Sunday, March 09, 2008

Super Things I Have Bought

1. A new purse. This is the first time I have owned a purse since the unfortunate incident with the car window and the motorway in 1983, so it's something of a momentous occasion. So momentous, in fact, that for a moment I wished there was a way I could contact my mum on the Other Side to let her know that at the grand old age of 37 I have finally taken my first laminated, floral step towards adulthood and maturity:


Now, if only I had a handbag to keep it in...

2. A new house. In an elaborate plot to avoid ever again having to speak to the estate agent in front of whom I embarrassed myself the other day, I managed to persuade the lovely Mr BC that we should buy a house through a completely different firm. The owners accepted our offer yesterday, hurrah!

There's no chaundry or victualling room*, and one of the rooms is haunted (either that or the bad vibes are emanating from the horrible fireplace), but these are small prices to pay for the fact that the house and its immediate surroundings would look quite at home in a BBC adaptation of Jane Austen.

I have no doubt that my middle class guilt and self-loathing will kick in at any moment (especially as, unable to contain my Inner Tosser, I've ordered a hand-painted Farrow & Ball colour chart) but until it does (or until the purchase inevitably falls through), I reserve the right to do a joyful little dance around the living room.


* Although I am planning the almost immediate addition of a downstairs garderobe.

19 comments:

Sylvia said...

well done! Both are a sound investment.

Taiga the Fox said...

Wow, congratulations! [sends virtual salt and rye bread for the happy owners of a new home]

Mangonel said...

Stop dancing immediately! Your baby might get the idea that Life Is Fun, poor little squib.

Jayne said...

Are you sure there's sufficient space for the wetnurse and nanny? You need to make sure the servants have their own quarters and don't impinge on your living space my dear..

patroclus said...

Thank you all, you are all most welcome to come and visit us in our new abode, if it all goes to plan. There will be chocolate and raspberry brownies and flapjacks and everything.

Anonymous said...

I'm the proud owner of a beautiful Radley purse and because John Lewis overcharged me, they refunded me the full amount!

Don't bother buying a handbaaaag, you'll soon need a sack so you can carry Blue Kittens paraphernalia!

Fat Roland said...

Farrow and Ball have a colour called 'clunch'. You could buy a handbag in this colour and call it a clunch-bag.

Clutch bag. Clunch bag.

Oh never mind.

Anonymous said...

It is a truth universally acknowledged that Farrow and Ball's paint colours are a thing of beauty and a joy for ever.

Have you got room for a still room? Somehow, I can imagine you presiding over one (and it would provide perfect storage for your brownies and flapjacks)

Semaphore said...

Ooh, how very lovely. Both, if for different reasons - houses because it sounds gorgeous and recently I've been thinking of nothing else, and purses because truly they are the sign of maturity. I now have a purse too, after a year and a half of carrying my university card in my back pocket, which invariably meant the chip in it broke and so I couldn't get into the library (woe, what a tragedy, eh?). Now, my fourth card is tucked safely inside a pretty green one. I feel like a grown-up at last.

(PS I've been lurking for a while, found my way here via BC's celebratory post and loved it so much I'm staying. So there.)

Valerie said...

Excellent! I see you, too, have taken major steps towards maturity this week. Honestly, what's gotten into us?

Now tell us all about the house...

Dave said...

Huzzah!

Betty said...

Having bought a purse and a house, logic would suggest that you now get a horse.

Dave said...

Mind you, the fuss the meedja are making this morning, Cornwall has probably been washed away by now.

cello said...

I knew you two reminded me of some other couple: Elinor Dashwood and Edward Ferrers - of course!

red said...

How exciting- about the house clearly. I'm looking forward to hearing more about it.

patroclus said...

Spence: You see, if John Lewis can afford to refund people when they make a mistake *and* still make a huge profit to distribute among their thousands of employees, how come Evil British Gas can't do the same?

FR: 'Clunch bag' sounds like so many dubious euphemisms rolled into one that I'm not sure I want to think about it too closely.

Marsha: I'm afraid I don't know what a still room is - it sounds like a room for manufacturing illegal alcoholic concoctions, but this can't be the case.

Semaphore: Why thank you, and welcome! I like your blog very much too, and more so when I remembered what Wild Cat Island was. I loved Swallows and Amazons.

Valerie: More about the house in the next post (and probably ad nauseam from now until the Blue Kitten puts in an appearance, at which point this will probably turn into an insufferable baby blog and you will all quite understandably bugger off somewhere infinitely more interesting).

Dave: Huzzoo!

Betty: There is a room for a very small horse, but I think we will grow potatoes there instead. Like Bryan Ferry. (For some reason I can't write the word 'potatoes' without thinking of Bryan Ferry, even though I don't know what song it is I'm referring to.)

Dave (again): The storm isn't nearly as exciting as I'd been led to expect by the BBC, although the cat might beg to differ, having accidentally been shut out in the garden for a couple of hours earlier.

Cello: Wikipedia sez: 'Elinor is a reserved, practical and thoughtful young woman.' Are you sure you aren't thinking of someone else? I'm the sort of person who throws purses out of car windows, which doesn't sound like the sort of thing young Elinor would do at all.

Red: Oh, believe me, you will.

cello said...

Ok, forget the practical bit. But reserved and thoughtful, tick. Edward Ferrars (apologies for previous mis-spelling)) is also highly principled, handsome and takes AGES to get it together with Elinor.
Well, they were the most fitting Austen couple I could think of on t'spur of t'moment.

Boz said...

The important thing is to treat the servants with kindness but a firm hand.

Occasional Poster of Comments said...

I've been wishing I could afford a house, well, for ages, obviously, but particularly since seeing this.

Congratulations, again, on the house!