TWO FACED BOTH SIDES OF ME BY FIONA CUMMINGS

A blanket of inky wool covers me with silver stars cheekily poking through the holes, forming a pattern trying to get a view of how the crescent moon lights my way. Kind of like a boss, as it controls me. Some would say I have a personality disorder. As one minute, I can be so chilled, so calm, still, then, gosh, wow, I rage. Like a monster roaring, jumping out of my bed, fiercely crashing, ripping and trashing anything that is in my way. I wait for no one, I have no care, I’m angry, like a raging bull or someone who has had years bottling up anger and feelings of despair.

Exhausted, my sweat has salt from years before history began. So, the Oder is strong, bitter perhaps, an yet it’s something that humans love to inhale. They come from miles to visit me, they put some kind of trust in me, why? How can they be so trusting, as I really am not good, I have killed, if a human killed, would people flock to see that murderer? No, but me, they visit. I guess they hope to see my good side, as I have two faces, but what if my face should turn would they regret that visit? Or, would they live to regret that journey to see me.

They even trust me with their children. I have no heart I don’t mind who I take. People, are mad, aren’t they? Now, when I am happy, I am calm, gentle, the beast behind me has gone to sleep giving the other me time to be free to do what I am best at. Making humans happy and giving life to creatures that need me. I am so important I am needed. I am a lifeline for sure. I’m beautiful too, not like a Prince or Princess, just beautiful in my own rights.

Who created me, what was I first, gentle, majestical and beautiful, or, angry, furious in fact, a killer. What makes me angry, some say the moon, well, why would the moon make me angry? Not when I can be so perfect, why would the moon want to cause such damage? What is the moon, who created that bright light that stares down at me at nights? I see it clearly, I can’t touch it, but I know I have to bow to it respect it. I jump up towards the clouds, forming an arch shape for I am the king, but soon the moon puts me in my place. Who is the boss of the moon?

Did I get the rough deal? What if I want another job? Before me there is a carpet of golden sand, a carpet so soft, warm, wonderful to lay on, but I have to look at that and end that peace, I run towards it and I suffocate any life on there. Flattening all shapes that little humans have made that day. Do I smile, no, I’m not that sick, I’m just ill, if I were a human, perhaps I would be locked up for my own safety.

I’m mad, cross, humans float on me, using huge crafts rubber, engines, polluting my space. Putting oil in my veins. Stressing my life. Hurting me and all who live with me. I get used as a dumping ground. Choking my breath as if in strangulation. I’m robbed daily, they take things that belong to me. I’m helpless. So, I guess I retaliate. In the only way, I know.

© Fiona Cummings

DIARY OF YOU WOULD, COPE BY FIONA CUMMINGS

Dearest Bloggets
Thank God for my hearing. As a blind person, my hearing is vital. I just can’t comprehend those who can’t hear or see anything at all. I know of people though who are deaf and blind who work and live their lives as best and successfully as they can. Better than me for sure. We are faced with challenges in our life, so for someone to say things like I couldn’t do that, it really makes me mad. Well, what choice do we have? If I had been born deaf and blind, what would I to do? End my life with an overdose of tablets with my formula? No, we just have to adapt. I have heard people who say if I went deaf I would kill myself. Well, firstly, I don’t think they would but I would imagine those people would have a very unhappy depressing life. If they were blind too. Sometimes when we are in our awful busy city, I walk around, heart in mouth, and I am in wonder just how those of you do this who can’t see or hear. Because I use my hearing to navigate. Especially where we live now, where it’s not quite so noisy. I can tell if I am next to a building or a tree. Hub taught me this it’s taken a lot of years but I’m getting there. I can tell if I am coming up to a car if it’s not too busy, in our town that is a different story. Lamp posts, bins, sign posts, totally different. And, I can tell you first hand, they blooming hurt.

As I sit here in my conservatory, I am blessed to have my loving Husband who provides for me and gives me the best life he can. I have never had such a wonderful kind Husband, well, I have only had two, haha, but you know what I mean, I can’t imagine having a man as good as my love. Sometimes I feel I am not good enough for him, he tells me if not for me he wouldn’t be here now, as in living, well, I really hope that wouldn’t be true. Though he tells me he loves me every single day, I still don’t feel worthy of him or anyone to be honest.

I have been invited to a school reunion. I really want to go as there are at least four people who are going who are close to my heart, but I just can’t face it. It’s not my first school reunion, it’s my high school. We all know about what happened at my first school reunion? Hmm. The best thing ever. Hub and I were reunited. My life started from the beginning. I felt alive for the first time in so long, I say first time in a long time, in fact, I do wonder if my life started that reunion? As I said to a friend who I really get on so well with, my heart wants to go but my stupid head can’t do it.

I am so grateful to the first school reunion I went to as I met three people apart from my love, who are life time friends. JB, Tracey and Trix. Because of Trix, Hub has become best friends with her Husband Like. I think I will meet up with the high school gang some time, just perhaps not this year.

So, back to my conservatory. I can hear sadly, the dreadful traffic on the motorway near our house. Gosh, the traffic is so bad. The innocent birds are singing I can just about hear them. There are birds messing as I write, they are on my glass roof and other birds pecking at the drain where the little creatures sleep, sadly bate for the birds, but, they have to eat. Every now and then, the sound of a grass cutter or a strimmer. The fragrance’s coming in are of roses and some lovely plants in a tub of mine that my friends Mum kindly did for me. Then there is a smell of burning wood. Perhaps from a log burner or a garden heater or just from someone burning their fence or something, possibly the farmers field in the distance.

There is no chocolate from the chocolate factory today the wind mustn’t be blowing in the right direction. Oh, I love it in the winter, when the frost hits the air and it’s slightly windy enough to tease me with the chocolate. Gosh, it’s like a moulting bath of chocolate is waiting for me, this is where I got the idea of my chocolate poems I wrote for children. Mind you, more adults appreciated them as the requests I received from adults without children were heart warming.

So, our senses, touch, well I know Hub reads Braille, all of our bills come in Braille. Tablets are also in Braille thankfully. Hub is allergic to aspirin; our aspirin is next to our paracetamol in the medicine box. So, for me if I were allergic, they would have to be well out of the way, as I can’t read Braille. Well, the odd letter, but not enough to trust myself with pills.

You would have laughed yesterday, Hub fed The Little Fella his dinner. I then went to feed Waggatail. We don’t feed our dogs together. So, leading to touch again, I felt her collar. She has one bell and LF has two. We have bells so we can hear them in the garden. Even in the house to be honest, it’s helpful. Not that they lay around waiting for us to stand on them. Thank God. Otherwise there would have been two squashed dogs a long time ago. But, we charge around our house, as if we can see. In confidence. One bell, One Wagga. She ate her dinner, and afterwards, I opened the living room door to put Waggs in next to LF. Hmm. Footsteps started to walk backwards. Hang, on, Wagga does that, it’s her talent. Haha. She can walk backwards for ages. LF can’t. So, why is Waggatail in front of me, when I have just fed her, behind me?
Oh
No
Behind me was a very happy dog with the biggest smile upon his face. Yep, LF, had been fed twice.
But, one bell? He has two?
Well, when I looked again, one of his bells was tucked under his collar.
Oops.

