This begins with apologies - I've had complaints that I've not been updating, and people want to know the progress - well, so do I! Because I'm a couple of hundred miles away, I don't really have that much of a clue what is going on on a day to day basis at the moment. There's also a feeling that I don't know how much people actually WANT to know - but the complaints have shown me that you want to know more than I've been telling you!
So, we've filled up a fourth skip, and are on to our fifth. The kitchen has been gutted, and the downstairs loo has been knocked out to make the kitchen bigger. The walls have gone up for a hallway, and the understair cupboard will be turned into a new downstairs loo - complete with basin, but that probably won't be finished by the time we move in. We're moving the front door to the side of the house, and door prices are being sorted.
The bathroom has been gutted and replastered. We've been trying to choose a bath, and boy are there complications with that. We've been trying to find one as deep as possible, so that Matt can actually get in and relax, rather than, having water only up to his sides. The trouble is that different companies give their measurements differently, so comparing between them is proving rather frustrating. Is 5cm depth worth an extra £200, or is the overflow hole actually only 2cm higher, and therefore we still wouldn't get a deep enough bath?
But it is a first world problem, ultimately. We will have a roof over our heads - although I need a roofer, as there's a hole in the roof(!), we should have windows (must ring the glazier about repairing the broken two), and we will have doors to keep out the weather (although the guy who was supposed to be replacing the front door - through which you can see daylight - appears to have disappeared off the face of the planet).
Next week should see the repairing of the wooden floors, including the big hole in the staircase, a laying of a base for a shed (so we have somewhere to store all the stuff from the garage!), and hopefully the electrics completed and maybe a bathroom fitted - if we can give the poor builder a final decision on the bath!
Photos will be up for all of this, later today :)
Saturday, 24 May 2014
Saturday, 3 May 2014
Day 16 (I think...)
This morning has mostly been taken up with trying to get essays out of the way for uni work - deadline next week.
However, in the midst of that, I have had news that ANOTHER skip is full. More from the garden pile and more wood from the walls and ceilings. To those who are wondering, none of the wood is safe to be burned in a wood burner or open fire, due to the chemicals used on it. There have been suggestions that some should have been kept, and used to build a playhouse. It's a lovely idea, but I don't think I have the energy or the room for it at the moment. However, all the laminate flooring that we've taken up has now gone to a good home (hoorah!), and the chipboard is going to be used for boarding the attic. As much as possible from the midden will be recycled, and I've kept all the plant pots which will hopefully be nicely planted by the time we arrive.
Remotely, we've chosen a bath and taps, decided where we want plumbing and electrics to go, and are in the process of choosing curtains and working out where bookshelves will go. A new skip has been ordered for next week (they can't deliver before Tuesday am), and we've just been told that the kitchen units are falling apart, so we'll work out where to get some new ones from, and whether we want to change any designs - I'm not certain how long it will take to build a new kitchen though....
However, in the midst of that, I have had news that ANOTHER skip is full. More from the garden pile and more wood from the walls and ceilings. To those who are wondering, none of the wood is safe to be burned in a wood burner or open fire, due to the chemicals used on it. There have been suggestions that some should have been kept, and used to build a playhouse. It's a lovely idea, but I don't think I have the energy or the room for it at the moment. However, all the laminate flooring that we've taken up has now gone to a good home (hoorah!), and the chipboard is going to be used for boarding the attic. As much as possible from the midden will be recycled, and I've kept all the plant pots which will hopefully be nicely planted by the time we arrive.
Remotely, we've chosen a bath and taps, decided where we want plumbing and electrics to go, and are in the process of choosing curtains and working out where bookshelves will go. A new skip has been ordered for next week (they can't deliver before Tuesday am), and we've just been told that the kitchen units are falling apart, so we'll work out where to get some new ones from, and whether we want to change any designs - I'm not certain how long it will take to build a new kitchen though....
Wednesday, 30 April 2014
The Next Trip
Photos from the last few days
After a weekend at home, catching up on the washing (of clothes AND ourselves, after a week without hot water!), Monday morning saw me heading back on the train to Cambridge. This trip was going to involve another skip fill from the garden pile, and hopefully some more quotations from tradesmen for the many and varied jobs which need doing...
Step one
On the train, between Cardiff and London, a call from the skip man: "I can't swap over the skips, because someone's parked their car in front of your drive".
I grovelled a bit, and he agreed to knock on doors for a few minutes to try to find out to whom the car belonged. A few minutes later, another call: "No dice, no-one is answering the doors - ring back when the car has gone".
