Author: peterb51

12th November 2018

Back to the grind, I picked up some skirting board on the way through to the cottage, Wayne and his girlfriend were already working on the porch. Fortunately the weather was fine, and ideal for working outside.

I set about finishing the flooring, then moved all the old boards into the truck to take down to the tip.

Went shopping at Wickes for more floorboards, and then on to Brewers to purchase some finishing oil, boy! That was pretty expensive.

By the time I had got back Wayne had finished, he did a very good job, and he is a genuinely nice chap. He always brings his Labrador that sneaks around sticking his nose up your arse (if you are lucky).

11th November 2018

Great to have a lazy day, the joints certainly have been tested this week.

It is getting close to one year that I have been living off Nicola and Colin’s hospitality. They have been really generous, the only thing I can do is take them out for the occasional Sunday lunch. This gives Colin the opportunity to indulge himself in his favourite subject, food. There is no quantity that would defeat him, and I am convinced that if he was marooned on an island with other survivors he would be the one to start eating them.

He is a creature of habit, and was peeved that his favourite table had been given to someone else, Nicola calmed him down by quickly shoving the menus under his nose.

I took a stroll around the village, autumn is such a wonderful time. Barrington Court has a great collection of trees, and is popular with walkers all the year round, I feel like a local, and through Nicola and Colin I know many of the villagers.

The walk put me in a good planning mode for the week ahead.

I got back to find Colin foraging for food again, a few hours had passed so I guess the sequence starts again.

10th November 2018

It is my seventh week wedding anniversary. In that short time it went from warm and sunny, to cold and snowy. So as I’m not in Holland, Kelli sent me a picture, it looked a bit bleak. Now this will not last, it is not the proper snow that lasts months, and everybody hates, that will happen either before I land causing delays, or after I get there and I won’t give a monkeys because I will be home with Kelli.

The work continues, I had to get more floorboards so that I can finish the small bedroom. I cut everything I needed and left it to acclimatise.

I then drove to Ikea to get some cheap shelving. I don’t know how they can sell it so cheaply. For twenty pounds you get a four shelf unit 171cm high, 77cm wide and 28cm deep, a coat of paint and it’s just what I need.

That was the easy part. Parking, or finding a parking place was a nightmare, it took me twenty minutes to find a place because I got caught in all the traffic leaving.

Then I was held up by people drifting about, like a mass of zombies getting in my way. At one time I thought I was in Sweden as I didn’t hear any English spoken. I knew exactly what I wanted, but I still had to follow the path, through all the displays and market place. Eventually I found the display, I made a note of all the parts and locations, and headed off towards the wear house grabbing a trolley on the way. I managed to find everything , the next obstacle was the checkout. The queue snaked forever, I joined the zombie trail, I hated that. Eventually, I reached the checkout, and I was still alive. Now the design of these trolleys leave a lot to be desired. They didn’t carry the long pieces, and they kept falling off, much to my annoyance and embarrassment.

Eventually I got back to the truck that I had parked at an odd angle due to limited space and useless driver. Fortunately I got back before the owner of the car parked next to me returned to see how little space I had left them to get in. At least something was on my side.

9th November 2018

Ouch! everything hurts, my knees, hands and shoulders, it even hurts to type. All this is from laying floorboards. I thought the hardest job would be lifting the old boards, but that was just the start of it. I was hoping to keep the old wood to use on a future project, but they were full of worm holes, so unfortunately they will have to be dumped.

Out of interest I timed myself laying one board length, it was over sixteen minutes!!!. I was disgusted with myself, until I analysed it. I had to mark and cut the piece, measure the gap, cut another piece to fit-in. I then had to fight to engage the tongue in the groove, mark and drill ten small holes. I then blocked and chocked to close the gaps, and bang in the nails. However there was also the time collecting the nails and hammer that I had left in another part of the room. I suppose the main point is not the speed but the quality of the installation, so sixteen minutes it is,………unless I can get it down to fifteen.

The crowning glory of the day was meeting up with Jeanine, Phillip and Bob for a meal at Comptoir Libanais a fantastic cuisine experience. It is easy to forget that different food, especially from different cultures enhances our own, and the great, and entertaining company will stay with me for ever.

8th November 2018

I started laying the floorboards, and by the end of the day hunger hit me I had only laid about a third of the floor. The area I had done was the most complicated, so it was to be expected. I hope to get it finished by Saturday.

I was expecting Andy round to touch up the plastering, but as usual he failed to turn up. I will be so glad not to rely on tradesmen for a long time.

There was no text or any of the usual excuses which is so unprofessional, I will be taking him off my Christmas card list.

I decided to eat out, well I had too as I had eaten all the food I had in the house, including the tuck Nicola brought round on Tuesday.

I walked down to the Bear expecting to order a leak and Stilton pie, which is fabulous, but when I read the menu it was all Indian cuisine, not that its bad, but I was a bit disappointed. This is another establishment that must have changed whilst I was away . Bradford on Avon already has a couple of Indian, two Chinese takeaways, and a Thai restaurant, so we are fully catered for the delights of orient.

The Bear used to be a traditional beer and pie pub, and it’s really sad to have lost that.

Anyway, I was sitting at the table sipping my beer ( leaving most of it to have with my meal) when a guy came out holding a carrier bag with my meal inside!! It was a bloody takeaway!!!.

