges in one corner of the carpet where the radiator valve seeped iron oxide-pigmented sludge the other day, but in the grand scheme of things progress has been made...


So there will be more posts along in due course, including at least one other one from my recent Belgian trip – but for now I will sign off with photos of my new (freshly ironed!) Flittersniffer scarf and the perfume fridges, finally in position in the spare room. (Obviously I pulled the curtains pretty sharpish after this shot was taken!).


29 comments:

Anonymous said...

All looking good, Bonks.

I love the cryptic lists. (Who is Hilary and what does s/he crate?) So intriguing.

It must be very satisfying to have things coming together.

Good luck, and keep on keeping on:-)

cheerio, Anna in Edinburgh

Vanessa said...

Hi Anna,

Hilary is my erstwhile neighbour and heroic cat feeder, who loaned me two collapsible plastic crates for the move. One of them was used to transport half my perfume collection in, while the other was deployed on essential kitchen items.

Your kind gift of chocolate has been helping me to keep on, thanks very much! : - )

Anonymous said...

Sorry, Bonks,

I was in rhetorical question mode - like "Who is Sylvia? What is she?" - because of the cryptic nature of list notes. (It amused me to think "What does Hilary crate?" or even "Does Hilary have a nifty collection of early aeroplanes?" etc.)

I shall be sending more chocolate tomorrow, definitely, both to keep you going and to apologise for my weird ways with language.

cheerio, Anna in Edinburgh

Vanessa said...

Hi Anna,

Hey, no need to apologise - I knew rightly that you were having a bit of fun decoding the Hilary crates puzzle - indeed that was my intention - but I can also see how you might not have thought so from my matter of fact reply! : - )

More smileys called for!

PS And if Hilary had an extra "l", (s)he might even be taking those crates up Everest...

Vanessa said...

PPS Thanks in advance for the chocolate rations - a Coco Noir to be truly reckoned with...

lovethescents said...

Beautiful desk! Love it! And the papillon foulard is very trendy and fitting.

Vanessa said...

Hi lovethescents,

And all the more so for being recast as a "papillon foulard". ; - )

Anonymous said...

Perhaps the best of both worlds: "flittersniffer foulard" to maintain tradition. ;-)

Good to have an update on your settling in. With the exception of the contaminated diesel (?!) it sounds as though the house's surprises are a bit less frequent.

-- Lindaloo

Vanessa said...

Hi Lindaloo,

Of course it should be "Flittersniffer foulard" - good spot!

At the risk of tempting fate I think I may be getting to the stage where more things go right then wrong with the house. Monday will be a telling day, with the lifting of the living room carpet to check for friends of the woodworm in the study....: - )

And I do keep spilling and smashing things though, but that might just be my age rather than the age of the house!

Undina said...

My first though on seeing those fridges was: "Sun!!!" :) Did you consider putting foil over those glass doors (inside)? You do not really need to see anything through the glass door when it's closed but it would allow you to open those lovely windows.

Also, once you settle down I have to go with you over your pictures postings: we need to figure out how to make them bigger on click: that beautiful and very in-style small print scarf definitely deserves being seen... ok, not in life size but at least with a double zoom in ;)

Vanessa said...

Hi Undina,

I hadn't considered foil, I must admit. I am taking care though to keep the fridges in the shade at all times.

I would be happy to experiment with other resolutions of my photos. I just upload them into blogger using the only setting for doing that, but it may be that I could leave the picture larger to start with?

Olfactoria's Travels said...

What a beautiful desk (or table, I'm afraid my English doesn't allow me to grasp the exact distiction between those two, but I do get the essential function of either).
The iron mark gives it a very charming touch of individuality and serves as a warning that housework is dangerous and therefore best avoided. ;)
I'm happy to read about your progress.
xoxo

Carol said...

Oh Vanessa, I'm beside myself with joy for you, seeing your home come together so beautiful (and that scarf is lovely!) That table I adore it!! So good to see photos of your new home. XOXOX

Vanessa said...