5 minutes later (according to the gasman), someone sauntered out from the house to move the car, with the words, "but she told me I couldn't park here on Wednesdays only!!!" (I have had NO such conversation with anyone about parking...) Thankfully, the kind skip man answered his phone and agreed to turn round and try again to deliver. So we had an empty skip - for a wee while, anyway.
By the time I arrived, the skip was on its way to being refilled with more treated wood, and the house was being gently(?!) dismantled. I avoided the huge temptation to join in the destructive process, as I had promised to take proper measurements and photographs, and stick signs wherever we wanted the electrician to put in sockets. At about 4pm, I realised I hadn't yet eaten lunch, so stopped to do that - and then felt much better(!)
A wood man was due to quote for sorting the flooring at around 5pm, so I started dismantling things whilst waiting for him - and realised just how tired I was feeling - far less energy for pulling bits of wood apart, so didn't achieve very much. By 5:45pm, the woodman hadn't turned up, so I rang - he finally turned up at 6:30pm, but was very good when he did turn up, and gave sensible advice and a reasonable quote (I think - wait for the others to turn up first!)
Once he'd left, it was definitely time to find some more food, so went to pizza express in town for a lovely evening with Anna, and then sleep in a proper bed :) Anna's house is across the road from my old house - it was quite weird seeing it and it not being mine any more. But it was a good feeling too, that even though we're moving back to Cambridge, we're moving forwards as well, rather than just sliding back into the old life. It's a good thing, given it's going to be a completely new role for all of us in a new church.
Tuesday started far too early - woodman two was due to turn up at 8:30am, so I needed to leave by 7:45am to get across town. Matt had bought a second hand bike on his last visit (as Station Cycles are no longer available for bike hire :( ) and left it at Anna's, so at least there was no hanging around for buses.
Arrived at the house at 8:15am, and waited....
At 9:30am, another friend turned up and we filled a skip between us from the stuff in the back garden - three more trolleys were unearthed, along with: a slow cooker (internal pot and lid in one piece and saved, but decided that electrics weren't worth waiting for drying out to test), 4 deep fat fryers (the previous skip load had already contained one or two of these), 2 irons, two vacuum cleaners, three paint trays (covered in green paint, but otherwise in good order), perfectly serviceable washing up bowl, draining rack, and a dozen plant pots. Additionally, there were several mattresses, roller blinds and carpets, but thankfully no dead bodies. The best part of it all was that every time we moved something, there were two robins waiting to dive down and eat any bugs that we unearthed - presumably they've got hungry babies waiting for lots of food. They were incredibly tame, and seemed unruffled by our presence. I'm really hoping they learn a little circumspection before we introduce the cat to the neighbourhood, as I'd hate to see them ending up as an impromptu snack.
Once the skip was filled, there was a pause to draw breath, and listen to the gentle sound of other people pulling my house apart - it was actually quite relaxing - it meant that even though I was feeling shattered, progress was being made. The pause didn't last long though - the vicar (aka my new boss), the undertaker (aka the unskilled labour for pulling things apart, as he's new to the undertaking business and was waiting for bodies to be sent his way(!)), and the electrician (just an electrician, as far as I know), all turned up at the same time! The vicar was pointed towards the kettle, the undertaker towards the hammers, and the electrician shown where we want all the strange things we want to be fitted in our house. Thankfully we had biscuits too, which meant that the vicar and the undertaker (who I think knew each other, but not certain) could at least have a topic of conversation other than work, whilst I discussed things with the electrician (and tried to sound knowledgeable, and where not knowledgeable, at least not really difficult about what I wanted!)
The vicar had camping gear returned, and agreed to me booking a holiday over the summer (hoorah!), and then he disappeared to talk about baptisms to someone, just in time for woodman three to turn up for a quotation - talk about chalk and cheese. The first woodman reckoned three to five days for repairs, the second suggested they could all be done in one day! I haven't got the quotations for either yet, so we shall see what the price difference will be....
After the last of the quoting workmen had left, there was just time to head to the locksmiths. Previously, we'd had three keys cut, and given them to various people who needed access. None of the keys worked, so I went back for another try. The second batch did not work either :( It'll have to wait till the next visit now - thankfully, the back door keys work(!)
Thanks to the kindness of the gasman's wife, a tired bunny got given a lift to the station for the home trip, which was blissfully uneventful. Even the journey across London, although incredibly crowded (so sorry to the commuters who had to cope with a smelly person wielding a rucksack on the tube at rush hour....) was not overlong - the circle line was running between Paddington and Kings Cross, so no fighting with buses needed.
