Phil got home from Somerset just before 7.30pm on Friday evening, both exhausted and hyper after the long drive. He dumped his stuff in the spare room, slipped into his blue pyjamas and was soon lying on the sofa with a glass of wine in his hand. I think he appreciated the bowl of Bombay mix by his side because the bowl was soon emptied. Unfortunately I was in the wide awake club very early on Saturday so Phil didn’t get a lie in. I took my tea back to bed though and we both read for a while before finally getting up.
Of course Phil was itching to go round and see the state of the flat. I think he thought that perhaps I had over exaggerated about the condition of the place but once he stepped inside, he could tell that I had been telling the truth. I finished off cleaning the kitchen cupboards and Phil started on the windows. The windows are so bad that I thought we would have to put in double glazed windows but Phil, ever conscious of the budget, thinks that we can get away with a good scrub, a sanding and a coat of primer & gloss, but I’m not so sure.
The good news is that the kitchen units aren’t as bad as we’d remembered and we going to be able to save the base units. This will save us a lot of time (and money). We finished up around midday and had just walked into the kebab flat when my mobile went. It was Ray, the plasterer, calling to say that he was sitting outside the flat in Oldbrook; he’d popped round on the off-chance that we would be working at the flat so that he could give us a quote. Phil said he’d go and meet him while I prepared the lunch. Ray did all the plastering in our Giffard Park house; he’s a bit of a rough diamond, smokes like a chimney and drinks gallons of white tea with 2 sugars. Phil agreed a price with him and Ray is going to come and Tuesday and re-plaster the kitchen, bathroom, lounge and hall ceilings. Knowing as Ray I do, I suspect he won’t turn up until Wednesday at the earliest and I’ll be very surprised if he manages to get all the work done before the weekend. I don’t mind much though, I hate painting newly plastered ceilings.
After lunch Phil zipped round to Steve & Jan’s to pick up a copy of Office so he could load it on his new computer. He also popped over to Jim’s to pickup a CD-Rom with Auto-Cad on; talk about scrounging, thanks Steve & Jim! Phil loaded on the new software and quickly got drawing up the flat. He had to do this so I can take a floor plan into B&Q on Tuesday as I have appointment with the kitchen designer. I am a little anxious about doing this by myself because normally Phil decides on what units we are having but I suppose because we are keeping the old base units it shouldn’t be too complicated.
After a quick trip to B&Q we went back to the flat and Phil got the 2 sofas out of the flat virtually by himself. I tried to help but they were very heavy and awkward and at one point I thought they were going to get stuck in the door frame. I meant to take a picture of all the rubbish outside, with the sofas added to the pile; it really does look like Steptoe’s yard. I just hope the council comes soon to collect it all. Harriet and Shane turned up in the afternoon with a can of beer for all of us. They had a good look round and agreed that the flat was in Harriet’s own words “minging”. Their arrival meant an enforced break and after they left we decided to down tools and call it a day. Saturday night was spent slumped in front of the telly, we were cream crackered.
On Sunday Phil met up with Georgina and they went to the cinema to see the new Pink Panther movie. They had limited time and I don’t this was their first choice of film but it was only movie that was just about to start. Meanwhile I did a viewing on the kebab flat. It was a couple looking for an investment property to rent out. It is their first venture in the buy to let market and I’m not sure they were that interested in our place. The guy asked me how much we would come down on the price and I said having dropped from £110k down to £95k, Phil wouldn’t negotiate. We have another viewing on Tuesday so we shall see what that brings.
I met up with Phil and we went to BathroomBits4u in Newport Pagnell. We quickly found a back-to-wall toilet, taps and a white bath which we think should fit in the flat. There are some good deals on bathrooms at B&Q but this place is much cheaper. Plus they will deliver for as little as £9.99. We didn’t order yesterday, deciding to wait until David gets the old bathroom suite out which hopefully he will do this week. Phil was starving so we went to The Giffard for lunch. Afterwards we didn’t much feel like going back to the flat to work so we decided to go home and chill out for the rest of the day.
And that was our weekend. I did my usual trick of waking up at 2am this morning and disturbing Phil. We’re didn’t really get back to sleep until just before the alarm went off which is always the way. I felt really sorry for poor Phil; he managed a bowl of weetabix before shuffling out of the front door just after 5am. He called me at quarter past 8 to say that he’d arrived safely. He’s not happy being away from home but he’s says he’s going to post a blog this week so I shall leave it to him to bring you his own tales of woe from Somerset. As for me, I can’t say that I’m really looking forward to the long week ahead. It’s going to be some hard graft and I feel weary before I even begin.
