Reflection

You know, it’s so gratifying when you can begin to see things coming together.

I always had a feeling that things would work out well here but it was entirely down to instinct and no small amount of optimism. It’s been a lovely experience, getting to know people, watching the house come together and getting used to things. People say that it’s all fine and good haring off to a part of the country where you don’t know anyone on a whim but it’s not practical or rational or sensible but sometimes you just have to go with the gut. As various walls come down and units go up, it’s like a metamorphosis. In some ways, I feel a little bit as if they are reflecting changes in me, building a life as much as a house. I am slowly making friends and starting to recognise faces around the place, getting to know the area and the walks and coming to grips with owning the house. I start a new job a week on Monday, in a fun shop with what seem to be very nice people indeed. It all seems to be settling down and coming together and the foundation that’s creating makes me very happy.

There is still plenty to keep me busy, enough for months yet and I’m grateful for it because I am not the sort of person who deals well boredom. There are curtains to be made (at least when I have fathomed the method of it) and cushions to be sewn together, walls to be painted and bits all over the place to be touched up.

Now that the kitchen units are installed, it really gives me an idea of the size and scale of the kitchen, and I have developed a yearning for a round table. It’s perfect for the kitchen and suits the wonky, wavy dynamics of the kitchen. Not to mention that I don’t live far from Glastonbury in what was once the mystical Isle of Avalon, so it’s very fitting to have a round table. So, bearing in mind budgets and other such tedious things, I started scouring ebay for round kitchen tables but not a lot was coming up, and then as if by magic one popped up on Freecycle. I LOVE Freecycle – it’s genius and free which fits with my attempts to be ethical and recycle more and not spend lots of money. So M kindly offered to come with me and let me use his van to transport it home and it fits perfectly. In fairness, it was covered with that disgusting orange varnish that a lot of modern wooden furniture uses but it’s coming off quite easily in between the paint stripper and the odd bit of sanding. I’m going to oil and wax it soon when I get the last of the varnish off and it’ll be perfect with my little painted wooden stools and a nice vase of flowers in the middle. Not enough to fit 12 knights around, but I’m not greedy – I can make do with four!

I saw a genius idea that I am planning to steal from The Shabby Chair on headboards that may have me nipping down to the local reclamation yards in Wells and Glastonbury at some point to see if I can find some old doors so I can create a fab headboard for my bed based on some of these ideas. And that’s before I seriously get down to the photography and start planning greater and grander things.

Perhaps things aren’t perfect, perhaps perfect doesn’t exist. But here and now, in my little cottage, in my little city – it’s all close enough to perfect for me.