Rain, rain go away...

It can't be about to rain! It's been gorgeous all week and now, just as I'm
about to pack up and head home to enjoy the garden, the sky clouds over and
threatens rain. There are more practical issues I have with it raining this
weekend. We still don't have a washing machine and we're all set to go and
take over someones washer to do the several loads we have accumulated over
the last fortnight. If we can't hang it out, it will never dry! Secondly, we
don't have a cooker anymore. The guy who came to fit the second new fire had
to test all the gas and he condemmed the 40+ year old cooker we inherited
with the house. So, I was looking forward to a weekend of BBQs. I'm off to
do a wee anti-rain dance.

Rain Stops Play

The current project for the house is gutting the kitchen ready for the new one. We're half way through taking the tiles off the walls then we can get rid of the larder. Then we need an electrician and a plumber followed by a plasterer before we can think of putting the new kitchen in. The aim is to try and keep the kitchen useable for as long as possible since we both love our food which means trying to keep the mess to a minimum. The wet weather would have made the job even messier today (at least that's my excuse) so it's been a lazy day from the start. Other things have been happening though, the new windows and doors were finished on Friday. The windows have all been kept in the same style as the original ones, apart from one which is sort of bugging me, but to have kept it the same it looks like we would have had to loose the opening. If we hadn't had to have an opening large enough to escape through if there was a fire there wouldn't have been a problem but regulations now state... bla bla bla. At least we can open the door onto the patio now and the new front door is back to the original 1930s style that is should be. This week it's the turn of the fireplaces.

We've also had the oldest grandkid here for the weekend and as lovely as she is, she can be a little brat at times. The biggest problem is that she won't go to bed so as it gets later on in the evening and the wife and I simply want to curl up on the sofa together, she gets more and more demanding. At least with grandkids you can send them home when you've had enough!

Calm before the storm

This was the recently constructed greenhouse into which I put several hours of blood, sweat and tears. It now contains several tomato plants, a cucumber plant, peppers and red and green lettuce (and the peony infront of it is now in flower). Beside the greenhouse our first two strawberries are almost ripe. It isn't quite finished however as I still haven't got around to cementing it properly into the ground.

The greenhouse is built of aluminium and polycarbonate. Both of these materials are actually quite light. The winds are actually not very light at all tonight. Guess who will never be forgiven if the greenhouse moves and damages any of the wifes crops.

So hang me

What I am about to say may be considered tantamount to treason by my fellow countrypeople, especially after my verging on the obsessional interest in the curling at this years winter olympics (at least they had a chance of winning). But, I don't think that Eng-er-land will live up to all the hype and repeat the win of '66 that has been filling the TV/radio/newspapers for the last too many months*. I just don't think that 'we' have a particularly strong squad. The best things about the world cup is the empty supermarket during saturdays games and the empty roads this afternoon. Why can't those bloody car flags be banned? Why does every cake/biscuit/iced-bun in the bakers have to be covered in red and white icing? And, why was a half decent radio program's dominated by a debate about whether it is right for people to pull a sickie in order to watch the England games? It's just all wrong, it's only a game.

*I hope for my own sake that I am proved wrong here, for the wife is a keen footie fan (and we all know how happy a happy wife can make me).

Wild

I think I need to get my hair cut - too often now I'm getting to work,
seeing my reflection in the computer screen and wondering if I did actually
comb my hair this morning.

Spending Spree

When we sorted out the financing of the house we made sure that there was
enough left in the bank to cover all the work that needs doing on the new
place. Having a relatively large sum of money available makes window
shopping great fun: "we could get that nice expensive piece of furniture for
the dining room" or "those solid walnut desks would look fantastic". When it
comes to actually spending we are more cautious, hence still no wardrobes or
washing machine. However the new kitchen has been ordered, the new bathroom
has been decided upon and the design for the new windows chosen. But the
best buy of all so far? The greenhouse! And the fantastic weather means that
the inner child in me spent the weekend playing with the giant mechano set
and the end result (apart from some strange patches of sunburn - my left ear
and a stripe across my lower back) was a very, very happy wife who was eager
to reward me for all my hard work - after she had planted the tomatoes.

Out of the chaos

I'm back having survived the move and the 1001 other things that have taken
over since. The move itself went smoothly, the only day of the week it
didn't rain which was fortunate. We're still living among boxes and out of
suitcases as we have very little bedroom furniture - the removal guys
couldn't get the only wardrobe out of the house. We have no washing machine
and are using a 40 year old gas cooker (which is a bonus as the old lady
wasn't supposed to be leaving it behind). One week after moving we got the
boiler replaced so at least we can have a decent bath now and wash in hot
water. It seems like nothing has been done in the house since in 70 years -
the original sink in the original kitchen has started to leak and the toilet
is falling apart - I have decided that the house has seen more use in the
last two weeks than in the last ten years. But for all that there is a lot
of work to do, it is mostly cosmetic and at least it's clean. And big! Where
as in the old house we lived in one room with all others off it, we now have
more rooms spread further apart making every other conversation start with
"where are you?". Then there's the garden. It's fantastic! A large lawn with
flower beds full of flowers surrounding it. One large border has already
been cleared ready for the greenhouse and the veggie plot is the next
project on the list. The whole place makes getting up and out to work in the
morning that bit harder.

We're not set up properly for the internet yet, NTL turned up to install
cable only to discover that they couldn't give us the whole package so we
have taken our custom elsewhere, only elsewhere has a two month wait. So,
it's back to dial-up temporarily (we couldn't go without) and the garden is
better for my blood pressure than waiting for pages to load.