Where did the weekend go?

The last 3 days have been stressful and I am tired to the bones; I’m now sure why because it hasn’t been all work and no play but more about that later.  Friday was meant to be work free and easy going and it certainly wasn’t as hard as some of my days have been of late, but it sure was busy. I was awake early and did an hours painting at the OB flat before going to the gym. I did 45 minutes which was very satisfying then returned my library books then went into the council offices to state my case about the conifers.  I didn’t get on very well I’m afraid.   They’ve agreed to investigate the private land which is council owned and look into the overgrown trees that are causing subsidence to our flat, but they reckon the over grown conifers which were planted by the council, but happen to be in Tracey and Mark’s gardens are their responsibility.  Now it’s obvious to me, by the state of both exteriors of both flats that they don’t have any spare cash to pay for chopping down trees and for that matter neither do we, but it’s important, both in structural maintenance and also for us for a light and mould issue, that we find the cash from somewhat can get it sorted once and for all.

Life certainly isn’t straight forward or easy going at the moment for us two.  When I got back from visiting the council, I put Phil’s baked spuds in the oven and made him a tuna, mayo and chilli bake to plop on the top; I was going to sit in the kitchen and check when my emails when I picked up a voice message from Phil to say that we had completed and the keys were ready for completion.  I rushed over to Walnut Tree to collect keys and drop off a card for Aaron with a gift voucher and just had enough time to leave the keys back at home for Phil before rushing off to the OU to pick up Jan.  We went to the pub at Simpson and Jan very kindly treated me to lunch; it was nice to see her, she was looking good and feeling much stronger. The wound has healed, she is still tender, but on Friday she returned to the gym for her first workout since the abscess.  Onwards and upwards my friend, at last you are going in the right direction.

I was making my way over to the OB flat after lunch to carry on painting, when I had a call from Phil to say that he was finishing work and after a visit to Rexam, he was popping into the OU library and then was heading to the Caldecotte flat.  I pulled over, turned around and met him outside the OU library.  I left him alone to register and find books but in the end I got bored and decided to go check out the CF by myself. Phil wasn’t far behind and together we had a good look round and another measure up.  What were we thinking when we thought we could save the base units in the kitchen; we can’t, they are worse than crap and we will have to change everything and start from scratch.

As we had 2 cars, I left Phil measuring and planning and went back home.  Phil was half an hour behind me, the plan was to go and work at the OB flat, but by this time is was 3pm and the sun was shining and Phil was buzzing with CF ideas, so we decided to walk down to The Giffard to brain storm.    And actually it was quite weird, because half of our cul-de-sac had the very same idea.  Neil, next door was at the bar with work colleagues ordering a late lunch and Sandy’s daughter Becky was also at the bar ordering drinks. We got to the pub at least once a month and we’ve never seen any of our neighbours in there before.

Thankfully we didn’t join forces and went to our own different seats, which was good, it’s not that I am unsociable, but Phil and I had lots to talk about.  The CF flat has gone from, its all okay, not much to change and a quick refurbishment, to a very expensive huge project.  Leaving Phil to his own devices and thoughts was so obviously a bad idea, this design engineer has big plans for a loft conversation.  I thought that his ideas were good.  I’ve known for ages that he has been dying to bash down walls and I agree that the loft space is crying for conversion. 

On Saturday we were keen to get going in the CF but first had to finish off in the OB flat.  I did some painting, some gardening and Phil worked hard on boxing in the toilet pipes.  This involved a lot of sawing and an awful lot of hard work.  The deal was that if he could box off the toilet pipes for me then I wouldn’t make him replace the bathroom, but I’m not sure I would have made the deal if I knew it would have meant so much labouring for him. I too have worked hard in the bathroom and between the pair of us, we have managed to bring it back to a reasonably good standard.

At 11am we tidied up and packed up some tools and paints plus the kettle and drove over to the CF.  Sue came round, as arranged, at some time after half eleven, we showed her the flat, had a cup of tea in the garden then we headed to the Windmill pub at Caldecotte for some lunch.  Sue drove but the plan didn’t pan out; the Windmill pub was busy and they had only 2 bar staff and there was along queue for food and drinks. Now Phil doesn’t do queues so we decided to go elsewhere.  All 3 of us were undecided where to go but we ended up at the Tawny Owl at Walnut Tree. Phil was happy because he found out that it was a ‘hungry horse’, not my favourite criteria for fine dining, but hey, the sun was shining, we sat outside and sometimes the company is much more important than the food.   After lunch Sue dropped us back at the CF flat, we did a few bits, measured some more, discussed plans but not long after, we packed our bags and went back home.  We should have worked on but if I’m honest, we were knackered; we’d been up since 5am, in the flat since 7am and 2 pints and 2 glasses of wine for moi, we were done in.

