Long overdue update – The Kitchen 2016

Hi Friends and folk,

Y’know how things sorta get put on the back burner and then suddenly before you know it over two years have passed by. Us blokes can so relate to that, a bit like that leaky guttering you’ll get around to repairing “next week”.

So forgive my absence for not keeping up on this blog, but I’ve been a bit busy enjoying myself with other distractions…

Read on…

Back when I bought this prefab concrete cabin in the woods, the previous owner must have bought a pallet load of cheap paint off some right dodgy geezer at the local Bar/Tabac. I mean, would you deliberately paint your walls in gloss paint canary yellow? So I can only assume, Victor, (God rest his sweet eccentric soul) must have felt a burgeoning need to daub something to get shot of it all. Now me, I can be pretty blinkered about such things and didn’t change it from this. I mean what was the point, one day it’ll all be ripped out, right?

Just as a matter of course I DID tear off the pink vinyl hardboard, tempted as I was to leave such a visual delight in place. So with the arrival of my Mum and Brother coming over in Nov 2014 (See “Family Mucks In” chapter), there was only so much time we wanted to be outside in the cold. So Mother dearest dug out some tins of paint I’d bought from a bloke I met at the local Tabac, and set to toshing the walls so they were at least a bit easier on the eye.   Matt white emulsion to be precise.

So this was the set up for a good few months. The bottom cabinet door dropped down to make a work surface over the washing machine. The sink is through the door with the mirror. All a bachelor pad needs, right?

Well, things have a changed a bit in the kitchen area. Not massively, but it’s a definite upgrade from previously shown.

It’s a sort of quick fix and surprisingly, it does the job perfectly.

But if the above is a modest upgrade in the kitchen, then by far the best upgrade has got to be the import of a racy little number called Lyn from the UK.

Internet, I present to you, Lyn. See below.

You can’t help but notice the woman’s touch on those shelves, surely. Me? Measuring jugs? Herbs and spices?  FRESH FRUIT?!!  Pul-leeeeze!  And I have no idea what all those things are in the utensil bucket on the work top.   But she assured me she has uses for these strange items… and she’s still got all her fingers so she must know what she’s doing.

Seems this new kitchen got her very excited (women, eh? Now if it’d been a Makita battery drill,  I could understand the huge grin).

So with a modest purchase of some planking and T&G Lyn got some shelving and a worktop. I even let her varnish it herself (I’m romantic like that) and she’s so pleased with it.

It’s not much I know, but with this modest set up, you should see her out there working away at her favourite hobby – cooking.   Yeah, I know, cooking! Am I a lucky sod or what? She’s a great cook and has now ruined going to restaurants for me. Yeah, she’s THAT good. She’s created some amazing meals, even getting used to NOT having a fan assisted oven (whatever one of those is?  Why would they put a fan in an oven anyway??)

So as you can imagine, ol’ Aaron’s like a puppy with two tails nowadays.

Long story short – in March 2016 Lyn quit her stressful London job to move in with me for a months trial period to see if it suited her/us/me.  She’s been here ever since, and I have never been so happy. 😀

So henceforth, this is now OUR story of Our Cabin In The Woods… with wifi.