Do you need a break? From what?

The job I am doing needs a break from me, not me from it. I am cleaning the grate in a very old fireplace. When the fireplace was installed this job was performed daily. A waxy potion has been applied to all things grate related and I have retired for two hours for a miraculous transformation to occur.

Attending to the houseplants yesterday was much more pleasurable. But not all Spring Cleaning is about pleasure, and thankfully, not all of it is quite as filthy as cleaning fire grates. Mostly this week I am tinkering between rooms. Filling bags for the charity shop with ‘ stuff’. Stuff that we no longer need and quite possibly never needed. In my two hour gap I have also done domestic admin and eaten lunch. Like my fireplace this blog is unbelievably dull. Recounting the joys of Spring cleaning is like that. Dull, but essential. In two hours time my grate will still be dull, a little less dull apparently with the addition of graphite powder and an enormous amount of rubbing.

Bloggng is a much better daily activity than cleaning a fire grate and never dull. This was a battle, done wearing leggings and an old jumper. The different angles required to buff everything were extraordinary. Unimaginable in a traditional maids outfit. No wonder gentlemen got the wrong idea, there is absolutely no way to clean these things with modest movements.