h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

tying with cooking for the worst job in the world. The only reason it's not winning is because it doesn't have to be done so often.

There may be a word missing ...

I was expecting the first words of the first post to be "Too good for them". I wonder what that says about me?

Any road up. Are we talking about wallpaper, Christmas decorations or pictures?

Maybe she's got a part time job as an executioner?

I am.. the hanging Judge. No it was wallpaper. Although I was going to do decorations this year because I've got no extra dogs here by the time they all went home that only leaves today, and I'm supposed to be decorating.

So the missing word was lining paper. Which I hope to paint this afternoon instead of shopping for food or putting decorations up. Everything takes forever as I can only do a couple of hours at a time because of work and general 'I just don't want to do any more'.

Hanging wallpaper You have my sympathy Sometimes I think it'd be easier to decorate a room with hand-built oak panelling than put paper on a wall.

I bought the thickest lining paper I could find and it's not going to bad. Of course it looks a bit crappy, but it's staying up on the walls, and I'm doing about 3 bits a day! Although that was due to work, today and tomorrow I've no excuse for not getting on and getting it finished..

Decorating continues painfully slowly, and I've kind of got stuck because evening scrapping means the pipes are hot, OUCH! Will try to get some done when the heating goes off in about half an hour, but may need to ask my dad to hang the paper around the pipes for me.

We've moving the fridge freezer to next to the oven. I have googled this extensively, and most designers seem to say it's okay, while people do, er, do cold stuff, say DON'T BE AN IDIOT! What does come up time and again is 'unless you have a small kitchen'. So we're going for it, and will leave as much space between them as we can (about 1cm probably!). I will aim to get a new oven that is more insulated once it's all over, as although at the moment we use the cooker about 3 times a week I am hoping that with all the extra space to store things and make messes and put things down etc I can get back to, well, enjoying cooking isn't quite right, but you get the idea.

Modern cookers and fridge freezers are far better insulated than older ones, but if I was going to put them that close together (I'd make it at least a quarter of an inch, half an inch if you can) I'd try to find a sheet of polystyrene... it is polystyrene isn't it? I'd find a sheet of that the same thickness as the gap between the two and place it between them. That doesn't do anything for the part of the freezer that's taller than the cooker but if it's well enough insulated inside the cabinet it shouldn't be a problem.

My cooker gets hot at the sides, I bought it second hand - I'd had the other one for 18 years! There is about 2 inches between them at the moment, although we do need to move them again as my dad put them in the wrong way round. I had thought of putting tin foil between them, but polystyrene would be a better idea! I'll order some dog food, then I'll get some sheets for free.

Apparently the main problems are, the fridge needs to suck in air from the room to cool it down, so sucking in hot air would mean it has to work harder (costing more electricity), and warping the door seals when the hob or grill is in use (costing more in electricity as the cold air escapes). I can probably replace both appliances with new, more modern ones that are better insulated and possibly designed for small kitchens that might have be be closer than desired.

I can't believe how much more space I've got just with the cupboards we've already put in! We're going to have two cupboards in the dining room (which is now a dog walkers staff and storage room ...) which I wanted to avoid in the past, but I can use it for those storage of things we don't use so often. The cupboards are all bigger, bit deeper and a bit taller, so even if we didn't 'redesign' I would have had more space.

Free sheet is always the best

I don't think fridges suck in air. I learned a lot about refrigeration while I was a bartender by talking to the people who came to fix the bottle coolers and the ice machines when they broke down. The cold air inside the cabinet stays in the cabinet, until you open the door and let warmer air in, and the cooling mechanism itself is a closed system based on ammonia (or maybe another refrigerant these days) and only cools the cold air already inside the fridge. However, that metal grill which is fixed to the back of your fridge is for dissipating heat, and if it was close to the oven the fridge might have to work harder because it's surrounded by warmer air than if it was on the other side of the room.

Extra space, especially cupboard space, in the kitchen is a wonderful thing, until you start filling it with extra plates, and cups, and cutlery, and pots, and pans, and gadgets, and machines, and, and...

oh, well, maybe I was thinking of cars sucking in air.

But yes the heat disapater will be right next to the oven, which is not on very often, so that should be okay.

I have already told J that we will probably buy new crockery, so yes we'll fill it up with stuff! Could be some time though, as all the cupboards are in place now, but no counter. Got to phone the person who put the counter up in my dining room to come back and do it again for me. We've got two cupboards that have to be moved to the shed (which are both full and need clearing as I moved out of my training hall today), and the decorating stuff is tidied away in another couple of cupboards so no idea where anything is or where it will be eventually!