Today

Still V excited about the new flat. Spoke to my friend John and asked him if he'd be interested in overseeing the restoration project (he's good at that sort of thing) at a local level. He said "I'm your man!" Am going to look at it again on Saturday.

The trouble is, it's easy to get sidetracked into thinking that that lampshade or candleholder would look great. And we don't even know how we're going to decorate it. I do know, having looked up Thomas Kemp on the Internet, that the development dates from the 1820's, so that gives us a clue.

Saw a beautiful bed in a catalogue today. It's intricately carved mahogany, painted white in French chateau style. Very Directoire and I love it! It'll be months before the flat is ready to receive such an item.

In My Day

Eventually, we decided that the iron bedstead and flock mattress had to go. This was after Paul had leapt onto the bed one evening, shouting "Geronimo!" and one corner of the frame gave way entirely. We couldn't afford to pay outright for a new bed, so I ordered one from a friend's catalogue. I chose kingsize because we are biggish chaps.

This item was delivered into the entrance hall of the flats in Belmont in Brighton while I was at work. We were in a top flat, up many steep stairs. If the bed base hadn't divided into two, we'd've had to sleep on the landing. And to manhandle a kingsize mattress up those stairs was an amazing feat. I've an idea I did it alone.

The bed supplied us with unheard-of luxury and we slept on it until the springs began to poke through, twenty years later.

I don't think I'd like to go back to those poverty-stricken days, but it does put things into perspective, remembering them.