Happy Bunny

With Clive our exclusive painter and decorator now firmly ensconced at The Towers ……

…… Darrell is a very, very, happy bunny ………

…… not only seeing all his scheming plans come to fruition, although to be perfectly honest, nothing has actually changed of an interior décor type nature ……..

……. but also having our dust sheet protected dining table absolutely burgeoning under the weight  of all manner of masculine looking tools and other accoutrements……

… not least the buckets of very professional, heavy duty, industrial strength “Big Wipes” …..

…… the massivity of which hasn’t gone past Nigel either.

Clive kindly proffered the usage of said wipes to Darrell “just” to try them out around The Towers’ more unseemly nooks, crannies and crevices, however, I think it might have been more of a cunning ruse to get Darrell out from under his feet for a while! Needless to say Darrell and Nigel were suitably impressed by the wipes performance! What are they like….. Darrell and Nigel, not the wipes!

Then, with Darrell unable to use the kitchen, Kata our lovely neighbour across the hall was ever on hand to provide us with wonderful traditional Hungarian treats, which, for me, have made all the upheaval pale into insignificance. They are well off our Richter scale of noms, believe me,  although it would be rude to even consider reviewing them!

Nigel Finds

With Nigel positively encouraged to go out while Clive our master painter and decorator is working at The Towers ……

….. it was  almost inevitable that he’d find something erm ….. useful, on his travels………

In Nigel’s mind, with a fresh wind blowing through our tired lounge area, the addition of a “new” smoked glass and chrome television stand could further enhance the homely ambience Darrell was endeavouring to achieve.

Although several pictures from all possible angles and text messages were exchanged, I understand it was a polite but firm “no” from Darrell, thanking the little fella profusely for thinking of him, but suggesting that although it didn’t really suit his “particular interior design vision”, said stands indisputable curb appeal would certainly mean it wouldn’t be there for long before going on to grace someone else's abode!

A Stripped Bare Naked and Echoing Towers …….

Darrell has been wittering on for ages now that, after six years, some parts of The Towers are looking a little tired and lacklustre, and not quite as “pristine” as it has done………..

….. so, knowing what Darrell is like when he has a décor bee in his bonnet,  I told him that if he could find someone to do it and he did all the shifting etc. then why not, we should go for it. We could have the lounge done  ready “for Christmas” and if it all went well, we could perhaps think about freshening up the rest of The Towers in the New Year.

Well, after that Laurence Darrell was like a dog with two tails and a bone, because unbeknownst to me our lovely neighbour across the hall, Kata, had already put him in touch with a very reputable,  gentleman decorator by the name of Clive, so everything was all booked within minutes of me saying go ahead ……. spooky!

Then Nigel was roped in to help move everything out of the lounge/kitchen into the bathroom and every other free corner of The Towers on the promise of a proper sticky toffee pudding and custard for laters!

I then thought it very strange that Darrell didn’t demand endless hours in which to pore over mountains paint charts, until he explained that he was still perfectly happy with his original choice of colours ………. and then went on to confess that our beloved Kata had been secreting 15 litres of Dulux natural calico, plus white gloss and matt for the ceiling under her bed for several weeks now!

I think …… I may have been robustly stitched up like a kipper, it was already a fait accompli before I’d even said yes! What on earth are they ALL like?

Catching Up On Alan’s Magic Pumpkins!

The start of every new month usually means almost falling over a pile of the local freebie magazine in the entrance hall where they’ve been dropped off.

I’m pretty sure I’m the only who reads it, well, it would be look rude not to, but after a couple of days, if they’re still there, it usually falls upon Nigel to go and put them in the bin, lest someone complains that the entrance is looking untidy.

I have to admit that this months edition wasn’t been the most riveting of reads. I suppose November is one of those in-between sort of months when they’re keeping all their best articles and advertisements for the December edition.

However, I was naturally a little curious to learn a little more about “Alan’s Magic Pumpkins”, which turned out, in the end, to be a cookery feature extolling the wonderous nutrimental benefits and qualities of the humble pumpkin, including an interesting  a recipe for Norfolk Million Pie, should you be of that culinary persuasion.

However, there was one paragraph that definitely needs keeping well away from Nigel! 

Still, amongst all of it I did learn that Evesham’s Christmas light switch on will be on a Friday this year and that ………….

…….. November could well be an most opportune time, ahead of the festive season, to get your blocked ears microly sucked out, perhaps even in the appropriately named town of Blockley!

It just doesn’t get any better than that! I don’t think I will be able to hold myself back from the December issue when it hits the doormat now. What am I like?

Ohhhhhhhh Dear, Remnants of Our Halloween Sleepover

Well, I’ll admit we were tardy in getting round to cleaning the bathroom after our Halloween sleepover, we just found that we were a little more tired than we had first realised.

However, when Darrell finally armed himself with the Elbow Grease, for what he thought would be a cursory quick wipe over, he found that the bath foam that had been soooooooo much fun on Sunday morning……..

……. had managed to work itself into the grout due to our said tardiness ………. oooohhhhhhhh dear!

Time for Darrell’s tried and tested bleached soaked loo roll stuck and left along the offending stained cracks…….

……… twenty four hours later ……………..

……. it’s not worked!  That’ll teach us! Darrell’s going to repeat the operation again, but with triple the bleach and keeping it topped up if it should dry out ……… fingers robustly crossed!

Oh No, Darrell “Discovers” A New Cleaning Product Range!

I love our lovely neighbour Kata from across the hall dearly, however I have come to realise just how much she has has learned about Darrell’s little armadillos peccadillos as far as his inner (and outer) Mrs Hinch is concerned!

Yesterday morning it seemed all so simple, Darrell woke up a Cif/Pink Stuff kind of a guy ……..

…… but after nipping round to Kata’s for elevenses for a “posh” coffee and one or two of her exotic biscuits from the Europa Supermarket, he couldn’t help but notice the cleaning products she had put on the side ………

…… to wit Elbow Grease, a household consumable Darrell had until that moment been a total stranger to and (sighhhhhhh) Kata the proceeded to extoll all it’s wonderous cleaning capabilities and that was it, Darrell was sold.

And before you could say “other products available” he was up at Home Bargains curating his own prize collection, proclaiming it to be “The straw that broke the camels back” as far as the future of home cleaning at The Towers was concerned (?????? I know, I know!).

I can only put the blame solely on Kata for this revelation and development.  What is she like?

Don’t You Just Love Autumn?Autumn

You just gotta love autumn ……..

……. it’s almost too romantic of a foliage type nature and wonderous golden ends of the day.

Our communal garden is now a beautiful, deep carpet of leaves in their glorious yellow, browns and greens hues …….

……. and as for the rich, musky, earthy smells ……….. ahhhhhhhhh!

All of which also heralds the return of our beloved view across the river, over to the marina, for the next five months or so.

  All is very lovely in our little corner of the world at the moment  …………. happy autumnal days.