It’s been a busy time of late in the Baldwin household; every carpet in the house has been/is being replaced. The upheaval of emptying multiple rooms and redecorating them prior to carpet fitment, has made my home look like a cross between a bomb site and a jumble sale.
Furniture has been taken apart, moved, put back together with military precision; much clutter has been taken to the tip or recycled via the Salvation Army charity shop in Daventry. Mrs B. has applied gloss or emulsion to many surfaces. The evidence that significant energy (and money for that matter) has been expended is inescapable.
This weekend will be dominated by more of the same. But I am not depressed about, or frustrated by, the workload…
…because I have to report that having new carpet is really rather satisfying and more exciting than I expected. And for an ageing mosher/head-banger, that’s some confession. A deep shag is as cool as…
…well a certain physical activity with the same letters, in the same order!
The fact is that the feeling underfoot is nice, the smell of the new carpet is pleasing and Mrs B. seems happy, which is always a good thing. I don’t even mind that it has cost me a chunk of cash.
I remember my parents having new carpets laid when I was a teenager and still living under their roof. My mum was particularly protective of her new Wilton and I’d get shouted at to take my shoes off the very second I stepped over the threshold.
In one memorable, mildly-heated exchange I told my mum to “calm down, it’s only a carpet”. She remembers reflecting on the conversation (after she’d calmed down of course – funnily enough that wasn’t instantaneous if I remember rightly) and thinking that I made a valid point – health, happiness, family, experiences etc. being more important than floor covering.
I realise that in the naivety of youth, I’d said something utterly reprehensible. Once I became a house owner, mortgage payer, significant other, wage slave etc. I apologised to my mum for being an arse.
In my house now, the new carpet has significant status and woe-betide my kids, my pets or even myself if the stuff gets abused, or even so much as treated with carelessness. Our feline family members will find scratching this carpet gets them a fast track ticket to the Cats’ Protection League or the RSPCA. For the junior Baldwins, adoption/fostering would be conceivable.
No food or drink or unsupervised moggies are going upstairs and though that might seem draconian – tough!
Mrs Baldwin might not get her cup of tea in bed at the weekend anymore either – can’t have one rule for the pets and the kids and a different rule for us. I’ll certainly be asking my mum to take her shoes off when she next visits.
There are many subjects that I never thought would get air time on my website. Carpets were such a subject. But hey, my confession will surely absolve me of any guilt.
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Furniture has been taken apart, moved, put back together with military precision; much clutter has been taken to the tip or recycled via the Salvation Army charity shop in Daventry. Mrs B. has applied gloss or emulsion to many surfaces. The evidence that significant energy (and money for that matter) has been expended is inescapable.
This weekend will be dominated by more of the same. But I am not depressed about, or frustrated by, the workload…
…because I have to report that having new carpet is really rather satisfying and more exciting than I expected. And for an ageing mosher/head-banger, that’s some confession. A deep shag is as cool as…
…well a certain physical activity with the same letters, in the same order!
The fact is that the feeling underfoot is nice, the smell of the new carpet is pleasing and Mrs B. seems happy, which is always a good thing. I don’t even mind that it has cost me a chunk of cash.
I remember my parents having new carpets laid when I was a teenager and still living under their roof. My mum was particularly protective of her new Wilton and I’d get shouted at to take my shoes off the very second I stepped over the threshold.
In one memorable, mildly-heated exchange I told my mum to “calm down, it’s only a carpet”. She remembers reflecting on the conversation (after she’d calmed down of course – funnily enough that wasn’t instantaneous if I remember rightly) and thinking that I made a valid point – health, happiness, family, experiences etc. being more important than floor covering.
I realise that in the naivety of youth, I’d said something utterly reprehensible. Once I became a house owner, mortgage payer, significant other, wage slave etc. I apologised to my mum for being an arse.
In my house now, the new carpet has significant status and woe-betide my kids, my pets or even myself if the stuff gets abused, or even so much as treated with carelessness. Our feline family members will find scratching this carpet gets them a fast track ticket to the Cats’ Protection League or the RSPCA. For the junior Baldwins, adoption/fostering would be conceivable.
No food or drink or unsupervised moggies are going upstairs and though that might seem draconian – tough!
Mrs Baldwin might not get her cup of tea in bed at the weekend anymore either – can’t have one rule for the pets and the kids and a different rule for us. I’ll certainly be asking my mum to take her shoes off when she next visits.
There are many subjects that I never thought would get air time on my website. Carpets were such a subject. But hey, my confession will surely absolve me of any guilt.
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