Rainy Day

My last day off. Work tomorrow.

I have decided that orchids are the only flowers to have. These plants last for ages. My birthday orchids from the beginning of December are still in flower, and the previous plant I bought for Julian the Christmas before is about to flower again. Incredible. I may well buy a pink orchid to go in my bedroom window and another white one to go in the bathroom.

I have just purchased four chairs from Ebay, which will arrive on Saturday morning. These are to replace the cheap IKEA ones I had, which, although quite stylish, have metal legs and a couple of the seats have scratched a bit, though they could easily be repainted. I did not realise they were made from wood, had thought they were some kind of tough plastic. If anyone wants some 'Gilbert' IKEA chairs, get in touch very quickly!

The new ones are wooden, probably oak with spindle legs and spindle backs. Stretchers which will hopefully keep them stable and the backs have carvings in a couple of places. Although they currently look very good, as they are a bit dark for my room I may Farrow & Ball them in some kind of putty colour, we shall see. They will certainly look good painted as they are quite ornamental, but I don't want to ruin them if they look good as they are.

I have managed to apply for my new bus pass today. I need not have worried about the photograph - the post office has a machine in there. 'You don't look 60' said the teenage counterhand. 'You say that to all the old bats' I reply. He giggled - 'Not all of them'. Made my day.

Lye Torng is extending the special soup theme by supplying a rather good prawn won ton with green cabbage giant soup, which is excellent in this vile weather. I have suggested they do a mixed meat with noodles too.

I purchased a pair of secondhand suede boots from Ebay made by Damart. They arrived today and are very warm and comfortable, though absolutely not Ugg style which I don't really like anyway. Not bad for a tenner.

Message from Dorothy - seems the mains water has now come on in the Spanish flat. Given how slowly the shower empties, I do hope that this will not cause a flood with the sudden increase in water pressure. Good news though. I may force myself to revisit Barcelona at some stage, though I really don't fancy going through those new xray body scanner things they are putting in Gatwick.