Gebruiksaavwijzing, anyone?

For five months exactly, I was driven from my home into exile in the parental abode, due to renovation work on my kitchen, bathroom, etc being forced upon me. Very recently, I have returned - or more like, started to return, as this has been by no means a simple process.

I have a brand-new kitchen (and a brand-new bathroom as well, but I'm not going to blog about my bathroom. I draw the line somewhere, you know). Many people (often women) I tell that to tend to go "ooooooh, nice, brand-new kitchen". And yesyesyesyesyes, it is nice, isn't it. You'd think I'd be pleased. You'd think, in fact, that I'd be over-the-moon delighted (I did really like my old kitchen, though). Yes, there has been moments of that, but - and such is human nature, and please do note I do know about starvation, oppression, the monks, etc - I am petty and so is my life and these are (only some of) the things I've noted that currently drive me round the petty-hell bend:

My new kuivauskaappi, draining cupboard, a fine Finnish invention and a standard fitting in our kitchens, which ensures Finnish doers of dishes (often women, and practically always, in this household, me) don't need to dry up, is very high-tech and fancy and fitted with shelves that are a little bit too low for any dinner plate to actually stand draining on the draining thing. It's okay now, I'm just elated to be back home again, but at the same time, I know the elation will wear down because such is human nature etc (see above) and this is going to be something that'll piss me off no end for ever more.

Another thing. They have fitted my new kitchen with a special shelf for the microwave:

and what a sweet and lovely and space-saving thing it is to have. If only my microwave oven would fit on it, as it (the shelf) is tiny and it (the microwave) is a monster. Let it be noted here I have never in my life felt a need or a desire to own a microwave. This is my first one, and was forced upon me by my parents last Christmas. It has, since then, and will now forevermore continue to take up just about all the work surface I have for cooking in my kitchen. Maybe we'll just have to eat ready-made microwave dinners. As for the shelf, I currently keep on it some of my vases and a couple of nice pots (traditional Finnish style). (No, those guys never made it to the tropics, poor wee things.)

And finally, my brand-spanking new fridge came complete with an instruction booklet - nay, two instruction booklets, one in Dutch, the other in Danish. It's just too bad it didn't have the good sense to come with one in Finnish, English, or Swedish, all of which I speak to a greater or lesser proficiency (and read, too). Now, I realise a fridge is relatively easy to use (buy food, put into fridge, take out and eat, keep door mostly shut). But if there's absolutely no need for instructions, why bother creating whole books on important things to know about your fridge?



And just to recap - yes, I do know about starvation and oppression and the monks, and that today it is exactly a year since Anna Politkovskaya's murder, and that the world is a place of unspeakable unfairness, and that I have been born privileged to have always had enough to eat and a roof over my head, even if it hasn't always been my own (the roof, not the head) (although sometimes it does feel like the head isn't mine either). But today, I am moaning, and that's just the way it is.