Polly moved into a new flat in Happy Valley two weeks ago. Tonight, she has invited Sandra, her best friend from work, to come round for supper and have a look at the flat. Polly is showing her around.
Sandra: It’s much bigger than your old place. You must be pleased about that. I wish I could afford a bigger place.
Polly: It’s interesting you said that. Actually, this flat is ten square feet smaller than the last flat I was in. It’s the layout of the place that makes it look bigger. You know, I’ve managed to buy this apartment. I’m not renting. My mortgage is massive. I’m paying mega-bucks a month, but it’s worth it. The net size of this flat is seven hundred and twenty square feet. I agree with you. It does look much bigger than that. The designer I used did a great job.
Sandra: I thought you designed the flat yourself?
Polly: I knew what I wanted, but I did employ a professional architect. He’s a guy my brother was at university with so he gave me a discount. I did some rough drawings of how I wanted the place to look and he worked with me on these. He didn’t change much of the internal layout, but he did come up with lots of little ideas I hadn’t thought about, like hidden lighting. Look!
Sandra: Wow! That’s great! No ceiling lights and no lamps on tables.
Polly: I love what he did. The lights are all hidden. It makes the place look so tidy.
Sandra: Where’s the bathroom? I can’t see another door. That’s your bedroom. The kitchen is over there. Where’s the bathroom?
Polly: Ah, another clever idea. I showed you the two big cupboards. What do you think this is?
Sandra: It’s the door of another cupboard.
Polly: You think it is, but it isn’t. You just push it ... and there is the bathroom.
Sandra: Very nice! You’ve got so much storage in this flat. I’m jealous. How long did the whole renovation take?
Polly: We started on the first of February and now it’s, what, June 16th? I was here very weekend making sure everything went as I wanted.
Sandra: Did anything go wrong? It doesn’t sound like it did.
Polly: Oh, don’t you believe it! There was one Saturday in May that I will never forget. I wasn’t feeling very well, but I dragged myself here. You see the mirror on that wall? The workmen had fitted it upside down. When I told them to correct their mistake, they dropped it and it smashed into a thousand pieces.
Sandra: Oh, no! You get seven years bad luck when you break a mirror!
Polly: Oh, rubbish! I’m not superstitious! I just bought the exact same one again. Right, let’s have a bite to eat before we continue the grand tour. I can't wait to show you the roof. It's a great place to sit and chill.