Hello, dear reader!
And welcome to disruption central.
Yes, after bemoaning that ‘waiting is’ last week all our dreams of getting a quick start on the bathroom have come true.
And, my word, is it fun!
It was Thursday of last week, just in time to miss being mentioned in the blog, that we got a phone call from the company transforming our bathroom. ‘We have some unforeseen capacity’, we were told, ‘would you like us to start on Monday?’.
Yes. Yes, we very much would. Yes, please.
And so the excitement began. In earnest this time. We spent the weekend cleaning and tidying to make way for the coming mess, dust, and general untidiness, set an early alarm for Monday morning and waited patiently for the workmen to come.
Which they didn’t.
Luckily, I took a peek at my mobile and caught a message telling us that there was a slight hold-up and would we mind awfully if the work started the following day. Well, we might have minded just the teensiest bit, having dragged ourselves out of bed and spent a good hour peeking out the window for vans (and getting a surge of excitement and disappointment every time one drove past the house, even if it said ‘Yorkshire Water’ on the side). As it couldn’t really be helped, though, we set our minding aside and got on with the day with a minimum of grumbling.
The next day, like a kid at Xmas, We (that’s me and the ever wonderful Tina) once again bounced out of bed (not literally), and got to some waiting. An hour-and-a-half later, only a half-hour later than promised, James showed up and work began.
Now, it was slightly underwhelming when one man with one van turned up to start the project, but James is a likeable bloke, and he cracked on like a good’un. I suppose, when you think about it, our bathroom isn’t massive, and it would probably be slightly counterproductive to have two people trying to work in there at once, especially when power tools are involved.
As I say, though, despite being but one man, James has made a very promising start. All the walls (there are four, I’ve counted) have been stripped down to brick, getting rid of the tasteful olive green highlighted with the cheap and nasty, discount range white tiling the council erected when they put in our shower area. The flooring has also been ripped up, the flooring underneath re-balanced, and a new and broader shower pan put down. The sink and shower are also no longer with us, but the old toilet is in situ until the new one is ready to be installed (so as never to leave us, as it were, short).
Oh, and the leaking boiler has been fixed, too. This wasn’t James’ doing, but the work of a local small business man who, despite inventive swearing, was far more punctual and affordable than the first company we rang (£225 an hour for a rude and surly bloke who wouldn’t even speak to Tina. Thank you, but no thank you). In the end it was only the replacement of one small part, it still meant that, while the repair was being undertaken, James had to hold fire on his work, though.
Pictures are being taken, so perhaps next week, I’ll share.
(apologies for a short offering and any inconsistencies in quality. It’s taking quite a lot of coffee for me to function at the moment).
Until next time…
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Hey, there! If you enjoyed reading any of the above, why not take a look at some of my published work? Below you’ll find links to a number of short stories I’m lucky enough to have included in anthologies. I’d love to know what you think
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