I see I have got very behind yet again! The days seem to fly past and I can't get back into the habit of writing something every night, because I am usually either shopping for supper, cooking supper or cleaning up after supper while the men work. I'll have to try writing in the early morning instead.
On Sunday, a mitre saw was finally purchased, and the sections of skirting board could finally be cut after careful measuring, especially round the octagonal bay. Paul then spent Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday preparing and then painting them with gloss paint. Some of them are in position and some still await positioning.
In the meantime, there already being a dust sheet which was put down to protect the nice new floor from the paint, the room has been used to build all the drawers for the kitchen cabinets. Apparently this has been a difficult job, the instructions being not really related to that type of drawer. I offered to help, but was told to go away.
I built some Ikea bedside cabinets instead - I didn't have any difficulty with those drawers, but they are very well designed and come with very clear instructions. We also paid a mid-week visit to B&Q for more paint, so I bought a new blackout blind for the bedroom window. The old one, as well as being filthy beyond belief, was covered in mould, and I suspect may have had more than a little to do with the state of my health. Since we threw it away, my cough and blocked nose have cleared up almost completely. It is also a great relief to be able to undress in the bedroom again, and not to be woken at 5 am by the light. So we now have quite a civilised bedroom, and don't feel quite so much like campers.
We are still living out of suitcases though, there are no wardrobes. I would put together the clothes rails that have been bought for the dressing room, but all our hangers are still in storage.
The plumber arrived on Monday as planned, so we now have a non-leaking sink with a plug. It also has a single tap so you can control the temperature of the water, instead of having boiling hot water out of one tap and freezing cold water out of the other. We have a new flushing toilet too, which we don't need to tip a bucket of water down. The bath no longer runs out onto the bathroom floor, and the bath has been fixed into position so that it should, I hope, stop moving around which I am told is what caused the failure of the outlet pipe in the first place.
I have been able to give most of the bathroom a more thorough clean, though the shower cabinet needs further work; it is still a bit streaky, after months or possibly years of soap scum. I still have to give the bath a proper cleaning as well, as we didn't have a suitable cream cleaner. There is a large metal construction with three shelves in the shower which is unbelievably filthy and quite rusty in places. It is screwed to the tiles, so I can't take it out to clean it properly. I clean a few of the wires every day, but there is still a long way to go. Paul proposed unscrewing it and putting it in the dishwasher, once that is installed, but apparently the dishwasher is hard to install because the power point hasn't been sufficiently deeply set into the wall or something, so there has been yet another kitchen delay.
On Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday evenings after work, our son came home and carried all the kitchen cabinets from the garage into the kitchen. Apparently fitting them is very fiddly, so he hasn't managed it yet. He hopes to do better this weekend. I just look forward to having a kitchen sink for washing up!
On Thursday, I had to go into the centre of Manchester to buy a few things I can't get at local shops, plus I needed to visit Marks and Spencer and also collect my train tickets ahead of time for the trip to London. I was able to catch a tram from the big supermarket nearest to the new house, so after some food shopping at the supermarket I went into town and seemed to be there for ages. Paul wasn't able to do any work on the house because he had the only house key and managed to shut it inside the house when we left. Fortunately, I have the spare car key and the spare key to our son's house, so he wasn't condemned to having to spend the day sitting in the car, but he wasn't able to get on with any of the things he had intended to do. I have now made sure I have a spare house key in my handbag.
Our daughter-in-law came back from France late on Thursday afternoon, having had a very busy time with her family. She had spent the whole day travelling and was pretty tired. Our grandson apparently charmed all her family, and enjoyed himself very much, and we had a nice time playing with him as we still couldn't get into the house, since our son had the only other key. Our son came home from work looking exhausted, and after supper we left them both looking as if they needed to sleep for a week. Anyway, we planned an early start next morning, both having early appointments at the doctors.
We woke early on Friday to find our son and family already in the house; they had come to bring some of the dining room furniture. Then our son rushed off to work, and we had a quick breakfast and went off to the doctor. After Paul had been recommended to the dermatologist and me to a chest X-Ray and a variety of tests, we returned to the flat for coffee and croissants with our daughter-in-law.
Back at the house, I spent an unbelievable amount of time on the phone to the Inland Revenue, who had made a severe mistake with their sums and for some reason calculated that my income this tax year would be three times what it actually will be, resulting a tax code which meant I was starting to give them 40% of my income. The 45 minutes I spent listening to muzak on their phone line was followed by an incredibly long and complicated phone call, after which I felt I needed several stiff drinks. Instead of this, I had a very quick lunch and went with my daughter-in-law to the hospital, where she had her usual fortnightly appointment and I had a chest X-Ray. Unfortunately, she has to return to the hospital on Monday for a small adjusting procedure, and I will be in London, so grandpa must babysit!
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