I hope it’s nice tomorrow we may take our dogs for a walk around where we live. Today Hub is working hard. I have seen him for less than ten minutes. Boy Wonder gone out with Shamrock. He looks so handsome. So, tall and smells so lovely he is wearing his new shirt. It’s silk white he says with blue stripes. I haven’t nagged him about his course work. But I pray he will get on with it. He is relying on his boss to bounce the ball to be kicked. His boss is new and is sorting out teething problems right now with his office. As all new starters do. He used to be something high up in London, something to do with finance. He’s a high flyer or was as a young man, he is now in his thirties. I hope he can remember those days to help BW out.

Shamrock is doing well with her driving, thankfully she hasn’t had a crash yet. I hope she doesn’t. The roads are getting worse. Far too many cars on them. There is one goes past our garden with such speed every three quarters of a second. On stop all day until half six then one every one and a half seconds till eleven at night then one every half a minute until two in the morning then for about five hours, about one every twenty minutes. Not that I have counted. I’m not that, sad…..

I have to dash to make dinner for just two tonight not three or four. So, something simple. Then there is loads of ironing. Oh, dread dot com.

Words before I go.
“The mystery of human existence lies not in just staying alive, but in finding something to live for.”
Fyodor Dostoyevsky (Author, The Brothers Karamazov)

FISH FOR RP BY FIONA CUMMINGS

Good day Bloggets. I have just got in with a wagging one I had to get out of the house after the rain over the past few days, it’s a relief that today is nice. Sadly, nowhere nice to go, but at least out, shops and met with a friend for a quick chat. Waggatail worked so well, I walk around with her and I just can’t understand what gets into the mindset of a guide dog. They know we can’t see, I’m sure of this. They know it’s their job to lead us. But do they ever wonder why it’s their job and responsibility? We were walking along, I was smiling, probably looking like the local looney who escaped from the funny farm. Feeling so proud of her and thinking we really put a lot of trust into our dogs. Imagine if you can see, or even if you can’t but don’t have a guide dog. It’s not even like you can close your eyes, as I remember when I closed my eyes, there were still shadows and some form of light or colour that came in through my lids. So, I don’t know really how to give you an example. Perhaps you will have to use your imagination? So, you are totally blind, and you need to get a mile away. Over a busy road or three and weaving in and out of people and obstacles. Up and down steps. Avoiding hanging items like those awful trees with wet leaves or spiky sharp thorns which love to hang onto me. One place we go has dreadful steps that lead up to another floor though they are outdoor. But they are made from metal and if you judge it wrongly, you will end up with concussion. So, you always have to be so aware.

We learn a route from a member of staff, a mobility instructor, from our local guide dog society. Over and over again without a dog so we know it in our head. Now, in this day in age, sighted people rely so much on technology to get them from A to B. Our sat nav is our minds. I do wonder if that is one reason my mind forgets a lot now? I have over used it. There is so much to remember day to day. Even in our house to navigate. Kitchen remembering what cupboard certain things are in. avoiding obstacles on the way to where we need to be in the kitchen, then dusting remembering ornaments, floors, what part we have covered. Washing what colour things are. Remembering as we have aps on our iPhone we use but it takes so long to do so we only use when absolute necessary. The work place, where desks are, bins, equipment and so on and that isn’t including getting there, leading back to my first part of the blog. Once we know the route, then the guide dog is taught the way with an instructor. Bless the dogs, they learn and together we make a partnership. Our dogs go where we tell them. If we say find Left, they do and right so on and so on. I say to Waggatail find the kerb, and she does, then stops, hopefully, and we wait until it’s safe to cross. Again, I have to give the command to cross, and again, hopefully, if I misjudge and there is one of those awful silent vehicles comes along, she will refuse to walk. When Hub used to work in London, twice he was saved by his last guide dog, our darling Long Chops. AKA Suki. One would hope, my Wagging one will be as safe…

When I get to the location of the building I need to walk into, I ask Wagga to find the door. She does and almost always it’s the right door. My last dog Black Beauty struggled with doors bless her, she got them confused with windows….

Some years ago, before my guide dog days, it used to baffle me just how blind people put one foot in front of the other in an environment other than the houses they knew.

Then I was trained the white cane by the most amazing inspirational man called David Johnston. If not for him I would not be who I am today. If only he knew just how much he influenced my life.

Harness off our dogs are like your pets. They can be very naughty. Like before I let the two of them out as Hub is working from home today, and they were running around the garden chasing each other after a while, I called on them. They wouldn’t come in. I had to revert to the D word. No, screen readers, not the B for biscuit, but D, for Daddy. Where’s Daddy, that did it, the little monkeys came running in to see him. All full of expectation their Daddy was going to play with them, haha, did they get a shock when he was on the phone? So, I had to calm them down but LF was just happy to see his Dad. Goshhe is so clingy towards his Dad even when he has been to the office with him all day, he comes home and for the first half hour, he lays across his feet. The other night he sat on his feet and put his head on Hubs lap and stayed there for the full news on TV so for half an hour. They are so loving. And so, loved.

BW off work today. He has just got up. It’s very late. Cooked breakfast/lunch/almost evening meal, haha, now he is off to the gym then off to town to meet with one of his besties and meeting his new girlfriend. I’m glad he is meeting her on his own, as I imagine his bestie would want to show his girl off to BW alone as I think more than BW would be too much. BW can hold his own as far as conversation is concerned if the chat leads to an intelligent one. His pal’s girl is Spanish, but has come to England to find work. Gosh, of all places she has come to, London? From lovely Spain? Where she lived in Spain, she had the beach on her doorstep. So, from there to London?

Hub and I were saying the other day, when we retire, we want to move abroad. It is my dream to do so. But where? I pray by then I will have sight so the world would be our oyster. Hmm. That is a dream. To be able to see.

I don’t look for latest news for months, as it just depresses me. Too many organisations companies looking playing with our lives rather than getting together forget the race and be all winners by concluding all their information. Collaborating all research and hopefully then we will get somewhere. But today I weakened and took a look at the latest news.

It surprised me in just how many scans are out there, scans that used to be kind of under the carpet on page ten of Google, now on page one. I guess they pay Google a lot of money and sadly that money has come from people who are so desperate for vision or should I say to hold onto whatever vision they may have, as once we lost our sight, the great pain is over. It’s like when someone is dying, it’s awful. They die, we are devastated, the funeral takes place and were given some kind of relief. Then it’s a case of learning how to exist in a totally different way, not live, just exist for some. For others, they continue having a fantastic life, in fact, I know of people who have a better life now blind, than what they had when they had sight, but, that is because they have so much support and courage. Get up and go. But I know of more people who wake up each day in agony to face another day in the darkness. They exist. Never go out, sinking deeper into a dark depression. Turned down by friends and family who no longer want to know them. And for them I feel for. I hope for a cure.

