The Curtains Are Blue

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Slightly Bemused writes:

I got a new mattress. Did I tell you that already? I got a nice one, pure white, made in Ireland with a lovely Irish (Galway) name. I am sure it is very comfortable. But I have not yet slept on it, and likely will not until January.

Little Slightly is coming over to stay for a few months and study up the road. But she is allergic to dust mites, so I do not want to risk entering any to that mattress and want everything to be as pristine as I can keep it.

To this end, I have been giving my bedroom a deep clean. It has badly needed it for years, but I am the lazy type. So a desultory hoovering, a shifting around of the piles of junk, and the occasional attempt to put my clothes away has so far succeeded for me. Now I need to get serious.

I realised that I have not cleaned my curtains since I first put them up over 16 years ago. Dust and dirt should be the most on them, but still, dust mites. So down they will come, and another foray into the dark of the Boom Boom Laundry Room is on the cards.

But as I contemplated them, I remembered something.These curtains were bought – well, made, as a pair with a set of bottle green ones. They fall from the rail almost to the floor, and in winter are amazing at keeping the heat in. Little Slightly’s mother loved green, so those ones were the shades that kept the security lights at bay during our nights.

When we finally separated, she took those curtains, and all the green towels. I got to keep the blue ones. And those were the ones in Little Slightly’s room, and will be again. Synchronicity of a form. I also have blue towels, although not as well colour matched as the green were. I already owned these ones, and being a man have no real sense of anything other than ‘blue’.

My brother stayed over a while ago. He did not like my towels. I do not use softener on them, as this affects their ability to dry you. He did not like my scratchy towels. Yet I am surprised – it was our own mother told us this. Soften your socks and jocks, your t-shirts and trousers, but leave the towels alone. Besides, a vigorous rub with a ‘scratchy’ towel will wake you up in the morning :-)

Speaking of Little Slightly, she is having to jump through loops. They now want to know about medical insurance. I have her PPSN, which we got when she was a wee one, and as such she is covered by the State same as I am. Her college are having problems with this, so I have asked her to arrange a call with them. I can then explain how healthcare works in a country, which while not perfect, does actually work. Should be an interesting call.

And today I opened my shed for the first time this year. I fear the lawnmower is dead, beyond resuscitation. A skip will be needed for the other items, and soon that shed must topple. If left alone, it might make the end of the summer, but I doubt it.

So the question arises: replace with wooden, plastic or metal?

Slightle Bemused‘s column appears here every Wednesday.

Pic by Slightly

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15 thoughts on “The Curtains Are Blue

  1. Charger Salmons

    A simple Spring clean wouldn’t be enough for the bedrooms of some of the more lonely posters on here.
    Nappy the Dingle-Berry has to hire a skip to remove all his used tissues.
    And an industrial jack-hammer to change the bedding.

  2. Gringo

    I would say a metal one is the best for security and longevity. It needs a proper concrete base and if wired and plumbed can make a very useful utility for washers and freezers.

    1. Mick

      I’d agree, Gringo.

      I’m in the same position as you, Slightly. I almost emptied my two wooden sheds over the Easter break into a big old skip, and am ordering a larger steel shed to replace them this weekend. The wooden ones are around 12-14 years old, and I’m afraid a big gust of wind could topple one of them without the few big, heavy things (lawnmower, coal bags, etc.) left leaning against the walls.

      A good quality concrete base is needed, but the lead-in time to get a steeltech shed is around 18 weeks(!!) so I’ve plenty of time to get that sorted.

  3. Janet, chatty mammy

    enjoy you musings bemused as usual, but hear, now you have me sitting contemplating the curtains and wondering are they the culprit for endless snotty noses, I have everything else steam cleaned to death ….maybe their time has come

    1. missred

      We don’t have curtains in my old house (the original shutters are there instead), or for that matter, carpets. Far too much material for dust gathering and most of them are horribly ugly anyway

      1. Janet, chatty mammy

        I hate them, carpets, fecking rental, I have a no shoes home and I cleaned them deeply and I still KNOW they are dirty

        1. alickdouglas

          Dr Douglas Home was fierce anti carpet when we first met and it took me a long time to adjust to the idea of taking shoes off indoors, despite having spent a fair bit of time living in places where it’s usual to have shoes off indoors.

          Have now had a carpet-free house for almost 20 years and the idea of shoes indoors freaks me out more than a bit.

          1. Janet, chatty mammy

            and then there’s those who put shoes on coffee tables, up on the couch…..and worst of all…up on the eiderdown…shudder

          2. Lilly

            The problem is when you visit a no-shoes home, your footsies get so cold unless they have spare slippers in a variety of sizes lying in wait. Saves on floor cleaning though for sure.

            I hate carpets too – okay in bedroom at a stretch – and fabric conditioner is the devil’s work. I can’t sit next to anyone whose clothes reek of the stuff without wanting to retch.

            And don’t get me started on that noxious Fabreze.

    1. Janet, chatty mammy

      The modern duvet is thought to have been introduced to the UK by Terence Conran, who first sold them in Habitat in 1964. … Strictly speaking, it is only an eiderdown if the down it contains is from the eider duck, although the word has come to denote almost any quilted bedspread,
      you know sheets + blanket + eiderdown, we didn’t all switch to duvet

          1. Charger Salmons

            I know someone who raises it by throwing it over his wife’s head while they’re in bed together as he breaks wind very loudly and shouts ” up periscope.”
            He thinks it hilarious, she less so but after many years together his wife has come to accept it as part of his cheery personality.
            Lady Charger is a saint…

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