This week has flown by.
We were up late on Monday morning and didn’t leave Overstone until after
9am. We went to Wickes before going to
the GP flat because we wanted to buy some oak skirting for the lounge. It wasn’t cheap and we ended up buying 2
packs so we get the 20% discount. Phil
cut the skirting with his new circular saw and then set about fitting the new
lights. Working with his arms above his
head for long periods of time isn’t Phil’s favourite pastime and the wiring
wasn’t straight forward. I don’t think
anything on this project has been straight forward so no surprises there. There was lots of huffing and puffing from
Phil with several electric shocks even though the power was turned off. Phil thinks this was due to static from the
new floor.
Lunch was a Whooper meal
from Burger King; not the healthiest of lunches but Phil had a voucher and we
needed to go and buy stuff from B&Q so it was convenient. When we got back to the flat Phil scraped off
some of the wall where the skirting was going.
I cleared up after him and then went round the room touching up with the
white emulsion. This meant that Phil
couldn’t glue back the skirting until the paint was dry. I painted the radiators with a second goat of
gloss and also painted a second coat of gloss on the copper pipes but that was
my only input for Monday. It was a
frustrating day and we didn’t seem to get very far.
Phil got up early on Tuesday morning and got stuck into the
paperwork. I am afraid I have rather
been nagging him about tackling this and we have so many things that are
outstanding that it’s been worrying me.
So much so, that I took to emailing him on Monday evening bullet
pointing the things that I needed him to do.
Bit sad really but it obviously did the trick because as I said, he was
straight on it the next morning. I
thought the plan was for us to go both to MK late morning but all of a sudden
Phil grabbed his car keys and said “right I’m off”. I wasn’t even dressed but Phil said he’d go
alone and that there was no need for me to go as well. I stayed home alone.
When Phil left I did the ironing and then went to Sainsbury’s
to get some supplies. After putting all
the shopping away I went next door and made up the double bed. I then did the housework and cooked some
salmon noodles ready to take to Sue’s. I
knew the new kitchen was being delivered to the GP flat in the afternoon and I
was a bit concerned about Phil lifting all the units up the steps because I
knew from experience that the Wickes delivery men wouldn’t help. I phoned Phil to see if he needed me but he
said he’d be fine on his own. It was
such a glorious day and with all my jobs done, I decided to sit out in the
garden next door and read my book. I
felt very guilty but with all the rain we’ve had recently it was nice just to
feel the sun on my face. Phil phoned
around 3pm to say that the kitchen was being delivered. He said he was going to make up one of the
units before coming home. I put a
chicken in the oven and when Phil came back we sat and ate our roast chicken
with salad and some new potatoes underneath the gazebo. It was a pleasant evening.
On Wednesday it was back over to MK to make up the kitchen
units. This is Phil’s job mainly, I
assisted where I could and took the empty boxes to the tip. Other than that I did a bit of touch-up
painting but was mostly there for moral support. Again it was another gloriously hot day and if
I am honest I would rather been anywhere other than the GP flat. Phil worked hard whilst I popped round Sue’s
for a rather long tea break and a catch up.
When I finally got to the GP flat Phil had built up all of the base
units. Unfortunately I noticed that the oven housing unit was built up the
wrong way so he had to change that. I
was also perplexed and so was Phil as to where the dishwashing housing unit
was; we checked the plans and ended up going into to Wickes just to check. Fortunately Joanne, our kitchen designer was
on duty and we were able to check with her.
It turned out that integrated appliance units don’t need their own unit;
they just need a door front which we had ordered and already brought. We felt like real dorks but it was worth
checking.
After Wickes we went to Argos to try and buy an integrated
dishwasher but it was all home delivery so we ended up buying one front Curry’s. It was heavy and hard work getting it up the
steps to the GP flat but everything with this flat seems hard going. Harriet phoned as she had the day off and we
ended up walking to The Giffard Park to meet her for lunch. Bad move sitting in the midday sun and
drinking cider. The Giffard Park had an
half an hour wait for lunch so it was a while before we got our food. Needless to say we were certainly but not in
the mood for work on Wednesday afternoon and thus it was not a productive
one.
