A man came yesterday...an efficient sort of a man according to Himself...I didn't see him actually because I was still in a state of undress and it was almost lunchtime...not that it matters, but I hadn't put my teeth in either.
He works with Brian doing up old houses...and he's the man who is going to do our roof! And take the chimney down.
Now this isn't the main chimney of course...this is another chimney which is in the kitchen...when we first moved in there wasn't one...a chimney in the kitchen that is...for the life of us we cannot remember when or how it was built...
Wouldn't you think we'd recall The Stoner hacking his way through the wall and then making good afterwards...but we can't. I do remember him building the actual chimney pot...which I swear is only hanging on with a wing and prayer, mainly because he buggered off and left it unfinished, surrounded by scaffolding for weeks until Himself threatened to sell the scaffolding to the next van load of Travellers who happened past...he came out the next day and took it down.
It was The Stoner who brought the most hideous range ever made and installed it in the kitchen without so much as a by your leave...when I saw it I was quite aghast...take it away I said...it's feckin' awful.
He was a bit cross...said he was sure it'd work perfectly...so he loaded it up with turf and lit it...the blessed thing spewed out vast amounts of thick smoke...it'll be alright when it's warmed up he said...it wasn't. The following day I told him to take it away...didn't care where or how. He dumped it outside the back door where it stayed until it fell to bits...then Himself took the bits to the town re-cycling place.
Mr Moriarty...for that is the name of the roofing man who came yesterday...Himself couldn't remember his first name...thought it might be John...he says he'll take the chimney pot off and drop the stones into the chimney...that interior wall is going to be dry-lined anyway.
I don't mind in the very slightest living a simple enough life...that was our aim from the start...but I have to confess that I really can't wait for the kitchen to be fixed once and for all...
To remember the chimney being built would just be a bonus...