Saturday night was quiet, our BT Vision is f***ed  which was a real shame because we could have done with some light relief after some our labour this weekend .It’s kind of my fault, I switched off the BT Vision switch instead of the fairy lights on Thursday night and it’s not worked since. I phoned up BT Vision and they said the white boxes are faulty now and they promised to send a new one ASAP. It is a pain in the bum. Fingers crossed that it arrives tomorrow because I can’t go through another weekends viewing like the one we’ve just had and certainly neither can Phil.

I nearly forgot, we had a bit of a drama when we got back home on Saturday afternoon.  Phil went to stock up his pill box which is something he tends to do at the weekends and noticed that his cancer hormone pill had doubled in size.  When he went to check his prescription against his pill packets, he discovered that the pharmacy had given him 50g of Casodex instead of 150g as prescribed by his consultant.  Now this wouldn’t be a problem if it was just one or 2 weeks that he’d been taking the 50g but we actually think that he has been taking the lower dose for 1 month and maybe even 2 months.   Perhaps it’s my fault, I ordered the correct pills online but I didn’t actually check the packets in the paper bag.  We are not sure what the consequences of this are yet, Phil is phoning his consultant this morning.  One thing for sure though, I shall be checking all of his prescriptions in the future and I’m sure so will Phil.

Sunday morning it was back to OB flat for 3 hours of finishing odd jobs.  We did good and our work there is just about done.  The tree surgeon is going to pull down a tree in the front drive and weed and clear it tomorrow and he’s going to spray and clear weeds in the garden of no 10.  We’re really waiting on the new doors from Ampthill Glass; once they’ve been fitted we’re ready to market.  There is a couple of other odds and sods, we need to sort the conifers, I also need to find a brick specialist and the metal door wells need to be fitted but nothing major.  This is good because I can clear my mind and fully concentrate on the CF project.  When we finished, we packed up our tools, loaded the Land Rover, grabbed a burger from Burger King, popped in B&Q to buy a new FlyMo and some screws then went to Caldecotte.  I laid down the dust sheets and Phil got stuck into ripping out the dado rail in the bedroom, filling and sanding down the walls.  He also took down fittings in the lounge and filled and sanded which is good because I have 2 rooms that are ready and prepared for painting.  I’m off there today but first I need to catch up with domestics.  I have just gone to my handbag to retrieve my camera and it’s not there.  I must have left it in the CF. So, sorry no photographs this morning, I will have to add these later on today.

Simply not enough hours in the day........

I know it’s only been a short week, but for me, it’s been action packed.   There just aren’t enough hours in the day to get what I need doing.  My ‘to do’ lists have gotten plain ridiculous; I now do them 3 times a day, morning, noon and night and I have added timings to each action. I need to stop doing this because it just adds to the pressure when I get to a certain task and I am lagging behind.  Need to stop this at once; it just stresses me out even more.  I don’t feel sorry for myself and I don’t expect anybody else to either, I bring the pressure on myself and I have only myself to blame.  Plus, I always knew what it was going to be like with 2 flats on the go, it was always going to be hard going.  No, if I am honest, its Phil I feel most sorry for; poor sod, he has to work full time, he works himself to the bone all weekend, the accounts still aren’t finalised and he has no time to write his book, actually no time to himself whatsoever. Plus, he has the delight of 7 and half weeks of daily radiotherapy ahead of him and I know he is scared.  He doesn’t say much but I know; the tossing and turning at night and the early morning awakenings say it all really. But we will get through it all, we always do and besides, what is the alternative?

I made time on Wednesday morning to get to the gym, I only did a 3k run and a few weights but it was enough after 2 weeks away and I was glad I made the effort.  Afterwards, I went to IKEA at 10am to get some bits and pieces that I needed for revamping our old bedroom units. First stop though, was the café for a very naughty hot dog and a paper cup of coffee, a real treat but don’t tell Phil!  I didn’t plan to go into the showroom because it wasn’t on the list and I hadn’t allocated the time, but in the end, I couldn't resist  and allowed myself a 20 minute zip through.  And so glad was I that I did, I got some really good ideas and found a piece of furniture that will gave me inspiration for the main bedroom in the Caldecotte flat.  Which from now on will be referred to as the CF; it’s amazing how a colour, or a painting or my case a simple piece of furniture can create the setting.  On Wednesday morning it was a bright orange laptop over the bed cover unit that is on wheels and rolls up and down the bed, that did it for me.  I can’t explain it very well but combined with the grey striped new bedding that my sister gave me a few months back that I have washing and ironed and a print that I have set aside in the garage, the CF bedroom will be contemporary and funky.   I can’t wait to get started.

