Well, what can one do on a day like today, except cower as far away from the heat as possible – which is exactly what we did – so tonight’s blog will be quite short, as that’s about all that we did! Julian and I sat very quietly inside, minding our own business, and gently strumming on our computers (read: we played World of Warcraft) Yes, we played WoW for a lot of the day – not as our usual Sunday-type tag-team pair (because it’s not Sunday yet!) but singly – both of us are roughly the same level (I’m level 27 now, and Julian is level 25) we’re both in the same Guild (death… by chocolate) on the same realm (Nagrand) and the same Race (Night Elf) – but for a change we each played our own game today! So we sat in our computer chairs, in our nice cool air-conditioned Den and played World of Warcraft, and when we absolutely had to get up and (gasp! shock! horror!) move about, it was done quietly, languidly, and without haste, if only to minimize the amount of heat one’s body generates through movement – so we remained relatively cool and unscathed by the inclement weather! Not so poor Clarke and Paul! They had to run in and out, fetching and carrying, and working! Still, the air conditioner was on in my bathroom, so once they’d scuttled back inside, I dare say that they were fairly comfortable 🙂 Paul has only just left – Clarke left earlier because he had to go home and change as he was expected to go to a party tonight – he didn’t look terribly happy about it though, because it’s going to be very hot, the party will be loud and noisy, and there’ll be lots of booze… and he has to turn up here, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed tomorrow morning, to do the plumbing bits for my two hand basins! 🙂

Bathroom status: all systems are almost “go!” The bench top is in, and it’s almost a perfect match for the tiles! Well, at first glance, anyway 😉 and it looks gorgeous and opulent! The handles are on the drawers, and the built-in waste paper bin that sits in one of the two double-height drawers has been installed. The “wall furniture” (shower rails, towel rails, toilet paper holder, etc.) are in place, the mirror is done, the glass-brick window looks almost like a very, very pale (understated) stained-glass window, and the silicon on (in? on?) the glass shower screen is slowly “curing” (apparently it cures at a rate of one millimeter per day) so that the shower door can be put on – this will be Monday, according to Clarke this afternoon. However, tomorrow the hand-basin plumbing will be done – the water and the waste-pipes, which will all be “hidden” behind small partitions in the drawers that they have to pass through, the taps will be plumbed in, and I think that the toilet still has to be siliconed (??) to the floor (or something!) Why am I getting a very edgy feeling that I’m not going to be able to use my shower until Christmas Day or Boxing Day? If silicone cures at a rate of one millimeter per day, and the shower door is fixed in place using silicone… hmm! Paul led me to believe that this was the way the door would be attached, but Julian has just told me that Paul told him that they use very big metal clamps, or something – so I guess I’ll have to ask Paul or Clarke how it’s done, when they turn up tomorrow! And that’s about where my bathroom’s at, at the moment! 🙂

Food: Well, we had a very nice dinner last night of freshly made flat-bread, cold meats and salads – there was a little bit of cold silverside, a little bit of ham, and a little bit of really, really nice salami! I had one slice of each. There was a small tub of actually quite acceptable “commercially grown” potato salad, a garden salad into which Julian had plonked some baby bocconcini, and some rather strange concoction of “rice salad” with couscous and wild rice in it, which was probably the best rice salad I’ve ever eaten! I usually don’t like rice salad, so I wasn’t looking at it very favourably – rice salad is usually made with far too much vinegary dressing or whatever, horribly under-cooked rice (bugger all this ridiculous “al dente” business! I’m half Italian, and I know what “al dente” should be – which is definitely not what most restaurants and executive chefs will give you! 😛 ) But this one – maybe because of the couscous and wild rice mixed in with it (I usually don’t like wild rice much either!) was actually nice! Julian says there’s still some left, so I shall have some with my steak – which is what we’re having for dinner tonight! 🙂 For lunch today I had half a piece of the flat-bread cut into approximately 3 x Ry-vita crispbread sized slices, with low-fat cottage cheese (which had chives in it, and was very yummy!) with a bit of the cold silverside, and slices of tomato on top – that flat-bread is definitely worth getting again! And as I said before, it’ll be steak, chips (no doubt, but I only ever eat five of them!) some sort of green vegetable (possibly brussels sprouts) and whatever salad we have left.

Weigh-in this morning. Well, it must have been my afternoon walk wot done it! I think I mentioned yesterday that I’d been absolutely drenched in sweat when I finished my 1.67km walk yesterday, and how totally exhausted and drained I was? I was probably a bit dehydrated from it – still, I did have some iced tea and some diet cordial after it (not together!) But when I hopped on the scales this morning, not expecting to see much change, to my absolute amazement, I’d dropped four points! So I’m now (temporarily, I’m sure!) back in the 64kg zone! I went from 65.0kg to 64.6kg! Hmm… Maybe I could have had that small bowl of pasta for dinner last night, after all! 😉 Anyway, we’ll see what happens tomorrow morning! I’ll most likely be back in the 65kg zone again… 🙂

So – tomorrow my plumbing gets done…. (?!) No! Not my plumbing, my bathroom’s plumbing! (Winter mutters something derogatory about pedantry!) and it looks as though it’s going to be ultra hot again 😦 However, there’ll be no sitting around quietly playing World of Warcraft again tomorrow, as we have to put the Christmas Tree up, and get the Christmas Wreath on the front door, and… – or, we might leave it until Monday, depending on how hot it is tomorrow, and how busy Paul and Clarke are, because Julian is going to press-gang them into helping him move a very large glass display case, full of totally priceless (to us!) and irreplaceable objets d’art and family heirlooms, balanced precariously on very wobbly glass shelving! He thinks to slide the entire thing about three and a half meters along a tiled floor to a new location… quite frankly, I think I’ll go treadmilling while this is occurring, and shut the door, in the vain hope of lessening the “crash, tinkle, tinkle” sounds of breaking glass, and hearts! …Maybe we should just leave it where it is, and find somewhere else to put the Christmas Tree! Anyway, that’s about it from me tonight – we didn’t do much, so there wasn’t all that much to tell you tonight, but you can (just about) rest assured that this will not be the case tomorrow night! How will my bathroom go – is it all finished except for the shower door?? Will my weight have gone back up? Where did we end up putting the Christmas Tree, or have we chickened out of that idea until Monday? Well, you can find out all of those things, plus a lot more, tomorrow night! Until then, though, do please bee good (only a few days left – then you can be naughty again! 😉 ) remember to trust yourself – you know more than you think you do, and don’t forget to look after yourselves, to drive carefully, and to keep cool – or warm – depending on the weather, but most importantly, don’t forget to stay safe! 🙂 ciao, all! 🙂