Days Gone By

Last weekend, which seems far away now, was a series of early mornings and hard slog. Unfortunately I woke up at 2.30am on Friday morning and we didn’t really get back to sleep. Consequently Phil was at the flat at quarter past seven and was already sawing tiles outside when I arrived at 8am. With the lady (Jill) downstairs newly retired and our tenants (Aiden & Chloe) with a young baby (Isobel), my guess is, we are not making ourselves very popular. Phil of course, was oblivious to the racket his tile cutting machine was making, and carried on despite me telling him not too. David was at the flat last Friday finishing off and miraculously managed to finish off plumbing in the washing machine, heated towel radiator and kitchen taps. It was unfortunate when I found that the sink leaked when I first used it, so I had to call him back to the change the washer and make everything tight. What is it with us and water leaks?????

Phil was up at 4.30am watching the Grand Prix qualifying in Australia on Saturday morning; again I don’t think this would have made us popular with the tenants living above us, because he was also up at 5am on Sunday morning to watch the race live. We had 2 very full and long days at the flat on Friday and Saturday and managed to do what we had to do, basically really all of the last ‘dirty jobs’. I finished all of the glossing on the internal doors and also glossed the bedroom doors in spite of my worries about the carpets. I also remembered that I had to do another coat in the cupboard under the stairs which involved emulsion and gloss and getting all the clobber that was in there out into the lounge. Phil of course, had the really hard graft, tiling and grouting the remainder of the bathroom, tiling and grouting in the kitchen; also putting in 2 more electrical sockets for Harriet in the kitchen. He finished off on Sunday by putting all the handles on the kitchen cabinets and fitting the plinths at the bottom of the base units. All of which involved, blood, sweat and a lot of swearing!

It wasn’t all work at the weekend though, we only worked a half day on Sunday (9-1pm) and when we finished we went to The Giffard for roast beef and wine. Afterwards, we went to DFS so I could show Phil the sofas that HH has ordered; like me, he didn’t like them either but sssssssssh, don’t say to anything to HH! I suppose each to their own and the world would be a very boring place if we all liked the same thing. Whilst we were in the area, we also checked out Land of Leather who is currently under administration. Whilst browsing, we found 2 leather reclining sofas for £99 each. Okay they were seconds but the scuffs were at the back and they are exactly like those we have in the kebab flat. Phil couldn’t resist them so he got out his credit card and paid the man. These sofas are for Aiden in Oldbrook, he had asked us to replace the sofas in his flat as they had sprung and was sprouting health and safety regulations to me a few weeks back.

Unfortunately when we got back home, we had to process the weekly post, print off Phil’s TMA and I had to wash, iron and generally pack him up for another week in Chard. Sad gits, that we are, we finished the day off with a shower and were already in our pyjamas before 5 o’clock. Phil was seriously knackered and too tired to even make his sandwiches. He needs a holiday more than he’s ever needed one. Guess you may already guessed that from his blog on Monday! And a holiday he shall have; on Monday morning the holiday tickets dropped through the door and it all looks kosher so it looks like we really are flying away after all!

We really felt the lost hour with the clocks going forward and it was a nasty shock on Monday morning when the alarm went off at 3.30am. When Phil left I should have tried to go back to sleep but I took my mug of tea back to bed and read my book. I eventually got to the flat just before 9 o’clock, not much before mad Betty from Cranfield turned up. I was half expecting her because she had sent me a text asking if I was going to be at the flat. She chatted away and watched me paint the kitchen walls red, very helpfully pointing out bits I missed as I went along. I had quite a few things lined up for Monday and was worried it all wouldn’t turn out as I’d planned, and of course, it didn’t.