After lunch, which was veggie chili and rice, it was back at the flat for some touch up emulsion in the bathroom and fence painting.  Normally I don’t mind fence painting, it is one of my issues and I can’t bear to see bare fences, but with 21 panels to do, I was a little overwhelmed to say the least.  But as usual, I forced myself onwards and got 11 panels done in just 2 hours.  I have to say it is quite rewarding and I was pleased when I got halfway done.   I got home not long before 5pm only to find a very stressed out Phil.  The signed deeds for the CF flat had gone missing in the post and needed to be with Sally our solicitor before Friday so that we could complete.   Now, I sent them back last Thursday and this is the 3^rd time that important documents have been posted and gone astray.  With Phil on hormones, every minor issue is a complete trauma for him these days but it wasn’t such a big deal to me; worrying I know, because we would incur a fine if we don’t complete but Sally emailed the deed, Harriet signed again, Emma witnessed and I drove them over to Winslow yesterday morning at 7am.  Problem, or should I say, situation (and fine) avoided.

After an early morning drive to Winslow, I took myself off to DW for a swim, a steam and a Jacuzzi.  The place was deserted, which was great, probably because it is half term and I had the pool and everything else to myself.  I was in Asda at quarter to eight and had shopped paid and after DW was back home by 9.30am.  It’s true, I’m an early bird rather than a light night chick and shopping and gymning without many others around, is true bliss.

After Asda I went to Wickes and B&Q to suss out the kitchen prices.  It’s amazing that there are so many deals on but they are not what they always seem.  I have decided for the CF flat to go for the ‘off the shelf’ modern gloss white slab from Wickes; it’s the cheapest and we can jazz it up with tiles, kickbacks, splash backs and worktops.  It will be fine.  We are hoping that we maybe be able to use the base units but that will depend on whether we are happy with the current design.  We’ll see; our strategy is always to save money but if it comprises the end finish then it’s not worth the economical saving.

As usual, Thursday’s lunch was fish and chips; it always goes down well with Phil when he is hung-over and jaded.  And grumpy and even shorter tempered than usual, he is not great company and I was quite relieved when he took himself to bed last night at 6.45am.  After fish and chips and mushy peas, which I always enjoy at the time then wish I’d never had them after I’d eaten them, I went to the OB flat to paint the finish off the rest of the fence panels.  All 21 of them are now done but I can tell you it was a challenge and I had to push myself real hard. What a boring job, but in the meantime I got talking to the neighbours at the back of us who were putting their washing out.  They were friendly, I told them my plan about lobbying the council to get the conifers chopped down and they were very encouraging, which is good because 3 of the blasted trees are in Tracey’s garden and 2 are in Marks.  They both said that the conifers cause them great misery, they make their flats dark and it makes me wonder why they have never challenged the council before.  I have taken a copy of my surveyor’s report which says the trees are causing subsidence to our kitchen and I have also pictures of the offending trees.  I am going into the council this afternoon so I shall let you know how I get on.

The new carpet and the fitter arrived at half three to fit the main bedroom carpet whilst  I was painting the fence panels. Worst luck, it was the little grumpy bald headed, bad tempered little chap that fitted our stair carpet at home.  We always use CarpetRight because they are the cheapest and I pretty much, over the last ten years, know all the carpet fitters.  This one is my least favourite, he drinks only water and conversation is a no-no.  If it had of been one of the nicer fitters then I would have offered more money and asked them to fit a bit of carpet in the airing cupboard but there was no such chance with the small guy .  I will do it myself and plus the paint was still wet.  Carpet fitters don’t take the rubbish away which is fine, I can do that quite easily but at least the bald guy hovered, which is a first for me. I tipped him £3.26 which probably sounds mean. He hovered but his bad temper lost him points plus he referred to me as ‘missus’, another no-no in my books. 

Today, all being well, we should complete and get the keys to the CF.  Phil, I hope will finished @3 and we should, fingers crossed, if the 2 solicitors haven’t gone to the pub for a TGIF lunch, be able to have those keys in our hands well before 5pm.  It’s an easy day today for me I confess; I am going to the gym first thing, going to get a John Lewis voucher for our agent (we’re nice like that) then I am going to the library, then the council offices, and then, after putting Phil’s baked potatoes in the oven I am picking up Jan from the OU and we’re having a a catch-up over lunch.  I can’t wait.  I don’t mind working hard but its good to have a break especially as its a Friday and the start of the weekend.

Tattoo's, toilets and Indian treats

The May bank holiday was very typical of bank holiday weather and, as always, was awful, just as it most often is I guess; I don’t suppose it mattered much because, once again, we were in the OB flat before seven thirty.  We’d already decided before going that we were only going to work the morning and actually, we had a very productive 4 hours.  Phil plastered and filled, he put up the new light fittings, and he removed an internal door and corrected the pain-in-the-neck vertical blinds in the kitchen.  I painted the outside bin cupboards, touched up with the emulsion and glossed some of the doors.  Phil has persuaded me that we don’t need to change the toilet and the sink.  We’ve made good the damp wall and the bath is absolutely so fine so I suppose it makes sense to work with what’s already there.  I’ve insisted that Phil box in the toilet pipes because they are so unsightly and he has agreed to let me have new taps, and well I suppose, I’ll just have to make good with emulsion and gloss. I can’t say that I’m 100% happy but such is life, I will have a look in Bathroom-Bits-4U to see if I can find a sexy shelf cabinet and also in IKEA for a shower curtain and some accessories.  We finished up at 11am, went to Homebase to get a few bits, make a quick trip to Carpet Right to order a new bedroom carpet then it was home to shower and change.

