Sorry to go on but...............

I have to say a bit about the kitchen! Any of you who have been to Carol will know that my kitchen there was rather primitive. I had a very efficient gas hob which was fine but the oven was a bottled gas oven and a pain. Although it had 10 settings there didn't seem to be a major difference in the temperature. I have made 10 Christmas cakes there and all 10 were burnt even though I cooked them as low as possible. The joy, this week, of making a cake that wasn't burnt is indescribable. One of lifes' little pleasures! The oven never got hot enough either, to make Yorkshire puddings, one of lifes' necessities as far as I am concerned. Several years ago Steve gave me a birthday present of a little electric cooker which was great but sadly didn't get hot enough to do the Yorkshire puddings. Another of lifes' joys is being able to make them again, provided that is, I have the right flour to make them. For some unknown reason I do not seem to be able to make them with French flour. So I have to bring back, or ask people to bring me, English flour. I am also now the proud owner of a new fridge with the freezer unit at the base, no more getting down on my hands and knees to clean out the bottom of the fridge. And as for the oak kitchen units with a plethora of cupboards and drawers, well, I am in seventh heaven !!

To bore you even further I must also go on about the bathroom. At Carol the bathroom was downstairs and our bedroom was upstairs, not the most convenient of locations. Added to which we could have used it as a fridge in the winter. Here not only is the bathroom next to the bedroom but it has a radiator as well for when it is cold enough to have the central heating on. The decor was quite a shock at first but it is surprising how quickly one gets used to things. As you will see from the photos the decor is mainly orange. I am sure that one could find a more attractive name for it, burnt sienna or some other such pretentious term, but basically it is orange. I suppose that we could change the tiles but bearing in mind the colour of the floor tiles there is not another colour that would match. The bathroom suite is sludge coloured and that will be changed in the fullness of time which I think will make all the difference as will the replacing (when they wear out of course) our bathroom linen which is lavender or pink.