Another Lifetime to go

30th May 2018

The heat hit me like punch in the face. There was an important job that had to be done in the morning.

Since the last extended trip Steve Kubica and his wife Jackie had re-located to Saugatuck, and they had furniture that they wanted to get rid of. Steve had contacted Kelli to see if she wanted a four-poster queen size bed, and never to miss an opportunity, she grabbed it.

The plan was to replace the bed in Greer’s room, but first we had to get it back.

That was solved by lashing it on to Steve’s truck and driving in convoy back to Kelli’s.

You never can imagine the size of something until you squeeze it into a small area. Greer can now open her bedroom door and fall into bed.

29th May 2018

“We’ll take the Roller” Damian said, as the doors to the garage slowly opened, out slid the black and chrome beast of a car. It was 4am and the crunching of the gravel under the enormous wheels was ear shattering. The drive to Heathrow was a magic carpet ride.

“It’s a shame it’s terminal 3 and not 5″ he said ” “5 is best suited for an arrival in a Rolls, 3 is okay for a Skoda” Damian was always the snob.

So another US adventure begins, two months of sun and furniture re-purposing, and of course a wedding to finalise.

The flight was smooth, but the plane was full.

It arrived in Chicago thirty minutes early but

It landed in the next state, and it trundled for ever, stopping almost exact at the scheduled time. There were no queues at the border check, and the lady officer did not say a word just stamped the passport and moved me on. I bet she’s a riot at home.

Going though the security for the domestic flight was interesting, apart from noticing that I had socks of different colours, I had the full frontal pat down. This was because there was a small coin left in my pocket. The officer explained what he was going to do, which made me feel faint, I wish I had the courage to scream out loud.

After the security fore play, I had to find my belongings deposited in several plastic tray, and put my shoes back on. I think there might be a federal law about odd socks, something about being a communist, but by this time I didn’t give a shit, and settled down to wait for the next flight to Grand Rapids.

Minding my own business, reading my book, I was aware of a noisy African American family sitting close.

They obviously liked their fast food, as the kids were larger than the parents. Anyway, the mother was laughing hysterically at some on-line thing, then came over and plonked her ample posterior on the seat next to me where my shoulder bag was placed. She didn’t even notice when I pulled it away. Eventually the call of the Big Mac lured them away.

I landed at Grand Rapids just after five, eyes a bit sore, but Kelli, with her glowing teeth was there to meet me.

28th May 2018

“You are now eligible to check-in” read the message on my phone. I clicked on the page and followed the instructions. It led me through all the hazard materials, to a new thing where I had to scan my passport. Having successfully done all that, and hit the “Boarding Pass” button, I was met with

” Server down, please try later.”

I tried many times later, but no joy. What’s the bloody point, technology sucks.

When I first travelled to the US you waited in line, showed your passport, they gave you your boarding pass, took your luggage, and off you went. Now you have to queue for a terminal, then you have to queue for the bag drop, so where is the efficiency in that?

27th May 2018

I had one last thing to do at the cottage before leaving for the US. I wanted to move my Eames lounge chair and Noguchi coffee table there.

I asked Ryan to help, because that glass top is really heavy. The rain had stopped, so we staggered up the slope gingerly, carrying the top. The steps were a challenge with a lot of strain on my knees, but we got it there.

I had emailed Andy with the job list of things to complete whilst I was away, and several family monitors to check what had been done. With all that in place I locked the place up and drove back to Barrington.

26th May 2018

It was the search for paint day. I had used my Dulux Visualizer to select two colours, so all I had to do was find a store that supplied Dulux paint. That was not easy, they were not standard colours so had to be mixed. I drove round most of Yeovil visiting the big well known superstores, but no one could mix these colours. Nicola texted that there was a place in Ilminster that was a Dulux specialist, so I drove back to give it a try.

As I pulled into the car park I wasn’t full of optimism, and walking into the shop I had even less. However, as I moved thought this emporium of tat, right at the back I came across the paint mixing machine.

I looked around for help, and out of the gloom came this man with a friendly smile. I explained what colours I wanted, and he walked back towards the machine. “I don’t think I’ve mixed those colours before” and proceeded to tap the code numbers into the keyboard. Low and behold the descriptions came up, and we we ready to mix paint.

