Tuesday 2nd August 2022

I’m only just beginning to recover. Last Tuesday bed linen was presented to the ironing board. Every single piece – often near the completion of ironing – found to be in error. Mysterious black marks, quite faint. Back to the laundry room for the Vanish bar, back to the board, apparently corrected. But then more faint black marks… like a curse, forever appearing. Not to mention much larger patches like scorch marks. For years, my maid has been complaining about the drying racks from Lakeland. Heritage style, wooden. Have to match the home. But accused of staining the bed linen because of the raw wood. I did not sustain her judgement. The racks went on. There was a good run of several years with no seepage.

But now the loathsome orange stains could have no other sources. The racks are leeching of a sudden.

In the middle of all this, the letter from the Gas Board arrived.

The black marks though… the whole morning back and forth, getting nowhere. Only through length of life knowing that somehow, one day, this would be over. Then, fallen to the floor in agony, my eye was caught by the ironing board’s edge. In a way it was a vision. A black dust mark all along the edge of the ironing board cover which must have been the source of all the trouble.

So relief – and hope. New drying racks but must be heritage wooden. Ordered from Dunelm. £119.67. New ironing board cover.

Slowly, slowly working towards pure linen. Very like Job, tormented by the Lord.

What about the price of Gas though? The Gas company announced a 2000% increase, from 2p per kilowat hour to 20p. Hours on the phone to ‘brokers’. Finally settled on Opus to supply delicious gas at 14p per kilowat hour. So costs of gas and leccie will rise to £4000 per annum from the present £1500.

Or rather the heating won’t be on next winter. I’ll have to get the coal fires going again. And adopt good furs, as the Queen solved the problem of the 3-day week and power cuts in the 1970s – with a mink coat.

Mercifully with the death of Aunt Verline, I’ll be able to fetch a bit more out of the fund to cover the increase – t0 some extent.

Aunt Verline will not require to be heated this coming winter.