Decorating

As the festive season draws ever nearer, so does the impending visit of relatives.

That means that the room I was going to do up "next year" has to be done and dusted before they appear. Knowing my own limitations, I've pulled in some very skilled tradesmen to do the difficult bits, leaving me to do the simple stuff like moving, dismantling and reassembling various pieces of furniture.

As the room is at the top of the house, it is a real struggle to get some of the furniture out and the replacements in. The bed had to be dangled over the banister and dropped into my hands to allow us to bring in the new beds and the other furniture. Then the wrong carpet was laid; and hopefully the correct carpet is going down as I type.

We're utterly knackered as we are having to do this after the kids are asleep -- have you ever tried hammering quietly?!?

Now, with the fog in Heathrow, we're not sure if our guests are even going to be able to get here ...