Over on The Genre Files a few people, me included, are shooting the breeze about fantastical fiction.

In other news: the new lino is down, the vanity unit is in. The plumbers kindly left the old pipes in my bathtub - those things are always so useful, as bath toys if nothing else. Thanks, guys. (Genuine thanks to the electrician, who wrangled the old stove down the stairs.) I spent half the day dismantling the stereo/DVD/digibox/video and labelling all the cables. The rear speaker cables had got tangled with the air roots of the giant plant, one of which had grown down into the crack between the sofa cushions and sprouted offshoots into the wrinkles in the fabric. In the end I had to prune the plant - which I was probably going to have to do anyway in order to move it.

The plant:

All the bending and lifting is starting to make itself felt in my shoulders and back. But I’m so glad I took up Tai Chi; it’s great for strengthening knees and I haven’t had a twinge from mine.

My in-laws have been great. Stu’s sister is taking a lot of our stuff, but she’s renovating right now and it can’t go to her place, so they’re serving as a halfway house for our stuff as well as storing a lot of hers. They’ve also been keeping me supplied with cups of tea and making sure I eat vegetables (my own food choices are veering towards cold tinned spaghetti and licorice allsorts).

Today they’ll connect the new stove (had to wait for the lino) and the handyman is coming around to give a quote on the little bits and pieces that have to be done. I might try to do some of it myself - we’ll see.  Maybe a little plastering. I’ve at least dealt with plaster before, even if only at art school, whereas blinds and shower screens are foreign territory.