Day 80


Tiling issues!

Some have to be taken up as they sound hollow - no idea how that happened as K so meticulous. Decisions to be made re bathroom tiles wall and floor. Done.

Suddenly we have Big W back full of glory at another Liverpool victory over Chelsea and the painting twins! A sheet goes over the utility room door - I can hear them nattering away, but can't see them now. Apparently, they want to get the grouting done today so that Kevin can hang the doors tomorrow and theres 'nothing more irritating than getting sawdust in wet grouting'! You heard it here first.

Lovely walk down to the old town this am for pilates and back again - in the words of my friend W60P60 (Walk60mins,pilates60mins)!


Went to a new members meeting of Chiltern U3A - I ran out after 10 mins. It was like a Freshers Fair for the over 70's or the Occupational Therapy Unit in an old peoples home. O M G! Everyone looked v well meaning and rather earnest - not quite for me just yet - I did try!

Drooped round to SA a photo book P made of the christening - she was dead chuffed. Everyone happy!

We return to find that all 4 of them had been working away to get the grouting done, and it looks amazing - what a difference. I suspect things were slipping due to little W on maternity leave etc, so the troops were brought in. Promise of woodwork tomorrow - that is exciting.

Off to Beaconsfield tonight to hear Eric Knowles (Antiques Roadshow etc) talk on Moorcroft - courtesy of JP. We are taking along some pics of a vase S and D have which is beautiful, and v early Moorcroft. It will be interesting to see what Eric says.
Update - fascinating evening, excellent raconteur - loads of Moorcroft on show - mainly focussed on its renaissance in the past 25 years. Nice to catch up with S and J .

We did not 'strike' today as we have been sensible enough to sort out our own pensions, which have devalued over the years (lets not forget the Equitable Life debacle), but we accept that one should be responsible in life for ones wellbeing, and do the best we can to preserve it! Yes things have changed and we have lost money - but that is because the economy is bust. So suck it up and get on with it - things change and no one has died! End of rant!

Day 79


Routine day, tiling continues, W still off with new baby. N or J (not sure which) of the painting twins here to paint the underside of the verandah. Looks nice - Graham the Gardener last week commented that would be what you would do with a proper barn... The idea is that you don't notice it and that you don't get more sun reflected in...beautifully done.

Big Ian pops in and says 2/3 weeks to completion -(ie 1 week before Christmas). So, Project Build and Project Christmas heading for simultaneous completion! Must get organised. Tidy sideboard in dining room and find I have a) plenty of candles (must stop buying them in IKEA) and b) plenty of napkins (brought in Tesco sale after last years festivities.)

We go to IKEA to review Billy vs Besta. Billy wins as it is slimmer - I don't want to spoil the space that the we have created in the lobby. Get shoe racks and coat pegs and new Billy for kitchen - Grandpa's old bookcase looking a bit tired! The rest we will order and get get them to deliver. Bit of a marital over these lovely lanterns - too good to leave on the shelves there, especially at £2.99 each! They will enhance the festive proceedings in so many ways!

New Billy surprisingly quickly erected in kitchen...didn't dare ask due to reasons of a short tempered husband nature! ( See above re lanterns!) And new indoor/outdoor thermometer  (no wires) sorted. Old one damaged in works procedures.

So, K is pleased with what he has done re tiling, but wishes he had done more, missing W who will not be back at work till Monday...they had to move the shower tray for reasons of walls and tiles not being quite square. All sorted. Nice guy now I have broken him down and he is chatting - P going to offer photoshoot for him and family.

Thats it for today - now going to hear how George Osborne thinks he can solve all our problems....lol!

Day 78 - Week 12


Tilers at dawn! Yup 7am and they are here....off we go!

Correction - tiler in the singular. It seems that the hooded boy W had a baby at the weekend, so just Boss Tiler K on the job. Slight confusion by me as we have 2 Waynes working here, one a tiler and one a builder and I got muddled this am as to which had had a baby - anyway all sorted! Awkward!

So tiling is a bit slower than expected, but he is getting there...

Just realised , no Radio 1 today - so that must be down to W not K.

