On Friday we are getting our sitting room chimney swept. Of course I have visions of consumptive Victorian urchins in rags shinning up my chimney stack but in reality it will probably be a corpulent balding man in blue overalls with a hoover.
The chimney is also being surveyed to see what state our flue is in so we can look to having a proper fire again. We need a new mantle, hearth and fireback too as the originals are long gone. The mantle is original - we think - but covered in many years of paint, it’s also wood and I’m hankering after something more robust. We also have restrictions around here about solid fuel so we’re looking at gas stoves that look like Scandinavian wood burning affairs with glass doors. They are so convincing you wouldn’t know that they were gas unless you poked around inside them. I have high hopes of being toasty this winter.
When I was on hold for the chimney sweep on Saturday I had to laugh - their hold music was ‘Chim Chim Cher-ee’ sung by Dick Van Dyke - lovely.
These lovely posters arrived today. They are produced by graduates of Falmouth University to pass on advice to first year students. They are from a project called “Advice to Sink in Slowly.” Beautifully printed and a wonderful concept. Go here to see the whole range and buy prints.
