New House

This week I have mostly been dealing with...house stuff. I've just had two weeks off. I have physically worked harder than I ever do at work and struck more important deals than I ever do at work.

In my first week off I lifted worn red carpets from every room in the downstairs and the hall, rolled up and chucked out. I started taking nails and screws out of the walls and filling holes. Thinking about what I would prefer it to be look like (I was crushingly depressed about it when I first walked back in as the new owner - it was empty and smaller than I remembered).

In the first week I had electrical people over to change the meter, gasman to reset the gas meter, visits from 3 kitchen fitters (two good, one horrible), quotes from two floor sanding companies, and a vist from the ADT alarm people. Much hand shaking. Plenty of patter. One awkward conversation with a man intending to press us into making a decision that we didn't want to make. He left pissed off. I was sorry he ever invaded my space.

In the second week I had all the downstairs floors (bar the kitchen) sanded, filled and varnished. The kitchen surveyor round to check the drawing of the winning kitchen, the ADT engineer in to upgrade the alarm, and the plumber in to remove a radiator and a pipe which fed water to an american wardrobe-style fridge.

I am now broke. I haven't completed the painting I wanted to get through, but have got some nice floors and a date for a kitchen installation (my parents moved into their house with avacado units in the kitchen which they hated, probably with the intention of changing them at some point, over time they stopped noticing how awful they were and consequently the house still has them). I have also refound my fondness for this house. Oh, and I was offered an apprenticeship by the plumber.