More noticeably we now have gutters....

That looks better. Ready for rain now.

Builder W popped in - not sure what for - a chat? Big Ian popped in - impromptu meeting he said - actually to tell us another bill on its way this week! And probs to tease P re the amount of floor tiles that we have left over - they will come in handy when we get the bathrooms redone if B and Q won't take them back.

Christmas is rearing its head - slightly concerned that Project Build and Project Christmas will peak at the same time. Having a lot of planning meetings in my head!

Days 76 and 77


P out at the studio showing clients photos he has taken.

I am pottering around and enjoying no builders and the fact that I have reclaimed the driveway! We can park both cars and still have room to swing a cat....a small but very important victory!

S and D round for a tea and chat and 'works' review.

Off to the Black Horse in Fulmer with I and J for a nice quiet supper! None of us have been, but have used others in the chain - so should be nice food. Am hoping for a roaring log fire and no builders!

Fab day in the house, door to extension has been open to get the feel of things - looking good. the light that we get in through the skylights is awesome. P will not need all his daylight tubes and bulbs!

Sunday - vist Brum.

DIY at James's house - kitchen ceiling no longer mottled with damp patches where the shower above had leaked, and shelf in toilet brought down by the weight of 100s of BMJs now restored to its former position. Lovely day with father and son working together...

Then on to Party Towers for a cuppa with Flo - looking good and she had politics books out on her desk - signs of work? Flatmate arrived back with huge gash on his knee and blood pouring out - hockey incident - so we do mercy dash to hub of student village - not much use on first aid front - ended up rifling through P's aged first aid kit in the car. Sorted.

Lovely day.

Day 75


(2nd version!)

I managed to delete the first one! Ooops!

We got up bright and early at 6am to get a head start on the day, good job. Well by 8.30am I had just managed to squeeze in my breakfast before Dawn arrived.

Big Ian here with decisions to be made on decking, tiling, sockets etc.All fine, but it would have been nicer if I had eaten first! The raging war over outside sockets has been solved by Ian, I think he was surprised at the issues it was causing!

Graham the gardener turned up as expected so another white van in the driveway!

So at one point we had 2 tilers, 2 builders, a plumber and a gardener and Dawn. I'm certainly doing my bit to keep the local unemployment figures down!

Brilliant job Graham - and he told us he won Best Delphinium person at the RHS show at Wisely. He won 8 classes - can't get much better than that!

3pm and suddenly my driveway is clear of the boards that have covered it for the past 12 weeks - wonderful - maybe car parking issues are at an end. There is light at the end of the tunnel.

And the tiling looks great too. K and W (ex roofers now tilers) just go about their work relentlessly, never wanting coffee and a chat!

So its 5pm, all is quite - Radio 1 has disappeared! A huge leap forward this week. There's been some work done on the verandah this afternoon by G and W but I'm not too sure what they were doing!

WineO'clock!

Day 74


7.30am  There's a builder in the house asking questions and I haven't had my porridge yet! Do I want a 2mm gap or 4mm between the floor tiles? 2mm - now can I have my breakfast please?

The tilers turn out to be the same men that were roofers. Multi talented. They set to with tile laying - get the main floor done in the morning - but that's the easy bit. They then have to start cutting the rest to fit...noisy!
Not surprisingly the cheap tiles that we got from B and Q are a bit random - but they blend them all in and it looks fine, especially when they're going to be covered in furniture.

Off to Waddesdon with C and S and C and L for afternoon tea, and then a tour round the east Wing all decorated up for xmas.

Lovely gentle outing - Waddesdon was looking so Christmassy - rooms beautifully decorated, live musicians playing in each room. It all seems a million miles away from the world outside. Visited the Five Arrows afterwards in Waddesdon village for a snifter on the way home. Bit stuffy, but a nice way to round of the evening.

Tilers had continued in our absence. Some dispute re outside electrical socket and the lack thereof hindering our Christmas lighting display. To be resolved!

Day 73


Sunny start but v cold. I had to scape ice off the car - what is that all about?! Please - may - I - have - the garage - back - for - housing - the - Jeep?!

