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The Builder Chronicles (Vol 567 Part 8)

This week saw the start of the latest project by the council, in their bid to rebuild the entire house without moving us out. The central heating and kitchen refit. This has been my week so far …

MONDAY – Shift boxes of junk into storage, well away from work areas. Try to avoid doing too much, there’s always tomorrow.

TUESDAY – Hellish day. As a result of leaving everything until the last minute, I had fifteen hours of hard work under my belt by the time I was done. This included demolishing an old cupboard (managing to find the only nail left sticking out with my thumb, obviously) and moving everything I could out of my bedroom to other parts of the house. Started work at 10am and fell into a hot bath at 12.45am, then was too tired to sleep!

WEDNESDAY – Managed to get up at 8.30 after about four hours sleep. The heating guys arrived, so I decided I had urgent banking and shopping to do and slipped away for two hours. After all the work on Tuesday, my legs and back were obviously not really mine and felt as if they were existing in an alternative dimension to the rest of me. A long walk into town (twice as long as normal) to shop and bank, then back home. By the time I got back, I realised I’d spent money on things I hadn’t intended to buy and had forgotten the one thing I went shopping for! At the end of the day, all the radiators were in and working and we had … no hot water. Bugger.

THURSDAY – Called back the heating guys to fix the hot water problem and to look at a couple of other things. Discovered the gas fire in the living room had a leak and the chimney needs a sweep. The starling that fell down the chimney recently caused a soot fall. Great. Rang the gas engineer to look at the fire and the chimney sweep to sweep the chimneys! Also went out shopping for the thing I had forgotten the previous day and ended up talking in a shop for an hour. Got home to find the repair guys, patching up the holes in the walls, had forgotten a huge hole. Great (part 2).

FRIDAY – Rang the council again to mention that two heaters weren’t working (they need to be replaced!) and that the floorboards in my room weren’t fixed properly and now tip up. Great (part 3). The gas engineer gave us a lecture about the cowboys who had told us the fire was faulty (they didn’t disconnect it or put a notice on it telling us not to use it, which they’re supposed to do). I cleaned out the hearth, ready for the sweep (who can’t come until next Wednesday) and then basically broke down and wept for six hours. 😉

And they don’t even start the kitchen until Monday. If they give me any trouble, I’ll get Big Eric onto them. Say hello Eric …

Big Eric

Comments on this entry are closed.

  • Christof 4. November 2005, 21:36, 21:36

    I just love this pic!

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