Another Lifetime to go

20th May 2018

Drove down to Swanage to see my friend Martin who was on holiday. I drove to the campsite and saw his black Hummer lurking in the corner of the field.

I hadn’t seen him since Christmas, so the catch up was great. It also gave me a chance to take the Jag out for a run. Martin is suffering from the results of his fall last year. He had numbness in his leg, but recently there have been problems with his shoulders. After five hours listening to his ailments and his anger at society, the drive back was very relaxing.

19th May 2018

I headed back up to the cottage early, I wanted to start all the extra woodwork before Andy arrived. I planned to spend four hours working then take the faulty radiator to The Radiator Company shop in Bath.

Before I left I asked to remind me what the problem was with the adapter. Andy explained that the thread was burred, like it had been used before, so with the adapter in hand I proceeded to fit the part without any resistance. Andy looked shocked, I was relieved, I avoided an embarrassing scene at the shop. I think Andy forgot that the threads in the radiator is reversed. Panic over, I could work on.

The tiling started, and quite quickly the grey wall was transformed by grey tiles into another grey wall, although much better quality.

I left early, and let Andy carry on.

18th May 2018

“We have a problem” Andy proclaimed, ” I’m not sure how the soil pipe will match up with the new toilet position” my heart dropped, hit the soil pipe, down through the sewer and into the shit heap.

He went off to the plumbing supplies get some fittings, and I took a load of crap to the tip.

Eventually he came back with a bag of bits.

He explained that he didn’t want to touch the soil pipe in the ground, so any fittings had to be above that. The only solution was to raise the floor higher in the utility area. So more wood was purchased, and another frame built.

This was not ideal, but having to deal with the unexpected is what I’m used to.

I left the cottage and headed back to Barrington, Andy was going to start the tiling on Saturday, I think he was looking forward to do that as it was a change, and I wanted to see the result.

17th May 2018

Nicola and Colin came to up to help me again. Nicola tackled the garden turning it from a weed infested nightmare into a weedless nightmare. The garden is another project, but at least it looks a lot more presentable.

Colin was helping me fit battens to the wall for more plasterboard. Although the walls were not bad I wanted to get the whole wall as straight and true as possible. After several hours of alignment and tweaks we finally got it looking good.

The ceiling in the main bathroom area was plastered, it was a relief to see that done. I kept out of the way, I wanted to experience delight at seeing it transformed. Yes my life is filled with even the most trivial pleasures.

It was one of those days when even the simplest things make me laugh.

I had to trim a sheet of flooring chipboard, I got my circular saw from the shed, set up a guide to give a true cut, clamping everything down on my Black & Decker workmate.

I switched on the saw, and slowly started the cut. It was perfect, on the line, and as the off-cut fell away so did part of my workmate.

There is very little of the original top is left, an edge, a corner all have disappeared, it is a sad and sorry sight.

16th May 2018

The day of the red fridge freezer had arrived.

“You’re going to hate me for this” I said pointing to the slope.

“That’s okay, we’re used to difficult deliveries” replied the youngest lad, however the bravado changed halfway up the path. The sap was raising, and inside I was smiling, “those youngsters think they know it all.”

Everything that had been ordered had been delivered, so again the place looks like a warehouse.

All this heavy moving and lifting is making me loose weight, I have been contemplating punching another hole in my belt, to avoid exposing my peachy parts to unprepared souls.

Andy finally got round to fitting the plasterboard to part of the long wall, this will enable him to start plastering the ceiling.

The evening was spent at the Mint Rooms with Abbot and Costello, always a great time even though only half the gang could make it.

15th May 2018

What a terrible night, I could not sleep with my head full of outstanding issues and conflicts.

It’s like you are stuck in glue, not able to concentrate, the night is long when you are watching the time change. I felt I was not in control, the budget was running close to the line, and the bathroom still had to be finished.

In the early hours I had to resolve something.

I wanted the bathroom ceiling plastered so that it could be painted ready for the second fix electrics. Unfortunately that couldn’t be done until the walls were boarded out. Andy was busy with the pipe work, so that for him was the priority.

This was a bad day, there are some things I can do on my own, but it is difficult for two people working in such a confined space, so often my work can only start when Andy finishes for the day.

I resigned myself that maybe tomorrow it will be back on track

14th May 2018

I had high hopes for the day. Firstly a man came to make the templates for the kitchen. He was due at 8.00am which meant an early start, again. Armed with sheets of thin MDF he set about cutting and trimming them into accurate sized patterns. I was impressed that he used a jigsaw upside down, not something I was keen to try, but the cut lines were perfectly straight.

Next I wanted to get rid of the growing pile of rubbish, so the Shogun was loaded up to the roof.

Andy didn’t fit the shower tray on Sunday like he said he would, so that was the first disappointment of the day.

Progress has been slipping every day, and it looks unlikely that the bathroom will be finished before I leave for the US.

I did push Andy to get the tray bedded before the end of the day.

This was really difficult to do, there was a bed of cement that the tray had be be lowered on to. Fortunately Andy brought along some suction handles to help with the task. I felt my neck swell up like a bullfrog as I took the strain. The best antidote for this is swearing, really bad words, and very loud, it was all over very quickly, and after a bit of shuffling it was done.

13th May 2018

Breakfast outside is a rare and pleasant experience that makes even toast taste better.

The badgers kept away, therefore Nicola and Colin had an undisturbed night sleep. I have slept through most of it which is a blessing, I don’t think the villagers could tolerate three fully grown adults chasing a creature round the garden like crazy Druids. I therefore leave it to the experts.

12th May 2018

I drove up to Cribbs Causeway to collect the tiles for the bathroom, this was a pleasant drive up the M5, if there is such a thing, but different from the usual route.

The tiles were six hundred by three hundred porcelain slabs that weighed a ton. The poor Shogun, it it could talk would call me every name under the sun, as the boxes on tiles were loaded into the back, the floor got closer to the ground.

As I made my way along the M4 I could see the fuel level dropping, as long as the wheels didn’t drop off I would make it.

I stopped off a Interior Harmony as promised, and the new extractor was ordered.

I tried to pick a route back to the cottage that didn’t have too many hills, of course as soon as I was back I had to carry the tiles up the slope.

Even using the green trolley was hard trying to pull it with two packs in it made the sap rise.

Andy wasn’t there to help either, he didn’t arrive until I had finished the heavy lifting.

By the time he fitted the cement board to the floor there wasn’t time to mix the cement and bed down the shower tray. He said he would get a friend to help him on Sunday, mmm let’s see if that happens.

11th May 2018

Colin the installer was finishing installing the dishwasher, and moved on to the fit the extractor hood. He then informed me that the socket position interfered with the position of the hood. Because of the low ceiling it had to be fitted up against it, then the fixing screws couldn’t be accessed. It was a bad morning.

This was the first time I had seen the product, it was not shown on the plan, and it was quite large, and if fitted would have clashed with the spotlight positions. That was a drag, and meant drastic phone calls back to the showroom to find an alternative. Poor Leroy, he normally talks at a hundred miles an hour, but this took him supersonic. I agree to stop off at the showroom the next morning to confirm the other product.

I was really hoping to have the shower tray laid and settled by the close of play, but that wasn’t going to happen, Andy said he would drop round on Saturday afternoon, once his hangover had cleared.