Monday 1st December

It seems that on Sunday nights we are usually a magnet for visitors.  We have usually come back from Walton about lunchtime and no sooner have we unpacked the car and thought about making a meal than we have friends popping round.  In fact I cannot quite remember the last time that nobody came round.  I strongly suspect that it is for the Nespresso Latte coffee that I always make people and I have gotten into the habit of buying extra milk on a Sunday to make sure we don’t disappoint people.

We left Walton at 10 and got back to London at 12.  I checked my phone and e-mails, no messages.  But that doesn’t at all mean we wouldn’t be invaded.  I decided to just see how much (if any) painting I could get done before people arrived.  Last weekend I painted the living room, but as we have an open staircase (strangely in all three houses) the paint on the staircase is boring old Magnolia and the rest of the room is new Egyptian Cotton.  Also all the paintwork is still Magnolia.

Anyway I got the ceiling and walls painted and it was 3.30 – still no visitors.  Now a sure way to make them knock on the door is to start cooking lunch.  I peeled the potatoes and parsnips and started.  I decided that while they were roasting I would just start the stair banister and spindles in Brilliant White eggshell, which we thought had been discontinued but we managed to get a large 2.5 litre tin last week.  I got about a third finished before lunch was ready.  By five-thirty we had eaten it.  Still no visitors – strange, but at least I could resume painting.  Finished it all by seven and it looks great.

To our amazement we have still had no visitors.  So, a quiet evening for a change.  I know that in the scheme of things this little tale is a bit insignificant but I cannot write about such grand themes as the nature of the Universe itself every day, now can I?