El Andalous - Slowly...

El Andalous Fountain - New Colour!

I have made progress. My bathroom now looks a lot bigger and less like a storage room.

Nevertheless, even though I’ve filled up my new plastic drawers, placed my cereals in the new cabinet where they fit just perfectly, and I’ve fully stocked my wash unit and mirrored cabinet in my bathroom, I still don’t seem to have any spare space.

I understand now that some things were irritating me without me realising. For example, due to lack of space, I was storing spare pens, batteries, and DIY items in with my knives and forks (yes, weird, I know). I now have a drawer for batteries and DIY things and another drawer for pens and sewing stuff. When I open my cutlery drawer now and there’s no “junk” in there, I feel a huge sense of relief. Yet I had no idea before that it even bothered me.

Similarly, some items that I threw out or reorganised are no longer taking up the space beneath my television. Finally, I can dust there!

I have also got a hook now for my key by the door. I used to keep my key in the door all the time so that I don’t lose it, but if I get locked out when the key’s in the door, I’m stuck. Yasser was the only person in the entire building who knew how to open my door with the key still inside (I had to drag him out of his spare time once), and he’s gone, so I really did need to change that habit.

These changes mean, of course, that I need to develop new habits, which will take some time. The extra cabinet gets me confused as to where my glasses are (they used to be in the end cabinet, but with the extra cabinet at the end, they are now effectively in the cabinet second-to-the-end; each time I have to think this all through), the washing machine is where my fridge-freezer used to be, so I’m continually trying to get milk from the washing machine. And sometimes my keys could be anywhere or still in the door. It’s surprising how easy it is to lose things in a relatively small flat.

Some changes for the good have happened without me having to lift a finger. For instance, finally, I am no longer plagued by ants. I should have complained about my ant infestation but I’d felt too defeated (I was convinced they’d never do anything about it). When I got back this time, there were hundreds of dead ants near my patio doors. I caught one infestation swarming near the back of one of my cupboards and sprayed them with an insect killer. After that, I had no more ants, but I suspect they retreated into the Engineering room and they sorted them (I could hear them spraying their office and maybe above my flat). I should have just asked them to sort it in the first place.

The fountain (I sometimes call it the waterfall) next to my flat has been repainted from dark brown to a light pink (it’s better than it sounds!); it is better as the lighter colour brightens up the place, but isn’t anything that I’d thought to complain about, given that we usually have blazing sunshine.

So, all in all, there has been some noticeable progress.