Another Lifetime to go

19th April 2018

The cottage was full of plasterers slopping the pink stuff about, I don’t know what a collective of plasterers are called, maybe a “Tub of plasterers”. Each chap had a large plastic container, for which they would mix shit up with a giant food blender, that they would have to wash, then pass it to another, who, would go through the same procedure. However the process worked and soon most of the two rooms were transformed. This was an expensive day, three bodies, but at least most of the downstairs is finished.

There was not a lot for me to do at the cottage, and I didn’t want to get splashed with plaster, so I decided to finish Ryan and Louise’s pavilion that I had started last August. It could not be completed at that time because of a shortage of 11mm OSB. The sheets had been delivered a month after I was in the US, so the building was covered in a tarpaulin for the winter. As summer had hit the UK today it was perfect to do the job. At the end, the top of my head was like a radish, I was dripping like a tap, but at least I finished it. I still have doors to fit, but that is another day.

18th April 2018

I was beyond the valley of happiness as the walls turned pink as the plaster was applied.

It has been a long time, but it’s getting there, and more progress should be reached tomorrow. As I walked around, after the guys had left for the day, I noticed they had scribbled “Thursday ” on various walls. I have always known that certain tradesmen pace themselves to squeeze as much money as they can from their clients, and there is little that can be done to avoid it. I had set Friday as the deadline for completion of the plastering, and it looks like they will stretch it out till then.

On the whole I have been satisfied with the quality of the work the builders have done. I have been amazed at the cost of materials, nothing is cheap anymore. There has been a lot of soul searching, and comprising, but I wanted a finish that I would happy with, and hopefully I will achieve it.

Nicola and Colin came to help with cutting up a rotten fence covered with more ivy that had fallen into my next door neighbour’s garden. This led to four trips to the dump, for which I can now drive in my sleep, and where the prospect of driverless cars seem appealing.

17th April 2018

The insulated plasterboard was installed today, the last of the exposed stone was now covered, and now the place is ready to be plastered. This has been a long journey, and driven me to the limits of frustration, but the end is in sight.

I managed two trips to the tip to dump six more bags of ivy, soon all trace of the hedge will be gone.

On a lighter note, Kelli informed me that it was snowing in Holland, shame.

16th April 2018

What a day it has been, not so much with the cottage but rather the garden. Nicola and Colin came up to tackle the ivy-riddled fence. Years of neglect allowed the ivy to cover the wooden fence totally. It looked like a wall of twisted branches growing over a rotten wooden frame. By the time I got to the cottage they had removed half of the fence, and when I got back after taking plasterboard off-cuts most had been cut down. It was amazing to see the transformation, and that continued when my daughter-in-law, Louise join the trim team.

At the end of the afternoon there were piles of cuttings to go for recycling.

In the cottage the gas supply was being installed, and the water system tested. There were no pools of water, or exasperated plumbers running around, so I guess it was a success.

15th April 2018

A lot of news about the Syrian air attacks on the various cable channels this morning, mmm, another one hundred million dollars worth of cruise missiles fired off. I don’t know how I feel about it? my mind is just numb from everything bombarding me. Chemical weapons are evil, and the countries that develop them must be evil also.

The other thing clogging the channels is the book from James Comey that documents the encounter between him and Trump. That is guaranteed to distract people from the truth.

Of course Trump retaliated with a series of tweets slagging Comey off, this will go on for ages, and the more tweets, the more books will be sold.

14th April 2018

I met up with my old art school friend Rob for lunch in Bath. The Indian restaurant was good and the Masala Dosa was wonderful. Rob has been spiritual from his early twenties, and traveled to India every year to join and involve himself in the teachings of his chosen guru. He had opened my eyes to the scale of his pilgrimage, where numbers of up to a hundred thousand people congregate to listen to the words of one man. Rob carries his beliefs like a cloak, it protects him, and he doesn’t try to indoctrinate those close to him. His view is that all people should wear a cloak to keep their personal soul inside.

The weather was good so we walked by the canal, young children are always fascinated by him thinking him as Father Christmas. He always plays up to them by saying he is on holiday, because it is cold in the North Pole. They soak it up, and he is happy to keep the magic alive. His knowledge of the city is immense, he led me to places I had not been to before, and I have lived in Bath all my life.

Over coffee we talked about our emotional lives, our loves and relationships. I learned that he closed his mind to have any form of female relationships because of his intense jealousy, and obsessive behaviour that he knew he suffered. He decided that for his own sanity he would lead a different life, and find contentment.

13th April 2018

Received a photo of the inside of the cottage showing the progress made this week. I was impressed. Most of the plasterboard is up in the living room, and the floor had been floated. This was a great relief, and there is a strong possibility that the two downstairs rooms will be finished plastered by the end of next week.

To celebrate, I did bugger all, but start planning out the rebuilding of the bathroom.

12th April 2018

I had to call the pension provider to find out why my payment was less than last month. They told me it was due to an emergency tax code that I had been placed on. I had received notification of my new code, but not paid much attention to it before. I noticed that it was set at the forty percent level, so I called them. A pleasant Indian lady listened to my question, clicked around and said that it was based on my HM salary plus my pension, which was an enormous amount that I would have been happy to pay a high rate on. I explained the correct situation, and she adjusted it down to pauper level, and told me I should get an adjustment on my next payment, so I will be down to sucking steam & eating baked beans for the rest of the month.

11th April 2018

I had driven back to Barrington last night, mainly to give the builders time and space to get on and bloody finish the job. That meant I could relax and soothe my weary bones, wrong! I had volunteered to look after my grandson Ethan whilst Damian had a photo shoot with some super car magazine.

This meant an hour and a half drive from Barrington to Blissford to be there by 9.30am.

Ethan was in fine form running round having tantrums when he didn’t get his own way. We walked around the grounds, and then took him to a local county park to release even more energy. He would run into the sand area, and destroy any castles that the other children had built, then run off again. A few minutes later he would go back and wreck some more, but with such an angel face could you be mad at him?

I had such a great time, tantrum and all, I treasure this time because it doesn’t last for ever, and I am lucky to be able to do it, and hand him back at the end of the day.

10th April 2018

This is big grunt day, twenty three sheets of plasterboard and twenty five bags of floor levelling compound was to be delivered today.

Fortunately not at the same time.

Nicola and her fiancé Colin drove up to help me. Colin is between jobs as a contract CAD Engineer, so unfortunately for him, got roped into the job.

The first truck arrived about 11.00am so we set about the task. The standard and insulated board were relatively easy, but the soundproof boards were missed off because they had run out of stock. “The system said we had them in stock” was the response, but they had 15mm, so they sent them.

THEY WERE BITCHING HEAVY, poor Colin was in really bad shape, and on the last board he almost collapsed, I had to take over quickly in case he damaged the corner of the board when he fell. I felt bad walking over him as he lay on the ground gasping, but the show must go on!

I had notification that my flooring levelling stud was on the move from Chippenham, and I was able to track progress. I didn’t realise that there were other stops on route, it was going all over the place, and I was shouting at the phone trying to it it back on track.

Eventually it arrived, so with weary muscles we commenced the shifting of the bags up the slope. Having more bodies made the job easier, and relatively quick.

Once that was done I bid farewell to my two helpers and they set off back home. Poor Colin, I felt bad putting him through that, but praised him for the effort he put in.

I think that plaster board carrying should be included in the Olympics as a team relay, that would sort out the men from the boys, just running round a track is for Jessies!