Almost Too Much

On Sunday I finally painted Stefan's room, the colour of a ripe banana, mashed, and put up all the architrave and skirting. Not that it's finished, mind. I still have to put trim around the new ceiling, but Megan and Desi are here so he has promised to help today.

They arrived on Tuesday within minutes of Steve with his big machine to clean the carpets, furniture stacked on the wooden floors and deck (so it rained). I spring cleaned while the rooms were bare, washed windows etc, and of course the sawdust at least gave me the satisfaction of seeing the difference when I dusted.

Megan was the one who cast me for the commercial forty years ago when I first met Stefan. I was a student, and did modelling and afternoon soaps to save for my fare to America, flying out four days after my final exam. Now I live here. Very strange.

We caught up on all sorts of people, and even discovered that the Aunt May she talked about was May Brennan, the mainstay of St Andrews at Sans Souci and well known to me. Six degrees of separation.

Norma is safely in the new house and thrilled, leaves in forty-eight hours for India and Ladakh so it has been a rushed move. She has new respect for the brown paint in the bedroom now she knows it was specially mixed in London, with gold dust for depth. How inhibiting. Brown is very smart.

Felix put all the DVDs into alphabetical order, so now I will make dividers, sweetly lettered. He muttered that it wouldn't last, but I think he will be surprised.

Stefan is flying to LA which is why I am up so early, but I will off to bed again in pursuit of the second sleep. Rain and flooding, but today is the eye of the storm.