Exam Pressure

What a relief that my exam is out of the way; the revision seemed to wipe a week out of my life altogether and I still can’t stop trying to remember those stupid words. The hardest part of this course for me was learning the new language needed to support it and they wouldn’t let you take the course glossary into the exam so I seemed to spend most of my time trying to remember the words and meanings. Not words used in English but new words like, Allopatric speciation, the most parsimonious solution and symplesiomorphy. Of course, my Word dictionary doesn’t even recognise them. Two days before the exam I tried to do the specimen exam paper and nearly had a heart attack; I was nowhere near ready to take the exam. Luckily, I found out the day before that we were allowed to take an ordinary English dictionary in with me. Great, I shot straight off to Borders to find the one with the most in it. Unfortunately it was the largest dictionary there. Never mind, it was still better to take it in than not. You were not allowed to annotate it so I spent the next few hours going through the course glossary and finding the words in the dictionary and folding the corner over on that page. Not all the words were in there but enough to help enormously. The other thing we needed to remember was the geological periods and dates between them. What I ended up doing was remembering it well enough to write out at the start of the exam; timing was everything. We got in the exam and I immediately drew the geological time map with all the dates between them along with certain words and groups of words I needed to remember that were not in the dictionary. I managed to fill the back page but at least I remembered everything before even looking at the paper. This threw me into time pressure right from the start but I did manage to recover and finish the paper about 2 seconds before they stopped us; it must be the fastest 3 hours I can remember. Anyway, I feel I did quite well, as long as they can read my handwritten scribble. I hardly ever hand write anything these days.

I good drink with Claire finished the day off and I was knackered and fell asleep on the sofa. Claire got me started early the next day, catching up with all the little jobs that I couldn’t do whilst revising. All the wires tidied up around the sofa to start with and getting the glass shelves out from the side of the shower was next. All done just in time for Julia and Jack to turn up (Claire’s sister and nephew) along with Harriet on her way home from work. A few more drinks were had and then an early night ready for the big BBQ breakfast. Before we went to bed, Jack had us try a little of their bottle of chilli sauce that they had bought from Middleton hall where they have a food show at the moment. Wow, that’s the hottest chilli sauce I have ever tasted; it made my mouth go num. It took us a good 15 minutes to recover from the smallest of tastes. We are off there to get one in a minute.

I love cooking breakfast on the BBQ as I can make as much mess as I like and it doesn’t stink the house out. The cast iron griddle plate is ideal for bacon; you can’t beat Cumberland sausages cooked on the BBQ. We bought a huge pack from Costco on Friday. There is an ordinary flame for the frying pan to do the eggs and fried bread so you can cook the lot in one go. All boys love playing with fire and I enjoy cooking so it perfectly suits me. We had just finished when Harriet turned up with Coke the dog that goes mental when there are lots of new people around for him to sniff at. Dogs can smell 10,000 times better than we can and I often wonder if they can smell family relationships between people with their similar pheromones. I quickly reheated a couple of sausages and fried another egg so Harriet could also have breakfast while Claire taught Coke to beg for a bit of bacon. He’s very good at it and looks lovely when he holds his paw out. While all this was going on Jack was happy to watch the tv. Claire tried to wipe the floor down but Coke saw this as an opportunity to lick her face in the hope of a bit more begging practice.

Nothing is ever straight forward

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.

Too much information?

We had a fairly ‘normal’ weekend with plenty of R&R which made a much welcomed change. Phil & I went over to the CF and Phil planed the bathroom door. He made a right old mess which I had to clear up while Phil set up the digital free view channels. Unfortunately I’d brought the wrong colour undercoat so we had to go back to MK. Phil decided to stay home and prepare the casserole whilst I went back to the CF flat to finish off painting the door.

Saturday afternoon and Phil finally made a start on his revision. I spent a while trying to upload our last blog into a website that allows you to convert your blog to a proper hard cover book. We really loved the book that Jimmy did for us downloaded from our first blog about our adventures in India and wanted to have a second book. It’s something that I know Phil’s mum would enjoy reading plus it’s something for us to look back on when we’re old and grey. That’s now I hear you say!!! Maybe I very stupid but I couldn’t get my head around the programme so I gave up in the end and went to the health club for a swim. First time in ages and I enjoyed myself. Saturday evening was telly, wine and early to bed.