I do get slightly frustrated when we are supposed to get excited over a huge set of glasses which are attached to a wire that is connected in some way behind our ear to our brain, just to see shapes. I really don’t want to see grey shapes. I want to see at least like I used to be able to. Gosh, please, before I forget how to see completely? Because I haven’t seen photographs of my parents for 19 years, sadly I have almost forgotten what they look like in my memory. Because I am not looking at their photograph each day week or once in a blue moon. Some colours are fading too I find I am only remembering the basic colours.

Five years ago, when I started to look into various research, we were dealing with mice.
We still are.

So, in the meanwhile, I shall live in hope. Hope is all we have and I am sure that our cure will happen by accident, like all the news of late of fish. Really two lots of news over the past few weeks, from discovering the zebra fish restores its own retina, to more news of a ichthyologist, I think that is the correct word, well scientist, has worked with Skates and come across an interesting theory.

So we have got bored with the rats, now onto the poor fish. Why not skip all the animal cruelty and move onto life time prisoners? Controversial? They have done really bad things, what have the animal’s creatures done. There is an interesting connection though between the bible, Jesus giving sight to a blind man, fish, and for our eye disease, we are meant to take vitamin A. Fish!


https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/04/170405101940.htm


https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/04/170405101940.htm

AS SNUG AS A BUG BY FIONA CUMMINGS

Good evening Bloggets. It’s so cold and still, it’s raining. It’s like winter here. In England, we used to have seasons. Four seasons each year with the odd day as an exception of unusual weather. Now, we have our four seasons each week. I mean, a few months ago, we had a red-hot day, then bitter cold, then it snowed and then we had a mild day, all within a week. The rain is a pain when we have guide dogs needing to go and do what dogs do in their doggy doodle den.

Basically, they won’t go to the toilet. Hub said today at work, The Little Fella put his paw to his cute little face bless, as if to wipe his wet face. We have a dog run for the dogs to use so we can keep their business in one place easy to find to clean. Rather than running all over the garden and as there has been many times when our dogs have been playing and suddenly, they run into the fenced off area and do what they need to and then come back out to play. Too cute. But today my Waggatail was naughty, it was quarter to seven this morning she popped her head out and refused to go out. Some seconds of persuading later, she came out and rather than run up to the top of the yard, she sat where she was and deposited. Then ran back in the house. Naughty Wagga.

I made the family chicken Kiev’s tonight with green beans, mashed sweet potatoes and new potatoes boiled then minted butter put on and finished off in the oven. BW came in from a long day at work. Remember today I received our groceries and they came to £141 this week. He said. Mum, I’m starving. What can I eat. Me, well in forty minutes your dinner will be served as soon as your Dad get’s in. Mum, I can’t wait till then. Me, well there is a yogurt. Mum, he replied, I said I am starving. OK, there are some bananas. Mum they are not filling. Me, well have a large red apple as well or some cottage cheese and crackers. There are some fresh peas in their pods and there are two hard boiled eggs. I don’t want you to eat a big amount as your dinner is almost ready.
Mum, I need a sandwich. Something healthy. Say what? Healthy?
I had offered him, cottage cheese, boiled eggs, so much fruit and yogurts. So, he made himself a sandwich of egg mayonnaise. That was after he asked if he could make a fried egg one. I had pans on the hob steaming away. Our kitchen is very narrow. Boy Wonder is 15 stone, what’s that, 210 lbs?
And I’m, well, I took my shoes and socks off to tell you, and still going.
It’s not a good look in a narrow kitchen both of us trying to battle at the cooker. So, I told him to bog off.

Dinner went down well. Now I have a dog on my foot dreaming, making such cutie sounds and twitching like mad.

They say you spend more time on thinking about food than you do thinking about any person.
Just for a laugh, here are some food quotes.
“There must be a mistake, you’ve actually given me food that my food eats.””
Nick Offerman
“Is it true that cannibals don’t eat clowns because they taste funny?
A cannibal is a person who walks into a restaurant and orders a waiter.
“Alcohol killed my first wife.
I got home one night and shot her.””
The fantastic Jethro
“We live in an age when a Pizza gets to your house before the Police””
Jeff Marder
“My Grandmother is 80 and still doesn’t need glasses.
She drinks right out of the bottle.””
Henny Youngman

Haha, well on that note, I shall go for now, get all cosy if it’s cold where you are, I’m off for a hot bath and an early night, by the time I get to bed I think it will be about eleven. This is early for me. Snug as a bug nighty night.

DIARY OF INSIDE OF YOU BY FIONA CUMMINGS

I hope you are sitting comfortably Bloggets, as this is about five pages long. The ending, if you do what I will write about, then please let me know how you got into it?

Well a fun day with the tax office. So much to think about and do this week. Taken phone calls for Hub too dealing with Blithering buffoons. I guess they did make me laugh. I just don’t understand how I know of such intelligent people out of work and then, there are those very strange individuals!

For some odd reason, I keep thinking it’s the weekend. Why? Not sure. And to be honest our weekends role into the weeks only difference is, Hub and I spend time together.

Last night he was so late, as he had to stay behind at work. Most days he works and I do what I have to do. It’s boring and lonely at least weekends we are together.

Shopping coming soon. Again, I write about how expensive groceries are. I didn’t buy anything inspiring this week. I envy people who food shop and can make a meal that is full of imagination. I can cook those who eat my food say it tastes nice, I have not poisoned anyone yet but I hate to cook. Some people can put furniture where it looks good. Some can make a room beautiful and then there is me who can’t make anything exciting. House looks good though…

This weekend I made two dinners that were delicious. But very boring, simple, though full of flavour. They were like what my Mum used to make. Gosh I miss her cooking. That feel good feeling when you sat down to her dinners. They were huge and soo’oo’oo good. I wonder when I’m gone, what if anything will my Son miss of me? Some days I think nothing.
Some parents I know of, really don’t seem to care about their kids. I do care and love my Son so much but I don’t think I have the respect from our Son, that kids do with their parents who never worry about them. Don’t mind what they eat or drink. Are not bothered about where they are late at night and don’t ever seem to educate their children old or young.
Children belonging to those people have such respect towards their parents, how does that work?

My Son is under the illusion that because he is twenty, I should not care about where he is or worry about him. How can I stop worrying? I can try to change which I have. Every time I get anxious because he hasn’t text me to say he has arrived at his job an hour away, I try to get angry, saying he is selfish, whereas a year ago, I would have had him in a car crash and worse in my imagination. So, I am training my mind to try to think of something else or at least as I said. Selfish so an so hasn’t bothered to let me know he is OK. He doesn’t get the correlation between me worrying about him, and him worrying about Shamrock, his girlfriend, if she drives somewhere and doesn’t let him know she is alright. He does worry about her and he has known her almost a year. Me, I’m just his Mum have been for twenty years but I am not meant to care? I’m a control freak. An yet friends of his who have parents who never ask where their kids are, don’t bother about what they have had to eat, are really good parents. Hmm. I’m going wrong somewhere as I am sure those who don’t care, are much happier and relaxed in life.