I had to quickly down my beer and walk back to the cottage with my carrier bag swinging in my hand. As I had drunk so fast, when I hit the fresh air, that was it, blurred vision, head spinning, all the signs of intoxication.

I staggered along the pavement, trying to walk as fast as I could, so that my food didn’t get cold. It didn’t help that I was hungry, and had drunk alcohol on an empty stomach, but eventually I got home, and had just enough strength to open the container. If only I had looked at the sign outside the pub, it used to say “Ale, cider and pies” now it read ” Ale, cider and curry house”

It pays to be more observant these days.

7th November 2018

Today is the start of flooring, so with a crowbar in hand I tore up the first two rows of the old boards. I wanted to extend the new floor into the top landing, but the joists were going in the opposite direction. Not only that, but they were not level with the joists in the bedroom, this meant a lot of new joists, and general re-levelling to match the rest.

There is a lot of new pipe work to consider, and it scares the shit out of me that I might hit one fixing the boards down.

I had a lunch date with my old school friend Rob Derrick. We had decided to go to an Indian restaurant near the Abby. I could taste the Dosa Masala, it was one of the things I had missed (along with beans on toast) living in America.

As we walked towards the door, the anticipation was overpowering, but the place was closed.

It was Diwali, doh! I hadn’t remembered that, so as the rain beat down, we made the decision to go to The Green Rocket for a wonderful vegetarian meal.

Rob has always got me into trouble, if it hasn’t been getting lost in a cave network, it has involve falling out of a boat at the weir at Pultney Bridge. My younger days were dominated by crazy antics that have nearly got us both killed, it was a wonder we survived.

When I have told these stories to Kelli it is known as the “Rob Derrick adventures”, and it seems that we were like two peas in a pod, I can see that now.

We still have the childlike attitude, albeit with less agility, but we have a good laugh.

6th November 2018

Nicola turned up at 9.00 with her paint tray and roller in hand. She works at an amazing pace, and whilst I was off dumping rubbish and getting more paint, she had the first coat done. I think she runs on Duracell batteries, by 3.00 it was all finished leaving me with the ceiling to do.

It was the mid-term elections in the US and tension was running high with the pundits making all kinds of predictions.

Kelli and Greer eagerly cast their vote, so America is safe.

5th November 2018

Arrived at the cottage bright and early just in case someone might turn up.

I was expecting Wayne who was due to replace the old woodwork on the outside of the porch, but his record of timekeeping leaves a lot to be desired. I had to chase him to replace the guttering at the front of the house, so my expectations of him turning up was pretty low.

I had a message from Andy giving me a time when he would turn up, so I knew he would be late.

I had my list of things to do and materials I had to purchase, so as soon as Andy had done his bit to get the hot water and central heating working, I set off for Wickes.

The plan this week was to finish the small bedroom. I had started the painting, but I needed to tidy up the plastering, then I could lay the new floorboards.

I worked outside until it got dark cutting up the door liner for the utility space. That was fitted and ready for painting tomorrow.

I set out the floorboards to get acclimated, and ticked off my successes on my job list.

I had an email from Wayne apologising for not turning up, he put it down to thinking it was December. I am used to the smell of bull, and it is amazing the anything happens on time. I mentioned it to my sister who recently had some work done, and her tradesmen were there at 7.00 every morning, and worked a full day.

There is this casual approach to work, but when you are paying a day rate, I want my pint of blood. I now understand why the supervisors I saw in India carried sticks to entice their workers to, work.

Now where to get some sticks!

4th November 2018

Drove down to Damian’s to swap the cars over. I had asked him to make sure the battery was okay, after a couple of months standing idle, who knows what could happen?

Damian is not good at communication, emails are unanswered for days, therefore I was hoping everything was good.

Fortunately the Shogun started immediately, so the boy had come good.

Kelli had taken all her Christmas things into the store, and rearranged, even repainted some drawer fronts as she went.

Then something happened, the drill she was using to insert a screw slipped, and caught her finger, giving her a nasty cut.

I felt bad, that should have been me, I should have cut my finger, because I wouldn’t have made half the fuss that she did ( because I’m a man!!) I would have wrapped an old rag round the wound and carried on.

Kelli’s pain threshold is not very high, and I tease her about it regularly, but she reminds me that she gave birth to two babies the size of pumpkins, and that usually shuts me up. Gee, I bet people heard her swearing in Grand Rapids.

3rd November 2018

Drove up to the cottage to look over what had been done whilst I was away. According to my sister there had been a lot of flies buzzing around that she had dealt with, so I was eager to see if any remained.

I did find about ten flies congregating around the roof lights, so quickly got rid of those little buggers.

Both the bedrooms had been plastered but not as well as I had liked (one of the disadvantages of not being on site I guess). There was not a particularly good finishing point to the floor for the size of skirting I have been using. Also there was no hot water. So I was straight on the phone to Andy who promised to get things sorted out on Monday.

Whilst I was there I decided to put some paint on the walls. The back bedroom does not get a lot of sun in the afternoon, so trying to apply a light colour on the wall on top of the priming coat was really difficult to see. I plugged in my work light, and that didn’t work either. I was starting to think things were conspiring against me, so I washed out the rollers and brushes and called it a day.

Although it was not very productive, it reoriented me. It was still a mess, the dust still falls on everything, the upstairs have been revitalised and it will look great.