Living Comfortably

Somewhere in the first weeks I mentioned that my flat was rather empty. I rented it unfurnished and did not bring any furniture. All I had in the beginning were a bed, a few pots and pans and a chair borrowed from the neighbour. That has changed now. I am now the proud owner of a table with four chairs, three shelves, a gas stove (with a bottle of gas) and a stainless steel sink. The latter was attached to the drains by means of new pipes because the old ones are blocked.

Not straight away because the owner of the building company was away and the foreman had no money or inclination to do anything about it. Judging from the increase in cockroaches in my house, the old pipes were mostly blocked with live cockroaches. Not my favorite pets, cockroaches, and they are not very interesting company either. They seem to be mostly interested in drains and their contents, a topic that does not interest me very much. In the end I decided to use a bit of insecticide to sort the problem out until the drain was properly blocked.

The shelves are not so sturdy Chinese bolt-them-together-yourself items. However, the People’s Republic of China did suprise me: all nuts and bolts were present. As were assorted dents and scratches. Not to worry, the shelves are good enough to store a few books (in the living room), pots and pans (in the kitchen) and clothing (in the bedroom).

The stainless steel sink was needed to replace the marble one. Marble is very beautiful, but also rather soft and therefore not very suitable for a sink. The one in the house was cracked, chipped and had deep gauges in it. The least damaged part was polished and turned into a coffee table. That looks quite good. Now I needa a comfortable chair to sit in and I am all right.

Apart from the obvious ones, the increase in furniture has another advantage: the house does not echo so much when I am talking on the phone or playing some music. All I need to make my domestic bliss complete is a small fridge for some milk and beer.

PS: I mentioned the gas bottle because that item was actually more expensive than the stove. Gas bottles are scarce and can only be found on the black market, where the standard 11 kg butagas bottle is sold for about 300 US.