I was listening to two lovely ladies yesterday talking about negative energy. We give energy to worrying as sometimes we worry about our past, well like they say, it’s our past, so it may have affected us later down the line, but what can we do about that now?
Tell ourselves we have control. Only we can change our past to make our present a better place.
WE give negative energy to worrying about our future, well, we don’t know about our future. I certainly wouldn’t have put myself in my life or shoes nine years ago. Never would I imagine I would be where I am and have done what I have done.
19 years ago, I was living with a sighted Husband and had a baby. I went blind overnight. I was reading small print the night before and woke up blind. It took ages before I realised just what had happened. I have written before but for those new Bloggets, I shall reiterate

My Mum and Dad adopted me when I was four weeks old. They were turned down twin boys a few months earlier because one of the boys had a rash on their face. Like a lot of babies get, sounds crazy these days.

Instead of them, she got me. On the surface I looked perfect, blue eyes golden hair. A tiny baby. From the age of one they noticed I was dropping toys and struggling to pick them up. Bumping into things too. A long story shortened, four years later after the medics telling my Mum there was nothing wrong with my eyesight, other than I could just be slow, Psychologists later many of them all saying my intelligence quotient was way above average, Doctors had to take a look at my eyesight. Then they were proven wrong and didn’t like that, so became our enemies.

We were treat so badly. Given no advice just put in the rubbish like the trash I was later on in life constantly made to feel like.

It was my Mums goal in her life to make sure that sight would be given. Remember we are talking mid to late seventies. There is nothing now for me so then?

Years and years later, I suffered because of fighting for sight, but in my psyche, I would never I couldn’t, ever, go blind. So, when I did, oh. If not for my baby I would not be here now. I wasn’t prepared for sight loss. I was always partially sighted, but the dark red turning to brown outlook on life would never happen to me.

Well it did. I couldn’t breathe when I learned what had happened. I went through every single fear seeing people, always evil men standing in front of me in my house. Of course, they weren’t real, I was going through something called the Charles Bonnet syndrome.

I had never heard of that I had no one to talk with. My parents just couldn’t cope with me losing my sight, they were heart broken and devastated. I was trapped in a world I didn’t want. I was 30 how could I live the rest of my life in the dark? I was so alone especially when my parents both died within six months of each other just after I lost my sight.

Well fast forward ten years. I was reunited with my first love from school. We married. He was, is, blind too. He has never had sight. To me he was a God. What he had achieved in life was nothing short of a miracle. His education was incredible, again, my education suffered because I had to go for eye treatment twice a year for over a month at a time to Russia. It was more expensive for my parents to pay for me to go there in the school holidays, so I went in school term. Then I had to visit a hospital in London because no other eye Doctor would see me anywhere else in the country, because, I had been blacklisted, why? Because my Mum was right, they were wrong and we went to the forbidden land. Russia. Moscow for eye treatment. Treatment that the medics in the UK rebuked profusely, an yet, they insisted I went to the eye hospital four times per year where loads of tests were done on my eyesight. I went through the pain of live TV interviews with top Doctors from London calling my Mum worse than dirt for taking me to Russia, an yet afterwards in the green room, they shook her hand and said not to stop taking me as they would do the same after seeing the results after my twice-yearly trips to Russia. They reduced my Mum into tears and I was totally helpless.

In hindsight, I would have been better off going blind earlier and then I would have had the same education as my Husband. I wouldn’t have been in such fear of the darkness.

Now, I go out in the dark, something I could never do when I had sight because my eye condition means I am blind in the dark other than seeing shadows and lights. Now, I’m as free as an owl. I walk without a care with my guide dog. But to get to this stage I suffered. I don’t want anyone else to go through what I did. So many people around the world talk to me each day about how they want to take their gun to their head or take pills to end the fear and pain, worry about their future. All I can say to them is, be prepared and give them tips to prepare themselves. And, you, never know what is around the corner of life. If you are in denial, it’s a very dangerous place to be. Face your possible future, and I say possible, as you don’t know just how bad, or ill you will get. Also, a cure could happen by accident. Hopefully there is researchers out there working as we chat.

So, how to not worry, good question, right? Only you can do that for yourselves. Do you want that horrid twisted knotted feeling in your stomach where by you sometimes feel as if you are about to have a heart attack every day, when you wake up and when you go to bed? I don’t for sure. People say meditation helps. Now is this a word you laugh at, or think that is for rejects from the 60’s? Or are you like me and wonder just how you do meditation? It’s a subject that I have stayed on the edge with for years. In my mind, it sounds so beautiful. Peaceful, but something other people do, can do. Are you born the kind of person who can meditate? I used to think that my mind was too active to meditate. How can I find a quiet space? My head shouts at me all of the time, OK, time to lock me up? Tell you something, I even answer back to the voices sometimes. Hahaha. If I don’t have voices in my head that sound like a radio station from time gone by that is on the wrong station, kind of in between stations, and needs tuning in. I hear music, songs, lyrics but jumbled up. So how do I get my quiet zone?

Well I have read that you should embrace all sounds and reflect that the noise is a perception that exists in your consciousness. Think of the noises either in your mind, or in real life for example, traffic or sounds from your neighbours, perhaps a vacuum or washing machine, like the weight of your head on your pillow at night time, or when you breathe, you don’t always stop and say, hey, hang on, I’m breathing, do you? You don’t even take much notice to you blinking, so if you tell yourself that your sounds are part of your world then you will learn to put that to one side and get your very own personal quiet space.

So, then what? Are we too cool to meditate? Is it for what they call tree huggers? BTW, I love tree huggers, thank God for them or our world would have a lot greyer in it than what it has already.

Now, I had a vision of how to meditate. I learned that you don’t need to get into a full lotus position. Thank goodness for that, I would never get back up.

So perhaps in your most comfortable chair, whether it be in your garden, balcony or in your sitting room. Take a deep breath let it out and try to relax your body as much as possible.

Feel your breath where it is most prominently. It could be your abdomen, diaphragm, or your nose. Focus your attention on wherever you can feel yourself breathing the most. Listen to yourself and relax keeping your eyes closed, even if you can’t see, you may relax more.

Try to be in a place that smells good too. If you are like me, I would be saying/telling myself, the dog beds need cleaning, or asking if my Son had left his breakfast frying pan unwashed again. Smile. For me a perfect place would be in a quiet garden next to roses and lily’s and a lemon tree, but hey, only the lucky ones have such environments.

You are supposed to meditate every day roughly at the same time, people say it helps them sleep, some do it first thing in the mornings, hmm. If I were to do that, I would fall asleep again as I was a night owl in my past obviously as I don’t sleep until the black birds start singing their morning hymns, then I can sleep forever.

Most people I know who meditate seem so much happier than those who don’t do it? I say give it a try for a week. I mean, it will give your body chance to recover, heal. I believe it has to do you good and remember to try to let go of negative energy, how dare that rule your life? If you can’t find it in your life to be positive, stay mutual and at least you can use the steppingstones to get across that river to your perfect place. Meditation is an eastern tool for western results.

