Climbing Mountains

I was sorely tempted because to use the same title for my blog this morning that I used on Friday but I didn’t because that wouldn’t be good blog practise.  But title aside, what I can repeat when I say that life is never straight forward, well certainly not my life and even the simplest of tasks turns into an almighty mountain.  And I don’t mean a gentle hill with a gradual incline, I mean a really steep, slippery, treacherous mountain where I feel that I will never reach the top.  Or at least it feels that way.  Take last Friday morning for example.  I had spent a couple of hours on the phone to E-on and Scottish Power trying to get electric and gas connected at the OB flat.  This was not straightforward because both the gas and electric supply are metered and because the f**king, bastard absconding Polish tenants had run up huge debts.  I managed to get both accounts in my name and got reference numbers so that I could put money on the gas card and electric key. I drove all over MK on Friday morning and eventually found a shop in Fishermead that were able to put credit on both supplies.  Much relieved, I went to the OB flat and successfully managed to put money on both the meters but then I stumbled across another problem because I couldn’t get the pilot to light which meant no heat and no hot water.  In the end I gave up and went home for lunch.  Phil took the keys from me and said that he would go and look at the boiler after work.

With no heat or hot water there was no way I was going to start scrubbing the OB flat, so instead Sue & I went to the cinema to see The Descendants with George Clooney.  I persuaded Sue to go to The Odeon instead of Cineworld because the film times worked slightly better but as we stumbled in the dark to find our seats I knew that I had a mistake.  It was so cold in the cinema that you could see your breath as you exhaled.  I am prone to exaggeration, but not so in this case, the temperature inside was sub zero.  The adverts and film trailers seemed to go on for ever and ever and I was glad when the film actually started to roll.  However this relief was short lived because the film was crap.  Crap with a capital ‘C’.  It was slow and so very predictable; Sue & I both had read the review in The Times and thought it was meant to a romantic comedy about a father struggling to deal with his daughters after his wife fell into a coma after an accident.  Not so; the film focused on the wife in her coma, and her affair with a real estate agent pre accident.  The centre of the story was George Clooney agonising about the decision of turning off the life support machine and him and the kids saying goodbye to mum when she eventually died.  So much for a few hours of girlie fun! It was certainly not the sort of movie that Sue needs to see at the moment.  Fortunately though, she knew that I had the best of intentions and could see the funny side when we eventually got out of The Odeon.  The next time I suggest a film, I am going to make sure I do my homework!

Phil went round after work to the OB flat to try and light the boiler but failed.  This was the first time that he had seen the flat since the tenants left and he was very shocked.  He had accused me earlier in the week of exaggerating the condition but when he saw it for himself on Friday he knew that this time I hadn’t exaggerated.  The intention was to get up reasonably early on Saturday morning and start work at the flat but for some reason, we had all had a bad night’s sleep so in reality it was nearer 10am when we got to Oldbrook.  We had thought we might need to call out a Corgi registered plumber to look at the boiler, but Phil had the sense to phone the E-on helpline first and they talked him through a procedure that got the gas turned on and thankfully he got the boiler going.  We whacked the central heating on full and put the hot water on continuous straight away.  Phil’s first job was changing the front door lock which meant taking off the barrel and taking it to Brinnick’s in Newport to get a new one.

I wasn’t sure quite where to start but I figured cleaning out the kitchen cupboards was as good a place as any. This took a few hours and almost a full bottle of bleach; I stupidly didn’t wear the rubber gloves that I had brought and after I had finished, my hands were red raw.  The damp problem in the upstairs bedrooms is severe and Phil got up in the loft with a torch to investigate.  When he came back down he said it was draughty but there were no obvious water leaks.  Sometime this week I will get someone out to clean out the guttering and if this doesn’t reveal any problems then I need to get someone to look at the roof.  There is a problem with damp by the front door which is just beside the bathroom.  We took off the bath panel and we think there must be a leak because the wall is very wet.  Phil chiselled out part of the wall which is packed with straw like stuff; he made a right mess but I managed to get most of it cleaned up.  The wall needs to completely dry out before we can rebuilt it and first we need to get a plumber out to find the source of the leak.  It’s going to be a lot of work.

