My so called life: Spring Cleaning

I live on the boarders of London and Hertfordshire -in a place I am going to call, the 'Bar'. The 'Bar' is a very small (some might say -quaint) place. Middling and quiet - you can (and many have) be arrested for playing music. A people mentally and physically controlled by the weather -the 'Barians' are a complicated bunch; with ordinary houses, ordinary cats and dogs -and ordinary wants (mainly -a quiet life, a ham or egg sandwich for lunch and a bit of EastEnders of-an-evening, -thank you very much).
Curtain twitching territory, the 'Bar' is full to bursting with catalogue connoisseurs, tin food addicts and people who still call black folks - coloured people (and other 'things' of that nature). But it's not all bad -I can walk out of my house make-up free, with crazy black woman hair and still be all right (something I could never do in Peckham -say, or Tottenham). Also, (apart from the three dogs to one human ratio) the 'Bar' was (a long, long time ago) a good place to sleep. Before I had my son, the 'Bar' made a very good 'bed'. I would do my thing in London; then leave the craziness behind, and run home to my warm waiting bed. I no longer feel this way and will be leaving the 'Bar' when I am grown and 'have-a-pot-to-piss-in.' Plus, there is one very special custom that I truly love about the 'Bar'-Spring Cleaning. The moment the first Daffodil pops in spring -the 'Barians' pull down their net curtains, open their windows and get cleaning, and if you squint -you could almost be on that lovely street in Islington (the street with the different coloured houses -the one without garden gnomes; gortex shoes, or the sound of Coronation Street playing in the background, or 'crazy paving' or 'pebble dash' or rolls upon rolls of net curtains).
I started by de-cluttering my home and as I don't 'do' net curtains -all my energies went into cleaning the windows, the carpet, hoovering (under the beds too), cleaning inside/outside the cupboards, dusted my antique pieces -and did a wee bit of painting. The results are lovely. Even though I clean daily, there is nothing like a good old spring clean -to rid your home of unwanted knick knacks, broken toys and general clutter. I have also framed all my sons art work (they are priceless -see above), filled the house with plants (hyacinths and roses) and brought out my spring/summer bedsheets (this always cheers me up). I buy my sheets from TK Maxx, then I cover them with my growing collection of original retro sheets (see above). I feel that colours are important in spring, and I achieve this with both the sheets and flowers (above). Burning incense (I burn mine in one of my favourite 'blue and whites' -and I use salt to keep them upright) after a good spring clean will help you relax and fill your home with luscious scent.