There are many new arrangements in place since I last posted. Most importantly, I have purchased a very small wooden desk and a very large wooden chair. Actually, most importantly we have purchased a bed and mattress that is actually comfortable, but after that, this desk and chair are the greatest improvement to my well being.
For the bed – our woollen mattress, lovely as it was, was mishapen and lumpy, and the bed was too low and a hard board which combined uncomfortably with the mattress. I had known I was sleeping badly and aching a lot, and perhaps developing sciatica, but I hadn’t realised quite how badly. Within a week of the new bed arriving, the backache was gone. And now the old bed is gone as well and I need never think about it again.
Meanwhile the little desk and chair are set up in the spare room, looking out of a window and into the rooms the hospital next door, so patients and I sometimes stare at each other without really seeing each other. The chair is larger than planned but actually looks fine with the desk, and the size means I can sit cross-legged on it, my preferred way of sitting if I must sit at a desk. (I might, in a fit of further extravagance, also buy a foot stool at some point). However, it’s made me realise that I’m quite bad at colours. I ordered a dark blue velvet and it doesn’t work with the room at all.