Harriet came round to the flat to see how we were getting on.  I had to throw a lot of stuff away and managed to fill about 10 black bags.  There is so much work to do and it pains me because we did a whole refurbishment on this flat less than 2 years ago.  But it will get all done in time and the most important job is to make sure we do it properly.  It was almost half two by the time we packed up tools, we hadn’t had a long day but we’d both had had enough.  When we got back to number two Phil had a shower and read his book and I put together a chicken casserole in Sue’s slow cooker.  Sue got back from visiting her dad sometime before 5pm and we ordered a taxi just before 7pm to take us to the Mysore in Newport.  It was snowing quite heavily by this time and the roads already were covered.  The Mysore was busy, we ordered a mixture of meat and veggie dishes and the food was excellent.  We will definitely go there again; Phil says he would like to try the Sunday buffet.  We weren’t late leaving and ordered a taxi shortly before 9pm.  The taxi was delayed due to the snow conditions and me being impatient as ever, persuaded Sue & Phil to catch the bus.  We cancelled the taxi and hopped on the bus and fortunately it dropped us not far from the house.   We were lucky really and I think when coats and boots were off and we were safe in a warm house, we were all just relieved to be home.

On Sunday morning we had planned to go to Melton Mowbray to help mum and dad with some jobs around the bungalow. I phoned mum and she said they’d had about 5 inches.  We deliberated about whether to make the journey, but in the end, decided we’d give it a go and if it was too treacherous then we’d turn back.  The motorway was quiet and 2 lanes were clear of snow.  We did see lorries jack-knifed on the south side of the M1 but we were okay until we got off at 21a and got onto the A roads.  There were okay if as long as you took it slowly and we got to the bungalow at half ten.  Phil’s dad was having a bad day, he’d had a shower in the morning and it had wiped out all his strength.  Also, Phil’s mum said she had been sick all day on Saturday and was still feeling sick on Sunday.  She’s been feeling like this all week and I had put it down to the stress and worries of moving but now I wonder if she has some kind of bug.  She’s at the doctors with Phil’s dad on Tuesday morning and she has promised me that she will talk to the doctor if she is still feeling sick.

Phil worked in the garage, putting up rafters so that we can get some of the crap in the garage out of  the way.  I did some unpacking jobs with Phil’s mum and I did the lunch which was easy because I just bunged the casserole in the oven and I’d taken down a bowl of mash and cabbage so they just needed microwaving.  After lunch Phil did some more work in the garage and I took mum to Tesco’s.  I had promised I’d go down for the day on Wednesday but with the weather being like it is, I have decided not to go down after all.  Mum and dad  have bread and milk and a freezer packed with food, so aside from going to the doctors tomorrow there is really no need for me to go down.  Besides, we are back down again on Saturday so I can stock them up then.

Because of the fog and the snow, we decided to leave Melton at 2pm.  The plan was to stop off at The Manor to collect post but we were about 10 minutes too late leaving so we decided to head straight back to Newport.   There had been an accident and the M1 was shut between junction 15 to 14 so we got off at Northampton and came back on the back roads.  I think it was about half three by the time we walked through the door.  Phil had a shower and got changed into his jammies.  I felt very sorry for him because he was absolutely knackered. It’s all been work for him this weekend leaving him no time hardly for any R & R.  Last night was a gentle one, sandwiches for tea, a couple of glasses of red for me and Sue whilst we watched Slumdog Millionaire which we had recorded on Sky.  We all enjoyed the film and it was lights out and bed by 9am.

Phil’s landrover is playing up and we think he needs a new gear box.  He managed to get it into work this morning and at half nine he is going to attempt to drive it to the garage at Wavendon where they will give him a loan car for the day.  As for me, well I have a mountain of things to do with a list as long as my legs.  I would like to get to the gym for a quick run because I haven’t been for ages but we shall see.  Sue very kindly cooked a huge Shepherds’ Pie for our lunch so I don’t have to think about cooking.  Thanks Sue!  It’s so kind of her when she is not even going to be at home to join us for lunch. Right now the day is fast disappearing and I need to start climbing that mountain.  I have a feeling it’s going to be a busy week.