On Sunday Phil picked up Georgina and they did the cinema and lunch. I went over to Great Holm and Christine and I went for lunch at The Old Beams. Christine has just come back from a trip to Kenya. She went on safari but didn’t really get on well with the whole group thing and was sad because it brought back memories of happier times spent with John in the Maldives. Poor Christine also picked up a cold, so in many ways she was glad to get back home. We talked holidays over lunch and then back to walk the woofs. The sun had come out by this time and it was nice to be out in the fresh air.

Monday was domestics for me and revision all day for Phil. In fact, I seemed to recall that he didn’t get washed or dressed until tea time. I think he is really beginning to panic now about his exam on Thursday. I am feeling pleased because I have been to the health club 4 days in a row. I’ve managed a couple of light sessions in the gym and a couple of decent swims. I have decided the best way to get rid of my bad back is exercise. This morning Phil went back to the CF to meet the E-on engineer so he could sort out the connection for the wall mounted heaters. Fortunately the nice young man from E-on came early and was very helpful, managing to do things to the fuse connections so the heaters could work with the timers.

After weeks of pub grub I’ve settled down at last to shopping and cooking. I made a big lasagne on Monday which was so huge, it will last us all week. After lunch I went to the OU to meet Jan and we went for a walk around the campus. It was a beautiful day and we had a very pleasant walk, chatting all the way along. BTW, happy birthday for tomorrow Janet! This afternoon I’ve been catching up with paperwork and Phil has been revising and making a few calls in-between. The BT Vision goes live tomorrow so we can finally get a sound engineer round to sort out the TV & home cinema sound system out, once and for all. At the moment all of the equipment and wires are all over the floor. I am dying to tidy it all away but I must be patient and wait for all to go live and be tested.
I read a most interesting article in the Times magazine over the weekend talking about how much people reveal about them selves on the internet. It made me think about the naked bloggers. I don’t twitter but I have registered my profile on Facebook even though I don’t really use it. It’s mainly because I don’t understand how to navigate around the different applications and I really don’t get this farmyard thing. On my homepage, I have a message telling me that I have 2 cute catz invitations, 2 pet pupz invitations and 1 other invite. What’s all this about ??? So not bothered am I, that I can’t be arsed to click on the links to find out.

Anyway, the article made me think about my blogging and I wonder if it’s as sad as twittering or logging on to face book every 37 minutes? Do I violoate my own privacy? Nah I don't think so. Am I so up my own arse that I think anyone is remotely interested in my sad life??? The answer to that is no but perhaps I am just as sad as all the twitterers and the Facebook users out there. I do my blog for me and say it as it mainly is, although sometimes I admit I have to hold back so as not to offend. My only rules when blogging are - never drink and click. The blog is a platform for me to get things off my chest; Phil really enjoys writing about our holiday experiences and likes to drop the oddball posting in now and again. On the feel-good-side, the blog does give me a buzz when someone posts a nice comment or says to me f-2-f “Claire, please don’t stop”. Harriet hates me blogging and is in the club of ‘too much information’; she reluctantly dips in, only to find out what we’re up to but she cringes most of the time. Harriet, I might add, is an avid Facebook member-cum-contributor.

I shall carry on with thenakedbloggers for now but I think I am going to stop posting in a couple of weeks and start up a fresh blog dedicated to the ‘Big Trip’. I’d still like to keep the nakedbloggers though and come back to this next year but I feel a new profile and a new title are needed. Perhaps, ‘Phil & Claire Down Under’ or ‘Around the World in 108 Days’???

