A Bug's Life

Remember this, the exploits of the escaping hamster, back in January? Well, major_clanger has remarked pointedly that it would be nice if the doors got put back on the cupboard sometime before our barbeque. Luckily, I had the reverse cupboard-dismantling plan to refer to! Unluckily, through absent-mindedness or post-traumatic stress amnesia, I omitted from the write-up the step between 3) and 4) which should have read "Remove side of cupboard. This is a large, heavy bit of wood held in by four screws. The screws come out perpendicular to the cupboard face: however, the clearance in front of the face is a scant 6 inches and you spend a long time grasping your shortest screwdriver in your fist and rotating it a quarter-turn at a time. This done with your arm stuffed into the small cavity (some of the screws are 40cm in) and your face mashed against the sink. Remember when you remove the wood that it has eight screw-holes - but there were only screws in every other one."

I was relieved after replacing the first two bits of facing that I could work out how and in what order the side of the cupboard went on! Unfortunately, after a long struggle, I have admitted defeat for today. Doing it in reverse I also have to locate the screws in the holes (which is difficult when your stereoscopic vision is shot by having your field of vision nicely bisected by a piece of vertical wood) while lifting said wood and holding it in position using only the bottom corner... If I carry on tonight I'll put my back out.

In other news, I'm still terribly busy with Worldcon stuff (!) so sorry if I haven't replied to anything I should have.