On the way home, I did eventually get a call from woodman two (remember him?) - he was most apologetic about not turning up, as he'd put it in the diary wrongly. Could he reschedule please? I had to point out that we wouldn't be back in the property for another three weeks, so no chance. Ah well.
Home safe and sound - glad to be home, I'll miss Cardiff, especially all its trains (we have two train lines very near to us, so if we miss one train, we can just jump on one on the other line).
Step one
On the train, between Cardiff and London, a call from the skip man: "I can't swap over the skips, because someone's parked their car in front of your drive".
I grovelled a bit, and he agreed to knock on doors for a few minutes to try to find out to whom the car belonged. A few minutes later, another call: "No dice, no-one is answering the doors - ring back when the car has gone".
5 minutes later (according to the gasman), someone sauntered out from the house to move the car, with the words, "but she told me I couldn't park here on Wednesdays only!!!" (I have had NO such conversation with anyone about parking...) Thankfully, the kind skip man answered his phone and agreed to turn round and try again to deliver. So we had an empty skip - for a wee while, anyway.
By the time I arrived, the skip was on its way to being refilled with more treated wood, and the house was being gently(?!) dismantled. I avoided the huge temptation to join in the destructive process, as I had promised to take proper measurements and photographs, and stick signs wherever we wanted the electrician to put in sockets. At about 4pm, I realised I hadn't yet eaten lunch, so stopped to do that - and then felt much better(!)
A wood man was due to quote for sorting the flooring at around 5pm, so I started dismantling things whilst waiting for him - and realised just how tired I was feeling - far less energy for pulling bits of wood apart, so didn't achieve very much. By 5:45pm, the woodman hadn't turned up, so I rang - he finally turned up at 6:30pm, but was very good when he did turn up, and gave sensible advice and a reasonable quote (I think - wait for the others to turn up first!)
Once he'd left, it was definitely time to find some more food, so went to pizza express in town for a lovely evening with Anna, and then sleep in a proper bed :) Anna's house is across the road from my old house - it was quite weird seeing it and it not being mine any more. But it was a good feeling too, that even though we're moving back to Cambridge, we're moving forwards as well, rather than just sliding back into the old life. It's a good thing, given it's going to be a completely new role for all of us in a new church.
Tuesday started far too early - woodman two was due to turn up at 8:30am, so I needed to leave by 7:45am to get across town. Matt had bought a second hand bike on his last visit (as Station Cycles are no longer available for bike hire :( ) and left it at Anna's, so at least there was no hanging around for buses.
Arrived at the house at 8:15am, and waited....
At 9:30am, another friend turned up and we filled a skip between us from the stuff in the back garden - three more trolleys were unearthed, along with: a slow cooker (internal pot and lid in one piece and saved, but decided that electrics weren't worth waiting for drying out to test), 4 deep fat fryers (the previous skip load had already contained one or two of these), 2 irons, two vacuum cleaners, three paint trays (covered in green paint, but otherwise in good order), perfectly serviceable washing up bowl, draining rack, and a dozen plant pots. Additionally, there were several mattresses, roller blinds and carpets, but thankfully no dead bodies. The best part of it all was that every time we moved something, there were two robins waiting to dive down and eat any bugs that we unearthed - presumably they've got hungry babies waiting for lots of food. They were incredibly tame, and seemed unruffled by our presence. I'm really hoping they learn a little circumspection before we introduce the cat to the neighbourhood, as I'd hate to see them ending up as an impromptu snack.
Once the skip was filled, there was a pause to draw breath, and listen to the gentle sound of other people pulling my house apart - it was actually quite relaxing - it meant that even though I was feeling shattered, progress was being made. The pause didn't last long though - the vicar (aka my new boss), the undertaker (aka the unskilled labour for pulling things apart, as he's new to the undertaking business and was waiting for bodies to be sent his way(!)), and the electrician (just an electrician, as far as I know), all turned up at the same time! The vicar was pointed towards the kettle, the undertaker towards the hammers, and the electrician shown where we want all the strange things we want to be fitted in our house. Thankfully we had biscuits too, which meant that the vicar and the undertaker (who I think knew each other, but not certain) could at least have a topic of conversation other than work, whilst I discussed things with the electrician (and tried to sound knowledgeable, and where not knowledgeable, at least not really difficult about what I wanted!)