The carpet people were meant to come in the morning to fit the lounge carpet and when they hadn’t turned up by midday I phoned Carpet Right and they said the fitters would be with me by 1 o’clock. I’d arranged to meet Janet for a walk on the OU campus at 12.30pm but unfortunately I had to cancel. Betty left just as the carpet van pulled up, which was good, because 4 hours of listening to her and I had almost reached my limit. I wondered why the fitters were carrying up a long roll of carpet up the stairs because they’d already cut the lounge carpet and left it in the flat when they fitted the upstairs carpet last week. The shop had forgot this and cut it again. Never mind, they put it back in the van and fitted the lounge carpet in just half an hour. Now this was good because I had arranged to meet Jon (the man with the van) at Land of Leather at 2pm. Together we loaded the 2 sofas in his van and offloaded them in Aiden’s flat. Mission accomplished in a fairly smooth operation and another job that I could tick off my list. On Monday night I went to Christine’s and she fed me a delicious steak pie. Over wine (lots) we talked about how unfair life is and the evening went very quickly.

On Tuesday I went to David Lloyd for a rather pathetic express workout. I was running late and just wasn’t in the mood, it goes like that with me sometimes. I didn’t bother with a swim because I wanted to go home and start on my picture boards for Harriet’s flat. I got some MDF cut into 3 squares at Sid Telfer at the weekend and the idea was to paint the edges and cover with wallpaper. I helped myself to some very generous cuts of paper from the rolls at B&Q. I think you are allowed to do this but maybe they don’t expect you to take big pieces like I did. Never mind, no one said anything and with the enormous amount of money we have spent in this store over the years, I didn’t feel too guilty. I just about had time to lay out my MDF pieces in the spare bedroom when Emma (from the cul-de-sac) rang my mobile to say she was outside the flat. I was expecting her as she’d sent me a text the day before to see if she could see me for a chat. Turns out, she and Jason are having big problems with their tenant and wanted some advice. I gave her details of a Landlord website that I use and also, contact details for our solicitor. Poor Emma, she told me she has also been suspended from her part-time job for something that’s sounds quite petty and not her fault. Hopefully it will be resolved soon, but for now, she she’s not having a great life.

After she left, I quickly painted a coat of white gloss on my boards and headed for the Oldbrook flat. I was surprised at what a lovely day it was. I finished off my red walls in the kitchen, touched up the grey in the bathroom and cleared out the cupboard so Phil could finish off the tiling at the weekend. While I was there, Will Tricks, our landscape man turned up to clear all the weeds from the garden. I say garden, it’s really shingle enclosed by 3 fence panels. We do need to do something with the garden but this is low on the priorities right now. Will is a whiz and 3 and a half hours later, the garden was free of all weeds and brambles. It was well gone 4pm by this time so I put my human clothes back on and went to Vanessa’s in Willen Park for a much needed cup of tea. We sat in her conservatory and caught up with all the Fords news. I stayed for an hour and then headed back to the kebab flat.

The white gloss didn’t work with my wallpaper choice and had to go, so I painted over it with a coat of shit brown. I made a right mess in the spare bedroom, getting paint on my only pair of good jeans and all over the dust sheet. Somehow and don’t ask me how, I must of stood in wet paint on the dust sheet and paddled this through into the hall, lounge and kitchen. I ended up taking off my jeans and socks and shoes and then got it on my legs and arms. I am a nightmare! On Wednesday morning when I went to put my dust sheet in the washing machine I discovered that the shit brown paint had gone through the sheet and onto the carpet. Nightmare! Fortunately I had a bottle of carpet cleaner under the sink and managed to get rid of the evidence. I pasted on the wallpaper and am pleased with the results. Not sure it was worth all the effort (and mess) but they should look okay on the white walls in the OB flat.

On Wednesday morning we had the survey on the kebab flat. At least I think we did because I went to the health club so I wasn’t actually here. I had a really good session at the gym and a beautiful swim in the outside pool. I need to loose a few pounds before we go on holiday and am panicking as it’s less than 10 days away! I will have to cut out all complex carbs, no bread, no wine maybe the odd gin and tonic and lots of protein and salad. Desperate needs, demands desperate measures.

Although I felt guilty, Wednesday was a day of pure indulgence; it was such a lovely day I decided that I would have a day off from the flat. I caught up with paperwork, went for a sun-bed, went to B&Q to get some more floor tiles, popped into Argos to pick up a clear glass splash back for behind the cooker, drove to Kingston Tesco to get some supplies and had a wonder round the city centre. Last night I just sat with my feet up in front of the telly to watch double Corrie. A perfect ending, to a very idle day.