I hope it wasn’t a mistake

I bought my first-ever new sofa in my lunch break yesterday. At age 52. Took me a while.

And, blimey, I didn’t opt for something safe. I went for a green velvet one:

The youngest is HORRIFIED. She hates it.

I hope I haven’t made a terrible mistake.

Most sofa places have a three-month wait, but this one was floor stock and very keenly priced, plus I got 15% off for being a member of the store.

I do like an instant result.

Although … after I’d paid, I asked the shop assistant about delivery and she stared at me like I’d gone slightly mad.

“Oh, we don’t do delivery!” she trilled.

Sorry, what? It’s a 2.5 seater sofa, I can’t just sling it over my shoulder and carry it home.

She suggested I organise a courier. Hmmm. Still trying to work out how to solve that one. Will advise. When the sofa arrives it will remain in plastic for the foreseeable future because my renovation is still WEEEEEEEEEEEEKS away from completion.

The builder came over yesterday to stare at the toilet disaster that starred in yesterday’s post and try and work out what to do about it. He’s decided to drill through the freshly tiled floor to run the pipes out that way.

I mentioned that he’d removed my ceiling manhole when he renovated the laundry, so there’s no longer any access to the roof space … slight problem. He’s added it to the list of slight problems.

I am growing weary of them.

Fortunately a delivery bloke arrived around 5pm with some complimentary alcoholic seltzers for me. I’ve been writing about alcoholic seltzers and how they are going to transform our drinking culture for about a year, but this was my first taste of one. It’s called Rainbird and has been created by Pinnacle Drinks, the mob that do “own brands” for BWS and Dan Murphy’s.

(Seltzer is alcohol-infused sparkling water with a hint of fruit flavour. The secret behind its success is the freshness of flavour and the lightness of the drink – most seltzers contain less than 100 calories, and are sugar and gluten-free.)

Endeavour has a lovely PR person who kindly sent them over. Unfortunately she got my address wrong, but the courier and I worked it out over the phone and I got to sip on a lemon/lime one while tapping away at the computer and Googling “gold pineapple” decor items … because I am a bit whacked in the head from all the brick dust and think a gold pineapple might look rather fetching on a drinks trolley in my new-look lounge room.

(Although I’ve been fretting that the black legs on the sofa mean it doesn’t lend itself to being matched with rattan, which has thrown a major spanner into my”jungalow” plans.)

Rainbird is quite nice, very refreshing.

The kids requested Japanese pancakes for dinner – okonomiyaki – last night because they’re sick of me cooking the same things all the time and their uncle apparently makes yummy ones. I was a bit startled by the request after I checked what the ingredients are: a mix of soy sauce, sesame oil, eggs, flour, shallots and cabbage with mayo and a kind of barbecue sauce drizzled on top. Cabbage is not usually on their list of acceptable foods, but I gave it a go.

Not bad. All gobbled up. Would make again.

Song of the day: Buzzcocks “Ever fallen in love with someone”