THE DIARY OF LIFE BY FIONA CUMMINGS

Good morning Bloggets. Today it’s raining hard. Yesterday we had such a beautiful sunny day and today? Another world. I like the rain though, it’s peaceful. Especially summer rain. The gardens need it, as, do the wildlife. The birds are oddly quiet though, normally if it’s raining, they go mad as they like the juicy worms. They are accessible in the rainy grass and soil. Our garden is looking nice and tidy. It was like a jungle the other day. We have a tall wheelie bin that goes out for collection every two weeks, it’s full to the top. Our rubbish service is very confusing. This week it’s rubbish only. Next week it’s recycling on one day the very next it’s garden rubbish. So, every two weeks our rubbish bin gets emptied. We have so much of it and always have a huge bag or two over. I hope this week they will take it away. Our Son and his gf eat so much take aways it’s awful when it’s all together. For someone so healthy he can eat such junk. His gf loves take away food and has rubbed off on BW. I don’t know how she isn’t the size of a house. Smile. I guess there is time, she is only young. She came around last night looking exhausted bless. She works hard. As for BW, he is at work again and won’t be finished until late. He is on close. This means paperwork and responsibility, but they don’t pay him more until he has qualified. He won’t be qualified until he buys a new lap top. For some reason, I think I know of, he wants to save this month. I would have thought it would be much more important to get his work done, than save? As soon as his work is complete, he gets a pay rise.

Well, coming out of our bedroom this morning, my RP/blindness started to kick in for the day. I almost fell my length as stupidly we keep the hair dryer on our landing near the plug on the floor. I keep putting it on the drawers next to the plug but BW places it back on the floor. Foot under wire, wasn’t a good look as I lolloped across our landing, heading towards the stairs. Deep breath Fifi, it didn’t happen. I came downstairs and started to cook myself a lovely vegetarian bacon sandwich. I like it crispy so the gas was on high. I don’t like it soft it to me tastes like dog’s ears. Not that I have tasted dog’s ears, just how I would imagine them to taste. Crispy, different story. This is something I still struggle with, frying. When I first lost my sight, my ex Husband loved chips and fried egg. Oh, you have a hot pan, sizzling away you have to crack and drop an egg in the middle of the pan. You can’t feel the edges to see where you need to be, so it’s a case of learning yourself to listen in a way you have never had to use your hearing before.

A tip I was told, but I don’t do this, though I should. Crack your egg in a small dish first, then pour the dish contents into the pan.

So, todays bacon sandwich. Three slices of bacon in the pan. All aimed and even if I say so myself, successfully. Red hot pan. Now, how to turn something you can’t touch? It’s like catching a fish. Have I hooked the bacon on my spatula? Have I flicked it so it’s still open and not curled up? Well, I did, that was after smelling that smell you don’t want to smell.
A burning handle on your frying pan. The gas is fast and furious. But there was no crackling sound so no fire. We have two new smoke alarms but sadly now, just need someone to put them up. BW said he would, but he works so many hours, then he has a day off so I just don’t ask. Yesterday he volunteered to play,
sorry, vacuum our area’s I really struggle with. Like cobwebs. Something high I can’t feel or obviously see. We have a new vacuum. Oh Bloggets, it’s the best one I have ever had. For hard floors and carpets, just you have to change the head. At first, I was shocked in just how plasticky if there is such a word, oh well, my Bloggets, we make our words up as we go along, it’s called Blogget lingo. But then I started to use it. Wow. Double wow. And old Bloggets, will know that I have a bit of a reputation in our household of well, kind of killing vacuums. Well, this one I thought I had killed it after only 16 hours, but Hub came home from work and fixed it, I had dropped it, not a good idea and the bin had come loose so Hub pushed it back in and BINGO. Fixed. For dog hairs, it’s amazing. Normally we have to buy a big vacuum for the hard floors and our Henry is fantastic for that, but he doesn’t like carpets, so we have another one for those. This vacuum is brilliant on hard and soft flooring. And as BW learned yesterday, great to suck those little cobwebs up and dead flies. Oh my, how many dead flies were there? Only now I have to empty the bin. Yuck. May wait until Hub is home from work and tell him how his poor helpless wife struggled with the button and how I need him to empty the bin for me? Haha. Or may need the rubber gloves experience.
So, what model is it? Make? It’s a Dyson V 8… The service was great to purchase it. I got a great deal on it too and those of you who are blind living on your own or like us a blind couple, we really get overwhelmed with our guarantees, having to find them in the box, then go on line and register them. Well if you call Dyson and order, they automatically register them for you. Brilliant, as for our fridge, freezer, cooker, washing machine and dryer, nothing we have registered yet. Too much paperwork and it’s really depressing as most of the guarantees are for two years. So, if for a year, I would chill, but two years is a long time to wonder if something is going to break. It’s worth registering, isn’t it? Dyson were going to send me a free part, but sadly it’s not come yet. I will call them today and ask about that.

Our boy did a great job for me though. Really I was grateful.

I can tell you, Bosh dishwashers are the sharpest doors to walk into. Oh, that is another thing we need to guarantee. Our DW. Our last one I almost took off the hinges as it was left down as I went to the other side of our kitchen to put a dish away. I totally forgot about the door being down as my phone rang and distracted me. But I hurt though nothing like this one. Oh my, sharp as a knife. I think I’m getting soft in my old age. Or is it because of all the knocks I took with the installation of our new kitchen? Hub and I still have cuts and bruises. Oh, I must say, it’s a blessing that there are no more workmen coming. Thank God. I have never known a kitchen take so long to do. My friends Daughter is getting hers done and there is an extension too and it’s took six weeks. Mine, nine. And as you know, it wasn’t an ending I hoped for. I am shocked that over 250 views have been made on my kitchen diary in full. I asked Boy Wonder yesterday to take a pic of the after to show you. He said yes.
Still waiting. Haha. It will get done though.
I think my friend and our Blogget Mary said my kitchen Diary was 57 pages long. Gosh, well, question is, did you read until the end? Or did you skip some. Me, I would have skipped. Just like a boxer. ()

Bacon sandwich? Bread? Yep. I am a failure. I have cut down this week but as for totally cutting it out? No, sadly not. But I will get there. I felt so much better when I didn’t eat bread. I even got to the stage where by I didn’t miss it. How did I do that? Remind me please?

Yesterday I had a speech to write for a business and I spent so much time doing that, now I guess I have to brave the weather and rush to our post box but just the near one. Funny thing is, the one close to our house I really struggle to locate. The one that is a fifteen minute walk away, no trouble at all. Why is this? Because the one I go to that is a long walk, well, long for me, as I stress as if I am going 15 miles. Is easy because there are loads of signs on the way, lots of obvious turns and tactile paving. The one close to me, there are no signs. It’s in the middle of a verge of grass. And to get to it, there is no proper path, you have to kind of walk over grass. This isn’t good to locate. As for Waggatail, she loves it, so many smells. She is in a perfume shop doing a doggie day out. So, to control her and remember where I am, it’s challenging. Maybe I shall wait and see if the rain stops and head to the other one. I email my work to whoever but I like to send a paper copy through the snail mail too.

