CURTAINS!

We’ve acquired new curtains for the lounge.

We took down the old gold ones down when the decorator came to paint and paper our lounge but when we put them back up the darn curtain track broke. Not a serious issue, you might think, but then you hadn’t seen the style of fitting.

The system for hanging curtains was very tidy since the fittings were behind a built on, box-like wooden pelmet. However, once the track broke we were unable to fix it.  No room to manoeuvre, you see, plus neck, spine, eyesight and, in my case, height problems preventing us from fixing curtain hooks in the confined space, let alone repair a kaput track.

 After much thought I we decided the best way forward was to have a pole, with eyelets in the curtains. So while the cat was away this year the mouse set things in motion.

Jim, the fitter, was in shop when I called. When he heard what I was ordering he said to remember that style of curtaining meant we’d have to adjust the ‘fall’ ourselves. Geez, hadn’t I been adjusting the fall years before pencil pleats were invented. How lazy people have become if they can’t adjust a curtain. Anyway, I went on to describe the dilemma concerning the pelmet and he agreed to call round to assess the situation.

Jim came the next day. Of course, he would have to dismantle what was there, the pelmet and the wooden base that was secured to the wall, and had been since the house was built, but he assured me the job could be done. Nothing, he said, was insurmountable.

I went ahead, ordered the curtains and paid a deposit (hoping I was doing the right thing) and a date was fixed for Jim to come out and wreck the wall.

He actually made a decent job of removing the pelmet with no serious damage. There were a few holes and the area would have to be plastered and redecorated which meant contacting (with fingers crossed) Rod, the decorator. I didn’t hold out much hope of him being able to do the job when we wanted it done. However, we were in for a pleasant surprise. Rod said he would fit us in with another job in time for Jim to come out and fix the poles. Wow, such co-operation is rare in these parts. It went a long way to renewing my faith in workmen.

Rod did a superb job, plastering one day, wallpapering the next (we still had some of the paper) and painting the day after. Each stage took an hour but of course the work had to dry before he could continue.

Now the curtains are up and the lounge is looking ultra-smart. It’s a pity my iPhone didn’t do justice to the colour of the curtains. The first picture should be a little more yellow and the second should definitely NOT have a pink hue. It’s all down to light, I guess. Oh well, I can’t win ‘em all.

It’s amazing how things fall into place. After the curtain hanging was completed, we turned our minds to the disposal of the old ones. They were dry-cleaned when we took them down the first time, so I put them in two bags.... one in each. Gosh, they were heavy. We decided to look out for charities that also collect curtains and it didn’t take long. In fact, as I was typing this the next charity bag was pushed through the door ... and it specifically asked for curtains. Since one bag wouldn’t be enough, Joe rushed out to try and catch the guy who delivered it and he, Joe, came back with a couple more bags. All we have to do now is put the filled bags outside to await collection. How easy was that? Pretty soon our old curtains will be on their way to providing help for children with cancer. Thank goodness our timing was right.