Share and share alike half-breed

I haven’t written very much about shares and investments so far but it is looking like things are on the up at last. House prices are reported to have increased 8.5% over the last 6 months which is mammoth, 17% a year on average. Shares (ftse100) have increased more than ever before over the last three months. In fact I was able to offload my Rexam shares on Friday with a tiny profit, the first time I have been able to since they dropped like a stone. They peaked at the highest point since July but I couldn’t offload them then as my average share price was higher. A month or two ago, Rexam offered some cheap options to shareholders where they could buy 4 cheap shares for every 11 owned. As they were reduced by 50% it seemed like a bargain and would only fail if the marked dropped still further. The offer was scheduled to start the following day and close about a week later where they could be sold again. It seemed worthwhile to me because it should reduce my average share cost and enables me to get out sooner than otherwise without loss. It also showed an opportunity to buy some more, in Claire’s name before the offer started the following day. I quickly transferred some money into Claire’s account and bought as many Rexam shares as I could. The options were offered to her the following day so I bought those as well. The following week when I sold Claire’s shares (shares and options) she realized about £1500 profit, not bad for a week’s work and a slight risk. It’s a shame that mine weren’t so profitable but at least I have now got out much sooner than I would have done otherwise and now I can use that money to buy shares when they are low again and take advantage of their normal cycles. Unfortunately, I still have shares in a couple of banks that will take years rather than months to get rid of without consolidating a loss. I bought them after the first bank crash but before the second. If I had the forethought to wait until the bottom of the second I would have doubled my money by now but who knows, there may have been a third?

I didn’t think that the house price crash would last too long as the forecast for people requiring a house over the next 5 years by far outstrips availability. I was actually surprised at the extent that they did drop but my guess is that they are now on the road to a quick recovery. However, there are not enough houses on the market to supply the people looking at the moment which is why they are on the increase. I was talking to an estate agent yesterday (Adam from Taylors) and he was saying that it is the best housing climate that he has ever known and that each salesperson (pc) is averaging four house sales a week. When it was at its lowest a year or so ago they were averaging less than one a week, which is why more than half the local agents disappeared. Also different areas have been affected in different ways as we saw when Claire and I visited Kent (Margate, Broadstairs and Ramsgate) a couple of months ago. There are so many houses for sale there compared to here and we saw some massive bargains but, in the end, decided to stay with what we know best the MK area.

One financial area that is not on the mend is the average company and redundancies are still on the increase. Apparently this is quite normal and usually the last part of the equation to recover; there always seems to be a lag behind everything else. It’s a bit of a puzzle to me because if some companies are struggling and still making redundancies, how come the ftse100 share index is doing better than it ever has before? Maybe because it had dropped so low that the first part of recovery is very fast and it will slow down again. Anyway, although confidence is a lot higher than 1 year ago it still seems very fragile and there must be a strong possibility of a double dip. What if we have another horrendous terrorist attack, which would be devastating for a recovering economy and could easily tip the balance? I would say that our chances of another attack increase daily as we must be the weakest of all nations in controlling immigration. Right now we have a huge influx of people from Afghanistan coming into the country. Bizarre, the very place we are fighting against to slow down terrorism are sneaking in through the back door legally while we are still in conflict. Imagine what the consequences could have been if Churchill had done the same thing with the Germans during the Second World War. Well, I suppose my Father wouldn’t have been here, met my Mum and produced this fine half-breed.

Everybody needs good Neighbours

I can’t believe that I have been back in our house for nearly 10 days and I haven’t made any mention whatsoever about the neighbours. And before you wonder, I don’t have any photographs, I’m not that brave!! Well, I am pleased (and a bit relieved also) to report that we’ve received a warm welcome back. They obviously haven’t discovered the blog which pleases and slightly surprises me because I know all of the surrounding households have broadband because I’ve been trying desperately to hack into someone’s connection so I could get on line. Without success I hasten to add! I have been in loose contact with Emma next door over the last 12 months as she has been acting as my number 1 spy on the house. I’ve had a couple of texts from Sandy and we’ve met for coffee once or twice but that’s been about it. Anyway, it was reassuring to get such a nice reception because me and Phil have been feeling slightly paranoid after the ‘sent to Coventry’ treatment from the nasty neighbours at the NH house. Everybody needs good neighbours.

Last Wednesday morning I was unloading stuff into the cul-de-sac around 6.30 in the morning and Sandy came over in her dressing gown. She wanted to know what I was doing at the house in the dark so early in the morning. I think she thought I was doing something illegal! Who needs Neighbour Watch??? We had a brief chat and promised to catch up for coffee when I’d finished with the removals.

