Space

Yesterday was the day we had set aside for a brief break before the final push through until Christmas. It meant we could go out for lunch and, more importantly, buy a Christmas tree. We found a farm on the Fosse Way and picked through trees, selected a small-looking one, and got it home to discover it slightly larger than our house.

That tiny little ugly Christmas jumper at the top is a real one, that’s how big this tree is.

A common misconception on our part: the idea that we have room for things. Clearly wrong, as our home is almost entirely inhabited by the Jabberwocky. Not only does he fill the driveway, especially with Hilda (As in “Hilda and the Beast”) parked there too, he also seems to need his own room, most of our room, an entire shed and at least a representative presence in all other parts of our house and lives.

If there is a lesson to be learnt here it is this: pick one food and stick with it. If we had decided to serve burgers or pulled pork alongside toasties (they were both part of our original plans) then we would need to buy next door just to keep it all in. Just the afternoon tea stuff is half the spare room. We were down in London a few weeks ago and met some other toastie folks who run their business from a one bedroom flat. Bread deliveries have to be carefully coordinated to arrive at specific times, gazebos have to be carried up and down stairs and you have to run a car inside London.

These guys trade 5 days a week, sometimes 6, in different markets all across the city, which means assembling and disassembling in a new place every day. Don’t get me wrong, if we had the option to be at 5 good markets 5 days a week I’d be all over it, but holy molten glory that’s a lot of effort: London is so big it just doesn’t have the space.

My point, if any, is that I would quite like my house back, and that buying new pieces of catering equipment every time we start to get on top of having a knackered van isn’t going to help that. What might help is finding an alternative location for the Jabberwocky. A Bricks & Mortar. Today we had an interesting meeting on that subject. Not quite enough to be excited about, but certainly enough to start picturing what it might be like to get rid of our long term lodger. Not that the Beast will be going anywhere. I expect our neighbours will be delighted to know that the van will most likely still hold court on our road, but we might be able to rehome Hilda. Then we just need to work out what to do with all that space.