The vicar had camping gear returned, and agreed to me booking a holiday over the summer (hoorah!), and then he disappeared to talk about baptisms to someone, just in time for woodman three to turn up for a quotation - talk about chalk and cheese. The first woodman reckoned three to five days for repairs, the second suggested they could all be done in one day! I haven't got the quotations for either yet, so we shall see what the price difference will be....
After the last of the quoting workmen had left, there was just time to head to the locksmiths. Previously, we'd had three keys cut, and given them to various people who needed access. None of the keys worked, so I went back for another try. The second batch did not work either :( It'll have to wait till the next visit now - thankfully, the back door keys work(!)
Thanks to the kindness of the gasman's wife, a tired bunny got given a lift to the station for the home trip, which was blissfully uneventful. Even the journey across London, although incredibly crowded (so sorry to the commuters who had to cope with a smelly person wielding a rucksack on the tube at rush hour....) was not overlong - the circle line was running between Paddington and Kings Cross, so no fighting with buses needed.
On the way home, I did eventually get a call from woodman two (remember him?) - he was most apologetic about not turning up, as he'd put it in the diary wrongly. Could he reschedule please? I had to point out that we wouldn't be back in the property for another three weeks, so no chance. Ah well.
Home safe and sound - glad to be home, I'll miss Cardiff, especially all its trains (we have two train lines very near to us, so if we miss one train, we can just jump on one on the other line).
Saturday, 26 April 2014
Corrupting the innocent
I shall write about this morning's sagas later, but I really want to write this down first for posterity.
The boy turned round and said, "teach me some science mummy". After a few moments panic (where does one start with a request like that?!), we did the chemical reaction between vinegar and bicarb, in the sink, and the chemical equation, moving on to the periodic table. I was just starting on chemical mass, when the boy piped up: "I know about mass - it's a church service"! My boy has been seriously corrupted by this last two years! Upon trying to explain that wasn't quite what I meant, he said, "And mass is short for massage"! (he's obviously managed to find better church services than me!!!)
I gave up on the science lesson at this point, and need to find a simpler book than my A-level chemistry book for the next lesson, as the comment upon seeing Thomson's apparatus was, " a trumpet mummy"!
Definitely light relief after the morning stress!
The boy turned round and said, "teach me some science mummy". After a few moments panic (where does one start with a request like that?!), we did the chemical reaction between vinegar and bicarb, in the sink, and the chemical equation, moving on to the periodic table. I was just starting on chemical mass, when the boy piped up: "I know about mass - it's a church service"! My boy has been seriously corrupted by this last two years! Upon trying to explain that wasn't quite what I meant, he said, "And mass is short for massage"! (he's obviously managed to find better church services than me!!!)
I gave up on the science lesson at this point, and need to find a simpler book than my A-level chemistry book for the next lesson, as the comment upon seeing Thomson's apparatus was, " a trumpet mummy"!
Definitely light relief after the morning stress!
Thursday, 24 April 2014
Home is where .....
Thursday 24th April
Today was a bit more manic than I would have liked. We had to be up bright and early, as our lovely gas man (and general project manager) was due to turn up at 8am. He turned up in good time, and despite a few intakes of breath at some of the more interesting features of the house, he didn't run away screaming, and has agreed to take on the task of trying to get a lot of work done in 8 weeks - bless him! His first job was to cut off the gas supply completely, as, as I had worked out during my random wake up in the middle of the night, if the gas boiler was leaking, then it was not safe to leave the system as it was, as anyone passing could choose to turn the gas tap on and cause malicious damage to the house (boom....)
The boy and I visited the last of four schools in the nearby area, and I ran around frantically trying to work out which pile all of the stuff in the house had to go into, out of, 1) borrowed stuff, to be returned (subdivided into 5, to be claimed by the appropriate person), 2) our stuff, to be packed in boxes and left at the house, 3) our stuff, to be taken home, 4) food stuffs, to be given to anyone prepared to take and eat them before they went off!
The boy was very excited to be helping our gas man with the cutting off of the gas supply, and with digging up the front garden in what turned out to be a vain attempt to find the outside stop cock for the water supply! We now have a big hole in our front garden, but will have to talk nicely to Cambridge water to see if they can sort out either, a) finding the external stop cock, or b) installing a new external stop cock.
I finally finished getting everything into its right places, and the boy and I set off with two large suitcases for the first leg of our journey home, and meeting Matt at the station.