Wimbledon tennis is late this year? Or is it me, but I thought it started earlier than this? I love Wimbledon. It’s an epidemy of English quintessential summers.
Rain covers. Hahaha.
No, strawberries and cream! Talking of which, must prepare some for tonight’s dinner. Well, dessert. On that note, I shall leave you for now, but only in words. Laters

DIARY OF SUNDAY BEST BY FIONA CUMMINGS

Good evening Bloggets. I hope I find you well? Hub and I have had a lovely weekend. Just relaxing for the first time in months. Our house is now back to being our home again. Yesterday we had a lovely chat with friends then my cake friend brought me her latest delicious offering. Oh my. It was her best cake yet. It was a fruit loaf with marzipan inside of it with flaked almonds on the top. Oh, it was just stunningly delicious. She also brought us some tart which Hub devoured.

Today BW worked bless him, he has worked for days and such long shifts too. I learned only
today, his course he went on last week, went really well. Gosh, there was a lot to take in and he was picked to role play. When he told me what he had to do, I said to him, well, you must have done that really well? As he had to play someone who was not wanting to study. Yep, that’s our boy. Oh, the stress of his schooling exams and right through college was so dreadful. I wouldn’t have minded if he was a young person who just couldn’t cope but he is so very intelligent. When you see gold but you can’t touch it. In the end, he did very well but not for the case of studying. So, if he had studied, he would have done brilliantly. Now he has a couple of months of more work to do and this does involve writing and study. I’m so over the difficult job of pushing him to do his best. It is up to him now, but when he was younger, he was too young to realise just how important it is to study, I do wonder if kids should be kids and allow them to take exams later on in life. I mean, after all, our boy has worked since he was 15, most of his pals now are still at university, so haven’t earned a penny yet. Yes, when they leave next year, they will have the qualifications to earn twice as much if not three times as much as our Son, but in the meanwhile, BW has the money to do what he wants to in his young life he drives his car and has had three holidays in the past half of a year, so before he is of the age of settling down to have a family, he I hope will have enjoyed life. Now, this exam he has to take for work, is something he is passionate about so I hope he will do well, but the examiner, has been failing people for the past few months. If my Son had to take this exam some years ago, even a couple of years ago, he would not have done any study. But he wants to now because he realises he has to progress to go forward in life, but a couple of years ago, he was happy living life. As he should have been then and now, but now, he knows he has to move on in his occupation.

I always thought he would be a teacher, and bless him, when he was about two, he was playing with his train set and he turned to me and sent shivers down my spine. My lack of sight never came into conversations at home and I was dusting, so not like I was struggling to find something, as I know where every ornament is in my house now, and in those days, but his words were.
“Don’t worry Mummy. When I get older I’m going to be a Doctor and fix your eyes.””
Oh, my goodness. My jaw dropped. What to say?
“What do you mean Darling?”” well he never answered. He just turned to his toys and continued playing. And I was so adamant that I didn’t want to make an issue of my sight, that I just let it go. So, he didn’t become a Doctor, or a teacher but he did say that he wants to inspire to be like the person he was with the other day on his course. If he ends up doing that role, he will earn good money. Also, he will teach just not in a school but the most important thing is, he is happy and he is right now for sure in his job any way. The problem is now his job doesn’t stretch his brain enough.

Right now, he came in for his dinner after work, showered then left to go to a leaving get together for his old boss who he really liked and the feeling was mutual. He isn’t drinking alcohol though it is free.

Today is mine and Hubs wedding anniversary. It’s been a lovely eventful day. Some lovely Bloggets and friends have written some sweet words and we have received cards from our friends. I have really missed my Mother in law this year. She played a huge part in our wedding. I wished my parents could have been there. They would have loved Hub. They for sure would have been amazed in how my life has turned out and turned around. To them, blindness was the end. And sadly, that is how I was brought up so when I did go blind, my world crumbled and turned to dust. She would have seen what Hub and I have had to face and the outcome. Challenges we have dealt with and successfully seen out. I hope wherever her and my beautiful Dad are now, they are watching over us. I know my Mum in law is. I feel her from time to time. I hope she knows just how much I adore her eldest Son and how happy he is now in life. At least she told me before she died that she was pleased to see us together, as she didn’t get on with Hubs ex sadly, sadly for his ex as bless her she never did wrong by Hubs Mum, but she just didn’t like Hubs ex at all.

I know there are days when I don’t feel worthy of Hub, and wish I could do more for him. But he tells me he is happier than he has ever been in life. I hope so.

Reggae music is now on in our house, so time to sing along to my absolutely favourite music in the world. My neighbour Di is at the huge music festival in Glastonbury. I hope she is Okay, Haha, camping for five nights. If anyone can do this, she can. Festivals are not my thing. I like my clean space too much. Mud doesn’t do well with me. Wellington boots are not a good look.

A great quote I heard today from an author
John Le Carré
His eyes had a glint in them, the glint of a flic knife in the dark.

I hope you are well and healthy. I will write tomorrow but for now, you take it easy. X

AN EVENING WITH E L O AND TOM CHAPLIN BY FIONA CUMMINGS

Good afternoon Bloggets. Wow, let me tell you about last night. I bought Hub tickets to see E.L.O for Christmas last year. He was delighted. We got a ticket for our friend too who would drive us there. I really hoped he would enjoy it as we had a few people who wanted to see them but wanted to give him something as he does a lot of things for us like cutting our grass so this was our way of paying him a little back.

Well, you know what a flapper I am. Yes, I said flapper.

I said to Hub I would text our friend to see if he has the ticket for the car park. Hub said no, stop fussing of course he will have.

I called our friend a few weeks ago and said I would get the ticket for the carpark if he gave me his registration. He said he would call the number and sort it out.

If you book the ticket in advance, you save money. Well, the car pulled up. We got in. I clarified he had the ticket…. Em. Nope. He looked on his email, and he paid for it but had no confirmation.

But we got there safely and I must say, Sheffield arena is fantastic. So, tidy and the staff are really pleasant. I have only experience of Newcastle Metro arena and that was not a good one. I have been a few times and it’s just so unpleasant. Whereas Sheffield, wow, I was stunned by the way in which the staff were so professional and caring. Polite too.

We had the best seats in the house. I was ecstatic when I learned of who the support was. Oh my. Tom Chaplin. The lead singer from one of my favourite groups, Keane.
He was just amazing now he has gone solo his voice is pure class. He interacted with the crowd in such a kind way. He really filled my heart with hope and joy. Sadly, he was only on for half an hour, but for me, half an hour I will never forget.

With regards to E.L.O? Well, I have never been a fan until last year when I saw them on TV and couldn’t believe just how amazing they sound still. I never knew he looked like that? He doesn’t sound like he looks. Our friend said he was like a big hairy ball. He has a beard and long hair all you can see is a space where his eyes are but are filled in by wearing dark glasses. Heck, is it really him? Please stand up the real Jeff Lynne? May be that is why he sounds so very young perhaps he is in disguise? He really is that thirty five year old under all that hair. In fact, Jeff is 69 and you would never ever guess. His voice was fantastic. Wow he got us all going, well, Hub was going for both of us. The crowd were lovely apart from one man who stood up. The guy behind him asked him to sit down, then there was a proper bitch fight going on. Haha. Slapping here and there. But in general, the people were so lovely.