Hi Olfactoria,

It is a subtle distinction indeed, and in the case of this particular piece of furniture I would say it was table first and desk second. Yes, the general rule might be that a table may be used as a desk, but not vice versa.

And you are so right to warn of the dangers of housework. I once famously burnt my knee in a hotel in Schwaebisch Hall while ironing my suit trousers - though I was wearing them at the time...

Vanessa said...

Hi Carol,

Thanks so much for your support - it means a lot. And I do hope you can visit one day, though I have yet to master my smoothie maker...!

Undina said...

Vanessa, yes, if you leave the original picture bigger before the upload, you can display it smaller in the post but when somebody clicks on it, it'll open larger.

mals86 said...

Um... sorry... I was totally distracted by the scarf.

Glad to see you're settling in and enjoying your sunsets and quirky ancestral workspaces and ooohlookashiny! scarfscarf scarf!!

Lady Jane Grey said...

I like your table desk a lot ! How is THE cat doing ?

Vanessa said...

Hi Undina,

Thanks for that - I can definitely control the resolution on my own shots when I save them to my desktop prior to uploading. With ones from Flickr CC etc there is usually also a size option, so I will opt for bigger where possible in future!

Vanessa said...

Hi mals86,

Do I take it you liked the scarf, then?

"Quirky ancestral workspaces" is nicely put - I shall think of my study as one of those from now on!

Vanessa said...

Hi Lady Jane Grey,

I am glad you like my table desk! Birgit will be pleased we have all semantic options covered. : - )

Charlie is in quite a good phase at the moment, thanks, and at the time of writing will eat fresh chicken, tuna and pilchards. At the weekend I was thinking she was taking a turn for the worse, as she started to go off food types one by one, refusing sardines and mackerel, tiring of chicken, blowing hot and cold on the ham front, that sort of thing...The vet warned me that from now on it will be all about keeping her interest up in food, and that it wouldn't be easy. On bad days, it is quite upsetting in fact, as I start to fear the worst.

Natalie said...

Everything is coming together wonderfully! I like the cheery corner for your refrigerators, and having battled a similar sun situation, I can say that a bit of paper (I used pretty, but thick, wrapping paper) on the doors seems to do the trick.

Vanessa said...

Hi Natalie,

Thanks! There was a two day setback this week involving a comical quest to find a replacement toilet seat, but on balance things are coming together.

Sadly, the cat was sick again today and did a volte-face on pilchards and tuna, as well as blowing cold again on the ham front. Ah, dear. : - (

Lady Jane Grey said...

Oh, poor Charlie (and poor Vanessa!) - I went through that with my cat Troll 2,5 years ago. All the best to you both !!!

Marie in DK said...

About the curtains: In an idle moment I google mapped the building that I live in - and to my regret the people at google maps chose to take pictures of my apartment window on a day when the curtains were a horrible mess. What consoles me is that I am probably, in all honesty, the only person in the world to ever look up my address on google maps.

Happy to see that you are gradually settling in! :-D

Vanessa said...

Hi Lady Jane Grey,

Thanks for your good wishes and sorry to hear about your own cat - though what a corking name!

Vanessa said...

Hi Marie,

In what way were the curtains a mess, I am now thinking? A bit scrunched maybe? Not hanging at an optimum angle?

Anyway, you may take comfort from knowing that I have Google Mapped and Google Earthed and Street Viewed my house before now - and the previous one! Mainly to preview it before suggesting curious relatives do the same, but still.

Tara said...

Sorry I am SO late to this post, Vanessa. Now I have subscribed to you by email so that shouldn't happen again.

Great to actually see your desk/table! love it. Isn't it amazing what a decent living/working space can do for your sense of well-being? So glad things are coming together for you. Hope the carpet stain gets sorted.

Vanessa said...

Hi tara,

Given the current (in)frequency of my posts, you did well to spot this one by any means! : - )

And you are so right about the importance of having a proper work space. Am really appreciating being able to spread out at last.

The whizzy carpet cleaning guy improved the stain quite a lot, thanks. Fortunately it is in the corner under the table and not too conspicuous.