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If you were unlucky or even lucky enough to have read the October QF magazine and this column “View” then you may have gathered that our move into our next place of residence was not without incident. Indeed my fear and loathing of moving house has never been at such a high level. Now that the dust has literally settled and for the moment the terror of the cockroach has receded into the not so distant memory I feel a little more confident about My (our) change of location. On the positive ...‘Er Indoors has been as busy as a busy thing with the paint brush
...Van Gogh... Stubbs... and Picasso... could not have plastered more paint on any given canvas or wall as ‘Er indoors has plastered in the last two weeks. Ok I confess the substance of the painting may not have been as constructive...but she sure covered more meterage.
The day would start with the builder in chief turning up at an ungodly hour to begin the days destruction... walls have come and gone... floors have been raised and my stock of quality English tea bags have taken a battering. I ask you... he even brought along a Spanish worker who loved English tea.
The work has progressed at a fair pace with the sphere of expertise clearly being shown in the quality of the tiling... the new completely refurbished kitchen looks
wonderful and takes me back 60 years to when as a London kid I virtually lived in our family kitchen. Not the up to date quality you understand just the social feeling of a kitchen as a family space for communal living. The plumbing has had its moments and the plumber and his mate have had a few damp moments as they brazed, soldered and generally blow torched their way around my pipework. I still remember brushing my teeth late at night whilst wondering why my feet were being slowly covered in cold water
...never mind all’s well that ends
well...perhaps the word well is inappropriate but you get my drift. The new water filter is fitted and working and the grind of having to carry heavy giant bottles of water from supermarkets is a thing of the past. My arms looked like Popeye’s having to lug all that agua to and fro. My next step into the new world was my decision to get rid of the unenvironmental friendly electric kettle and go back to the days of the whistling kettle beloved of all our forebears. Now as things go the whistling kettle is hardly a contraption of the nuclear age... that is it’s beauty... it is cost effective in that it uses less energy to make a simple cup of tea... however that my Dear Reader is where for some reason my vast or maybe not so vast intellect met its match in the shape of the whistling kettle. The first kettle I purchased looked like what it was sold
as...namely a kettle with
The Top
A View From
Welcome to my monthly column “A view from the top”. Hopefully you will find my rambling readable (maybe even enjoyable). You may agree or you may disagree with my views, I care not. These are my views long held and forged over a life time of work, travel and experience. Now that’s over let’s have a look at what is really winding me up.
a spout that whistled...however after a week trying to force the water down the whistly spout the spout (the actual whistle) broke. Not to be deterred ‘Er indoors set off to IKEA on a mission to purchase the whole store...whilst wandering around she spotted a whistling kettle for sale... yes Scandinavian genius had prevailed and IKEA had whistling kettles. Kettle bought, she returned home in triumph with the said
whistler...and a fortune in several other items of furniture. The new kettle was immediately called into action as the builders made further inroads into my stock of tea bags. Now here is where reality and my grasp on it took a turn for the worse. The kettle was bought before the water filter had been fitted and therefore to fill the kettle I had got into a routine where I took the offending 8 litre water container and poured the water into a one litre Pyrex jug before attempting to pour the water into the kettle via the whistle spout. Entering the kitchen ‘Er indoors and asked the question... “why are you pouring water from the large bottle into the jug and then into the kettle via the spout when all you have to do is take out the middle filling section of the kettle?” I looked and I looked and to this moment I do not have an answer. A week later I still cannot fathom why something so obvious was beyond me. As I type things are beginning to look
up...The local paint shop along with the furniture shops and builders merchants have all done very well out of our house refurbishment. The old adage to shop local has in most part rung true. The only fly in my particular ointment has come in the form of our lovely new oven
...yes you have guessed - the first time we tried to use it, it failed and just would not fire up. We have called the shop we purchased the oven from... they have sent out a technician who in turn has confirmed that the oven does not work. Now we are waiting for the supplier to contact the manufacturer... why I cannot fathom as I consider the problem to rest firmly with the supplier...I bought the oven from the supplier so therefore is not the purchase contract between myself and the
supplier...any down the line issues are for the supplier and the manufacturer...but hey ho this is Spain
...more as it develops.
Society and its needs I have recently read an interesting story concerning the Midlands town of Walsall. It appears that in an attempt to save money the lofty burghers of Walsall have decided that 16 out of the towns 17 libraries should be closed. These closures are despite the towns libraries having over a million visits and loaning over 775,000 books over the past year. People without their own internet access will lose out, as will pensioner groups and children’s reading circles. What is going on in Britain? The future of Britain depends on its educated young who need to be able to grow and expand their horizons via common social contact and the information that can be gleaned from books. During my period of studying, my Economics professor used to say “the greatest university in the world is a library full of books”
...that was true then and is true today. On a common theme it appears that the Lincolnshire authority have recently closed 3 of 4 static libraries despite local opposition. At the meeting that approved this act of social vandalism the councillors of Lincolnshire did however find time to up their expenses by
23%...it’s a sign of the times in Britain.
QF Focus Magazine
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