The big Saturday stink

Today it is Saturday and in my house that means smelly food day. I suppose I should be grateful that the person only has time to cook on Saturdays! I lit the incense burner to make the air in my flat breathable.
When I cleaned one of my cupboards I found a cockroach, so now I also got cockroaches on top of the mice. Well, it looks as if I will not have to spend Christmas alone, after all!

The other day I heard some noise in the hallway and it was the schoolchildren returning home from school. They have built a new school around the corner and the kids pass my house on their way to and from the school. They are very naughty!
The boys used to kick our intercom for the main door, which disabled it and the landlord had to call in a service. Obviously, this will in the long run increase our rents. The maintenance man put a big metal plate across the intercom to stop this. I think there must be one girl living in this house that also attends the school and when she opens the door the boys comes in and mess about.
I was thinking of the painting I put in the entrance hall and went down to have a look on what they were up to. I arrived just in time to see one of the boys throwing my new flowers and pots about, so much for my curve appeal. I totally lost my rag and shouted to the boys to get out.
I am planning to find out where the girl lives and have a chat with her parents, the landlord and the blooming school. It's one of those Academy Schools that sprout up like mushrooms everywhere.


I bought a plastic Christmas tree in Brixton Market to put in the hallway to cheer people up. I involved a neighbour and her daughter in the decorating of the tree. The little girl broke two of the baubles for the Christmas tree within two seconds! I showed her how to carefully put them on the tree and eventually we had ourselves a lovely Christmas tree.

The Christmas decorations slowly spread across the building and the 2^nd floor also got a tree now. There are hope for the future!

Annual Christmas madness

My Christmas frenzy kick starts with the Christmas market at the Swedish Church. I was there early this year to get the food for my Annual Christmas Dinner that I have the 1st of Advent every year.

After the shopping the cleaning commences! It took me two days to make the place spotless, cleaning windows, floors, dusting and put all the Christmas decorations up. I was exhausted but the end-result was great:

The dinner went well and my friends enjoyed it and now I sit here staring at the blissful decorations and an empty flat.

I do love Christmas but it is also a hard time for me, thinking about lost childhood, lost loved ones and an uncertain future. I mixed pot really.
The question is what is Christmas really about for me?
I am not Christian so I don't celebrate the birth of Jesus. I am more of a pagan and a Viking.
The Christmas is obviously highly commercialised and as a shopaholic I spent loads on Christmas decorations. So I have done my bit to save the economy!
Christmas is also nostalgic and promotes the happy family like a sort of TV commercial where everybody is happy, healthy and rich. I will spend Christmas on my own in poverty, illness and sadness so it doesn't really fit the average Christmas image.
I do think it is important with traditions and to split the year up in different themes like Christmas, New Year, Easter, and Midsummer and so on. Otherwise I think life could just become some long meaningless big nothingness.


I went for a talk by Dorothy Nicolle titled All About Christmas and it was about Christmas traditions in England in a historic perspective. (See Nicolle's website )
It was a really good talk and the speaker mentioned the pagan rituals as well. She reminded me that December is the darkest month and we need to celebrate the coming of the light (and hope). The 22nd of December is the winter solstice, which means that from then on the days starts to get lighter and the spring is coming. Hurray!
That's what Christmas is all about; a celebration of the light, hope, a new beginning and a better future for all.


So, I like to wish you all a very, very merry Christmas and a happy New Year!

A damp on my Christmas preparations

I have spent two weeks scraping my window frames from mouldy magnolia paint that made the window look dirty. The damp in this house would take over if I didn't keep it in check with damp seal, tea tree oil and white paint. Not to mention my four boxes of damp crystals strategically placed throughout the flat. I empty about 500 ml water from them every month, water that, without the boxes would stay on my stuff and increase the damp problem in my flat.

As I was scraping the windows I spotted the soiled baby nappies, leaves, used baby wipes, cotton buds and piles of leaves outside the main entrance. I decided to fix the curve appeal of the building and clean the place up. I armed myself with latex cloves, a shovel and bin bags and went outside and started to sweep the street.
It turned out to be a great way to meet your neighbours. I must say that the people living on my road are really nice, friendly and social. People passing whilst I was cleaning up gave me little cheerful comments and greetings. One of the neighbours in my house joined in and helped me fill one bin bag, despite being dressed for work. He said I was his hero!
One of the lovely African women stopped for a chat and to show me her newborn twins. They were gorgeous. God knows how they all can fit into their small flat, two adults and three children in the same space I live in on my own and I feel cramped!

I bought two plants and pots and placed them outside the door to finish off my new stylish curve appeal as Kirstie Allsop and the lot talks about in their posh property programmes. Here in Brixton, I try to live the dream on a shoestring, my plants and pots cost me £3.00!


Now when the house is sorted I am ready to start the big Christmas clean up of my flat!