 We decided to push the boat out and went to the Jaipur as a treat to ourselves for all our hard work.  It was a tossup between the Thai and the Indian but in the end Phil opted for the Indian.  I’d of preferred the Thai myself.  We were quite early and were the only ones dining in the restaurant which wasn’t really a problem but I do like to have a bit of ambience and there wasn’t any.  The food when it came, was okay, not spectacular and not on the cheap side; the service was inattentive and very slow considering we were their only guests.  We had a Chicken Jalfrezzi, Basmatti Rice, Peshwari Naans and a Lamb curry, we certainly didn’t over order by any means and easily managed to finish it all off.   We did think about going to the cinema but there was nothing on we fancied and besides it was pouring with rain so we headed for home, put on our jarmies and caught up with BT vision recordings.   Oh we certainly know how to live life in this house.

It was back to work for Phil yesterday and for me back to the flat for some more painting.  I am almost finished and should be able to pack them all away by Friday, just in time for the next project.  And speaking of which, I went to HomeBase yesterday to buy paint for Caldecotte as they had a buy-one-get-one half-price deal which ended last night.  Saying that though I still spent 90 quid, paint, especially Dulux doesn’t come cheap and I’ve still got more to buy.  Phil took sandwiches for lunch instead of coming home because he didn’t want to eat much as he had to have an empty bowel for his scan at the hospital.  I wasn’t going to go with him but he was anxious about the parking and getting there on time for his appointment so in the end I went along.  He came home at 1.30 and we got to Northampton General with about 5 minutes to spare.  The parking once again was a nightmare.  The Oncology Department had given us a parking permit for carp parks, 3, 4 and 5 but guess what, no spaces.  In the end we parked illegally, I walked Phil to the Oncology reception and then went straight back to find a parking space.  I drove round endlessly and there were no spaces and I ended up paying and displaying and then went back to wait for Phil.

Phil got his tattoos and his bowel was empty enough for them to be able to do the scan.  For some reason he ended up having 2 scans but he didn’t question this so I don’t know why.  He was slightly agitated when he came out but I gather this wasn’t from pain, just the fact that the nurse went very close to his belly button when she was putting in the needle for the tattoos and Phil’s got a thing about his belly button.  Actually he has a thing about belly buttons per se but silly boy, he didn’t tell the nurse and instead suffered in silence almost coming to the point of having a panic attack.

After the hospital we headed back to MK stopping off at Roade to pick up Georgina who is on half term revising for her exams which start next Friday.  I hadn’t seen her for ages and we went to The Navigation at Stoke Bruerne for a late lunch.  We all had something off the light bite menu and it was fine even though Phil moaned because he had to queue up for ages when he was ordering.   Georgina was in fine form, she has finished school ‘forever’ and is working at a college in Shrewsbury in July then spending a month in South Africa in August.  She’s back in September for a couple of weeks then it’s off to university at LSE at the beginning of October.  So exciting times ahead for this young lady.

And that’s about all my news up-to-date.  I’m going to the flat to do a few bits this morning but then I am heading for the gym.  This will be the first time that I have been in 2 weeks and I have decided that I am going to go back to going every day.  A girl needs a bit of cardio even if she does have a project and especially when she is not getting any younger.  I looked at my thighs in the mirror wardrobes this morning and it’s like the thigh police have been here and stole mine overnight.  They are saggy and dimply, whereas only a few weeks ago they were fine, well fine’ish.  So it’s back to DW.  I probably won’t have time for long workouts but 40 minutes each day shouldn’t be a problem and I think I deserve one hour out of my day doing what I like; actually not what I like to be honest but what is necessary. Needs must and all of that

Plans, Projects & Parents

I didn’t feel very good on Friday morning which I put down to a late night with the lovely but sad Sue filling up my glass so generously, but after lunchtime I felt was feeling really weird.  My nose was bunged up and my throat was sore so I decided against going back to the OB flat and instead took myself to DW for a steam and a Jacuzzi.   By the time I was showered and dressed I felt almost too dizzy to drive but somehow I got myself safely home, got changed into my PJ’s and dossed in front of the telly with the remote control.  Which is where Phil found me when he got home from work.  By this time, my nose was streaming and it was obvious that I had a cold.   Great, just in time for the bank holiday weekend with a heavy schedule ahead of me.

Thankfully, wined and drugged up, I felt a little better on Saturday morning and we started work at the OB flat at half past seen.  Phil was raring to go but yours truly was a little reluctant and somewhat slow.  My boy got stuck in to the blinds in the kitchen, they took him 3 hours and are still not right, they need to come down and  he almost needs to start from scratch.  We will never, ever buy vertical blinds from Paul Simon ever again.  I got on with  glossing the internal doors of which there are 8 in total, a lot for such a tiny flat.  Glossing is not my favourite jobbie and I was tempted to cheat with white matt emulsion but they look so much better for gloss so it wasn’t really an option. 