It was strange coming into Cardiff. It was lovely knowing that we were coming back to creature comforts, such as a bed, and heating etc, and a grumpy cat. But it was also the feeling that we had left 'home' back in Cambridge. We currently have two homes - home is where my cat is? It's an unsettling time really, very strange.
But we've now spent a couple of hours designing a bathroom and planning an electrical installation ready for the electrician's visit in the morning. All fun and games, but it's time for bed now, and I promise photos of all of this will go up online somewhere tomorrow! Night all...
Today was a bit more manic than I would have liked. We had to be up bright and early, as our lovely gas man (and general project manager) was due to turn up at 8am. He turned up in good time, and despite a few intakes of breath at some of the more interesting features of the house, he didn't run away screaming, and has agreed to take on the task of trying to get a lot of work done in 8 weeks - bless him! His first job was to cut off the gas supply completely, as, as I had worked out during my random wake up in the middle of the night, if the gas boiler was leaking, then it was not safe to leave the system as it was, as anyone passing could choose to turn the gas tap on and cause malicious damage to the house (boom....)
The boy and I visited the last of four schools in the nearby area, and I ran around frantically trying to work out which pile all of the stuff in the house had to go into, out of, 1) borrowed stuff, to be returned (subdivided into 5, to be claimed by the appropriate person), 2) our stuff, to be packed in boxes and left at the house, 3) our stuff, to be taken home, 4) food stuffs, to be given to anyone prepared to take and eat them before they went off!
The boy was very excited to be helping our gas man with the cutting off of the gas supply, and with digging up the front garden in what turned out to be a vain attempt to find the outside stop cock for the water supply! We now have a big hole in our front garden, but will have to talk nicely to Cambridge water to see if they can sort out either, a) finding the external stop cock, or b) installing a new external stop cock.
I finally finished getting everything into its right places, and the boy and I set off with two large suitcases for the first leg of our journey home, and meeting Matt at the station.
It was strange coming into Cardiff. It was lovely knowing that we were coming back to creature comforts, such as a bed, and heating etc, and a grumpy cat. But it was also the feeling that we had left 'home' back in Cambridge. We currently have two homes - home is where my cat is? It's an unsettling time really, very strange.
But we've now spent a couple of hours designing a bathroom and planning an electrical installation ready for the electrician's visit in the morning. All fun and games, but it's time for bed now, and I promise photos of all of this will go up online somewhere tomorrow! Night all...
Friends and flooring
Wednesday 23rd April
Today started too early. Matt had to work all day, which was a shock in itself - and in the office, which is going to take some adjusting to, after having him just upstairs working for the past two years. So the boy and I started the morning very slowly, and wonderfully, with sitting in the garden - him on the swings (left by previous owners, and in reasonably good condition - they have been a real blessing, and a help with the boy adjusting to a new house!), and me enjoying the sunshine in a camp chair for an hour or so, feeling very decadent and lazy.
Then a friend turned up to help with removing the laminate from upstairs, both from the floor, and from the house, as he has a room where he wants to put it - win-win in my book, as most of you know how much I hate seeing things go to waste! We removed FIVE layers of flooring from the landing - laminate flooring, chipboard (1cm high), underlay, another layer of chipboard, and, in some places, a further layer of paper. We removed the wood panelling from the walls, and, once we remove it from the ceiling, it's all going to feel rather more spacious!
In removing the flooring,however, we discovered wet pathces, which implies the there is a leak from the shower room. This means that it will all have to be dismantled, rather than just taking out the bits we were going to replace with a bath. Hey ho, time to sit down and plan a bathroom layout...
One of the other discoveries of the day, as a result of taking time in the garden, was the realisation that the extra toilet in the house was connected to the guttering downpipe, and fed into the storm drains. As we also discovered a set of plumbers rods in the garden, we're not certain just how effective this plumbing endeavour might have been! We will find out, I reckon, before long!
It was very satisfying taking out all the flooring, and discovering what was underneath. It's mostly good quality floorboards, which we will get sanded and sealed. Some need repairing, so hopefully we will get that sorted before we move in, and get the most important floors done immediately too. The rest will be done as and when there is time for them.
The best job of the day, however, was taking the boy to the shops, so we could buy thank you presents for the lovely people who lent us so many bits and pieces which made the last week so much easier to cope with. A very special thank you goes to the people who lent the boy all their wooden train track for the week.
The days have been finishing very early this week, as we've been shattered. This last evening of 'camping', saw us all snuggled up in the same room, on the boy's request, and me fast asleep by 7:30pm, although I did still wake up during the night, due to unfamiliar noises in the house, and very early in the morning, due to a brain full of list to do lists!
