In which I giggle unexpectedly

With my usual distorted sense of priorities, I have prepared for houseguests by shopping and cooking all day. At 1600hrs, I remembered that they might just be arriving at 1700hrs. Eek.

So Mac and I made up their bed (he did all the useful stuff, the pouncing and rolling around on clean sheets, while I faffed about in the background), and then I got out the Evil Machine of Suckage, and proceeded to suck.

In an hour flat, I have sucked all through the house. My hands hurt, my shoulders hurt and it's a scrap job, but hey. If a thing's worth doing, it's worth doing as sloppily as you can get away with.

And then, with the vacuum put away, I decided that was enough for now; and opened a bottle of wine and put on Radio 4 for PM (news programme with both wit and insight, O my beloved unBritish listeners). And Eddie was talking to a Russian apologist, no surprise; but à propos of everything having a cost, the Russian said "The free cheese is only in the mousetrap" - which I don't know if it's an English saying I've just never heard before, or if it's a Russian saying he translated on the spur of the moment, or if it was spontaneous wit, but I like it any way it comes. (M'friend'n'colleague jemck has a list of Curious Foreign Expressions which she finds very useful for fantasy dialogue moments...)

But wait! A car, and voices! I has a pennski! I has a bookzombie! If any of you were missing them, here is where they are...