Move Down the Galley!

A few years ago, when I had a motorhome, I acquired four pieces of carpet on Freecycle and, making good use of a sunny afternoon and an empty car park, cut them to fit into the awning.  They worked well until the day when I made an overnight stop on my way to somewhere else.  There was no need to erect the awning, but the only place to store the carpets - at least the two biggest pieces - was down the middle of the vehicle ... where they were in the way.

The solution was to place them about three feet below that, in other words, beneath the motorhome where, on the hard standing they would be perfectly safe and dry.  All was fine for the night and once breakfast had been concluded, I fastened everything in 'on the road' mode, and set off for my final destination.  It wasn't until I was some thirty miles down the road that I suddenly remembered the two rolls of carpet.  They were still marking the spot that I'd left an hour or so before ... unless someone else had arrived and claimed them, or the management of the site had disposed of them.

The kitchen in the flat

I decided that it wasn't worth the uncertainty and hassle of returning for something that I'd not paid for in the first place.  But there was the question of what to do with the remaining, smaller pieces of carpet.  I decided that there would be enough between them, once cut to shape, to cover the tiled floor of the tiny kitchen of my flat.  The space between the units, fridge and washing machine was neatly filled and remained a cosy enhancement to the flat until the day I left.

History has a habit of repeating itself.  I remembered this occasion when I stood in the kitchen of my new home, making my breakfast on a chilly February morning.  This kitchen is tiled with big stone squares; they look quite smart and are easy to keep clean but, in a room where the only heat is from the cooker, their attraction is, to say the least, dimmed on a cold day.  'Why don't I fit some carpet?' I thought.  I'd done it before, I could do it again.  While scanning the modern equivalent of Freecycle, Trash Nothing, without success, I attempted to scrounge an 'end-of-roll' piece from the local carpet shop ... but they were closed when I walked down to see them.

My present kitchen

Then the other Saturday, I spotted some pieces on offer from an address in Sheffield.  'I could collect later today', I eagerly replied, and by 4.0pm they were laying in the lounge.  Of course, I couldn't leave them there - in the way, and with no under-floor storage this time! - so, whether convenient or not, the only thing to do was to get on with fitting them.  One piece was almost big enough to do the job on its own, but needed cutting down to fit between the fixed furniture.  Fighting with a piece of carpet in excess of two metres square in a confined space is no joke!  The task also involved fitting it around the feet of cupboard units that are off the ground.  It was, however, a 'Mastermind' problem:  I'd started so I had to go on to the finish.

By 8.0, after a swift and delayed tea, it was 'all done bar the shouting'.  The final piece wasn't finished until earlier this week, but I'm pleased to report that, although it bears visible signs of not being a professional job, my mornings are much warmer now ... and it's not just due to the high pressure drawing warm winds across the Atlantic!