Today started too early. Matt had to work all day, which was a shock in itself - and in the office, which is going to take some adjusting to, after having him just upstairs working for the past two years. So the boy and I started the morning very slowly, and wonderfully, with sitting in the garden - him on the swings (left by previous owners, and in reasonably good condition - they have been a real blessing, and a help with the boy adjusting to a new house!), and me enjoying the sunshine in a camp chair for an hour or so, feeling very decadent and lazy.
Then a friend turned up to help with removing the laminate from upstairs, both from the floor, and from the house, as he has a room where he wants to put it - win-win in my book, as most of you know how much I hate seeing things go to waste! We removed FIVE layers of flooring from the landing - laminate flooring, chipboard (1cm high), underlay, another layer of chipboard, and, in some places, a further layer of paper. We removed the wood panelling from the walls, and, once we remove it from the ceiling, it's all going to feel rather more spacious!
In removing the flooring,however, we discovered wet pathces, which implies the there is a leak from the shower room. This means that it will all have to be dismantled, rather than just taking out the bits we were going to replace with a bath. Hey ho, time to sit down and plan a bathroom layout...
One of the other discoveries of the day, as a result of taking time in the garden, was the realisation that the extra toilet in the house was connected to the guttering downpipe, and fed into the storm drains. As we also discovered a set of plumbers rods in the garden, we're not certain just how effective this plumbing endeavour might have been! We will find out, I reckon, before long!
It was very satisfying taking out all the flooring, and discovering what was underneath. It's mostly good quality floorboards, which we will get sanded and sealed. Some need repairing, so hopefully we will get that sorted before we move in, and get the most important floors done immediately too. The rest will be done as and when there is time for them.
The best job of the day, however, was taking the boy to the shops, so we could buy thank you presents for the lovely people who lent us so many bits and pieces which made the last week so much easier to cope with. A very special thank you goes to the people who lent the boy all their wooden train track for the week.
The days have been finishing very early this week, as we've been shattered. This last evening of 'camping', saw us all snuggled up in the same room, on the boy's request, and me fast asleep by 7:30pm, although I did still wake up during the night, due to unfamiliar noises in the house, and very early in the morning, due to a brain full of list to do lists!
Tuesday, 22 April 2014
A day in the life
Yesterday evening actually ended with us repairing the curtain fixings with gaffer tape - it held all of last night, we'll have to see about tonight...
This morning, cooking breakfast went rather wrong. I turned on the gas at the box, and wandered about merrily in the kitchen getting food ready. I wandered back into the living room to find my son sitting quietly reading, whilst the gas fire was hissing loudly, as it leaked gas into the room! A quick dash back to the box, and several window and door openings later, we ended up with oven cooked sausages instead for breakfast!
I took the hose off the drain sump for the boiler system to see water still flowing from the pipe, which did not stop when I turned the valve off.... We've had a bucket under it most of the day, and it seems to be slowing down now (I have no idea what's going on, but someone who knows what they're doing will look at it soon :) )
The skip arrived at 9am, and was nearly full by 10:30am. Only two more skiploads left in the garden, I reckon! That meant we could clean up just in time to be ready for the first of the school visits to try to choose one for the boy. We've now seen two schools, explored the local shops and library, had extra keys cut, and spent the evening planning electrics, kitchen, bathroom, furniture layout etc. It's been mostly a much calmer day - a jolly good thing for one and all..
This morning, cooking breakfast went rather wrong. I turned on the gas at the box, and wandered about merrily in the kitchen getting food ready. I wandered back into the living room to find my son sitting quietly reading, whilst the gas fire was hissing loudly, as it leaked gas into the room! A quick dash back to the box, and several window and door openings later, we ended up with oven cooked sausages instead for breakfast!
I took the hose off the drain sump for the boiler system to see water still flowing from the pipe, which did not stop when I turned the valve off.... We've had a bucket under it most of the day, and it seems to be slowing down now (I have no idea what's going on, but someone who knows what they're doing will look at it soon :) )
The skip arrived at 9am, and was nearly full by 10:30am. Only two more skiploads left in the garden, I reckon! That meant we could clean up just in time to be ready for the first of the school visits to try to choose one for the boy. We've now seen two schools, explored the local shops and library, had extra keys cut, and spent the evening planning electrics, kitchen, bathroom, furniture layout etc. It's been mostly a much calmer day - a jolly good thing for one and all..
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