A hard days night

Not much happened over the weekend for me to talk about but I suppose now that I’ve logged in, I’ll have a go. It’s been a hard couple of days & night and we’ve been working like a dog. Phil really struggled to lay the tiles as his tennis elbow was really killing him. I did my bit by doing the grouting but it’s the laying and cutting which is the most difficult.

The tiling of the kitchen floor wasn’t straight forward and when we took off the skirting board we found out that we had an infestation of silver fish. I rushed out to get some stuff to spray. I squealed and shivered when I saw them falling on the new tiles but I was just so relieved that we didn’t find any mice. Emma the tenant living here before Mr & Mrs Dutta had us get out Rentakill on 3 occasions and when she left she told us that the mice were still there. Silver fish I can live with but a mice infestation would really be the last straw.

With half the kitchen missing and the white goods living in the bedroom we still are really in a mess. After a couple of visits to Currys & Comet and some online research, Phil ordered us a new fridge freezer and a washer dryer which should be delivered sometime this week. To save space and gain an extra cupboard we’ve decided we can live with a 2 ring hot plate and a combination microwave oven, which we have yet to order. If everything goes to plan then we should get the kitchen finished by the end of the week and we can then start to think about the bathroom.

Getting on the internet is the bain of my life during the week but access at the weekend is nigh on impossible. Phil nearly lost the will to live when he was trying to order the hotplate and in the end he gave up and switched off. Maybe this week we shall get the internet and TV sorted once and for all. Jimmy phoned Phil and suggested BT Vision and Phil did started ordering this online but he’s worried that we still need an aerial so today I shall phone the order line and try and speak to a human.

On Saturday night we met up with David & Pat for a buffet meal at Red Hot in the theatre district. I was going to write David our posh plumber but now he’s a friend as well as our plumber. Phil & I enjoyed our lunch at Hot Chilli a month or so back but I wouldn’t go back there to eat in the evening. The place was heaving and the staff just couldn’t cope. David & Pat are good company though and we had a fun evening although I can’t quite believe I actually invited them back to the kebab flat for coffee. Pat said she didn’t think the flat was as bad as I’d made out but it was dark and plus also I think she was being kind. I took my camera and got David and Phil and Phil took a photo of me and Pat but I look really crap and can’t bring myself to post the picture. It’s the first time I’ve made any effort with my appearance in ages and I thought I looked alright but obviously not. The camera never lies.

I think I shall spend most of this week, well certainly Monday, Tuesday & Wednesday waiting in for deliveries and installation people. This morning I have Glenn from Stony Stratford Aerials who is coming out to give us some advice on aerials and communication options in general. Tomorrow I have Emma coming in the morning for coffee and to catch up on gossip about our tenant and in the afternoon I have got the fridge/freezer being delivered. I have also got Virgin Media bringing some sort of equipment which will give Phil a few extra channels on the TV. I’m not sure which channels and how many extra we will get but hopefully it will be enough to stop him moaning.

Yesterday we took the day off. Well sort of. Phil got up at 4.30am to watch the Grand Prix live from Japan. Thankfully he didn’t wake me and I didn’t get up until 6.30pm which was still way too early considering our late night. Phil picked up Georgina from her house and drove to his mum and dad’s in Melton Mowbray for lunch. With a day to myself, I spent the morning catching up on paperwork and tidying the kebab flat. Harriet popped in after she picked up her holiday photographs from Boots. As usual she was moaning about her dad, about everything and nothing in particular. I told her it could be worse, she could be living in the kebab flat and she agreed.

In the afternoon I took myself off to David Lloyd and had a lovely swim in the outside pool. It was such a beautiful day and apart from one other person I had the pool to myself. It is now winter season and kids aren’t allowed in the outside pool so that made my swim even more enjoyable. After my swim I had a steam and a Jacuzzi finishing off with a nice long shower. Although we have been in residence for 16 nights I still don’t like using the shower here. I don’t know why because ironically the shower is much more powerful that the all singing bath-cum Jacuzzi at the cul-de-sac and we have plenty of hot water. So far I have had 2 showers and one hair wash and that was only because I couldn’t be arsed to drive to David Lloyd. Perhaps it will get easier when we makeover the bathroom???

Phil came back from his mum’s last night with a pile of magazines that his mum always keeps for me and a plated roast lamb dinner. She is so sweet and thoughtful and she knows I love her roast lamb, it’s my favourite roast. Actually it’s a good job really because without the cooker I can’t cook anything fresh. With the food issue sorted, I really need to get on top of the washing situation. I was going to get Phil to take a bag of washing for his mum to do but thought this was too cheeky so I stopped myself. It’s too expensive to take stuff for laundering at the dry cleaners so I think this when I go to the housing office in Netherfield to get a spare key entry fob this afternoon, I shall pay a visit to the launderette across the way. It’s been many years since I have been in a launderette, I seem to remember you need to take your own powder and need plenty of change??? I shall blog about the experience tomorrow because I have a feeling that it won’t be a good one. Can life get any better?