A Make-Shift Draining Board.

Today I learned that I have A-Team style substitution skillz. With a Z.

At 40 weeks pregnant, it was getting increasingly difficult to carry my dirty dishes down three flights of stairs, wash them up and bring them all the way back up to the bedroom. Counter space is incredibly limited (we have a two-shelf fridge, the top of a chest of drawers and one shelf to store all of our food, cutlery, pots and pans, plates, bowls, cups, kettle and anything else we don't want to 'store' on the floor) so we can't keep dirty dishes sitting around. Besides, we don't want to. It's skanky enough being here without adding to it. So in an attempt at being all clever and organised, my partner and I went out to buy ourselves a washing up bowl.

None of the hot water taps work (not even in the bathrooms or kitchen, actually), so I boiled the kettle for warm water. Not a problem. I did that every day for two and a half years in our old flat, so I'm used to having to wait for access to hot water. I squirted washing up liquid into the bowl (that is now taking up space on the shelf), ended up soaking myself completely because it's about armpit height to me and then took the first clean dish from the water. And had nowhere to put it.

And so I learned to make a 'draining board'. A Sainsburys carrier bag with a bath towel over the top of it, laid out on our bed, to be precise. I had to dry and put away the items after every three or so were washed because there was no more room on the carrier bag, but hey. It worked. Our bed didn't get wet and I was able to wash a few dishes at a time. I'm pretty impressed with my skillz. With a Z.

I'd say we were going to go out and buy a draining board but we haven't got anywhere to put it, so the carrier bag on the bed method is going to have to continue. Nobody can say we don't know how to make the best out of a bad situation.

My god it is dire here.