Snippets [catching up]

• We moved the bed [couldn't fit the base up the stairs, so have reverted to "student days" (although I'm not sure current students do that?), and are sleeping on a mattress on the floor] upstairs.  It made such a huge difference to our comfort levels last winter - we turned the bedroom downstairs into a "snug", and were able to conserve heat [NEVER going to live in a house with the stairs leading directly off the sitting room again; all the heat ends up on the landing!], and thus stay warm.  [Also, we didn't have to listen to the machines in the kitchen working their magic; why do people like open plan so much?].  It's the first time I have 'lived' and slept on different floors since moving out of a hostel when I was a student (well) over twenty years ago; I like it!
• Had an amusing interlude when we visited mum and Click at Miche's just before Christmas: she really didn't recognise the two strangers she thought were looking for the neighbours' house!  Even adding her spectacles didn't improve matters, and my voice calling out "hi, mum" was going unheeded.  As she always assures me she doesn't lie-in, we were expecting her to be up and about at gone 8am, especially with a pair of dogs who believe they might die of starvation if they are seconds late for one of their meals...  When she'd woken up a bit, she twigged who we were, but we thought we were going to have to go off and find a café for breakfast [she had offered to cook breakfast when we arrived, so we weren't presuming]...!
• Then vs. now: when we first met, "showering together to save time" didn't; now it does.  Should I be sad?
• I want a "Cinders"!!!  I read that the Queen has her shoes handmade [nice, but I can cope with shoe-shop shoes] and that she has a lady to wear them in for her - now that I do want!  I live mostly in mules [and socks, if I need to walk any distance (further than the post box about a hundred yards away); thick socks if I need to wear winter boots/wellies], as I now seem to blister as soon as looking at my feet.  I'm fine if we do plodding around a few shops [but not always], but otherwise it's blister-prevention that matters more to me than style [I think I've mentioned my love of Crocs; I dread the day they finally go bust because they are so out of fashion].  A wearer-inner wouldn't guarantee my feet would cope, but I'm sure it would help!  :-)