We stopped and went for a pub lunch at The Cricketers pub, average pub grub and nowhere near as nice as last week.  Still, it filled a hole and we were in and out in around 40 minutes.  After lunch we went to HomeBase to buy light fittings, they don’t have such a cheap range as B&Q but the ones we found were quite straight forward and very easy to fit.  We will certainly buy these again.  The plan was to go to DW for a steam and a Jacuzzi but we were just too knackered so we changed into civilian clothes and headed for home.  Quick shower, Jim jammies, ironing for me and the replay of the Grand Prix qualifying, for Phil.  We both had the munchies a bit later on and seriously debated a Chinese takeaway but Phil deliberated far too long so I squashed the idea.   It’s so not good for you to eat late at night and by the time he would have decided it would have been way past 8pm before it arrived.  We watched some crappy crime detective series which Phil had recorded and then went to bed for an early night.

Which was just as well, because Harriet woke us both up when she rolled in at 4.40am after a heavy night of clubbing.   This is very close to our natural wake up time so it was a quick pee, then lights on and a spot of reading.  We didn’t manage to get back to sleep and found ourselves once again at the OB flat before half seven.  I didn’t stay long as Phil’s mum and dad were coming down for lunch so I needed to get home to cook.  I wanted Phil to hang the feature wall paper up in the lounge and also fill in the airing cupboard.  I helped him with the first piece of wallpaper which is always the most difficult and then headed back to GP to start on the lunch. 

The reason for Phil’s mum and and dad’s visit was two-fold, one to save Bet cooking lunch and also for them to see the OB flat with a view to moving in.  I wanted the flat to look at its best so hence the pressure this last week to work my fingers to the bone.  Phil, bless him, did 3 and  a half hours work in the flat on Sunday morning and was just home in time to get showered and changed before his parents arrived.  They were a little late arriving and I was worried but it turned out that the M1 barrier was down and they had to get off at Junction 14 and then got lost finding their way to ours.  Bless em, it’s a long way to visit for a few hours and they do very well considering their ages.

I did roast lamb with an orange and pork stuffing, accompanied by roast spuds, carrots, broccoli, peas & sweet corn and cheesy leeks.  It came out very well even if I do say so myself.  Dessert was cherry pie and fresh custard, shop bought I confess but even I had some and I don’t do sweets.  After lunch, we took mum and dad to see our new flat at Caldecotte, or Harriet’s flat, I should say.  The agent kindly let us view so Phil could measure up and I wanted to get some inspiration for redecoration.  Surprisingly, it was much better then I remembered.  It was a good opportunity for Bet & George to see the flat and for Phil to draw it up in advance, but I’m not sure about me.  My head is buzzing, I have wallpapers and colour schemes buzzing through my head which had me awake at 4am this morning.  It’s good to pre-plan, to be prepared, but I need to spend at least an hour in this flat so I can feel it.  Otherwise I will make mistakes; I need to feel the vibe before I purchase any materials.  Also, I need to concentrate fully on one project before moving on to the next; Phil says his work will be over today in the OB flat, but my work is far from over.  However, an afternoon of rest on Friday and a full day off work on Sunday, after 10 consequtive days of painting, has done me much good and I am almost snot free.

Sunday afternoon was a dis-jointed viewing of the Monaco Grand Prix and we waved cheerio to Bet & George at quarter to four.   Bet phoned at 5.30pm to say they’d eventually got home after getting lost at Rugby. I suppose the good news is, that they didn’t crash, they didn’t hurt themselves or anybody else for that matter but me thinks their driving days are nearly over.   I need to move them to MK and the sooner the better.

Not much else to report and I’m sorry for the lack of photographs.  I had the opportunity on lots of occasions but with a heavy head cold and hands smothered with white gloss, it just didn’t happen.  This morning we are once again back in OB; more jobs, Phil says his work will be finished and then we will head to some or other gin-joint for lunch.  And perhaps we will take the afternoon off, and maybe, if the rain stays away, we may even get the chance to walk to the cinema to catch a movie.  Happy days and thanks goodness for holidays.  I already feel like we need another one!

I

A long list of things to do........

The OB flat has been a real challenge and I have certainly had my work cut out this week.  It didn’t help buying cheap paint at B&Q with the 2-4-3 offer a few weeks back.  Normally I use Dulux but this isn’t cheap and Phil thought we could save some money.  And yes we did save some money but OMG, I’ve had to do 4 and sometimes 5 coats on every wall, the coverage was crap. It was like painting with gone off milk, thin and lumpy. This is ridiculous, one coat is necessary; I don’t mind 2 coats, 3 at a push but come on, 4 is just pushing a girl to madness.  Anyway, when I got to my last 2 rooms, the 2^nd bedroom and the hall, I caved in and took the 5 litre pot of B&Q cheap silk crap back and brought a pot of Dulux one coat.  And you know what, even then I had to do 2 coats, even though it guaranteed one coat coverage or get-your-money back; I’ve never known walls to be so porous.

