Author: peterb51

25th August 2017

I rushed around to the van rental place, and with the two hundred pounds sucked out of my account, I set about my plan for the day.

I made a trip to the cottage with more stuff, and stopped off at the Lock Inn Cafe for breakfast.

I had chosen a vegetarian option, which was enormous. If there was a sell-by date for potatoes, then that was the reason why I had so many on the plate.

The main reason I had the van was to collect my chairs from HM. It was quite a pleasant experience, everyone knew where they were, and helped me de-box them. They all fitted into the van perfectly, and I was only exposed to less than half an hour of Portal Mill.

Today was my first State Pension payment day, I could hear the faint thud, as the cheque hit the floor of my account, but every little helps.

In the evening, I joined Ryan, Louise, Amilie and Marlo at Wagamama’s in Trowbridge, for a meal to celebrate Amilie’s great exam results. 

Trowbridge has suffered from a decline in recent years, but a new cinema, and food village is an attempt to kick some life back into the place. My attempt at ordering a meal resulted in a Japanese version of soup in a basket, boy, I had to work quickly on that one.

24th August 2017

Today was turmoil Arizona. First my broadband and phone was transferred, which meant my alarm didn’t switch on as usual, meaning I over-slept. So now nothing worked, my normal life thrown into confusion. As I had packed everything, I couldn’t make any breakfast.

However I drove to my local cafe, and have a wonderful breakfast, and could catch-up on my e-mails.

I went to the cottage, with my router and phone and plugged everything in, but it didn’t work, there was no electric. I immediately rang British Gas (my supplier) to find out the problem.

It was a week or so that the supply was switched over from N power, so I wondered if there was some issue with the transfer.

They assured me everything was fine. 

The Meter in the cottage had been changed to a pre-payment unit, by the tenant, and unknown to me. I wanted both the Gas and Electric meters changed to “smart” meters, but until that could be scheduled,I would have to use the pre-payment method.

Anyway, the British Gas man said, that I would need to add at least ten pounds to the key, and then it should work okay, and I did, and it worked, ya for me.

I also had the boiler serviced, met with Gill to give her the copies of her hypnotherapy CD’s that she wanted. After listening again to her recorded sessions I feel confident that I could actually fit a gastric band, which, I thought, was a very tight belt.

I had to rent a van to collect my Eames plastic chairs that were in Portal Mill waiting for me.

There was a new methods of renting vehicles that I was unaware of, including web sites for license sharing, and code words, all seemed very complex to me. ” There is also a two hundred pounds deposit in case you decide to not return the vehicle” I did smile to myself at the thought of absconding with this little van and leaving behind my Jag, tempting? But no chance.

23rd August 2017

Back to the construction site. I was determined to complete the roof, but that meant lifting the heavy boards up to the top of the building. Luckily Ryan was on hand to give me a lift.

I was suprised how square it was considering what it was made from. It took the whole day pissing about with these sheets, which do not slide very easily. At about seven, Louise called out that food was on the table, I never hesitate when the word food is mensioned, so it was a good point to stop for the day.

Earlier I had had a site meeting at the cottage with the Kichen/Bathroom person who had brought his builder and Electician to look at the work required. The Electician was first to inhale through his teeth when he jnspected the wiring. ” All this will need replacing” he said with a look of confidence, “These old houses”. Then the builder started looking at walls and floors, rubbing his chin. ” This isn’t going to be easy, the floors are at different levels so that will have to be special” to me that means expensive.

The consensus was to remove all the ceilings, it would make the rewiring a lot easier, and they were crappy ceilings anyway.

We agreed that a structural Engineer would need to look over the ideas before they would commit to quotation.

22nd August 2017

Today was the second coffee meeting of my old classmates from the Bath Art School 61 to 66.

I had arranged to meet at The Boston Tea Party in Alfred Street in Bath, a cool place with plenty of room.

I was the first to arrive, followed by Rob (Donks) and then Carol. It was good to see Donks again, it was about five years ago that we last met, and since then he has built a business of producing chalk board signs for pubs and cafes. He still keeps his hand in with painting, and is quite good at it.

We were waiting around for Maggie and Tom, who both said they would be there.

Eventually Carol had a message from Maggie to say they had both waited and had decided to call it a day, it transpired that both had waited at the Kingmead Square branch, not knowing there was another, better luck next time.

I had to go to the bank to get a certified bank statement to send to Friends Life before they would pay my pension. What a crock of shit that has been. All my other providers have accepted the details I had supplied, but not Friends Life.

I had a day off from Pavilion building, which was a bit of relief, it’s been quite exhausting work.

21st August 2017

I can never have enough pencils, when I’m working outside, they disappear. I often find two lodged behind my ear, other times, they are no longer in this dimension.

It is the same with tools, they are never in the place I need them to be, rather they are where I used them last.

Louise, suggested I have a tool belt, I’ve tried that, doesn’t work, I could have four around my waist, and they would always be empty. I start off with the best intentions, but quite quickly it descends into anarchy. 

