DIY disasters

My flat is currently 90% Ikea. Why shouldn't it be? I've always bought from them and they make the simplest of units. The other day however, I decided to do something different and get a bookcase from a shop that doesn't specialise in furniture. Skepticism aside I strode into the store and made the purchase; I guess the price tag was the attractive thing. Once back at home I opened the box to find ridiculously complicated instructions, the wood was good quality but the screws felt odd.

Now it stands against the wall with three of the nine screw tops sticking out about a quarter of an inch, impossible to push them further into the wood. The assembly was also disastrous, if you can imagine the frame: I had to screw the left side to the bottom, then put the right side on and end with the top. What is meant to support the creation until completion?

Utterly bizarre but at least it works!

Living the life... almost

This morning's news told the country we should consider living like our previous generations did during the war. In 1941 the streets were littered with posters asking people to save water, save power, reduce weekly shops to rations and people did just that. In our squeaky clean and high tech society, can we possibly save money and resources to the same extent?


- Cling film on single glazed windows to keep heat in
- Boiler off, jumpers on
- TV off standby
- Reduce driving to a bare minimum

I've already tried some of these, the cling film is brilliant! We've also cut the petrol bill by 25% just by planning journeys ahead, including trips to the shops within trips back from work. The best thing I did with the car is keep it in a high gear all the time to keep the revs down. Our average fuel spending has gone from £42/2weeks to £37/2weeks, that's a saving of £130 over the year. And we counted the saving after the VAT rise!

KEEP CALM AND CARRY ON!

It's a new dawn, it's a new day (2)

Originally this post was called 'Lifestyle Changes', but the topic related so well to my previous post's title I felt compelled to add a '2' on the end.

The New Year is, let's be honest, a human fabrication. Yes the Earth has gone around the sun and I guess it's our pagan past that arouses this need to celebrate this celestial passing of time. But it gives us the chance to break habits, to welcome this new phase in our planet's vast history by changing the way we do things. Especially monotony, boredom, weight gain and so...

I was caught by surprise last night when my girlfriend and I decided to get a cat. I am 24 years old, I've traveled around the world and not thought twice about dramatically altering my lifestyle. Now I'm getting a cat. The comforts of my childhood, contrasted with the poverty of student life, have made me an unemployed man in his mid-twenties who lives off his girlfriend and generous parental donations. Now I'm getting a cat. How indeed this is a new dawn!

The feeling seems to have spread across the world; I mean the feeling of pride that something is changing, but surprise that the change is quite as dramatic. Sudan is loosing it's bottom half; Tunisia has lost it's reputation for stability; I'm getting a cat.

It's all the same. Isn't it?