We also bumped into Neil the other side of us when he was on his way out to work last week. Neil, a bachelor, likes to keep himself to himself but even he seemed pleased we were moving back in. Not for long though, hee hee! Even Reena (the policewoman who looks about 12) came over to the car whilst I was unloading and said “hello & welcome back”. Needless to say Emma & Jason are very glad we are back and I went next door for a cup of tea and we had a long catch up (okay gossip). I told Emma about our ‘Big Trip’ and she has agreed to look after the house and our Australian guests whilst we are away down under. Makes sense really because she doesn’t work and is only next door. I need to go over the finer details with her but I can’t even think about that at the moment until I sort everything at the CF and our house. I need to wait until a have a free mind and can really focus.

Yesterday was an extremely frustrating day. After the excitement of being back on line died down, Phil uncovered his B-B-Q and put a big juicy chicken on the spit whilst I started getting the horrible green moss out of the blocked paving with a screwdriver. Back breaking work, but very satisfying after you’ve got all of the gunk out, swept it away and put it in the green wheelie bin. Phil was faffing around in the wendy house with his tools when he took a call from the electrician to say that he would meet him at the CF in 20 minutes. I was meant to go with him but I was halfway in the middle of the moss removal. Plus I had to tend to the lunch. Halfway through cooking the spit stopped turning and the gas went out. Disaster as I didn’t how to change the bottle and also there were 4 wasps buzzing around and I was too scared to get near the BBQ to take the chicken off and put it in the oven.

Phil came back from the CF two hours later, very grumpy and very hungry. Apparently the new electrician was useless and having the changed a fuse in the fuse box, discovered the fault was in the supply box. Phil phoned a helpline and we’ve got to meet an engineer next Tuesday morning who could come anytime between 8am and 1pm. Not good and this means we have no heat because the convector heaters cannot be connected up. The CF refurbishment has been a nightmare; I do wonder when we will ever be finished. We decided to abandon the chicken and went to the pub for lunch. Not good for the heart but uplifting for the soul. When we got back, Phil changed the gas bottle on the BBQ and gave it a good clean and service. The spit needed some oil. I think it was stiff because it hasn’t been used in the last 12 months. Not surprising really, because our summer has been crap. We tidied up for the day, had a shower and then settled ourselves in front of the telly.

Today has been a little more fluent. I went to Tesco’s, Phil changed the light bulbs which had blown which the tenant hadn’t changed during his stay and then Phil bled a couple of the radiators. Phil cooked some vegetables which we had with the abandoned chicken. Harriet came round as she had a half day as she wanted to borrow some cash to go out. After she left we went to change the locks at the NH house and removed some more of our stuff. We were feeling weary so decided to go the gym for a Jacuzzi. I was just relaxing back in the bubbles having the got the back jets exactly where the pain is worst in my back when who should step in the Jacuzzi?

None other than Jill, the eccentric and slightly annoying neighbour that lives below Harriet in the OB flat. Jill’s flat is the one that all the water went in to when my plumber forgot to fit the stop cock back on after he took out the bathroom. She caught me the other day when I was at Harriet’s hanging up pictures, complaining about the tree roots and another shrub that is popping up by her front door. Unfortunately, I was not in the best of moods and was very short with her. Not exactly rude, but as I said, I was knackered. I have organised and paid to have the trees cut down, all the fencing has been replaced and painted. I was cross because Jill is retired, all she had to was to phone the tree surgeon and get him to come out and send me the bill. Honestly, sometimes I feel I have the weight of the world on my shoulders. The ‘to do’ list is not diminishing. Jill told me in the Jacuzzi that she only joined the gym that same day so not only do I have to suffer her as a neighbour in a rental flat but I also have to see her naked in the changing rooms!!!!!! Arghhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Tomorrow we are back at the CF to plain the door and repaint it and also put on a heater on low because although the days are fine, the nights are cold and getting colder. Saturday is the day that mad Betty does her washing so I will not get away without hanging out of the window for at least half an hour or so and have some kind of banal useless chit chat. When we got home, Phil will make us a chicken casserole for lunch and then I guess he will make a start on revising but I have a shed load of stuff to be getting on with. Sunday we are both taking the day off.

