A Clean Sweep

I have friends who claim that they love to clean. They talk about the 'meditative quality' of washing dishes and the 'profound satisfaction' that they gain while thoroughly scouring the inside of their ovens.

I am not one of those people

If it's up to me, I'll take the meditative quality of watching something lowbrow on television, and the profound satisfaction of a large roast dinner. Cleaning, for me, is a necessary evil.

However, it must be done. So, In an attempt to build up my enthusiasm, my solution is to make it as aesthetically pleasing a task as possible. If I need to sweep up rubbish then I'd prefer to do it with a beautiful vintage brush, with a classic maroon/cream colourway. If I have to dust the shelves, then at least I can enjoy the look of my classic ostrich feather duster while I'm doing it.

Now if only I could find a way to make doing my tax return a more beautiful experience...

Garden Nets

My Mum always says you can judge the quality of a restaurant on the cleanliness of it's curtains, judging on the condition of these I would eat at this gardeners table any day. I spotted them on a visit to some open gardens in Hampshire a few weekends ago. These folks had the thrifty idea to use their old net curtains to protect their fruit bushes from greedy birds, I think they were blissfully unaware of the art installation they had created .