The skip is due to go - YAY!! Talk of tiling later in the week - full steam ahead.....eases the 'builder fatigue'!

It goes!  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_qPj4MssFrY&feature=youtu.be

Off to Pain Clinic to review back situation.
For the benefit S, this is what is going to happen...
http://www.thephysiotherapysite.co.uk/physiotherapy/back-pain/facet-denervation
Dr C is confident that I am a good candidate for it and that it will work! She was wearing another set of nice pearls.

Had my old boss T round for a catch up this afternoon - 2 hrs just whizzed by - I don't know how we ever got any work done!

Nick + John work hard - I feed them mince pies (Waitrose - they like them!) - and this is the result....all tidied up...and ready for whatever comes tomorrow - they will not be with us....shame...got used to having them around!

Excited! Its looking great! They think its tiling tomorrow - wow! That will make a huge difference! Apparently the screed accelerator that we paid extra for has done its job!

I came clean to P re the new boots - I sacrificed Chelsea v Liverpool for them! Bearing in mind the result - I got the better of the bargain - they were approved!

Day 72


Misty again, but this does not stop the Nick/John duo from turning up, tidying around, with the promise of painting later on!

And so it happened!

They are doing a beautifully neat job. Plaster soaking up the paint! Timeless walls and ceiling just to make it simple.
We decide that they should also do the old utility room at the same time - obviously this has cost implications, but it will look much better - more like one room.

The cupboard space is causing some concerns - I draft up a rough idea - P then has his opinion - we need help!

I am off to joint DCGS and DCHS concert tonight in the Free Church - it will make a nice respite from the noisy dehumidifiers - now 3 in total! I think that they are there for the floor drying as much as the walls.

The concert was lovely. J conducted the joint choirs in Vivaldi's Gloria with Alex Flood at the organ - I can remember when he was just a pony tailed lad and now he is a Dr Flood and organist at St Albans abbey/church? Nice change. Met up with old Head too and her lovely granddaughter.

Day 71 - Week 11


Misty, but the plastering twins Nick and John - they have just one name as no one can tell them apart arrive and crack on with plastering the lobby.

It is becoming apparent that we will have to make decisions re storage in the lobby and utility, so plan a trip to IKEA tonight - lucky us!

Progress assessed with Builder Ian, and we are all happy. Looks like completion in December is not impossible.....

He brings along an industrial dehumidifier to suck all the water out of the plaster so that they can get some paint on it later this week.

Knock through hole tidied up

We did the IKEA visit - what a soulless place filled with people trying to make their homes nice! Its only any good if you know exactly what you want - go in and grab it and run away. It did give some ideas though and helped us define what we need.

Got home to find burglar alarm had been going off all that time - 'fab' end to the day, not! No harm - just a couple of wires in the extension - were not touching when they should have been, or the other way round?

Days 69 and 70


Saturday P and J go over to Whetsone to  collect his new car....very lovely and he is very happy.

He then drives me to Waddesden to be interviewed for volunteering in their wine shop. It looked so pretty - all decked out in Christmas finery.

I got the job - now just have to sort out which days etc.

Quiet evening - J back to Brum - happy to be able to test fog lights etc!

Sunday.....Builder Fatigue and Monty Glynn christening at St Marys.

Ian sends us a pic of the log cabin in its new home - lovely to see it going to good use!

The lovely Monty..

Day 68


Window issue sorted - back door issue, to be resolved - which way should it open - I can see both viewpoints!

4 men working away like mad!

Utility room can be used, so laundry issues pretty much dealt with - new tumble dryer performing brilliantly! Anyone want some pure water for their irons?!

Nick cycled out from Kilburn, testing his Project Drop bike - worked well - nice lunch and chat. He went back to London, then James arrived, ready to swap cars first thing on Saturday.

Lots of plasterwork .......result looks good.

Day 67


Knock through day!

So we arrive back and find all is secure and they have knocked through.

This window doesn't match the dining room one.

However, the plasterwork is lovely - we find the next day that Big Ian has already spotted the error and is getting it sorted.