Pompeii - the day after

Having the bathroom done this week and, as always, it's turned up a few surprises. When the mosaic tiles were being removed the whole wall started coming away. The Victorian method of using wooden battens just didn't stand the test of time so it all had to come down and be redone. All of this work has meant that the flat is covered in a thick layer of white dust. Thankfully, Karen came yesterday and removed the top layer or two but I think we'll be finding white dust in odd places until the day we move.

And that's before they've even started on the kitchen. We're off to Woolley Grange for a few days next week and while we're away they're going to start removing the old kitchen tiles and the old ceramic floor. Apparently that's an even messier job. Oh joy. I know I'll love the end result but it's a painful process.

Still loving London. Tobes had school this morning so Rosie and went into the village for coffee. Our favourite place is a little Costa Coffee with a basement and tiny courtyard you can sit in during the warmer months. When we got there we saw a double stroller parked upstairs with a sleeping little boy in one side of it. He slept peacefully for about twenty minutes, woke up and looked around then sat quite happily until his mother came upstairs to get him. She had been downstairs having coffee with friends. Now, this is not something that I would feel comfortable doing but it is nice to know that people feel safe doing such a thing.

While sipping my cappucino I listened to two men intelligently discussing the mess caused by those cartoons of Mohammed and to two older ladies ordering coffee. The ladies were in their 80s at least and one of them had obviously been to Costa before because she was explaining the difference between a macchiato and a ristretto while her friend kept saying 'I just want a milky coffee!'.

We picked Tobes up from school and stopped off at the butcher's on the walk home. I love this butcher. I was a vegetarian for years but now that I'm eating meat I eat it unflinchingly. Why should I eat a steak but not a cow's tongue? If I'm going to eat an animal I might as well eat the whole thing. This butcher has big pieces of meat hanging in the shop, many still identifiable. Today it was pigs, their insides cleaned out except for the kidneys. Why were the kidneys left inside? I have no idea but it was like some kind of modern work of art to see them all hanging from the ceiling. The shop is amazing at Christmas with turkeys, heads and feathers intact, hanging from every available surface. And when it's pheasant season it's even more striking. Amazing place.