There has been so much going on around here that I’ve found it really hard to focus, to settle down and actually DO something.  I need no motivation to begin – simply gathering previous Christmas journals reminds me of how precious these things are.  But trying to cut that first page, to decide the dimensions and the theme of this year’s book was just proving incredibly difficult.

I began the day well before 8am, emptying my wardrobe of everything so that James, the builder, could begin work on taking up that part of the floor and removing the architrave and so on.  The easiest part was putting everything into boxes; the hardest part bringing everything down to the garage, where it will be stored for the time being.  That’s when living in a three storey house loses some of its appeal, I can tell you.  Fortunately, I had a hero’s help and by meeting at the bend on each flight of stairs, we managed to get all fifteen plastic boxes down there in fairly good time.

In the midst of all of this, I was having two fairly important conversations with colleagues, soon to develop into three intense discussions needing careful thought and more than a little referencing.

All whilst James was drilling bits of the floor away upstairs.  Nice.

One thing we didn’t have to worry about was cooking.  We have the most amazing Steam Oven in our kitchen which is used without fail every day and which has never given us any trouble for the ten years since it was installed.  But just before we left for Boston, it developed a leak and we discovered a puddle on the floor.  Not only that, but the leak dripped through into the conventional oven beneath it and shorted the circuit board, we think.  So, for the time being, we have no cooker – just a hob and a microwave, which certainly concentrates the mind when the question “what’s for supper?” springs to mind!  (Spaghetti Bolognese today…)

So, feeling relaxed about that, late in the afternoon I finally found my mojo – or rather, I decided to just dive in and get going, even if I decided to scrap the first few goes and rethink it after a page or two.  I picked up the key piece I’d selected for the first page and sighed.

 

 

I think a proofreader is needed at Lost and Found, don’t you?

(I just googled “December Spelling error” and discovered the company are shipping replacements, which is a generous response, don’t you think?)