The first unfurnished place we had was our flat in Loughton. It was little more than a shell with a terrible carpet and so our first trip was inevitably to the Ikea at Lakeside in Essex. Having had motorhomes for so long it's difficult to remember a time when our sole means of transport was a Nissan Micra but that is all we had.
We bought so much stuff that even flat packed it could barely fit into our little workhorse. It was so full I was contemplating travelling home by train and that would have been the safest thing to do but somehow I squeezed in. If we had to brake suddenly I would have been smashed between a coffee table and a chest of drawers in the best case scenario.
And so it began. Our house has always been furnished in a masculine style with lots of dark wood against magnolia. Yes there was odd lapse, including an outrageously uncomfortable bright blue sofa bed which we inflicted on so many people, little realising that we might as well just have smashed up some wine bottles and asked them to sleep on that.
We wanted to soften the place to make it look like more of a home for us and the dogs but also our little girl. But in fact we needn't have worried as she has gradually taken over the place with swings, gyms, bean bags and assorted stuffed rabbits.
I'm thinking about it because Jay and she are away on holiday with Pip, Sarah and Jess in Cornwall. I'm here with only Scamper, Billy, Mango and the tortoises for company. There's no real alternative because I have so little holiday left and that which I do I want to keep for Christmas.
It's been less than a week but that's a long time. Last I saw her she was perfecting the art of rolling over and soon, so very soon, she will be on the move. She'll be starting solids and then before I know it she will be going on holiday by herself to Ibiza or somewhere else of which I disapprove, perhaps just to annoy me.
The hardest thing for me at the moment is when I go up the stairs I see a pink dress and white cardigan hanging up. It's new, too big in fact and she's never worn it. It's no substitute for her wide beaming smile but it makes me smile and that will sustain me for now.
