Life and soul

Very much the same as already reported, our life is extremely busy at the moment but we have had the odd chance to relax a little over this weekend. It has been a long time since I downloaded any photos from my camera so we haven’t had many of our work in progress and now I have too many. I start with one of Claire painting in Jim and Shirley’s.

As Claire said in her last blog, we completed on the City Centre flat on Friday and here is the last picture that I took shortly after completion. I just thought I had better check that the neighbour’s hadn’t broken in while we still owned it. What a relief that that has gone.

Claire will publish more of Jim and Shirley’s next time as we have finished all but the kitchen and garden and have now made a start on our next Oldbrook renovation. I started by ripping the kitchen out ready to tile the floor before our new kitchen arrives on 10th June. Claire just hovers around; she can’t wait to get her hands on the rubbish so she can take it to the tip. The plasterers where due to start on Saturday at 8am so I got there early so as to get some water from Harriet’s before they arrived. They didn’t turn up until about 8.45 to say that they wouldn’t be starting the work until Sunday using a limp excuse as usual. Why couldn’t they have rang me the day before and I could have tiled the kitchen floor on the Friday. Now it will have to wait until Tuesday as the plumber will be coming Monday evening to sort the pipes out. Again the waist pipe is half way up the wall making kitchen fitting very difficult so he will knock a hole in the wall and make a new entry into the down pipe so as to lower the pipes all the way around.

I picked Georgina up Saturday morning and showed her our new house. We tried to go to the pictures but either the times were wrong or we didn’t fancy a film so we came back to watch the Turkish GP qualifying. Same old pattern, it’s amazing how quickly you get used to a new situation. Later Saturday we had a shopping day visiting Claire’s favourite “cheap shop” in Westcroft to buy pictures and mirrors etc. to dress our new house. Then it was off to David Lloyd for a steam and shower ready for David and Pat’s BBQ at 4pm.

It wasn’t long before I caught Claire having a craft cigarette by the BBQ with her new best friend. It was probably the poshest BBQ that I have ever been too having a formal sit down meal that was fablious. Scallops, king prawn, salmon and tuna kebab skewers, with spicy chicken and lamb along with lots of different salads and other bits and bobs that Claire wouldn’t let me eat. Did I tell you that I have started my new diet? I can only eat and drink what Claire gives me for a month. She is so good at loosing and maintaining her weight that I though I would let her have a go at me. So far I have lost over 1lb a day so it seems to be working and I haven’t even gone hungry much. I know all this physical is helping but we should be busy for at least another month, then we can start looking for another house to start again. Anyway, back to the BBQ, here is a nice picture of Pat and David’s daughter Francesca and her fiancé with the flower between them. They are due to get married in September so let’s hope the weather improves by then. Claire’s new best friend Lavinia and her husband Bruce is a nice couple; I thought from his name that he was Australian but he was from South Africa in Zimbabwe. I very pleasant night was had by all but no prizes for guessing who was the life and soul of the party!