Out into the beautiful summer air. The fragrances were stunning. The air was so fresh.

We had a long but pleasant germy home. I hope our friend enjoyed it as much as I did. I doubt he would have enjoyed it as much as Hub, as he loved it enough for seventy one and three quarters of people. Our friend said it was a life time experience he will never forget. Great, I’m happy when they are happy. And today in between phone calls as Hub was working from home, he kept saying he was still buzzing and it was funny as this morning when he got up for work at silly time as he started to work at eight, he could hardly talk with the shouting and singing he did last night.

We got back to a house of mess with our Son and Shamrock leaving dishes from A, to B. Also, I keep a bottle of wine in in case we are asked to go somewhere last minute. And it was half drank. The dogs were all over the house. All the doors were open. I don’t like them being in the kitchen or conservatory unattended. Even the front door was unlocked. Anyone could have walked in. I was not best pleased and let them know.

Today Boy Wonder is on a course an hour’s drive away. Hopefully he will have enjoyed it and will have passed his test.

Lots to tell you tomorrow, but for now, take care and thank you to the fantastic talent last night and to Sheffield Arena the best arena I have ever been to.

THE KITCHEN DIARY BY FIONA CUMMINGS

This is a very long read. The longest blog I have ever written sorry for the mistakes.
Good evening Bloggets. Well, my head is done in… I’m so confused, in fact my con has never been so fused! Hub and I have spent so long over the past few days deciding where things will go in our new kitchen. I have had more men in my house today, smile… Well, what else is a girl to do?

We have floor tiles on the floor of our kitchen, well, Fiona, where else would one have floor tiles? See, I told you I was confused. Talk about double vision? We have double trouble. We learned not long after we moved here that the person before us, lay the floor tiles on top of other tiles. The man today said that if we lift the second lot of tiles up, we may find that the original floorboards come up and the whole floor basically gives in…. Well, I laughed and showed him our ceiling, oh what a mess that is? There are more cracks in that than the before facelift job of an old actress!

This job is daunting. I’m stressed and we are only on week one. It’s such a big job as in stupid shape of our kitchen. I tell you trying to design a room like this is so difficult, when I did my last extension on another house, remember I told you I drew the plans out on some graph paper? Oh, that was so funny, especially when I handed the builders the design and they asked who did them for me? I told them I, did, and they were shocked, but I just don’t have the confidents to do that now days, I am slowly struggling to write my name. Today I was asked to sign a bit of paper, heck, seriously, what was that for again??? Em. I really don’t know, but the man was impressed as he said he has had sighted people who can’t write their name in the box and apparently, my name was right in the centre of where it should have been. It’s something I should practice, just a simple signature, as I am not at all comfortable about writing now not as I used to be. As far as graphs and designs, in my last extension, when I think back, it was a huge dining room, a shower room a study and a large bedroom, but they were simple rooms even the shower room was quite basic in comparison to a kitchen where we have to know about the cooker/oven where it’s going, what kind of oven and hob, the gap above the hob as sadly we have to have a gas hob because the electric hobs are almost all touch pads and I need dials. But me and gas, hmm. I don’t like gas at all. Hub says he prefers to cook on gas, em, excuse me love, but how many times do you, cook? I can see myself going up in a blue flame… We have to fit in an integrated fridge, freezer, washing machine and dryer. In our kitchen, there are corners and pipe work that have to be made so cupboards go around them. And then we are wanting a pull-out basket cupboard so we can have our tins in and organise them in a better way. I wanted cupboards where the corners of the room, the cupboards kind of pull out and around not to waist space. Now, remembering all this and off to the show room to see what they make of us and just how they will describe things to us? Even walking around the show room, this may be fun, exciting, or a complete waste of time… Let’s see. We are off on our kitchen adventure. Stay tuned in later with what happened. X

Later is here.
Well, my kitchen? It’s a long story and already I’m sick of it. As you know we went to see the kitchen choices and it was going to be a little stressful as Hub and I were on our own. We had spent hours in our kitchen walking around, using the tactile tape measure trying to work out just where we wanted things as if you can imagine, to sit with a designer in an open plan shop/showroom would be daunting. Trying to imagine our kitchen with a decent set of units in was difficult for me. Because obviously, I have never seen this kitchen and I have no memory of it because of that reason.

I phoned first and told the person on the phone that Hub and I were blind and would it be Okay if they would be able to show us around? Oh yes, no problem. Well, we arrived early, the lovely lady met us at the door and we told her we had an appointment with the designer. Haha, that is a joke, but hey, more in a mo.

The man said our names and we smiled in his direction and the lady came to us and apologised. Well, what for? That was a good start, he said our names and walked off for us to follow him. Very helpful.

She guided us to the man. She was lovely. He was a total A.H if you must know. I didn’t like his attitude from the start. All the kitchens in that show room, guess how many he showed us? And only because we had to ask him to show us, we saw two. Well luckily, they were nice ones, and there was a choice of colour. One colour was very nice, sea blue, kind of a green blue. But I wanted to avoid colours as they go out of fashion. So, what colour did I go for? Cream, and I asked the man was it a dirty white colour, or real cream, a good question don’t you think? Well, he was miffed to think that his kitchens could possibly be dirty anything. Hahahahah. Well, Hub said I didn’t help as one kitchen we passed I turned to Hub and said it was really a cheap and nasty looking kitchen… But it was. I can’t even for a second imagine anyone giving it house room.

You know I said I didn’t want a shaker style kitchen?
Well
I chose a shaker style kitchen.

When I looked at them before they were wooden with awful round old fashioned wooden handles, we have chosen a high gloss cream kitchen and the handles I picked are called little Daisy. Apparently, all of the handles have old fashioned lady’s names.

When it came to the work tops, he couldn’t be bothered to get off his butt and show us around so he brought a few samples to us. And guess what? Only the four range so the most expensive range. By this point, we had been in the room for about an hour and forty minutes. I think he was tired, it had been a long day. I can empathise with that. We chose beautiful work tops, I described what I wanted and they are quartz, I think that is how you spell it. They are white with cream markings and darkish brown with a dark blue. He did describe that to us. You have upstands now in kitchens, this is where the worktops continue up the wall for the height of a wall tile. I then had to remind him he hadn’t shown us the sinks? Well, how was he going to bring a choice of those to us? Hahehehe. I suggested to Hub that I would go this time as we wanted stainless steel so not much for me to choose? There were four. One was very shallow, one deep one had a very flat steel drainer with no grooves at all and the other was just normal, not too deep not shallow and the grooves on the draining board were quite deep. Then for the taps. I didn’t like the swan kind, I picked a mixer tap that goes up straight and then just out. It was funny as I was feeling the range of taps, I found one and thought that looks odd? Just about to tell the (DESIGNER) how odd that looked when he smiled and said someone has obviously stolen that part. Hahaha. Where had I come to?

