"You see, a lot of white people have two major personality issues when it comes to home repairs:

1) They're too lazy or stupid to do it themselves."

*Puts hand up*

The Polish guy who does my handyman chores has just left my house. I ordered a new bed for Christmas guests, and it would have taken me the better part of a day and untold stress to put it together myself. It took him half an hour. He did some other stuff for me while I got on with making the Christmas pudding.

I hope Tomasz doesn't go back to Poland. he has a young family and his eldest starts school next year, so he's in two minds about whether they should start at an English school. The Polish community around here is still quite strong, but I think it has been for some time - that post-war influx found a home in this part of the country, and in fact there are some well-known Polish war graves up the road in Newark.

Anyway, I am glad they came. I can get decent rye bread at Sainsbury's now.