I dropped my boy off at the Ship Ashore for his usual
meeting with the Wednesday night boys and then it was back to Sue’s for upper.
Dinner was a disaster; I had cooked salmon with egg noodles which turned out
soggy with the re-heat. Never
again. Sue soldiered on through the main
gallantly but it was crap to be hones t and I won’t be doing that recipe
again. So much for trying something new
and trying to be adventurous!
Thursday fared a
little better. It’s never a good day for
Phil but when I arrived at the GP flat he’d made fairy good progress. The kitchen is definitely coming along. I stagnated at Sue’s not eager to rush to
work which was a bit naughty really. When I eventually got to the flat I
painted the skirting in the bedroom and the hallway. I assisted where I could in the kitchen but
wasn’t much help. It felt like a wasted
day if I am honest. Phil went to Sid
Telfers, he also went to Homebase and the day soon went. Harriet had the day off work and dropped by
for the keys to the caravan. I guess we
got home to the caravan about half three.
We have discovered a new way of going to and from Milton Keynes,
basically turning off at Horton and following the signs to Brayfield. This brings us out at Great Billing and
definitely saves a few minutes on the journey, also its far more preferable
than getting on the busy A45.
We chilled under the gazebo whilst Harriet sunbathed on the
patio. She’d taken a couple of days off
work because of the sunshine. Harriet
stayed for a few hours. I did offer to cook her dinner but she had made other
plans for the evening so once the sun went down she took herself off home. I put half a quiche in the oven and we had a
very lazy evening.
Yesterday wasn’t such an early start but I guess it wasn’t
long after half eight when I dropped Phil off at the GP flat. I went for tea at Sue’s because there really
wasn’t much I could do at the flat. I
stayed for the hour and then went back to see how Phil was getting in. The boy had done well. He’d made up all of the wall units and had
fitted all the base units back to the wall.
It was only when we lifted in the gas oven that we realised we had a
problem. Basically the new pipes were in
the way and we couldn’t get the oven back.
This is not a huge problem but it does mean that we will have to get all
of the units out again and get the plumber round to re-site the pipe.
Having stumbled across the problem we went to B&Q to buy
worktops. Unfortunately B&Q didn’t
have the dark wood work top that I wanted and I really wanted to go to Wickes
but they don’t cut worktops at Wickes so in the end Phil persuaded me to go
with the light wood top. We got them cut
and then lugged them to the car. Boy
were they heavy and it was no easy feat getting them up the steps to the flat
but we managed it.
Lunch was a kebab at the new kebab café on Giffard
Park. I didn’t like my kebab and couldn’t
eat it and I also noticed that Phil left half of his meal. I don’t think we will go there again. Yesterday afternoon Phil put up the kitchen
wall units. He had wanted to cut out the
worktops for the sink and the hob but in the end we ran out of time. To be honest we ran out of energy rather than
time but we’d simply had enough so we packed up tools and went home. Last night was an easy one in front of the
telly watching the opening ceremony of the Olympics.
All in all, it’s been a funny old week. Yes it’s gone quickly and although it hasn’t
been so strenuous, well for me anyway, it’s been frustrating. The goal was to finish the kitchen by end of
play yesterday but that didn’t happen because of the pipe problem. Phil has gone over to the flat this morning
as he is meeting the plumber. I am
hoping that he will keep to his word and finish at midday. We have friends over this evening and so I
have some cooking and cleaning to do. I
am hoping that the weather stays nice so we can sit outside but I see from the
weather forecast that it’s going to be chilly again tomorrow. Shame really as we had planned to take the
whole day off. Never mind, mustn’t
complain too much as weather wise, it’s been a glorious week.
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