Anyway, it’s taken me 11 days nonstop work but I think I have finally turned a corner.  I don’t know why but I just don’t get a good feeling about the OB flat.  I’ve tried but every time I turn the key and enter inside it makes me feel depressed.  I have scrubbed all the mould away; I think we’ve got rid of the spores, god knows we’ve had the windows and doors opened even with 10 force gales.  My face has just about returned to normal, the scabs have fallen off and I exfoliated yesterday to get of the last of the dry skin.  I won’t be using mould spray any time soon or at least I won’t be spraying without wearing a face mask, I’ve learnt my lesson.

More-or-less I’ve just about finished decorating the OB flat; both bedrooms are done as well as the hall and the kitchen.  My ‘Raspberry Diva’ pink worked well in the kitchen and I am glad I’ve got some colour in there.  I’ve bought wallpaper ready to hang at the weekend for a feature wall in the lounge;  I’ve chosen the same wallpaper that we’ve got in the lounge because I know it works.  I would have liked to have chosen something a little more daring but there is a slim possibility that Phil’s mum and dad may move into the flat so I’ve had to tone it down.  I’m not afraid to use colour, far from it;  I think you need to have at least 3 colours in a room, I’m not sure if I read that somewhere if I simply made it up, but it’s a rule that I always follow and it seems to work. 

On Tuesday, Ian, our good friend from Ampthill Glass came round and measured up for new doors.  We need a new front door, French windows in the lounge and a new back door.   The existing ones are all rotten and even with the most severe sanding and gloss; they are so bad we knew at once that they couldn’t be saved.  The quote when it came in at £1,600 plus VAT wasn’t cheap but I know Ian would have given us his best ‘family and friends’ rate.  Doors don’t come cheap and at the end of the day they need replacing.   I really would like the windows to be done as well; they are PVC but have been wrecked with mould.  I’ve done my best to clean them up but they are far from perfect.  Before replacing them it’s probably best to wait to see, if indeed, we have managed to get rid of the mould problem one year on from now, or at least one winter from now and then we can readdress.

Will Tricks, my landscape gardener and tree surgeon came round last week and has quoted me for removing a tree and weed and tree stump removal.  He was scheduled to come and do this today but I told him I need at least 24 hrs. notice so I can give warning to the residents to remove their cars so I guess it won’t be happening today.  Will is a good guy, he’s a local from Wolverton and we’ve been using him for years. 

I had thought that we would get away with replacing the bathroom but alas it’s not to be.  We can save the bath but without a doubt the toilet and sink needs to be replaced.  I have given it a lot of thought and we also need to replace the floor, take out the radiator and replace with a heated towel rail and I would like to add a colour splash back Perspex panel to the window wall.  This won’t be cheap and Phil will most probably fight against this but this bathroom needs a bit of ‘fizz’ and this can be easily achieved for just a few hundred quid.   We have learnt many things over the years in this property game, and one of the most valuable lessons is that you need to put it right at the start.  If you bodge over, then in the end you end up just paying more.

There is still much to do but until Phil gets in and does his bit at the weekend my work internally is just about finished.  Phil & I will be back at the OB flat tomorrow, I need him to bash out the airing cupboard.  We need to see if the wall has dried out and if it hasn’t we need to bash that out and rebuild.   If it has then we just need to put proper airing cupboard shelves in and then it’s just a repaint job.  We will need to get a plumber to fix the waste pipe, rip out the toilet and then come back in after we have tiled and re-box the piping and back to wall toilet.  Other than that, I just need to paint the 16 fence panels in the garden and lobby the council to chop down the so oversized conifers at the back and then we’re done.  Just in the nick of time to start on the Caldecotte flat (CF in future) when we complete on Friday.

It hasn’t all been work and no play though.  On Wednesday night I went over to Willen to share a bottle of red with Vanessa.  She was good, although a little tired because Chris is away and she doesn’t sleep so well when he’s not home.  And last night Phil dropped me off at Sue’s flat in Caldecotte.  Another red (& white wine) and lots of girlie chat.  Sue is naturally feeling sad, now that Alan is no longer with us, she has a huge hole that she is struggling to fill.  My heart goes out to her but even so she was good company and the time flew.  I rather fear I outstayed my welcome and it was midnight before I got to bed last night.  Hence I am hung over and running late so hence no edits, no spell check.  I need to publish this rushed post and get my tired butt over to Asda.

