I am delighted to announce that Mark’s taxi is the proud, albeit somewhat surprised, possessor of an MOT. It did not even have any advisories. Mark laughed about this and said that probably the MOT man just did not look closely enough, but it has passed with a completely clean slate and a massive bill from Autoparts.
We still need to give the council a very lot of money as well, but apart from that the Deed Is Done, it is all right, and we can continue to ply our trade. Well, we can continue to sit on the taxi rank reading books and daydreaming and drinking tea, but it comes to the same thing, and we are quite happy doing that, so all is well.
Mark spent the morning cleaning it. This was unspeakably horrid because the weather, which is still just about as seasonally inclement as weather ever is, had turned nasty. Torrential almost-freezing rain lashed down, turning the icy roads into flooded roads, still with a layer of ice underneath, and making everybody hunch their shoulders and stump grimly along wishing that they could afford a winter break in Tenerife.
I did not clean the car. I volunteered to help, but in the sort of way that suggests that an acceptance would not be a popular response. Instead I re-hung the newly laundered curtains in the children’s bedrooms, and put Oliver’s new bed together. Well, I put most of it together. Mark came along later and did the difficult bits.
Incidentally I almost wrote newly-laundered there, but I have just learned that an adverb ending in ly should not be followed by a hyphen, and so I shall desist from doing it henceforward. I am sorry about this, because I quite like the way it looks, but if you break one rule it could turn into the thin end of the wedge and you never know where it might end. I might even be dotting apostrophes about all over the place in no time.
I learned about this on my Master’s’s’ degree. Just so you know. How useful it has been.
Once Mark had buzzed off for his MOT I tried to lug the new mattress up the stairs. It got stuck in the entrance to the office, much to the dogs’ alarm, since they were in their basket on the wrong side of it, and I had to shove a corner up in the air so that they could squeeze past, which they did with some relief. The cats were on the wrong side of it as well, but they just seemed to be glad of the peace and quiet. I do not know why every creature in the house persists in hanging about in my office. It is supposed to be a place for silent concentration and deep thought.
Maybe that is what they are all doing.
Mark helped shove the mattress up the stairs when he came home. That is not actually true. Really he carried it up himself. I just stood underneath and made positive noises. Once the bed was made up I sorted out my shelves of bed linens and gave Mark a pile of old pillowcases for shed rags. I shall tear the old sheets up later and we will have a stack of useful dishcloths again. I am looking forward to this moment very much, there is no happiness like an under-sink cupboard filled with fresh dishcloths.
I am even contemplating ordering some new face flannels to go with our newly smart and tidy Christmas household, but I am still considering. I might want some sage green ones for a change. White is not very exciting, although it is reliable and middle class. I am not sure if it is vulgar to have coloured face flannels. It might be, perhaps I should look it up. It feels a bit vulgar. I would appreciate advice on this issue if there are any properly middle class readers.
I think it is probably all right to have sage green hand towels, though, perhaps I should order some of those.
Life is full of difficult decisions.
