I'm beginning to tire of this homeowning malarkey: the honeymoon period is officially over. I don't own the house - it owns me. I am its bitch, and work to pay its bills and kit it out in fine garb...

That said, I'm not really complaining, because I know I'm bloody lucky to be in this position to start with. And things start to get a little easier from now, because the weather has been better (albeit colder), the boats have been able to get out to sea and the expense allowances are racking up nicely.

Which is good, because I've had to choose between buying either a new kitchen worktop, or a rather expensive sink to fit the oversize hole left by the grotty old one. At the moment, because the sink is on order, I am washing up my crockery in the bath*, which is all rather exciting.

I've also been trying to find a rise-and-fall pendant light for the dining area; this has been problematic in that most are either very expensive and/or have an impratically low minimum drop. I'm relatively short, but I'm not a midget and I do want friends to come to dinner and walk away without concussion from the lighting decor.

In other news, I had a Pratchett moment today; a soothsayer for a nomadic tribespeople was describing on the telly how his tortoise was the voice of God, and gave him advice about where the most fertile grounds currently were in the Sahel belt... It's quite a while since I last read Small Gods, but for some reason I have an urge to revisit it ;)

*ETA: I should perhaps point out that I'm not actually in the bath at the time...