Prostate Cancer Radio Therapy

D day was here, I had tried in vein to delay the inevitable. I had written to the surgeon twice and he had responded both times by calling me back on my mobile. The results of these conversations were that I was taking the best possible course of action for someone in my position. It just seems a shame that I have to endure this primitive treatment probably nearing the end of its useful life. Radiotherapy is used to kill cancer by zapping your cells with high energy gamma rays, which are high frequency photons or light. The light that we are aware of is visible light. The photons that make this light up have different frequencies associated with them; the higher the frequency the more energy the photon has. Red has a lower frequency than blue light and so has slightly less energy. Lower frequencies than red, like infra-red have even lower frequencies and energy. Higher frequencies than blue have greater energies the higher the frequency. The next one up is ultra-violet and then microwaves which we all can see have greater energy. Normal visible light can pass through air quite easily and some liquids but it’s not so good at passing through most solids. The higher the frequency the easier the photons can penetrate solids. Gamma rays having such high frequencies give the photons very high energy which can interact with water in your body knocking out electrons from these molecules causing them to be charged positive cations. These cations, when in the body are called "free radicals", notably hydroxyl radicals. Ironically, these are known to be dangerous when inside the body for causing cancer.

These free radicals are electrically attracted to your DNA inside your cells and sometimes cause the DNA to break. Because broken DNA would most likely inhibit protein production and cause cell death, we have evolved mechanisms to repair this DNA when only one of the two strands of the DNA helix is broken. If both strands were broken the cell would die. However, the repair mechanism is not 100% because we don't normally experience free radicals in huge quantities, so by introducing lots of them in the area where the cancer is growing over a long period of time causes the cancerous cells to gradually die. They will continue to divide, but more slowly as more and more cells are either deformed or die.

Cancers are made from undifferentiated cells, a little like stem cells so they are not specialised cells doing any particular function other than dividing. For this reason they usually divide and grow more quickly than normal differentiated cells just like they do in embryos or early life. However, undifferentiated cells are not as good as normal differentiated cells when it comes to the DNA repair mechanism, that's why this method has so much success and children are so susceptible to radiation.


Unfortunately, when you have prostate cancer like me, this organ is right in the middle of your body close to all your favourite bits. As there are no air gaps in your body, other than within your lungs, organs are tightly packed together. To be able to zap your bad cancerous cells in the middle of your body, the radiation must first pass through all your good cells and organs to get there. Also most the high frequency, high energy photons will pass straight through your body and could create free radicals on the way out as well as on the way in. For this reason, they split the beam of gamma rays into three and focus these beams where your prostate is. Another complication is that the organs in your body are not always in exactly the same place, they move around a little according to how much you have eaten and drank and if you have any trapped wind. For this reason they have to concentrate the gamma ray beams on your prostate with a 10 to 15mm focus greater than the actual size of the prostate so as to be sure to always hit it wherever it moves to at the time. This obviously means that you always have around 15mm of good tissue directly in the focused beam that will also be affected.

They locate where your prostate is initially with a CT scan prior to treatment, placing marks on your skin where the entry points of the photon beams will go. As treatment is over a couple of months they have to make these marks permanent by giving you small tattoos. CT scans work by penetrating your body with other high energy photons, but not quite as high power as gamma rays. These rays are called X-rays. These are also damaging to the body for the same reasons as the more powerful higher frequency gamma rays and so the nurses make a hasty retreat while the scan is in progress.

Claire came with me for my scan yesterday morning at 8.40am in Northampton. We were not that early because we heard, just before getting on the M1, that there was a hold-up so we diverted to the Northampton road. We followed the instructions regarding parking but found that car park 5 was inaccessible from the main entrance because of road works within the hospital grounds. We took the exit and drove around the outskirts of the hospital until we found another entrance but car park 5 was full. To avoid being late we parked on a bit of waste ground that said it was for the nurses. Once in the hospital, they took my details and gave us a parking permit allowing us to park in most of the car parks around the hospital grounds. Unfortunately this was too late for us as we had already been given a parking ticket.  

When having the treatment they try to minimise the movement of the prostate by ensuring that the prostate is as close to the same position as when you had your scan. They like empty bowels but a full bladder which keeps your good bits which are likely to be affected as far out the way as possible. I hopped onto the scanning bed and they pulled my trousers and pants down and my shirt up. I was pleasantly surprised that I didn't hear any sniggering before they put the single sheet of blue paper over my embarrassment. They had a fiddle around and stuck 3 stickers where they guessed were the best areas to start the beams and disappeared from the room while I had my scan. Once they had returned a few minutes later they asked me to stay down while they took a "few measurements". Once finished I was let up only to be told that I had to come back for the whole process to be repeated again next week. The reason being that, although my bladder was full, my bowels were far from empty. I have been having a little trouble in that department ever since I started taking the drugs for high blood pressure. The joys of getting older.


Anyway, I need to come off these drugs until the treatment is complete; but on the up side, these drugs might help after my treatment as one of the worst side effects of the treatment is that you become much looser than you used to be before it. Maybe I will be lucky and the two will sort themselves out once I start taking the drugs again?


From the research that Claire and I have been doing, I believe that they are close to finding a modern treatment for both breast cancer and the very similar prostate cancer. Men develop prostates and women develop breasts; I suppose it’s fair that we both have similar problems with our unique bits. It just seems a shame that I couldn't delay this treatment for a couple of years to give them a chance to get these alternative, not so radical, treatments up and running.

