The final straight

Today I entered the final straight - only five more days to go before this work stint finishes. The end is now in sight.

Missed deadline

Tomorrow is the deadline, that I set earlier this year, for the completion of the decorating and carpeting of the main rooms in the cottage. It isn't going to be met and it is not our fault that we are so behind. It is the fault of Carpetright who have made such a cock up of fitting a carpet then resolving the issue of it being faulty. The cottage has now been in chaos since the beginning of February when the living room carpet was fitted and it has now become a way of life for us.

Glad it's grey

Today is another grey, wet and miserable day and I am working so I don't mind. At least it will be another day of not needing to water the garden, pots and greenhouse etc. When it is wet and miserable and I am working I don't feel as if I am missing out on the opportunity to be out in the sunshine and fresh air and getting on with the garden.

Rain at last

After several weeks of dry weather at last we have had some much needed rain. Normally I am not keen on wet weather but when I woke up this morning to hear it raining I was pleased. My prayers had been answered at last! The pots, the garden and the greenhouse will not need watering for a few days at least so I might get a few minutes to myself.

House proud

At the moment there isn't enough time for me let alone time for the house so it will just have to be dirty for the next two and a half weeks. Well it wont really be dirty it just wont be as clean as I would like it to be.

Hot head

I am just three days into my three weeks of work and I am not sure how I am going to get to the finishing line. Tonight I had an argument with my husband about having too much to do, which I do. The root of the problem is that we are so far behind with the work on the cottage and the garden because so many tradesmen, workmen and neighbours have let us down. My typical evening is come home from work, water the greenhouse and the plants in pots (which should be in the garden but aren't yet), have something to eat and wash up, have a bath or shower and wash my hair if necessary then check my e-mails, watch the Ten O'clock News and go to bed. Then at 7am the next morning I am back on the treadmill again. This hot weather isn't helping as I wouldn't need to do so much watering of plants if for instance it was raining.

Three week marathon

Today is the start of my three week working marathon. Next sunday it is the Flora London Marathon which I am thankfully not entering, instead I have my own personal marathon of standing for seven and a half hours each weekday for the next three weeks whilst dispensing/checking around 300 items a day plus I don't know how many trips up and down the stairs to the stock room and CD cupboard. Fortuneately today was not too busy which gave me time to catch up with the staff as I had not worked there for nearly five months. So now I am up to date with the relationships of the younger members of staff and the ailments of the older members of staff. For the next three weeks I shall be living in a different world!

An expensive morning

This morning we went to the Door Warehouse to order the back door and bedroom door that we need for the house. We managed to get there with only one wrong turn this time. My husband groaned as he pulled out his credit card to pay for them. Then it was off to the garden centre to buy three bags of compost (three because they were on offer three for the price of two), one plant pot and one packet of seeds. Again the poor credit card took a hammering although only a small hammering this time. Next it was off to the carpet shop from which we were to buy a new carpet for our living room. It was our lucky day. The carpet that we wanted had been discontinued and the shop had in stock about a metre more than we needed. This time it was my credit card which took a hammering as the refund from Carpetright, if we ever get it, will go back onto my card as I paid for it in the first place. By now it was afternoon.

Another roll in the carpet saga

My husband has tried unsuccessfully to contact the carpet shop which should have taken up the living room carpet yesterday and has ended up making a complaint on their website. Yesterday was a completely wasted day and if I hadn't known otherwise I would have thought that it was friday the thirteenth yesterday, not today. By the way the carpet shop that I had assumed was well known and is now infamous, in our house at least, has in my opinion waived its right to anonymity and is Carpetright.

The carpet saga rolls on

Today was the day that the living room carpet was to be taken up but guess what they didn't turn up to take it up. What should we have expected from this shop? They have over charged us on the deposit and so far not refunded the difference. They tried to tell us that that the carpet wasn't faulty.They have undercharged us for the second carpet that we ordered from them - that was a big mistake on our part ordering two carpets at once. They didn't send us a detailed invoice after the estimator had measured up for the carpets and when we did eventually receive it three months later it gave a whole new meaning to 'creative accountancy'. So I expect that we shall be moving the furniture back into the living room at the weekend. I am working now for the next three weeks so the carpet will have to stay put until some time in May.

Door estimate

After several days of P the joiner talking to our answer phone and me talking to his voicemail we have managed to speak to one another and we now have an estimate for replacing the back door and the bedroom door. A new bedroom door was something that we had planned for but we had not expected to have to replace the back door so soon.The back door is alright but it is the frame that has gone rotten. The frame has a glass panel at the side of the door and at present the door is a non-standard door. So the whole thing can be replaced now with a standard size door or can be made to fit our non-standard door which will no doubt lead to problems when the door does need to be replaced. Nothing seems to be simple and straight forward and the cost of a door frame, glass, replacement door and fitting is nearly into four figures.

Back to work for a rest

After all that decorating, gardening and furniture moving it was back to work for a rest today!

The furniture merry-go-round

At the beginning of February we moved the furniture out of the living room into the dining room in preparation for the carpet being fitted. As soon as the carpet was fitted we realised that it was faulty and would need to be either refitted or replaced, so we had not put the furniture back into the living room. Whilst we were negotiating with the carpet shop about the refund for the carpet we were told that we could use the living room and that they would come to take the carpet up when we were ready to have a new carpet fitted. Consequently we put everything back into the living room - furniture, curtains, pictures, TV, the lot! Now we have been told that as we have asked for a refund the carpet shop want to come and take up the carpet in the next two weeks and we have agreed 12 April as a suitable date, but that now means that we once again have to move the furniture out of the living room into the dining room.

Once again we seem to be living in one cottage knocked into two and the jumble makes Steptoe's front room look tidy.

Gardening - an Easter Sunday treat

Having got as far as we could with the decorating of the dining room we treated ourselves to a short stint in the garden. It was wonderful to be out in the fresh air! Now I am praying for rain - the garden is as dry as a bone and the water butt is empty. At least we don't have a hose pipe ban. Maybe all the doom mongers are right about global warming. I am sceptical, but I don't expect to be watering the garden at Easter. Neither do I expect to be having tea in the garden on Easter Sunday as we did.

Decorating again

We have started decorating the dining room/snug in earnest. Never mind the fact that the living room furniture will once again be in this room from monday and the weather is, surprisingly for a bank holiday, fine, warm and sunny. We really should be outside gardening but we are already weeks behind schedule with the decorating thanks mainly to a certain carpet shop.

More doors

Today is Good Friday and we should be relaxing and eating hot coss buns but this morning we went to look at doors. Not just for the bedroom but also for the back door as its' frame has gone rotten. We went to the aptly named Door Warehouse on a nearby trading estate and managed to make three wrong turns on the way there. The choice of doors is amazing and as we were only looking it is more difficult to concentrate the mind on these things. We came away with several brochures and the contact details of three more carpenters/joiners, just in case we hear no more from P.

The open door

About 10.30 one Saturday night, some time ago, the bedroom door fell off and my husband temporarily fixed it. Now that the bedroom has been fitted we need a permanently fitted bedroom door. C the carpenter did come to give us an estimate in February but the estimate never materialised. We are now pursuing the matter with P the joiner who should have phoned last night with an estimate, but didn't. How many carpenters/joiners does it take to get an estimate and how many will it take to fit a door?

Bedroom fitting

The fitted bedroom that was postponed from February is being fitted today (and yesterday). There seems to be an awful lot of noise and banging - far more than I remember from last time we had a bedroom fitted. Plus the next door neighbour is also making a racket today. I am sure that it will all be worth it in the end. Well it will have to be.