Photo’s to follow tonight.
Of course Phil was itching to go round and see the state of the flat. I think he thought that perhaps I had over exaggerated about the condition of the place but once he stepped inside, he could tell that I had been telling the truth. I finished off cleaning the kitchen cupboards and Phil started on the windows. The windows are so bad that I thought we would have to put in double glazed windows but Phil, ever conscious of the budget, thinks that we can get away with a good scrub, a sanding and a coat of primer & gloss, but I’m not so sure.
The good news is that the kitchen units aren’t as bad as we’d remembered and we going to be able to save the base units. This will save us a lot of time (and money). We finished up around midday and had just walked into the kebab flat when my mobile went. It was Ray, the plasterer, calling to say that he was sitting outside the flat in Oldbrook; he’d popped round on the off-chance that we would be working at the flat so that he could give us a quote. Phil said he’d go and meet him while I prepared the lunch. Ray did all the plastering in our Giffard Park house; he’s a bit of a rough diamond, smokes like a chimney and drinks gallons of white tea with 2 sugars. Phil agreed a price with him and Ray is going to come and Tuesday and re-plaster the kitchen, bathroom, lounge and hall ceilings. Knowing as Ray I do, I suspect he won’t turn up until Wednesday at the earliest and I’ll be very surprised if he manages to get all the work done before the weekend. I don’t mind much though, I hate painting newly plastered ceilings.
After lunch Phil zipped round to Steve & Jan’s to pick up a copy of Office so he could load it on his new computer. He also popped over to Jim’s to pickup a CD-Rom with Auto-Cad on; talk about scrounging, thanks Steve & Jim! Phil loaded on the new software and quickly got drawing up the flat. He had to do this so I can take a floor plan into B&Q on Tuesday as I have appointment with the kitchen designer. I am a little anxious about doing this by myself because normally Phil decides on what units we are having but I suppose because we are keeping the old base units it shouldn’t be too complicated.
After a quick trip to B&Q we went back to the flat and Phil got the 2 sofas out of the flat virtually by himself. I tried to help but they were very heavy and awkward and at one point I thought they were going to get stuck in the door frame. I meant to take a picture of all the rubbish outside, with the sofas added to the pile; it really does look like Steptoe’s yard. I just hope the council comes soon to collect it all. Harriet and Shane turned up in the afternoon with a can of beer for all of us. They had a good look round and agreed that the flat was in Harriet’s own words “minging”. Their arrival meant an enforced break and after they left we decided to down tools and call it a day. Saturday night was spent slumped in front of the telly, we were cream crackered.
On Sunday Phil met up with Georgina and they went to the cinema to see the new Pink Panther movie. They had limited time and I don’t this was their first choice of film but it was only movie that was just about to start. Meanwhile I did a viewing on the kebab flat. It was a couple looking for an investment property to rent out. It is their first venture in the buy to let market and I’m not sure they were that interested in our place. The guy asked me how much we would come down on the price and I said having dropped from £110k down to £95k, Phil wouldn’t negotiate. We have another viewing on Tuesday so we shall see what that brings.
I met up with Phil and we went to BathroomBits4u in Newport Pagnell. We quickly found a back-to-wall toilet, taps and a white bath which we think should fit in the flat. There are some good deals on bathrooms at B&Q but this place is much cheaper. Plus they will deliver for as little as £9.99. We didn’t order yesterday, deciding to wait until David gets the old bathroom suite out which hopefully he will do this week. Phil was starving so we went to The Giffard for lunch. Afterwards we didn’t much feel like going back to the flat to work so we decided to go home and chill out for the rest of the day.
And that was our weekend. I did my usual trick of waking up at 2am this morning and disturbing Phil. We’re didn’t really get back to sleep until just before the alarm went off which is always the way. I felt really sorry for poor Phil; he managed a bowl of weetabix before shuffling out of the front door just after 5am. He called me at quarter past 8 to say that he’d arrived safely. He’s not happy being away from home but he’s says he’s going to post a blog this week so I shall leave it to him to bring you his own tales of woe from Somerset. As for me, I can’t say that I’m really looking forward to the long week ahead. It’s going to be some hard graft and I feel weary before I even begin.
Photo’s to follow tonight.
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