Ups & downs

It was an odd day yesterday, a mixture of pleasure & disillusionment. As you already know, it snowed in the morning. By lunchtime it had stopped & quickly thawed away, not entirely but sufficient to make going out a possibility. So we went out.

First we went for another look at bathrooms. We're beginning to get the idea of what to look for now. I persuaded the Fox to get in some of the shower units & move around as he would need to when having a shower. The smallest unit we found was 800mm wide. Our bathroom would have to be a 700mm wide to allow easy wheelchair access past to get to the toilet & sink.

He tried one with an inward folding door - almost impossible to get around the door. Then he started to realise when he moved about he constantly seemed to be hitting the screens all the time. Admittedly he was well padded with layers of winter clothing - he may not the stick insect he was when we first met nearly 40 years ago, but he is not grossly overweight either. We came away thinking that we may be better off with just a wet room floor & a shower curtain.

I meanwhile had been trying to get under various sinks in my wheelchair. Most of the pedestals were difficult to get my legs around but to not do so made getting over the sink a strenuous stretch. I've come to the conclusion that maybe we would be better off with a half-pedestal or even a sink where the pipework underneath is uncovered.

We left the showroom saddened. We'd fancied a stylish modern shower unit & now it looks as though, short of knocking down walls into the kitchen or study & so enlarging the bathroom, we'll have to have a simple shower curtain. The Fox ended up feeling enormous & grossly fat. I pointed out he was very thickly clothed. That must have put on inches.

We retired to the pub for a bit of a breather & consolation. I'm glad to say our spirits revived with the dinner. The quick stir fry was delicious - for once it was as pretty to look at as satisfying to eat. The prawns, so unpromisingly blue-grey when they went in the wok, had become a gorgeous orangey red. This was contrasted by the fresh bright green of the Chinese leaves. Specks of scarlet chilli bits & of dark green of basil & coriander leaves flecked the dish. Then came the eating. There was the meatiness of the prawns, the fire of the chillies, the fragrance of the ginger & lemongrass, the saltiness of the Thai fish sauce, the acidity of the lime juice & the sweetness of the spoonful of sugar. Delicious.