It’s been a long week. Our induction stove-top gave up on us last Sunday…. only one side works, and on that side the two hobs both work – just not at the same time. Which effectively leaves us with 1 hob to cook with. Thankfully it’s been cold and 1 pot casseroles or oven baked dishes have become the norm.

I’ve spent the week measuring and quoting replacements, crawling about in awkward places, trying to look knowledgable in front of bored salesmen who think they know more than me just because they’re men. And I’ve just about had enough. At the beginning of the week we had some fight in us. We were going to fight and negotiate who was responsible, who was paying for the replacement and the installation blah blah blah. In France everything is a fight…. anyway, today is Friday, I bought the stove top, I carried it home on foot (dragging it most of the way), I waited for the handyman, I watched him install it, make a mess in my kitchen, then I paid him and he left. There’s no fight left in me, we didn’t even tell the landlord… the thought of arguing about who was responsible was just too much. We’d be lucky to resolve it before christmas and as much as I love stews, 3 months of them is just too long.

Anyway, it’s in. I’m just taking a break from the vacuuming of particleboard which has somehow spread through the whole house to recount this tale. Things are definitely looking up.