Sunday, August 20, 2006

Windows


Just for a change, here are a couple of photos of my sitting room. You can see that my beloved garden is really quite small, with the back wall at an angle to the back of the house. Nonetheless, I love the outlook from the sitting room windows. (The sofas and rug aren't actually such a bright blue as they look here.)

On another topic (though still window-related) I am very fond of my son-in-law. He suffers from depression sometimes, but when he's okay, he’s really good fun, very jolly and a generally lovely chap. And very very clever.

But he does like a bargain. This is an understatement.

He and Daughter 1 have recently moved into their own house. They’ve been furnishing it courtesy of Ikea, and have bought so much that they were awarded a £30-off voucher, to be redeemed by the end of August. At that point they had just bought two (more) bookcases – they have an enormous number of books, mainly Daughter 1’s – and couldn’t think of anything else that they needed immediately.

SIL therefore produced the idea of taking the most recent acquisition – one of the bookcases – back to Ikea and then buying it again, using the £30 voucher. We all derided this idea, suggesting that they just buy some sheets or something. We then forgot all about it.

Then today he phoned to ask if they could borrow our car (they don’t have one) to go to Ikea. That was fine. He duly came round and departed in the car. Some time later came another phone call. They had managed to crack the windscreen.

Yes, that’s right. He had decided to follow through with his cunning plan of taking the bookcase back and then buying a bookcase with the voucher. So, outside their house, they’d loaded it into the car and – well, into the windscreen.

Luckily our insurance company will pay for the repair, apart from the £60 excess.

So in the bid to save £30….

There’s very very clever and there’s sensible, and these are not always precisely the same thing, are they? Though of course, it's good to be thrifty, and thrift is the reason why they managed to buy themselves a house to fill with books.

I’d like to point out that he’s not Scottish, but English – just in case anyone was musing on the thrifty--Scot stereotype.

Ah well. I still love him.

9 comments:

  1. Hello Isabelle, I've just found your comment, which I'd forgotten to reply to. So sorry. I always like to say hello to new visitors. Thanks for stopping by!
    I love the blue in your sitting room. Such a beautiful shade! I can understand why you love the view...it's gorgeous!
    I'm chuckling about the frugality-gone-wrong mishap of you SIL. Oh my, I'll bet he was unhappy about that :)
    I hope you're having a sunny day. We are...it's a lovely day in upstate NY! I'd best be off to the garden...

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  2. Oh - your garden is soooo beautiful - what a lovely view from your sitting room!!
    I can just imagine how SIL felt when that window cracked!! Oh my goodness - he will never forget that one!! The sweetness of saving the L30 will just not be the same, since it will cost him L60 for the new windscreen!!

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  3. Isabelle, that is such a funny tale! Not to your SIL I guess, but you sure have a way with words! And I adore your sitting room - all those blues - rug, furniture and the wall plates as well. I wish I had a sense of style when it comes to home decor; ours is built for comfort, not for style!

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  4. Actually, we paid the £60. Though he did offer.

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  5. Thanks for your lovely comments~:)

    Loved the story about your SIL - type of thing that happens in our family!

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  6. Hi Isabelle! Your garden is just gorgeous!! (have you seen the photo of mine?? April archives) And the story of your SIL is priceless. Well, except for the excess ;)

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  7. ps thanks so much for the link!!

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  8. LOL on your son-in-law -- too funny!

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  9. Hi again Isabelle, (which is the name my #2 son says he loves, & would call a daughter, should he be so lucky to have one!) I have suffered periodically from severe 'black dog' as we call it. I remember being reduced to lying in bed completely unable to move! As I have got older I can handle it better, have now got a great GP who is so understanding.
    Have really enjoyed your blogs.

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