07 March 2007

Next big step

Cleaning materialsThe house is now on the market - had our first potential buyer round today.

I wanted to make some hot cross buns this morning, but then wondered if I should, as the potential buyer might think I was trying the old trick of filling the house with baking smells to help sell it. Went ahead anyway (they were only proving in the oven when she came round, so she probably didn't notice at all).

I've developed a kind of spring-cleaning frenzy and wondered whether I'd hit a new obsessive level when I found myself cleaning the overflow hole on our basin with a cotton bud this morning. Hope the house sells quickly, I'm not sure I can keep this up.

06 March 2007

Yew trees

Watched the BBC programme 'The Trees that made Britain' last night, on the subject of yew trees. It follows two tree experts from Kew Gardens on a tour of interesting trees around the UK.

The answer to the question 'Why do we find yew trees close to churches?' turned out to be 'because pagans thought of yew trees as their churches, so the early Christians built their churches next door to them, to tempt the pagans indoors'. What a fantastic piece of marketing. In a wet country like this, people were bound to go for the religion with the indoor venue.