It begins with moving a step ladder, trying to find a bit of level ground, finding a firm footing, only it starts sinking the moment I put any weight on it. It never sinks evenly, often it lists to port, so I jumped off cursing, pulling out the legs along with a clod of earth. Soon the site resembles the Somme, with pits full of rain water. The ladder is gradually losing the plastic end caps that are buried somewhere in the battlefield.

God I hate cleaning. I had two cleaning projects to do today, one was wash the floor, the other to clean the cooker. Fortunately, I hadn’t got the cooker in a real bad state, so I purchased some toxic materials and set to work. The grill pan was the worst, it required a two day soak in something nasty. The trouble is once the cooker is done, I darn’t use it. That has been the problem with packing, the only thing I haven’t packed is the kettle. This makes my meal options down to, cold water, warm water, hot water or steam.

20th August 2017

Well it hadn’t rained for at least twenty-four hours, so I decided to cut the grass at the cottage.

A lot of work needs to be done to make it attractive again. I’m trying not to get distracted, the garden will have to wait.

The weather turned crappy again, so it restricted what I could do to the pavilion.

I am desperate to leave the build weather proof before I leave. This is playing on my mind, but hopefully I will at least get the roof felted.

This project has been a challenge, I have tried to use as much of the pallets as I can, even the nails, although I have had to use some new wood for door frames for uniformity.

I can’t believe how much crap I have aquired in five years, far too much for one person. I have purged my clothes, and put all my work shirts in the clothing bank, I won’t need those again.

The only clothes I’m taking to the US are flannel shirts, and sweat shirts. I will be experiencing the autumn and the beginning of winter, so I need to be prepared.

I am looking forward to seeing the colours of the fall, I have been in Michigan at that time before and it is breathtaking. I will be spending  thanksgiving, and even my birthday away, so a lot of new things happening.

19th August 2017

Moved out most of my big pieces of furniture, so all I have are a few basic things and a load of clothes to sort.

The place looks like it’s been burgled, maybe I’ll get some aid parachuted in courtesy of Bono.

This is my last day of dog sitting, and to celebrate I burnt the rice again, damn it!

I fitted some cladding panels on the pavilion, so it’s started to look a bit more realistic.

Ryan, and family arrived back about five, they were glad to be back, and amazed at the progress. I forgot to mention the few times the saucepans boiled dry, and the elbow grease I laboured to get them shiny again. The beer I had drunk, and Dexter’s ginger biscuits I had eaten.

So back to the empty rental, for more packing and cleaning.

18th August 2017

I hate digital magazines. I like nothing more than flipping the pages of a glossy, but I also hoard them. I don’t like to throw them away, so a small stack slowly build into tall stacks, then multiple stacks, then suddenly they start to cut out the light.

Today I had to say goodbye to my magazine mountains and take the to the recycling place.

I loaded them into the back of the car, and headed to the city dump. “Closed on Fridays” the sign on the gate stated, so that put an end to that. Where else could I take them? I remembered that the local supermarket had recycling pods, I’ll Take them there.

Just as I got there, the heavens opened directly above the recycling pods. A perfect dark cloud full of thick rain, hovered over me. Like a wimp I waited in the car, hoping that it would pass. Eventually all the windows misted up, so rather than being the subject of some perverted adult activity, I made a dash to the supermarket. My purchases could have been construed as some weird fetish field trip, with black plastic bags, black sticky tape and string. Stangely aware of the possibility, I lightened it a bit with some bananas, tomatoes and cucumbers. I think I got away with it.

The end of crappy day was heightened by dinner with Helen R. We went to the Bunch of Grapes in Bradford on Avon. I had trout, my first bite contained a load of bones. I had a dilemma, should I choke to death like a gentleman would, or should I spit it out as if nothing had happened. I decided the latter, I think I got away with it. Death has a habit of being a dampener on an evening.

17th August

I had been really lucky with the weather, but today the forecast was not good. However, I was sharp enough to collect a tarpaulin that I had found in my shed, thinking ahead.

I managed to fit the front roof section, and the frame for the doors and window.

I could not fit the OSB to the roof panels because they were just too heavy, I planned to get Ryan to help me when he got back.

I stretched the tarpaulin over the roof section in preparation for the deluge.

Almost immediately it started to rain. I sat drink a beer, smugly thinking to myself, how good was I.

The rain got harder and harder, and I noticed that pockets of water were trapped in the roof sections. I thought “I’ll go and just push the water off” so that is what I tried.

I grabbed a broom and headed out into the storm. I was then aware that the bloody tarpaulin was leaking! How does a tarpaulin leak? Does it have a shelf-life?

 So, I was under a tarpaulin in the pouring rain, getting wetter than if I just stood in the open. It was a bit depressing.

Progress before Big G decided to test me.

16th August 2017

The timber delivery was today. Sheets of OSB and lengths of rough- cut timber ready to make some real progress.

The first job is to move everything into the back garden, ” Shit! Those boards are heavy” and they just got heavier as I went back for the next. 

I was able to lay the floor panels and check the squareness, which was quite good. For once I was ahead of my schedule. I was able to complete the rear roof section, hurrah!

Flooring down.

Rear roof section complete.

Time for another beer.👍