The windows are in.
The flat has been cleaned.
Then cleaned again.
And now the dust has settled into what I can only describe as a light, decorative haze.
Progress.
Dr Thomas, in a moment of engineering brilliance, has installed the curtain rails.
Straight. Level. Secure.
Frankly, the sort of work that makes you feel the country is in safe hands.
So off we went — buoyed by success — to John Lewis & Partners Oxford Street to collect our beautiful new dining room curtains.
What we had entirely forgotten…
was that it was the London Marathon.
Reader.
London was not functioning.
It was… running.
Thousands of people bounding through the streets full of energy and purpose…
while I stood there, clutching a curtain order, wondering if I too should start jogging just to get across the road.
At one point I believe I was overtaken by a man dressed as a banana.
He looked happier than me.
But we made it.
Curtains collected.
Triumph restored.
We return home.
Curtain rails: ready.
Curtains: ready.
Mood: expectant.
And then…
It dawns on us.
We have no curtain hooks.
Not one.
Not a spare.
Not even the vague memory of buying them.
So there we stood.
Two grown men.
In a freshly cleaned (still faintly dusty) flat.
Staring at a perfectly prepared window…
…holding curtains we could not, under any circumstances, attach to anything.
There is a very specific silence that follows a realisation like that.
It’s the silence of two people mentally replaying the entire day…
and both arriving at the same conclusion:
“We have done all of the hard parts…
and none of the small, crucial ones.”
I would like to say we handled it well.
We did not.
Anyway — while I emotionally prepare for another trip (this time for the world’s least exciting purchase)…
Thank you, truly, for all your orders this week. I’ve been packing like a man on a mission, and there’s more to go this evening.
The KnitPro sale is still quietly sitting below (15% off, Clan members only), along with a little end-of-month clear-out and those LANG discontinued pieces that will not be returning.
Curtains: acquired.
Rails: installed.
Hooks: an unfolding situation.
See you below.
With all best wishes,
James
James McIntosh — the one man band that is McIntosh
(and Dr Thomas, Head of Advanced Rail Installation & Basic Oversight)
