L I F E

I am not having a good life at the moment in time and I’m not certainly not enjoying myself - that’s for sure. I wake up tired; I go to bed absolutely knackered. My back is still really stiff and I’ve got this fast beat heart palpitation thing going on which really is quite scary. I feel like shit and I look like shit. Never mind, it can only get worse.

The week didn’t start well either. I woke up early on Monday feeling tired but I published the blog without too much effort, ate my yogurt and banana and boiled egg and soldiers that Phil cooked me so it wasn’t an unpleasant start to the day. But then, Phil’s mum phoned in a tizzy waz as she’d tried to phone on the Sunday and got no reply. She thought we’d gone away without telling her. This is not like Phil’s mum. My mum-in-law is the sweetest lady you could ever wish to meet; never demanding and always uncomplaining. But she is getting older and hadn’t been feeling well last week. She will be 80 next year so time is not on her side and we must make sure we phone every couple of days and stay more in touch. I dread telling her about our Aussie swap; it will break her little heart.

Whilst I was on the phone to Phil’s mum I had 4 missed calls on my mobile from Harriet. I knew something was up, so as soon as I put down the land line I called HH back. Turns out she had locked herself out (AGAIN) and wanted me to take my spare key and let her in. I was cross because I wasn’t fully awake, I hadn’t had time to clean my teeth or put in my falsie and I got completely stuck in the middle of the school drop off. Not good and made me late arriving at the CF.

Phil had left for the CF early on Monday because he had to be there for the ex BT engineer at 9.30 am who I’d organised to come and sort out all the telephone wires and sockets. David, the engineer, managed to get rid of the old cables but he charged us 70 quid for the hour which we thought was a rip off and we won’t be using him again. We had sandwiches from the Co-op for lunch because we weren’t sure what time the guys from Ampthill Glass were coming out to fit the new double glazed units in the lounge and bedroom.

The fitters arrived just after 1 o’clock and soon had the old windows out and the new frames in. We had a little bit of a panic because we had ordered windows boards (the bits that cover the window sills) and the fitters didn’t have any knowledge of this and didn’t have any on the van. Phil phoned the shop, as did one of the fitters who subsequently had to go back to pick some boards up. Luckily for us they had some in stock and were able to fit them. I loaded up my car with rubbish to take to the tip on the way home and noticed that Betty was throwing some kind of wobbly with the window fitter. She told me that he was being untidy but I checked and he wasn’t and to be honest, I couldn’t see what her problem was. I told her to take a chill pill and said the fitters would be finished shortly and she soon would be able to put out her washing and put back her plant pots.

I thought I had placated her but no sooner had I walked in the door back at home, my mobile (that I’d left behind) was ringing. It was Adrian, Betty’s husband saying that the window fitters were upsetting Betty and could I “sort them out”. I nearly lost my temper and explained that Phil was on site and I was at home and the fitters were just about to finish. Talk about drama queen, mad Betty is not just mad, she is absolutely crazy.

Yesterday was an industrious day; we were on site at the CF flat at eight thirty, an early start a) to avoid the school traffic and b) to get on with on our tight schedule. It was a good job we were there early because the delivery man turned up with the new electric convertor wall mounted heaters that Phil had ordered over the internet. There is no gas in Cranfield. Phil got stuck right into the tiling in the bathroom; with his heavy bulk, it was hard work and there was an awful lot of huffing, puffing and swearing, even more than normal. I kept out of the way, finishing off the glossing and clearing up here and there.

We downed tools at 12.30 and went to The Swan for lunch. Phil ordered a red curry and a green curry plus some plain noodles and a boiled rice to share. It took a while to arrive which wasn’t a problem because we prefer fresh but we when the food came, we were a little disappointed. Both curries were hot and spicy and well flavoured but lacked some of the more expensive ingredients that you would normally expect in a traditional Thai curry. It was expensive because the rice didn’t come with the curry so you had to order this separately. I can recommend the Sunday lunch but don’t think I would choose anything from the Thai menu again.

After lunch we decided to go shopping instead of finishing off the tiling. Phil needed a rest after being on his hands and knees all morning. Phil needed petrol so we went to Tesco at Kingston because he had a 5p off a litre voucher and then we went to the main store for supplies. We were near Bletchley so next we popped into IKEA to get new blinds for the CF. Unfortunately they didn’t have a blind wide enough for the lounge so we only got one for the bedroom and whilst we there we also picked up some mirror tiles. Phil was pining for a coffee and a donut but I managed to steer him straight to the lift.

Next up was a trip to Wickes to pick up a 300mm wall cabinet to go next to the corner unit in the kitchen. The ‘off the shelf’ kitchen from Wickes is not turning out to be straight forward and I think Phil is wishing we had gone for something else. Too late now to change our minds, half of the cabinets are already built up and fixed back to the wall.

After Wickes we went to Carpet Right to order a new carpet, underlay, grippers and bars for the lounge. We picked up a carpet which was an off cut and had been discounted; its crazy how the underlay and grippers turned out to be more expensive than the carpet itself. How does that work out? Anyway, it’s being fitted next Wednesday afternoon which means that all the tiling has to be finished and the kitchen and bathroom need to be fully installed. No pressure there then.

Last stop of yesterday was a visit to B&Q, our favourite DIY store to pick up a blind for the lounge and kitchen. Phil choose a black and white pattered blind for the kitchen which I’m not sure about but I was tired by this stage and couldn’t be arsed to argue. We found a wooden effect blind for the lounge but it wasn’t cheap. The plan was to finish the day at the health club with a nice Jacuzzi and steam but it was late and we were just too tired. Perhaps we might make it there today?

Today we are back at the CF. Phil has to finish off all the tiling on the back wall in the bathroom because there is a slim chance that Snake, the plumber, could turn up tomorrow to fit the new bathroom suite. We need to buy this today and have arranged to meet ‘Bald Man with Nice Van’ (aka Nigel) at 2.30pm outside B&Q. The plan is that he will put the new bathroom suite in his ‘nice van’ and then go to the NH to collect the IKEA micro kitchen and then drop off at Cranfield. That’s the plan anyway, whether it all comes together we shall just to wait and see.