I was amazed and delighted to find this helpful person in a small town, with a system far more up to date than the large outlets.

25th May Friday

The kitchen was officially finished, signed off, completed. The Corian boys were in to fit the modified splash back, and that was the last job on the list.

I must say that after five months it is a big relief to see it completed. I now have to get to grips with the appliances, but as long as I can boil the kettle (if I can find it) I will be sorted.

The final part of the downstairs renovation is the bathroom and lobby which I hope will be finished whilst I’m away in the US, and Nicola has agreed to paint it.

Andy wasn’t in today, he was heading for a local music festival.

I didn’t realise how much this project has taken out of me. A number of my friends had said that I looked thinner, and my jeans began to feel a little slack, so I decided to check it out. I went to a case and found a pair of cords that last fitted me when I had the flu, I slipped them on, and they fitted perfectly. I’m not sure the reason, maybe all the times I’ve been carrying stuff up and down that damned slope, missing meals, or more stress than I thought, but in a week I will be with Kelli sharing all her vegan food, so not much chance of putting on much weight there then.

24th May 2018

The kitchen needed to be finished. Gavin was already at work when I got to the cottage. I had to borrow Ryan’s car to get a sheet of plasterboard from Wickes.(I must have spent a bloody fortune there)

He had fitted all the spotlights in the bathroom, and was busy with the extractor fan. He is very focused, he wanted to complete all the appliances and the under cabinet lighting.

His attention to detail was great, and would take care to level all the sockets and switches perfectly. Even setting the hob required fine tuning, until he was satisfied.

Andy sloped in a bit later, he had some personal problems so was a bit distracted. He completed the sink and tap installation, and was obviously not in the zone. He had to buy two flexible hoses to plumb in the tap, eventually it all came together.

Then there was the grand switch-on, and wow, it looked great. Gavin was chuffed as he convinced me to do it.

I spent time fitting the toilet support frame. This was a floor mounted unit that had some “beasts” of fixing screws holding it down, but it was more important to seal the soil pipe.

I started to build a wooded frame around it, although the frame felt robust, I wanted a belt and braces solution to tie it to the walls.

23rd May 2018

Andy finished the tiling, it has taken twice as long as his estimate, but now it’s done.

I finished the stud walls using up as much as the off-cuts as I could. I had be be realistic, we weren’t going to get the plastering done, so I backed off.

I contacted Colin the Corian man, I had noticed that the splash-back they supplied was too short, so I wanted to let him know before he came back to fit it on Friday.

I treated myself to a lunch and a glass of cider. It is many, many years since I have drunk cider, it used to be the drink of choice when I was a youngster. I staggered back up the hill, in no fit state to do much in the sweltering heat.

22nd May 2018

Tiling continued, the aim today was the shower end, and getting all the water pipes in the right place.

My job was to plasterboard the walls, and start on the stud walls of the toilet and utility space. I was absolutely exhausted as the evening closed in, but it was a good day with far more achieved than I thought.

Louise had dinner waiting for me which was a blessing.

Colin the installer arrived to fit the new extractor.

28th May 2018

I was driving to Bristol to get a service for the Jag when I had a phone call from Andy

“The worktops are here” I could sense the panic in his voice.

I told him that the guys delivering it would also fit it, I could sense the relief.

This was something I was not expecting, and there was questions about the splashback.

I said I would be there as soon as I could, but that was only if there was a courtesy car available. There were no courtesy cars available, so I rebooked the service and drove back. By the time I got there the tops had been fixed and bonded. They were just ready to work on the joint and make it “invisible “.

As there was problems with the specified extractor it was returned, and I was still waiting for the replacement. A quick call to Leroy at Schmidt sent him off into a tailspin. Within forty minutes he was staggering up the slope with a box half the size of my small bedroom. Fifty apologies later I gathered that Linda had arranged the tops, but as she was on holiday she didn’t tell anyone. So until the unit could be fitted there was nothing the fitters could do with the splashback, so they left.

Leroy finally arranged their own fitter to do it mid week. We removed it from the box, and it was definitely smaller than the previous one, so roll on the installation.

Andy continued to do the tiling, made difficult by the number he had to cut.