WELL THAT'S THAT THEN!

Another weekend whizzes past!
I've just had Helen on the phone and was trying to remember what we'd done over the weekend - and I really couldn't remember anything of any significance, which is really odd because we don't seem to have had a minutes peace or relaxation.
We didn't get to the beach today, but the girls went for a nice country walk with Charles and James this afternoon. Later we went out to Alnwick and got a few little Christmassy bits and had a look at some freestanding fireplaces because I've got a hankering for a fire with a hearth and a mantlepiece! Obviously, as we don't have a chimney or flue it has to be one of these freestanding ones, and as there is no gas in our village (apart from our puppies when they've had their tea) we can only have electric - but these new fires look pretty realistic with the added advantage of NO MESS!
When we first got married we lived in a tiny cottage in the middle of the Oxfordshire countryside. There was no central heating and the only warmth came from the fire in the tiny living room. Sometimes, in the really bad weather that swept through the Thames Valley in those days before Global Warming (!) we used to get snow drifts in the kitchen and the loo. I vividly remember having to clear about two inches of snow off the loo seat on one particularly bad occasion! And you try telling the kids of today that - and they won't believe you!!!!
Anyway, we had a coal fire and it was such a hassle trying to keep the wretched thing in all the time. It was also very dirty - especially the time we had the chimney fire and foolishly threw water on it, resulting in soot and smoke everywhere. So, I'm more than happy to be thinking of getting a fire that doesn't involve trekking to the coal house, cleaning the grate and using those foul smelling firelighters. Mind you it did  make very good toast!!
Having looked at some fires in Alnwick, we decided to go with one we'd seen on the internet, so we've got that on order and it should come within the next fortnight. Charles is very doubtful about how I'm going to organise the furniture in the living room, but as I rather conceitedly said to him earlier, 'Have I got it wrong yet?' and he had to agree that I haven't,  I'm sure there won't be a problem!