Phil says that my blogs have been full of moans about life and strife and he is right. But I make no apologies; it’s been tough these last 4 months and I’m knackered. But, as Geoff commented, soon I will be in the sun, lying by the pool sipping an ice beer. And he is right; this has to be my focus. Ending on a positive note this grey Friday evening, it’s fabulous having the broadband back on and its way quicker than our connection at the NH house. Also, the other good thing is that I finally plucked up the courage to look inside my beautiful very expensive Italian Lofra oven and guess what? It’s really clean, I hesitate on perfect but I don’t think it has hardly been used. What a relief! I guess someone is looking down on me and reckons I deserve a break!

Talking of breaks, its 6pm and time now to sign off and crack open the wine. It is the weekend after all. Have a good one!

Home Sweet Home

Is it good to be back home again?? The answer to that question is yes, it is. Did the moving back in process go smoothly? No of course it didn’t. I’ve moved so many times that you’d think I’d have got it down to a tee by now, but I haven’t. So stressed am I, that aside from our Australian house swap, I’m not moving again (unless it’s to somewhere hot and sunny) for at least 2 years. I am worn out. Phil is tired also but happy as Larry being back home and being able to cook on his gas B-B-Q again. He got me to go so Tesco’s for some sausages and was out there in the garden cooking our breakfast as soon as the dawn broke on the morning after our first night back.

Even though we had let the house with an agent and had it fully managed, I am not totally happy with the state we got the house back in. On the surface everything looked okay (except for the kitchen floor tiles) and bar a little wear and tear here and there we were happy enough to give permission for the deposit to be released. But on closer inspection over the weekend and going through each room, scrubbing and cleaning, polishing and buffing, there are some dilapidations that should have been deducted from the deposit. For example: in the bright sunshine on Saturday afternoon I could see that my lovely natural wood worktops had a couple of saucepan burn marks and had curry stains on by the cooker. This means that I will need to sand them all down and wax to try and bring them back to their former glory. There are also some stains on the walls so after a good does of bleach I’ve decided they still need to be repainted.

The handle has been broken off the shower as has the steam cap at the bottom of the bath. My new dyson hoover was so packed that Phil had to force it open. It took me hours to pick up the leaves in the garden and the beds are in a major need of clearing and weeding which is a job for Phil to sort. We couldn’t work out how to switch on the central heating on Friday evening but Phil finally found out that I’d switched off the control in the airing cupboard. What a pair of idiots we are but 12 months away and you forget how things operate.

Phil’s been pretty cool about moving back home; the only thing that has really upset him was the fact that the tenant had broken his super duper garden umbrella and it took him 2 whole hours plus a lot of fiddling and faffing to put it back together again. Phil wasn’t impressed to find that the glass basin in the downstairs loo was also leaking. On closer inspection it looked like it had had a slow leak for some time which has discoloured the grouting on the new cream tiles. Snake the plumber came out to fix yesterday afternoon and turns out it had never been fitted properly in the first place. Another bodged job done for us by our posh plumber. Never mind, we’ve moved on and Snake fixed it and now it is as good as new.

Jane kindly picked us and we went to The Black Horse in Linford with Ian and Jane on Saturday night for dinner. We were on our hands and knees with tiredness and I’m not sure we were the best of company, but still it made a change to go out and it was really nice to catch up with Ian & Jane. By the way, both the food and service were excellent at The Black Horse, I was very impressed. Jane & Ian are off to Australia for 6 weeks and we are hoping to catch up with each other in Melbourne some time early December. Jane and Ian and moving to their new dream home in a couple of weeks and are already feeling the stress of the move, not helped that their buyer is delaying their exchange. I don’t envy them the stress but knowing Jane, I’ll bet she have everything organised well before they go away. The new house sounds fabulous and I can’t wait to have a look inside once they’ve completed.

We more or less finished the CF on Monday lunchtime and Phil persuaded me to go to the pub for lunch to celebrate. I was reluctant because there is still so much to do. But we had a naughty lunch with chips and wine and then went back home to chill and do nothing. I don’t know what’s wrong with me, I feel sick with tiredness and am all done in come mid afternoon. Wine at lunchtime doesn’t help I know, but even so, I hope I feel better soon. At the moment I feel I am living on empty and surviving each day on my reserves.

