Weather warnings

Day 226

Whilst the rest of the world has been coping with the fallout of a volcano, I am now in the aftermath of Hurricane Dalton. Steve - stuck in Romania for an extra day, eventually trained and bused back to Brussels, then finally Eurostarred home - was, naturally, exhausted, and needed looking after.

Sam, having got in a head-in-the-sand panic about his college work, was finally working like a demon, and had spread out over most of the downstairs as there were less distractions than in his room.

Steve flopped into the house after 11.00on Friday night, and unpacked a toothbrush before falling into bed. The rest of the unpacking took most of the weekend and covered the rest of the house. The laundry was everywhere. His coat was where he'd dropped it, as was Sam's.

Steve had to exchange the new laptop he been required to buy as it was overheating - this took most of Saturday, and the rest of it he spent reinstalling everything on it - he had no choice. As we had been out so long, Sam cooked for himself - he is quite self-sufficient, thankfully - then dutifully got back on with his homework, leaving all the washing up.

On Sunday, I mostly ironed and packed for Steve while he sorted out paperwork and money issues. Sam needed to be taken out to a derelict army base to take photos for a project. This took the rest of the afternoon. When we got back I ran Steve to the station, so Sam cooked for himself again, and left all the washing up, scattered around yesterday's.

I walked back into my house - the house that had been pristine on Friday, it having taken me the whole ten days that Steve was away to sort out - and saw the carnage that hurricane Dalton had wreaked. I was honestly gob-smacked.

Every surface in the kitchen was covered. The patio was covered. The kitchen table was covered. My bed and all the surfaces in the bedroom were covered with everything Steve had decided not to pack this time. The stairs were covered. The sitting room chairs were nigh on invisible, as was the rug. The hallway was an obstacle course of bags, shoes and hay.

I haven't drunk a thing while Steve was away, but I grabbed a huge glass of red wine, watched House, then pushing stuff onto the floor, went to bed and ignored it all. Well - wouldn't you?

This morning, when I felt a little more capable (but with a long list of things to do for Steve), I came down gingerly to find Sam had stacked the dishwasher and put it on - bless! Two dishwasher loads later and the kitchen still isn't clear though. Hurricane Dalton - watch out if it comes your way.