The next load is collected

It’s been another busy day, with a lot achieved and only one or two frustrations. First up of the latter was the shower fan stopping in mid shower for me this morning; hopefully I’ll have time after doing this post to check it out. I suspect that the fan is in need of a good blow out, a sentiment with which I can concur most heartily.

By the time Elanor and Sally arrived at half nine, I still hadn’t heard anything more about the Dunelm Mill orders (they are supposed to be keeping me up to date with progress by text and email) . We took Sal for a peramble round the marina then left her with Sheila and drove into Burton, using the satnav to find the store. This turned out to be a classic satnav experience; it took us to the purlieus of Burton and S Derbyshire College and then abandoned us to do our best. After a bit of cruising round the back streets (good job it was ten in the morning, not the evening) we found ourselves driving past the side of Halfords,whereupon both of us went “Of course, Dunelm is next to Pets at Home next to Halfords, how could we have forgotten?”

In the store there was initial and alarming uncertainty about whether our order was there, but on the second attempt a trolley full of stuff was found and scanned. It all went in the boot of the car quite neatly, so we returned to the store and did a second trawl for things which hadn't been available for ordering on line.

This too was productive, despite the challenge of finding anything in that store, and we drove back to the boat feeling very pleased with ourselves. By now it was virtually lunchtime; afterwards we took the car, Sally and all, to the lodge, unloaded and then embarked on a mammoth session of unpacking, washing the cooking stuff and marking up the linens.

It’s all been put away apart from one sheet whose care label needs reattaching. Another failure was the measuring cup set – the handle of one of them fell off during that initial wash. Fortunately we need to go back to the store for more bath mats (they only had two in stock today and we need six) so we can return the measuring cups at the same time.

So far, Argos and Hart’s of Stur (good value for Stellar cookware) are doing well for prompt delivery and accuracy of supply, Dunelm not quite so well, but there’s a lot of stuff to come from them yet. I’ll sleep a bit more easily when we’ve seen those final two deliveries.