Between this, that and the other

Apologies for my absence over the last couple of days. An energetic bout of packing on Thursday night, coupled with an attendance at a rather late showing of Harry Potter left my attention focused elsewhere.

As you may have surmised by the mention of packing, I'm very nearly almost (but not quite) moved into the flat now. I'd intended to make Friday night my official move in date, since on that day the last two major items of work were due to be finished, namely the installation of the last bits of the bedroom after an interminable delay, and the fitting of a couple of radiators. As it stands, well, at least the bedroom is finished. The plumber failed to turn up citing illness. On hearing that I was quite tempted to try to bribe him into turning up, but in the end I decided that would probably be a rather callous thing to do. In theory I could still move in, but until the radiators are connected I have no hot water and no central heating, on what's turned out to be a bitingly cold weekend. I refuse to spend my first night in my flat shivering with the cold and without the promise of a decent shower on the following morning.

I'm hopeful that a plumber may turn up on Monday (the triumph of hope over experience, you might say), so with the aid of my brother Nicky I've been busy today piling the place up with familiar set of cardboard boxes in which my worldly goods have resided for nearly the last year, and which I'll probably spend a goodly portion of tomorrow sifting through. Nicky, being somewhat more practical than myself in the area of power tools, also brought his electric drill along and proceeded to make holes in my newly decorated walls in order to mount my tv. The end result was better than I'd hoped - the space where I'd planned on putting the tv was narrowed after some building work, precluding the original position and leaving me uncertain as to how it would eventually appear. I needn't have worried - the television set now seems to hover almost magically in one corner of the room to what I consider a very pleasing effect.

Almost there, by golly!