Fuddland

At the house here in London, the sitting room and dining room used to be two separate rooms, but the previous occupants knocked them through — a common practice in these kind of terraced properties — to form one large room with two adjacent doors.

For the entire time that my family, in its various incarnations, has lived in this house — from two months before I was born, until the present day — we have exclusively used the dining room door to access both areas of the sitting\dining room. Save for a couple of furniture deliveries that necessitated its use, the redundant sitting room door has always been blocked off by an armchair, a sofa or a table.

So it’s a bit of surprise to find that, in the ten days that I was away, my Mum rearranged things in such a way that it is now the dining room door that is blocked by furniture, and we are to henceforth use the other door for access. I just know I’m going to throw tea all over myself in the very near future, as I crash into the blocked-off door I’m so used to using; it’s hard to undo over twenty-seven years of conditioning.

#1

Daisy | 2004 / 01 / 13 – 18:13

At the weekend I took down the gate* from the bottom of the stairs (installed to prevent the dogs coming up and weeing all over the stair carpet when they were puppies) and I still can’t used to the open access.

*same as a child safety gate but taller.

#2

steve | 2004 / 01 / 14 – 09:17

Paint the door pillar box red and stick warning signs on it to remind you.

#3

Jonathan | 2004 / 01 / 14 – 12:56

I’m still getting used to living in a new house. Seven months and I still can’t remember where the kitchen light switch is!

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