Bob IS a jinx!

Today, just after 1pm, a delivery truck turned up in Canary Wharf. About 15 stress filled minutes later, I received a one word text: “Success.” I released a sigh of relief that had been bottled up inside me for at least a month. It felt very, very good.

So, we can draw a line under the Great Fridge Freezer Saga of 2014. And Mirinda can once more keep milk in the flat for longer than a few hours.

My mind drifted back to the weekend and Mirinda’s Skype with Bob. He related a tale of woe at arriving home. He’d taken advice (before leaving) on hiding his keys all over the house. This worked well except for the fact that he couldn’t find the keys to the cars. In fact, they were so well hidden, he’d forgotten where he’d hidden them.

Given that Dural is at least 100 miles from any shop, he was in a bit of a pickle. Other than to draw a parallel between the successful delivery and installation of a fridge freezer and the case of the lost keys, I’m not going to dwell on Bob’s woes and clear jinxability. Suffice it to say, he went to bed, emptied his mind of all extraneous thoughts and, when he woke up the next day, knew instantly where the keys were. As is always the case, they were in the last place he looked.

Given the evidence, Bob, I don’t think it’s a good idea for me to take you to an Aldershot game…but enough of fridge freezers and on to the continuing building works.

Clive made a huge start on laying the brick path back down the side of the house and extension. Basically, he’s putting it back where it came from back in February when they ploughed it up.

The Tatt-man (so named because of the numerous tattoos he proudly displays every day the sun is out…though Mirinda didn’t notice, being enthralled with his piercing blue eyes) finished painting the outside of the house. It now looks gleaming and new.

Later in the day he came to tell me that his wife’s water had broken and she’d been rushed to the hospital. She was then sent back home, to return tomorrow morning. He was telling me this because he’d not be around for the next few days and his attendance next week will be a little less than full time.

The other decorator (Matt) will still be sanding and painting. Tatt-man left him a list of outstanding jobs in order to keep him well busy.

I also met with Karl the Chippy to discuss the skirting boards and other woodwork requirements like doors being shortened and windows being planed a bit. I’ve not met Karl before but he’s another lovely chap. I think Dave the Builder attracts only nice blokes.

Anyway, the upshot is that Karl will send a chippy either on Friday or next week to start on the finishing of the rooms.

While the house still looks like a building site, it does seem to be leisurely cantering towards the finish line. While I like all of the various tradesmen that have worked tirelessly on the house, I can’t say I’ll really miss the mess they make.

The view from the front door with Day-z thoughtfully posing

The other big thing that happened today was Day-z’s trip to the vet. She’s been itching and scratching around her trouser area for a while and has recently started dragging her bum across the ground. The vet tutted at the sight of her inflamed under carriage and supplied me with some extra strength medicinal shampoo (to be used as soon as I could) and two courses of antibiotics.

I gave her a makeshift bath back at Frensham (in the kitchen sink), leaving the shampoo on her for the prescribed 15 minutes before rinsing her off and towelling her dry. Hopefully this will make her a bit more comfortable.

Now, a couple of short videos for my mother. She’s never seen soft closing fittings before. Here’s a toilet lid…

And my personal favourite, a kitchen drawer…