Yesterday we moved all of our stuff out of the garage at the NH house. It is sad because it is looking so empty in the NH house and I am sorry that we haven’t had an offer of sale. If you ignore the nasty neighbours and try to stay calm about the parking, it’s a good house with a really nice sized garden. But I am glad to be home again. I need to sort out my worktops but I am really happy being back in my kitchen. When Phil’s snoring away in bed and I awake early, I go down to my lovely kitchen, put on my flat screen TV and my fairy lights, switch on the under floor heating if its chilly and the central heating hasn’t kicked in and sip a big mug of tea in front of my laptop, pure bliss. I had a nice surprise this morning, as I logged on I got a message to say the internet is connected. At last!!!! This is a big surprise as we were told we wouldn’t be connected until midnight on the 13th of October so 5 days earlier is just brilliant. I haven’t felt like a whole person without a broadband connection. Sad I know, but that’s me all over.

As I said, we’re just about there with the CF flat. We got our contact in to do the HIP report which you have to have by law now when you rent or sell. It’s a complete rip off load of bullshit and I resent paying the money but we like the lady that does it, she’s also into property developing and is interesting to talk to. We’re back over at the CF this morning as we’ve arranged to meet an electrician who will hopefully climb into the attic and connect up the wires so that the new convection heaters work. Phil also needs to plane the bathroom door, connect up the telly and Free view box and I just need to do a general check and clean up. Phil met our agent on Tuesday for a valuation and he recommended that we rent the flat at a whopping £250 more than we used to rent it for. But Phil said bearing in mind the nutty neighbours next door this was too high, so we’re letting it at £550 pcm, not bad for 1 bed flat. I phoned my contact at Cranfield University and she has agreed to advertise the CF on their intranet, so we are hopeful to secure a new tenant very soon. I can’t tell you how glad I am to finish this refurbishment, it’s been hard work and nothing has been straight forward.

Phil has been just as knackered as me, my back was so bad yesterday I could hardly stand up straight and Phil is getting sharp pains in both his knees. We are self medicating with asprin, paracetamol and codeine and wine. It hasn’t all been work though, Phil again persuaded me to bunk off and on Tuesday afternoon we walked along the canal to the cinema to see the new Ricky Gervais film ‘The Invention of Lying’. It has had crap reviews but we both thought it was brilliant. Phil is very fond of Ricky Gervais and I just love his fat ugliness and squashy nose and its even better seeing it all on a big screen. So, Tuesday afternoon was pleasant. Unfortunately the hour’s walk to the cinema (some uphill) and 2 hours sitting on my bum watching the film, made my back really hurt. It feels easier today and no real pain as yet.

There are still many more jobs to do at home before I can really start to relax. Phil is keen to make a start on the garden and then he really must buckle down and start to revise for his exam which is just next week. In fact, it is next Thursday and I feel nervous for him because he has been so busy at the flat there he hasn’t had time (aside from The Science Revision weekend) to pick up a text book. After his exam, we shall celebrate and then we really must sit down and make plans for our BIG TRIP.

28 Days Later

First of all, thanx to Claire for managing the blog singlehanded; I just haven’t had time and I know this blog works best when we both write entries. Today was a milestone; we have finished the Cranfield flat and rewarded ourselves with the afternoon off where we did our old trick of walking along the canal to the Giffard Park for lunch and a bottle of wine or two. Claire felt that we still have too much to do but I managed to talk her into it; I felt the need to just draw a line underneath this renovation and start to plan the last 6 weeks before our big trip. It has taken us just under a month for this renovation which I suppose isn’t bad considering that I had a revision weekend and we have moved house during this time. We now have a few minor jobs around our house and the garden to sort out, and of course, I still have my exam to revise for but it feels like the pressure is off a little now.

This one seemed to be hard work from start to finish, nothing went smoothly. To start with, when you have to rely on contractors, your timing seems to double; you can’t beat doing as much work yourself as you can because it is far easier to plan your own time than somebody else’s. You have to wait for the plumber to take out the old kit before you can even start on the kitchen or bathroom. We also had some ceilings plastered which also slows things down as you have to wait for several days after the plasterer can fit you in before you can do anything meaningful. Then you can’t finish anything off until the plumber can spare another day to fit your sink and bathroom again. The bathroom (and kitchen) is so narrow that a standard 1700mm long bath will not fit in so the walls had to be chiselled out to accommodate it. Snake, the plumber noticed this when he quoted but we decided between us that is would be easiest overall to buy a cheap standard bath and fit it into the already chiselled out wall rather than buy an overpriced non standard bath. Trouble was that the cheap bath we bought from B&Q was a little longer than the one we removed so another 10 or 20mm needed to be taken out of the walls. On the lounge side are two electrical sockets so the plumber was reluctant to knock too much more out that side. Consequently, to get the bath down we had to chisel out about 200-300mm from the outside wall side to swing it into position. The plumber did most of this but it meant that I had to fill these holes in after the bath was done before I could even start tiling.

