Twenty four little hours:
But those twenty-four little hours are nothing like the ravages of time wrought by eight years.
And also, photographed for the first time ever, the weird ridges on the back of my head that are usually covered by hair.
Archive for November, 2006
So it’s the case that when one (washing machine) door opens, another closes.
We’ve had the washing machine a day. I’ve done two loads, but P went to the laundrette last week and doesn’t have enough laundry yet. (We have different ideas about colour separation and what constitutes a load, so I’m not allowed to do his washing.)
I need to do a third load, but there’s nowhere left in the house for wet laundry.
In other house news, the kitchen engineer (distinct from the designer) came around today. He left colour printouts of the CADed design. But that wasn’t good enough for me. I insisted he leave JPGs as well!
The guy said that the woman he saw yesterday is having her new kitchen put in on the 11 Dec, so maybe the before Christmas claim is credible after all.
There are down sides. We have to do some of the preparation. The kitchen firm won’t do anything like floor coverings, tiling or walls, or put in shelves or additional electric sockets so we’ll probably need lots of extra help once it’s done. And jiminy, they’ll be here so soon! There’s loads we need to do first, including clearing the kitchen, removing things from the walls. And buying appliances in time for them to fit.
And we still won’t get to find out what’s under the plasterboard in the kitchen.
This one is rather more NSFW than the last one. And every so slightly more DH Lawrence than Dylan Thomas.
Is there anything you can’t do on the internet? Now you can make snowflakes, without any of the problems of too sharp scissors or the paper frustratingly breaking in the wrong place, or mess or the rest.
A salesman cold called us 1pm on Sunday. Designer turned up 8pm. Stayed all night. Measured kitchen while we watched Torchwood. Gave very reasonable quote, promised to instal new kitchen before Christmas. Will get rid of old kitchen, which is rare amongst kitchen people, in our experience.
We signed at 1230am.
Are we mad? all the characteristics of a hard sell. But it seemed like a decent deal… Googling the Space Kitchens gets some good reviews and some bad ones. And some tips we should have known before talking to the guy as well as the ones that we figured out for ourselves.
Still… we could be cooking Christmas dinner in a new kitchen…
I wrote on LDV two nights ago about some printing I’m doing at the moment: christmas cards, which have to be guillotined in half. Last night I had a salutory reminder that the guillotine is indeed very sharp. Don’t click “more” if you are squeamish!
Incidentally, the main editor of LDV is away for the weekend, and has left me and the rest of the editing team with the keys. I’m very tempted to pop across and fill the site with cat pictures.
Even if I don’t do that, it is fascinating to login into the site and see the hundreds of plugins and customisations that are possible with a serious, experienced web designer at the controls.
Interestingly, I’m the only person on Flickr to use the tag “industrial accident”.
Some of the talented B3tan’s responses to the Litvinenko poisoning affair:
Butters (very talented, but somewhat warped)
And Moogy Boobles
I was engaged watching some sort of televisual entertainment on the haunted fishtank the other day – something which, to be honest, I don’t do a lot of. We have a weekly date to watch Torchwood on a Sunday evening, and that’s about it. But yesterday, I found myself watching a non-BBC channel, ITV2, I think, showing some sort of programme about Britain’s youngest parents.
Some sort of professional nanny was wandering around the house, complaining about people still being in bed at the shock hour of 8am, and making loads of comments out loud about the hygiene, and the tidiness. I hope she never sees my house.
And then there were advertisements. Every single ad, for no matter what product, seemed to have a gratuitous reference to Pirates of the Caribbean. Why? Five ads in a row for various different shops – Asda, WHSmiths, Woolworths and the like – all went “You can buy Christmas presents – including Pirates of the Carribbean – in our shop!” Can’t people figure this sort of thing out for themselves these days?
Don’t get me started on Christmas.
One of the things we knew we had to do with the house was redo the kitchen, and as a part of that, we were going to find room for a washing machine.
Circumstances change, and we’re not going to be able to redo the kitchen as soon as we had hoped. P can’t live without a washing machine (I quite like my weekly frequent trips to the laundrette – they give me a chance to read trashy fiction)
So, we’re trying to install a washing machine in a former downstairs loo cupboard. When the loo was removed, all the plumbing and electrics were too, so we’ve had to put in new sockets and new water pipes and new waste water pipes.
Today, the plumber who drilled holes through the brick warned us that the bricks are not in terribly good condition, and even suggested we get the surveyor back to advise. They shatter when drilled, which apparently bricks shouldn’t do, and the mortar is missing, and they don’t appear to be supporting any weight.
So, now, although we finally have pipes and power, we need get the structural issues looked at before we can actually put a washing machine in. Bah.