Friends & Family

Tempting as it was on Monday morning to dive back under the duvet, I didn’t.  Nope, instead I stripped the bed and bunged the sheets in the washing machine.   Good girl.   Harriet dropped me off at Gulliver’s on her way to work and I collected my car from J&M.  I had all kinds of things I had to do, so many tasks but it was all too much in my hung-over state, so after getting my car, I drove straight back home and got on with the cooking.  I did veggie chilli for the freezer and chicken chilli-men for our lunch. I should have gone to the CF to paint but I just wasn’t up to the job.  I did go to B&Q to buy paint for the kitchen and more white emulsion but that was as far as I ventured on Monday.  In the afternoon I made some phone calls, answered emails and caught up with the ironing.  After work Phil picked up J&M from their campsite and step-dad helped Phil get the washing machine down the stairs.  We were going to dump the fridge/freezer because we thought the freezer seal was broken but the men managed to fix so it so we are keeping it.  Monday evening was quiet and Phil & I were both in bed before 8pm.

Thankfully Tuesday was more productive.  It didn’t start great mind you.  Ampthill Glass phoned on Monday to say that they would fit the new doors at the OB flat and could I be there to let them in at 8.30.  Of course I could and I was there at 8.15am just in case they were early.  It was a glorious day and whilst I was waiting, I decided to paint the front fence which was bare from where the tree was removed.  I had a call at 8.45am from Ampthill Glass to say they were running late and would be with me at 9.30am.  Whilst I was waiting I painting the fence panels in the upstairs flat garden and had just finished when the fitters finally turned up at 10am.  Normally this wouldn’t have been a big problem but I was meant to be picking up Sue at 9am as she was helping me in the flat.  I hate messing people about and it was almost half ten by the time I got to Sue’s flat.

When we got to the CF flat I painted the kitchen ceiling and Sue got stuck into cleaning out the fridge/freezer.  This was no easy job because we had a leaking kitchen sink, no hot water because the emersion heater is bust and hardly any cleaning stuff.  It was a dirty job but Sue persevered and 3 hours later it was looking like new.   It certainly has saved us a couple of hundred quid which is great.   I wasn’t looking forward to finishing off the landing but Sue held the ladder and loaded up the roller for me and it’s now pretty much done.  There are just a couple of awkward bits that I have absolutely no idea how to get to.
 

The fitters called me from the OB flat to say that they would be finished at 2.15pm so I left Sue at the CF and went over to see the new doors.  I didn’t need to pay them because we will pay on invoice but I did need to get hold of a front door key.  When I got to Oldbrook, the new doors had been fitted and looked fabulous but the boys hadn’t even started on the window boards.  It was pointless hanging around so I thanked the fitters, put a new front door key on my key ring and headed back to Caldecotte.

Sue thought I would be heading for home at lunchtime because of Phil but I had decided to take a sandwich and work through, which actually worked out for the best in the end.   When I got back to the flat, Sue made us a cup of tea and we started with the plum in the kitchen.  The paint went on like a dream but it was darker on the walls than it looked in the tin.  Maybe because it was covering red walls, I’m not 100% convinced about the plum but I am sure it will look fine with the white gloss units.  I hope so.  While we were drinking our tea, Rona from the Ampthill Glass office phoned to say could Champ come round to measure up for new windows and doors because he was already in MK and sure enough he turned up about 10 minutes later.  Whilst I was talking to him, Sue took over the cutting in in the kitchen and actually she made a far better job of it than me.  I don’t think it was Sue’s intention to work all day without a break but she ended up staying with me until the end, bless her.  We tidied up, put away paints and went our separate ways at 4pm. It was indeed a productive day and I was glad of the company.

After work I dashed home, had a quick shower then went to spend an hour with J&M.  The sun was still shining and it was a pleasant way to while away time, sitting outside their campervan with a glass of wine after such a busy day.  Wednesday wasn’t so busy thank goodness and I decided to take myself off to the gym.  Although I don’t really need to exercise whilst I am painting and decorating, a bit of cardio doesn’t hurt; it’s good to break into a sweat and get the heart pumping, even if it is only once a week. After the gym, I popped into Asda then went to pick up my stainless steel bits.  Phil came home for lunch and then J&M came round on their bikes.  They’d very kindly offered to help with our back garden.  I was a little worried about the weather because the forecast was rain but we all worked for 4 hours solidly and it is now looking much better.  Phil came home from work and we sat in the garden with drinks and then I did some supper.  Amazingly it didn’t rain at all which was just as well, because Phil walked to the pub at 7pm and J&M left on their bikes just before 8pm. 