This property is a mid terrace bungalow, which is unusual, but the whole blog is unusual. It started out life as a block of three terraced Victorian houses on the Bedford road. Someone managed to buy all three and gain planning to build a bungalow wing on the right hand side and a two story wing on the left hand side and converting the lot into 10 apartments. The whole lot seems to be a bit of a mish mash but here is plenty of outside space and we even have a car park. The surrounding properties must hate it as they are all very expensive huge houses and bungalows. From the gardens we have lovely views and I must remember to take a photo next time I am there.

Every time I have to tile around a window, I think, I really must find out how you are supposed to do this but never had. I once got a DVD out from the library showing how to tile the correct way with lots of tips but although it showed tiling a window, it didn’t show how to tile the top or underside of the window. Also, I think that the old fashioned way of tiling a floor is not the best; they teach you to find the middle and start there so that you have equal tiles on each wall. If you have an open room where you can see all four walls then it may be a good way, but for most small rooms you can only usually see a couple of walls and I think it’s more important to have full tiles from where you enter a room and can see the walls. I like to start in a doorway so you see full tiles from there and you only have to cut a small strip from the tiles along the wall adjacent. Anyway, getting back to tiling under the window opening; I found the best way is to cut a piece of wood and wedge it about an inch under the top. Make sure you have cut all your tiles that need to go along this strip and that they all fit before you put adhesive on them. I then spread a thin layer of adhesive on the underside where the tiles will go and another thin layer on each tile. I then fit the plastic edge strip onto the adhesive and put a little more on top of that; take a deep breath and start to tile. I always feel that it’s a bit like spinning plates where you have to keep going back to the ones you have already stuck giving it a little press after each new tile fitted. If you don’t they are likely to start falling; and believe me when they do start falling, they all fall, it’s impossible to recover even if one tile falls. Once all the tiles are fitted, push up the bit of wood to support them and wedge the pre-cut bits of wood to support that. It’s not easy or pretty, but it seems to work for me. If any professional tillers read this please help me for my next renovation by posting tips or the proper way to do it.

Saturday evening we went out with Ian and Jane to the Black Horse along the canal. They have done all our double glazing for four flats we have renovated this year. I have written about them several times before, but we first met them over 20 years ago when I did the self build, also on Giffard Park. Ian and Jane are going to Sydney for 6 weeks over Christmas and New Year and it’s the same 6 weeks that we will be staying in Melbourne, so for us it’s a nice coincidence. They seem to go every year since they first visited Australia, and last year, their oldest daughter, Charlotte went with them but stayed for 12 months taking her year out. These days most kids feel it’s a right to take a year out, what a shame it wasn’t always like that; we have had to wait until we are almost retired before we can even take three months out. I know they do it cheap, but I bet it’s not as cheap as we do it. I really enjoyed talking to Ian again but I think we need several more evenings before we can even start to catch up; they seem to have had as many things going on in their lives as we have in ours.

I suggested to Ian that we organize a self build reunion as it’s probably longer than most people wait before organising a school one. He is right up for it, I think we both have fond memories of that experience, even though it was hard work for 21 months, in our spare time, having to put in 25 hours a week minimum as well as holding down a full time job. Basically, it was 18 people getting together to build 18 four bed detached houses with a garage, but the whole site had to be developed, starting from a field. Even the road blocks were laid by us; well Ian told me that he laid almost all of them himself. He was an unusually hard worker for a young man, almost as good as me and Claire. He and Jane really have earned everything that they own. Ian was 21 while we were building the site and it will need a separate entry to talk about that but there were 2 others a little older than him that were the normal lazy type of youth; one of them we had to fire out when he didn’t turn up for the whole of February and the other (allegedly) stole our plumbing and electrically kit. I may have to be careful who I invite to our reunion.