Today has been quite a day as will be evident when this blog develops. But the day started off, as Thursdays always do, with presenting myself at the doors of the supermarket via an ATM so that I could start shopping immediately the shop opened. I managed to get practically everything that I wanted bar some icecream which we have been consuming in quantity as the weather has been so warm. Then it was a case of getting everything home, unpacked, the breakfast prepared and finally elevenses prepared for a walk in the park. So far, so good. But after our visit to the park, we decided to pop by the local store which both receives and resells furniture and household goods which goes by the name of ‘New Start‘ In the past, I have both donated and occasionally bought some goods from there and today, I was particularly in search of a standard lamp which would be consistent with the rest of our decor and which would also act as a source of illumination for my newly acquired keyboard. There was a little cluster of standard lamps and lampshades in one corner of the premises and after consultation of Meg, we decided on one particular unit making sure that we had an appropriate lampshade and fittings. Then I left Meg alone with the standard lamp whilst I did a roam around looking to see if anything would serve as a piano stool. I did need something that was almost exactly 20″-21″ in height so armed with a tape measure I looked high and low to see if I could find anything suitable. In the event, my search was fruitless so I collected Meg complete with standard lamp and then I went to get it priced up and paid for. At this point, my troubles started. I reached into the pocket of my gilet where I have my debit cards stored in one wallet and my money in an improvised note holder – but both were missing. So I did the rounds of looking at every place in the store that I had been, assuming that whilst I was lifting furniture around, the two money holders must have fallen out somewhere. After a fairly thorough search, I left the standard lamp behind in the office and Meg and I made our way home to pick up my wallets which I thought I must have left at home. But when I got into the house, they were nowhere to be found, so I assumed that I really must have lost them both in my exertions in the furniture store. So Meg and I made a journey back to the ‘New Start‘ warehouse here I explained to the manager what I had lost and then I engaged in a really thorough search of anywhere it was at all possible they could have been. They were nowhere to be found, so thoroughly disconsolate and trying hard not to panic, Meg and I made our way home. Then another frantic search ensued and I was so relieved that I had taken my two money wallets and left them by the side of the computer at home i.e. not in their usual place. By this stage, it was practically 2.00pm amd Meg and I had had no lunch. So we threw together some cheese and biscuits which we consumed voraciously together with a smidgeon of our remaining icecream. Then Meg and I made our back to the furniture store for the third occasion both to inform the staff that I had found my wallets and then to pay for and bring home the standard lamp. On the way home, we got a call from our mobile from our chiropodist whose appointment we had forgotten about in the panic but fortunately for us, she was able to phone again and fit us in later in the afternoon.
Now that I got the lamp home, a certain amount of restoration was called for. The stave (vertical) part of the lamp was a kind of fluted deal or mahogany and seemed to be in reasonable condition. But the base part had some surface wear and I thought I would need to do some restoration on it. After a thorough clean, I then applied some of the ‘scratch cover’ stain that I keep in stock for occasions such as these. As I suspected, I managed to make quite an improvement althpugh imperfections still remain. But once the whole standard lamp was in its preferred position, complete with a rather good shade I was pleased with the overall effect.
The Committee of Privileges is now naming those MP’s (including, amongst others, Nadine Dorries and Jacob Rees-Mogg) who publically criticised the committee likening it to a kangaroo court. The House of Commons is now being asked to approve a report in which it is emphasised that members ‘should not impugn the integrity of that committee or its members or attempt to lobby or intimidate those members or to encourage others to do so’ but it may take a newly reconstituted Committee of Privileges to work out whether the public critics of the Committee should be subject to any sanctions. All of this, of course, shows that the shadow of Boris Johnson still hangs over the Sunak premiership and he is finding it difficult to shake it off.
© Mike Hart [2023]