Yesterday was a slow start; I popped to the shop to pick up a paper and dropped it off at the campsite then went back to make sure Harriet was up for work, then home for some breakfast and then off to meet Glen from Stony Stratford Aerials.  He quoted me for a digital aerial and two connections in both the OB flat and CF.  Digital aerials and fitting them doesn’t come cheap but they are essential.   Most unusually Glen said he could fit the aerials in OB there and then.  I said fine, handed him the spare key then headed to Caldecotte.  First job was hovering, and then I painted the hallway, followed by the bathroom and got a first coat in the airing cupboard. 

Snake our best plumber came to the flat around half eleven.  He looked at Phil’s kitchen plans and sighed and then sighed some more.   Snake said he could cope with the stop cock but the waste pipe combined with the integrated electric oven and the washing machine together with moving the kitchen sink was going to be tricky.  We certainly don’t make life easy for ourselves.  But anyway, Snake said he could make good as long as we got oversize worktops; this means that we will have to lose a little bit of kitchen space because the units have to come out a little but it will all be fine.  At least that’s what I keep telling myself. Snake couldn’t get the kitchen sink out yesterday but I gave him the keys and he promised faithfully that he would come back and re-pipe and fit to first fix by end of play today.  This will enable us to lay the marble floor on Saturday.  I thought the OB flat was a challenge but boy oh boy, the CF is proving much more of a challenge. I just think, thank god, we didn’t do the loft conversion at the same time.

Glen from SS Aerials phoned to say that he was coming over to fit the aerials in the CF flat but I had no cash so I had to phone Phil and ask him to get some cash out of the machine.  It’s insane but we are shelling money out like crazy at the moment, it’s never ending, just like a dripping tap. Phil didn’t seem to mind much about bringing me cash and suggested he come over and bring lunch.  He arrived with fish and chips and a meat pie complete with mushy peas, unfortunately just at the same time as Greg arrived.

Phil quickly ate his lunch, gave me the money for the aerials then had to go straight back to work.  When he went I spent 2 and a half hours chiselling off the 3 layers of floor tiles in the kitchen.  Phil had already started and I hadn’t realised just what a difficult, dirty and sticky job it was.  It took me nearly an hour to get the knack of it and a further 2 hours of sweat; I nearly had all the tiles off. But by 4pm I had enough, my knuckles were bleeding and I couldn’t physically bring myself to do anymore. I cleaned up, changed and headed out the door only to realise that I had quite forgotten to get Phil’s keys so I could only lock the door with the Yale key.  J&M called on the mobile at the same moment to talk but I just had to phone off to phone Phil. Phil said it was okay to leave the door on the Yale lock but I can’t say I was happy as it is so obvious from the outside that the flat is unoccupied.

I was driving on the A5 homewards in desperation of a hot shower when my mobile went off again.  I pulled over and it was Frazier, Harriet’s friend the plumber who said he would fix the bath waste at the OB flat and fit new taps. I back tracked and came off the A5 at the city centre and met him at half four.  A nice young man and he wanted to fit it there and then and for me to wait. But I needed cleaning and white wine so I gave him the front door key and Phil’s business card and left him to it.  I’d already had a 9 hour day nonstop without a break and to be honest I was done in.

Today thank goodness, is a day of rest, well sort of.  Phil is taking a day off work and we’re driving off to Holyport to see our accountant Rashmi.  We’ve had to get up at 5am to finalise the accounts and to be honest I’m not sure if they are ready to be presented.  But who really cares, I need to chill and so does Phil.  It won’t be the end of the world if the flats aren’t finished tomorrow.  Life is too short and we need to relax and be happy. Which is why, that for tonight, I have booked us into a 4 star hotel and after seeing Rashmi,, me and Phil are going to have a lovely lunch somewhere on the Thames.  The forecast is rain but that’s no matter; we are so knackered.  We will probably curl up on our king size with our laptops and read and research.  Yes I know, not the most exciting plans but with Phil’s radiotherapy looming ahead next week, I think it might be just what the doctor ordered.