-12

i remember: fireplaces.
as my relationship with annemarie declined and entered a period of total meltdown (not that i realized this was happening, i just thought it was a blip…. how stupid i was) she dealt with her growing dislike of me in some odd ways.
we lived in a council flat. now i have to confess i have nothing but praise for the council flats i have lived in. both my mum’s and annemarie’s were solid pieces of building. you felt safe in them. little went wrong with them and when it did the council was there to repair it.
we were never very well off, so the flat was not filled with all mod cons, it was very basic, but hey ho it was our home.
the living room had a three bar electric fire on the wall, you could see that there had once been a real fireplace there in days gone by. annemarie has often gone on about have a roaring fire there.
once she had got her degree she got a chance to do a masters degree in warwick university. she went off. she came back. our relationship had changed.
one day i come back from work and the “honey i’m home” is met with a silence. i walk into the hall and all i can say is “what the fuck….” in the hall is a mantelpiece standing there. annemarie had decided to create the fireplace she so wanted, even if we couldn’t afford it. there had been no discussion, she had just bought it. the grumbling from me was soon pushed aside. we spent the evening screwing it into the wall.
it looked ok. annemarie was happy. as ever the promises made earlier in the evening were forgotten that night (ah well i was a sucker for those promises).
i suppose if was i wasn’t so complacent about the relationship i would have realised something was wrong.
what a joke i made of the mantelpiece at work for the next couple of days.
the joke was on me.
the following week i am return home and bugger me senseless but there is another mantelpiece standing in the hall. the “what” i wanted to say couldn’t come out, my mouth was open and i was speechless.
did i say we only had the one living room?
did i mention we had central heating?
no matter annemarie had a plan – it could go in the bedroom, where it would frame the bed.
i was nonplussed, but not much i could do as, once again, it was a done deal…

is it any wonder i have always shunned home improvement tv shows.