Wednesday 10th Jul

The carpet we had fitted last week has stretched, as to be fair, the guys who fitted it, predicted it probably would. So this morning they were back first thing to re-stretch it. This meant me and the youngest clearing out the room first thing, and me putting it all back together when they’d gone. This is one of the advantages of being a house husband, being at home for this sort of thing.

It’s then paper time and so I slap on the suncream and brave the day. By the time I’m finished with the round I am sweating somewhat, and stick my head in a sink of cold water to cool down. In a further effort to cool down/relax, I turn on the Ashes on the telly, and sit down with a large mug of tea. I can see this might get to be a habit this summer. Though typically for me when I sit down to watch Pietersen bat, he swiftly gets out. At the lunch interval I attempt a bit of DIY, filling a hole in the porch where the wood appears to have rotted away with age. At the same time I knock some loose paint off, and as ever with these things, a bit more is loose so you pull it off, and before long it’s a full scale job. So now it looks like I’m going to be redecorating the porch. On the plus side this means I won’t be decorating the hall, stairs and landing, which Mrs P wants done.

I cycle round to the outlaws and have a cup of tea with them, and it might just be my imagination but my legs didn’t hurt as much as usual. This is a good sign. Once home its ironing and making tea again, before winding down with an evening walk with Mrs P. The hot weather does make you think of summer holidays, and we even had salad tonight, I must be feeling in a good mood.

Yours reaping the benefits of being a house husband.

Jay