I’m barely going to mention the election in passing. As you know, I’m an avid Twitterite but the frenzy that’s been building up to its culmination this evening is getting on my every last bosom. Actually I only have two, which is indicative of my lack of patience with the thing.

It’s as if those of us with any ambivalence or doubts or uncertainties have been completely pushed aside by those who are absolutely certain on ideological grounds that everything will suddenly be better if the other half of the population either a) immediately had a change of heart or b) died, the selfish ****s.

I don’t doubt that these are honestly-held ideals but come on, who has all the answers? And surely these are the answers from your point of view? Just stop telling people how they should vote, OK? Especially when it takes no account of other people’s individual circumstances. Just because people might not necessarily agree with you, often because they have different life experience, it does not mean that they are all the insults you want to hurl at them.

As I’ve said before, it’s really easy to vote for something that will actually not affect you personally in any way. Do people really, seriously believe that their way is the only possible way, that will overnight get rid of food banks or alleviate any crisis in the NHS? Will we suddenly have full employment and equality? I don’t know. I don’t think this is at all certain. Who after all can wave a magic wand and sprinkle fairy dust and everything will suddenly be gorgeous?

Personally I’m hoping for a coalition, ideally a Grand Coalition, where all the parties would have to talk to each other every day and negotiate a reasonable, pragmatic way forward away from the dictates of their ideologies. I’d like to see a European style proportional representation (of the least-worst option type) parliament where people had to find a less than ideal way through. As most of us have to in life.

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Our building work seems to be progressing well. I say seems to be because the back of our house has been separated from the front and we have just one room and temporary kitchen downstairs.

I am becoming quite fractious because the things that have not gone into storage seem to have walked away of their own accord and hidden themselves specifically from me. Call me prissy, call me anything, I’m happy to lend people my stuff but it’s annoying as hell when it’s not returned and disappears into the black hole that has appeared upstairs.

Today is a fast day. I am usually grumpy by the last afternoon of fast days. I acknowledge this and make allowances for myself. Today I went to the gym early; hurried back for the chimney sweep; did all the ironing; walked the dogs; shopped for supper; made supper. This is a fairly normal day for me but it’s exacerbated by only having a single induction ring and a combo microwave. I’m not meaning to moan. It’s fine, we’ll get through it but it can be awkward, that’s all.

Tonight the OH was in Paris or, rather, being catered for by Eurostar. My cousin Vivien had, after all, told me about how she has taken her own 25 year old combi microwave oven on her visit to her dad in the Netherlands and used it to cook Christmas turkey. Buoyed by this, I bought something for the offspring that I could bake in the as-yet-unused oven.

Unfortunately, my oven proof dishes, apart from a huge Le Creuset, have been put into storage. That dish was obviously far too big for the oven and I didn’t want to use a china plate so I sent the Boywonder off down to Waitrose to pick up another, smaller, rectangular Le Creuset oven dish. He came back with a square Waitrose own brand dish (they’ve sold out of Le Creuset again) and it was only when I was trying to negotiate a pre-heated oven that I realised that this dish was Just A Little Too big. So I used a plate, which I have probably burned. OK, the pie worked out all right in the end but, as I was about to heat up my chicken noodle laksa when the oven fused. It went off and would not come on again.  Don’t forget, I’d eaten only an apple and a satsuma all day. Imagine my distress.

I fiddled with plugs and things and eventually it came on but only after a (fairly restrained) hissy fit, and I managed to eat my supper. I am still grumpy though, and intolerant. And it’s election night.