I put a few photos of Claire and Ian around our new venture to pad it out.

Painting & Prostate

We had a very productive weekend mostly spent at the OB flat.  It was better having Phil with me; I prefer it to working alone; we work well together once we get going.  I started painting the kitchen with the mould paint while Phil got on with the preparation of the rest of the flat.  He filled holes and sanded down the skirting boards and the radiators.  I was pleased about this because I am not so keen on the prep and Phil makes a much better job of it than me.  It was hard going in the kitchen; the walls needed 4 coats to cover, and lots of cutting in by the windows and the units. 

As lunchtime approached Phil suddenly remembered that he hadn’t recorded the Grand Prix qualifying so he nipped home to record it.  When he got back I got changed out of my work clothes and we stopped for lunch.  We had planned to go the carvery at Peartree Bridge but we’d both seen the sign at the Cricketers advertising steak and chips for £4.99 so we went there as the pub is literally behind the flat.  The pub was empty and it was only after we had ordered our steaks that I remembered the last time we’d been in The Cricketers was last year, with Sue & Alan when we went with them to a pub quiz.  I had quite forgotten yet it was only a few months back. We think the pub must be under new management as things have changed since we last visited but even so the place was empty.   We didn’t mind and our steak and chips tasted great.

It was hard going back to work after lunch and a beer and sitting down but we did it.  There is so much work to do in this gloomy flat.   We downed tools at 3’ish and then Phil filled up with petrol and we then went to DW for a Jacuzzi and a steam.  A Jacuzzi is great for getting paint off your fingers and limbs; there was no chance of a work out though I was cream crackered, especially since I’d been up since 4am.  On the way home we stopped off at Paul Simon to buy blinds, venetians for the bathroom and bedrooms and vertical blinds for the kitchen.  The OB flat seems exposed and we need to make it more secure and less vulnerable to burglars.  Our last trip of the day was a visit to Homebase to buy a colour for a feature wall in the kitchen.  I knew I wanted pink and picked up a tin of ‘Bubblegum Pink’ but it wasn’t quite right.  Phil found the right paint in the end, ‘Raspberry Diva’ which was just perfect.  Well done that boy especially since he is colour blind!

We got home at 4.45m, changed into jim jammies then it was telly and not much else.  I forgot to mention that I woke up on Saturday morning with a face just like sandpaper.  I was perplexed as to the cause because I don’t suffer from dry skin on my face, quite the reverse in fact, I am a greasy girl.   I didn’t have any moisturiser because I don’t usually have the need for it, so I nicked some of Harriet’s E45 and slathered that on.  It only occurred to me yesterday that the dry skin which felt like I’d put on a face pack on and left it on overnight was most probably due to an overdose of chemicals from the mould spray.  I’d also developed a smoker’s cough, which again was probably due to the chemicals.  What a stupid girlie, I’d remembered the plastic gloves but I’d quite forgotten to wear the mask.  

Sunday was much the same as Saturday; a quick breakfast and then straight to the flat to carry on.  I painted and Phil finished off the Sanding.  We think that there may be a chance we will not need to replace the bathroom or have to rebuild the damp wall.  Even though it was blowing a gale, Phil opened all the doors and windows to see if the wall will dry out.  From taking off the bath panel, he noticed that the waste pipe is leaking so I’ll need to call out a plumber.  Lunch was a rather frozen roast dinner, again at The Cricketers.  Phil thought it was okay as he had a double portion of Yorkshire pudding plus it was only £3.99 but I won’t be trying it again anytime soon.  I guess it filled a hole though, I was starving.

In the afternoon Phil put up vertical blinds in the kitchen which was not an easy job.  There was lots of swearing and banging in the kitchen but eventually he got there.  We cleaned up and put away and went home just before 4pm.  I cooked a roast chicken for Harriet and we watched the Grand Prix which Phil had recorded.  The rest of the day we took it easy. 

Tomorrow, Phil goes for his radiotherapy planning appointment. Over the last couple of weeks Phil has been thinking about not having radiotherapy treatment.  I think by doing research for his book, it has made him even more aware of the very damaging effects of external beam therapy.  There has been a few letters exchanged between Phil & the consultant and a telephone conversation on Friday afternoon, and a result Phil has decided to go ahead.  He is not happy and obviously not looking forward to having the treatment.  I just want to get it over and done with, easy for me to say as I’m not the one being zapped.  I can’t lie and say that Phil’s cancer has dominated our lives these last few months because it hasn’t, but nonetheless it has been like a dark shadow and  its always on the mind.

This appointment tomorrow is to locate the exact positition of Phil’s prostate so that the radiologist can be accurate when aiming his zapper.  Phil will then get a permanent tattoo so they will always know where to aim.  I don’t think he will actually get zapped tomorrow as the letter is unclear, although it does say that he needs to attend with a full bladder.  I guess we’ll find out more when we get to Northampton General tomorrow.