Why are things with me and Phil so complicated and never ever straight forward? I often think this thought. This week has been easier than most of late. I even managed a shopping trip to the centre where I got a lovely new handbag from Zara. When I got it home Phil remarked “not another bloody handbag”, a comment that I choose to ignore. What he doesn’t understand about me and my handbags is that I always buy cheap and so they don’t last especially as they are always crammed with tools and have to be binned because they eventually they get covered in paint. Besides, I think I deserve a new bag every now and then.
Phil has spent most of the week revising with his shoulders bent over a text book. I have banished him and his papers from the kitchen to the conservatory which he isn’t too keen on because until the sun comes out, the conservatory is freezing. He is allowed back to the kitchen only to cook and eat lunch. On Wednesday afternoon I went over to the CF to touch up the planed bathroom door. I was careful with my timing and arrived at the flat when I thought mad Betty would be on the school run. Wrong! I’d only just got my brush out when there was a tap, tap at the door. Turned out that Betty had decided to do the school run in the car which meant she could leave a little later than normal. Just my luck!
Betty lingered in the doorway and complained about a tall man with dark skin, much fatter than Phil (and I quote) that had been lurking around our flat and the car parks. She told me that she’d given him some evil looks until he drove away in his green car. I had to explain to Betty that the man in the green car was in fact, Adam, our agent and that he wasn’t Asian but that he’d just returned from holiday and had been awaiting on a potential tenant to show round our flat. I explained that Adam wasn’t ‘lurking’ but in all probability was probably just checking for his client to arrive, bearing in mind that there are two entrances to the flat! When I’d finished with my explanation I still don’t think she believed me. God, I pity the poor tenant that will be moving in at the end of the month. Yep, the viewing was successful and we have a student from the university that wants to rent.The let was dependent on whether we would agree to get a bidet connection fitted to the new toilet which I guess is a religion thing. We reluctantly agreed because we both need closure. There is always something.
I am feeling pleased with myself because I have been to the health-club 6 days in a row. I go in the morning because I am keen to avoid Jill, the slightly eccentric neighbour below Harriet in the OB flat. Actually, I have arranged for Will the tree surgeon to go and kill her nuisance shrub and the tree stumps so I don’t have any reason to avoid her, it’s just my personal choice. Harriet called me to say that the neighbour the other side had put their rubbish out in the wrong colour sacks and the bin men refused to take the bags away. They lay on the pavement until another neighbour got pissed off and threw the bags back onto the drive of our flats. Harriet was phoning me to ask what to do? I said knock on the door and ask the culprits to re-bag the rubbish and if they refused I told her to put on rubber gloves and do it herself. I’ll probably end up doing it myself, anything for an easy life.
The idea of converting our last blog to a hardback book seemed like a good idea at the beginning of the week but what should have been a simple process has proved to be a nightmare. When Jim did it as a surprise for us for the first blog, he had to cut and past everything from the blog and put it in reverse order. It must have taken him months but we didn’t fully appreciate this at the time. I do now though. Technology has moved on since then and Google have added a button that you simply press to export your blog to a file. That was easy but then things got really complicated. The file type wasn’t compatible with the publishing tool. After many hours I managed to order a book and was able to buy a PDF file. This, however, was very expensive, the paragraph breaks had gone haywire and I wasn’t able to edit the PDF file. Before pressing the order file I thought I’d go back to the blog and edit every single blog posting but although the paragraph breaks looked fine in edit mode, exporting the blog had obviously corrupted something. Never mind, I’ve ordered a book now for Phil’s mum, although it isn’t perfect. If I get a spare hour or ten I must learn how to edit a PDF file and publish the book through a much cheaper source. Another project, for another day or make that another year.
I was being optimistic when I said that the BT Vision was going live on Wednesday like BT said it would, and of course, it didn’t go live. In fact the connection is still dead so maybe today although I won’t hold my breath. Phil did lamb chops on the B-B-Q yesterday and after lunch I went to the hairdressers and Phil went to the church for his EXAM. He was nervous and I was nervous for him, I told him to say a prayer before he started on his paper! Phil was done in after the 3 hour exam and much wine was needed last night. He thinks he did okay but I will let him talk more about this.
Friday at last and now that Phil has finished his course we can, at last, get on with getting the house sorted. There is an endless list but I am hoping that by the end of play next week we will have everything done and to my liking. And then we can start organising for our next project. The project being, “Phil & Claire Down Under”; unlike the last few, I am at least looking forward to this one.
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