I phoned them Friday (as they had said the oven would be back in stock at the beginning of November). After being put on hold for a few minutes (I’d been waiting long enough to eat my lunch before my call got answered, so another few minutes didn’t make much difference) they said “the earliest we can deliver is Tuesday 6th November”.
“That’ll do”
“We don’t know whether it will be morning or afternoon”
“Doesn’t matter. I can be here all day”.

Having waited so long, I didn’t want to risk losing the oven again, so I’ll take the day off tomorrow rather than wait for my next non-working day. Not that I’d asked my boss or checked my work diary before making these arrangements!

I also received a tax refund. Long story short, I received an unexpected tax bill* for almost £2000 tax not paid on the purchase of the house. Because it hadn’t been paid within thirty days, they also slapped a £100 fine on top.

* ” That’s strange”, said Youngest Child, “because you hardly ever use your phone”
“Tax bill, youngest child, not text bill”

Because they threatened to add another fine if the tax were not paid, I paid up without prejudice but also wrote to point out that a) tax had been paid on the purchase; b) this was the first I’d heard of any underpayment; c) how was I supposed to pay a tax bill I knew nothing about; d) by the way, could I have a proper calculation to see how this amount came about?

A month later, I received a cheque back for pretty much the whole amount (it was about £1.50 short). Still no calculation or explanation, but an almost-full refund. Result.

I received a long brush for my birthday – one of those brushes on a pole you can attach a hose to and reach high windows. Yeah, middle-aged presents. How can someone get excited over a brush with a long handle?

So, I cleaned the upstairs windows, and then realised that if I stand towards the top of a step-ladder, I can reach the guttering and soffits as well. I intended to do just the front and back of the house; seeing the neighbour working on his car gave me a good enough reason not to do the side, as he would get splashed.

“Don’t worry,” he said, when I looked over the fence and told him my plan, “I’ll move the car out of the way and go and have a break”.

Swine. I had to do the lot now.

Cleaning guttering with a long brush is physically tiring. Something to do with gravity and moments and stuff like that. It is also extremely wet. The front and back weren’t too bad, as I could stand far enough away to miss most of the water. The side of the house has a narrow path, so you are standing directly underneath the water cascade. Basically, I spent about 90 minutes water-boarding myself. Soaked doesn’t even come close.

When I finished and was clearing up I realised I’d left a brush attachment on the porch roof and jumped up to grab it. As I came down, my hand caught the edge of the guttering and I got two pretty impressive wounds at the bottom and top of my wrist. I had to hunt through three first aid kits until I found a dressing big enough.

“I’m going to consolidate the first aid kits into one,” I said later.
“But we need lots of first aid kits, because you’re a first aider,” replied youngest child.
“Oh, I thought you were going to end that with ‘because you’re really clumsy’”
“well, that is what I was thinking”.