Camping in

Life has been chaotic lately. Really, really chaotic. The past few days have been even madder than usual - all in aid of creating a foodie’s fantasy.

Since late February we’ve been in the midst of a major renovation to our kitchen and dining room. For good measure we also got the house re-roofed. Living and working at home while all that is going on has little to recommend it. And just when I thought things couldn’t get any crazier, it did.

Our floors were varnished last week and we decided to live in during the process – something that has proven to be been one of life’s “never again” seriously unpleasant experiences.

Polyurethane is extremely strong and toxic and, if it wasn’t for my downstairs office – which is well away from the varnish action upstairs – then it would have been impossible to stay in the house and live to tell the tale.

Surviving has required our family of four and Phoebe the cat taking refuge in my office over the past five nights, bunking down on airbeds amongst the filing cabinets, desk and shredder.

The fumes were so bad the first three days that I brought the toaster into my office, and set up a temporary breakfast preparation area on a pile of building debris outside. This weird urban camping experience was made even more surreal by my early morning outdoors outfit - a fluffy blue dressing gown. Beeeautiful.

Who knows what the neighbours made of seeing my pyjama clad family spreading our toast on the back path? I guess there are far worse things we could have been doing.

The kids have found it a great adventure. Don and I remain unconvinced. The cat thinks we're simply bonkers.