You Know You're Getting Old ...

I have had a half hour of pure, unadulterated excitement tonight. I need to get a life. The reason for my excitement?? This:


Yep, that's right. A rotary washing line. Is this is a sign of my impending middle age, do you think??

Let me explain ... it's difficult enough to get out of our back door as it is, as you have to negotiate around Colin's motorbikes, which live just outside the back door, on the patio, well out of sight of anyone who happens to be looking over our side gate. So, in the unlikely event that you can actually get out into the garden, 9 times out of 10 it is virtually impossible to hang out more than a couple of items of washing without some nifty acrobatics. Hence my rotary washing line. I decided it was time to get one, as I absolutely love the smell of line-dried washing. Come tomorrow morning I will be washing whatever I can get my hands on so that I can sit and watch my washing drying in the breeze. Hhhhmmmm.

Anyway, this one has come from Lakeland Limited, which those of you in the UK reading this will know is THE most wonderful shop for top quality housey stuff; and it goes without saying that you can't just buy a couple of things. I very easily spent almost £100 (dare I mention that my washing thingy was £55??? I know - I can't believe I've paid that much for a washing line!) ... I got an apron (Sean has been nagging me for ages to get one so that he doesn't end up decorating his clothes with food when he's cooking), a set of things to hold paired socks together in the wash; a very nifty washing basket which holds loads and is apparently very easy to carry (I'll get back to you on that one when I've used it tomorrow), a set of funky coloured measuring cups, some huge food covers (great because I always forget to buy foil and clingfilm), some wine bottle stoppers (for sealing up partially empty bottles of wine) ... and my little treat, a packet of tiramisu flavoured nougat. Yum! Oh, and because I spent over £55, I also got a free cereal dispenser. I absolutely love Lakeland, and I could quite easily spend a fortune in there on a weekly basis.

So, Easter is almost upon us, and like lots of people, my thoughts have turned to springcleaning. Sean has been a darling today and totally cleared out his and Ethan's bedroom, and hoovered the landing upstairs, so tomorrow my energies will hopefully be concentrated on downstairs, as Colin's Mum is coming down on Saturday, and I want the house to be looking nice. With any luck we will get a skip delivered tomorrow, and I will get the boys working on filling it up with all the rubbish that needs to be disposed of. It will be nice to get rid of some of the clutter. God only knows where it all comes from, bearing in mind that it's not uncommon for us to put out 6+ binbags every week.

I finished work at lunchtime today, as Ethan was finishing school at 1.30 pm. We've had a nice chilled out afternoon and evening, where we got the new washing line installed out the back, and discussed what we want to do with the garden. Unfortunately my most pressing problem for the garden is the drain ... it's blocked again and overflowing. I'm going to go out and buy lots of bicarbonate of soda in the morning and try making my own little chemical bomb with that and lots of vinegar in the hope that it will dissolve some of the sludge. Otherwise it'll be a £70 bill for Direct Drains to come and sort it out.

I have such an exciting life, don't you think?? Thoughts of springcleaning, and washing lines - yep, I'm definitely on a headlong plunge into middle age!