Oh my, there was what is called a tall range. To get your eggs from the fridge, you needed step ladders. Who would want a fridge like that?

I told him where I wanted our display units and what kind of corner pull out shelving/cupboards we wanted. Hub said he was going to keep quiet as had no confidents he could work out where what was going, but he did great, remembering it all so well.

We had to decide which way the doors opened and where we want the fridge and freezer. I would like the cooker put in the middle of the wall at the moment it’s right to one side.

Oh my, to be able to have a cooker I can use? At last, also not to have to go to the garage outside to dry my clothes. Our dryer is in there and it’s awful we go out into the front of the garden to get to our garage. Same with the freezer, well the big freezer. It’s out there. Because our kitchen is tiny.

Gosh there will be so much work to do, Hub and I will be spending Easter weekend emptying cupboards drawers and so on. Where to put everything? Then there are our two huge wall units full of crystal, bar wear and china as well as my collections of salt and pepper sets and mugs.

I think I have about 47 salt and pepper sets. So, 94 altogether. We are going to have two broom cupboards. Oh, I can’t wait as now you should see our kitchen, it’s so bad, I’m ashamed of it. A lot of people come into our kitchen and say it’s nice, but I don’t think they look at the bottom end where the junk is because there are no cupboards to put things.

I hope my joiner will do our floor, but the builder we had in the other day to see our window, said he fears the floor will all need redoing. Don’t ask… Dread dot com.

Since the kitchen order, we have been sent the plans by email. Of course, it’s all in pictures but there are a few words to show us how much everything is and what it is. I had to write to the (DESIGNER) because he left an important item out and he had the wrong colour worktops in the plan. I wish we could have had the lady. He doesn’t fill me with confidents. One good thing, I managed to get the dishwasher free. As the dishwasher was already half price. Well, less for them to give me free, right?

I also learned today, a few days after we paid the deposit, that our kitchen will come when they say, not like the man said when we want it. And, the kitchen has to be in a week before the work tops will be fitted. So, how long without a kitchen?

It’s going to be a pain, as Hub and I can’t just pop in the car and go and get some convenient food. And Boy Wonder has said he is away with a friend for a couple of days at least when our kitchen is due…
Well, I, am trying to lose weight.

Everything is up in the air right now. There is so much to do. Painters, plumber’s electricians, joiners, fitters floor, and before all of that, a builder. WE are blocking in our back door and turning a window into a sliding door. So, bricks to build and bricks to knock out as well as moving radiators and lifting tiles and remember our tiles are double. The man before us put tiles on top of other tiles. Hence why the floor will probably need renewing. Oh, and there is my ceiling, remember the cracks? And the very odd things that the man before us put on it.

As for the colour of the walls? Not sure what colour I will go for. I did think about a pale blue. Then a strong cup of tea, with a tiny bit of milk. Smile. Or a dark mushroom colour.

Well we are in for a bumpy ride. It’s scary but seriously, I can’t wait until its finished because to have a cooker I just can’t work properly and cupboards that are fallen apart is awful. We are not going on holiday for the next few years so this is my Caribbean, my beautiful Italy and my seaside south of France holiday.

Another day
Today words fail me. So, what to write about? I guess keep it safe and tell you about my kitchen if you are not bored already.

Oh my, the drama in my life right now is unreal, but as for the kitchen? Well, my lovely joiner who I totally trust was, or is, going to do our ceiling by putting up plasterboards and covering up the vast damage. I didn’t even know just how bad our ceiling was this is the tragic thing. How would we know? We only knew about the ceiling in the living room because our Son told us there was a rusty mark and the next thing we knew, the water started to fall through from upstairs shower room.

Some stress and weeks later, we got is fixed kind of, yet another dodgy tradesman entered our life. Never mind that was that, we ended up resolving the situation costing more money than we should have paid because of how bad the plasterer left our room.

So, our joiner said to board it then plaster would be fine, the builder said no way it can just be boarded up because you would still be able to see the damage and there will be nothing to knock the boards into as the ceiling isn’t strong enough.

So, the builder’s proposal? To bring down our ceiling, oh my God.

I really hate this house. There isn’t a room where we haven’t had to do some work and in most rooms, loads of work. I truly wished we had not moved here. Having said that, I have met such nice people. My friend keeps trying to get me to move back to where we used to live, but no way, though Hub would move back there tomorrow.

So yesterday morning I got a call from the builder, he said that we are paying masses over the top for the kitchen. He said the kitchen shop over the road will do it cheaper. Talking thousands. Thousands? Well, long and short of it is, I just can’t trust his word on this. Firstly, where we are buying our kitchen from, they come ready made, the other place is flat pack. These wall cupboards are deeper big enough to get a dinner plate in. The place across the road you can’t get a 12-inch plate in the cupboards, apparently. Sales pitch? Possibly. I called our kitchen place and asked if there was a cooling off period? There is. So, our deposit we can get back. But do I want the kitchen from the other place? I know the builder has to purchase it, as they only sell to tradesmen. And they will sell it to him for less obviously and that is how he makes his money. The builder is really pushing a particular lady onto us from the kitchen place. He gave me her name. I called the place across the road and I was told that there wasn’t a lady with that name at their place but at the shop in town there was a sales person with that name. Hmm. And why has the builder not told me just to give anyone a call? Why this person only?

My last house, we were to get windows in. The builder told us that they were expensive but would last a lifetime, the other choice he does was for those who are doing up a house to sell fast and cheaply. So, we picked the expensive ones. The van pulled up, work started. I learned the van had the name of the cheap window company on but the builder charged us for the expensive ones. When I confronted him, he said to be honest they are much the same. This is after he spent weeks pushing the deer ones onto us and saying why? I just can’t stand it. The stress is immense. Do I let the joiner who I trust do the work that will cover damage but possibly the ceiling won’t take the stress of the wood being put onto it? And if the builder is right, will we still see the damage? Our joiner says no, you can’t see the damage because the boards are thick, going back to my problem, will the ceiling take the weight of the boards? As for price, there isn’t much in it between a new ceiling or boarded up.
All I wanted was a bloody new kitchen.

Fast forward some days. Gosh, Hub and I have been really stressed this week and so many times I have wanted to throw in the tea towel.

Our kitchen designer has been on holiday this week. But at last he has answered our email and now we can move forward. In the end, we have got a good deal I hope. We are getting a free dishwasher and the most exciting thing of all, oh I’m buzzing about this, I have always wanted one of these and now I’m getting one. WoopWhoop. It’s a plate warmer in a drawer. Well, the make we are looking at is not far shy of £500 but we have managed to sweet talk our designer and we are getting that for £240. It has a dial so we will be able to use it. I hope, we are going to look tomorrow. Boy Wonder was going to take us tonight when he got in from work, but our kitchen man isn’t free until tomorrow, and that is when our Son is off on his break. So, Hub and I are off on an adventure with the little Fella and the wonderful Wagging one. Oh my, and guess what we have to pass to get to the kitchen shop? The pet shops. No doubt we will be dragged in there for a treat. Our Waggs loves it in there and when we go to the shops around there, even if we are not wanting to go there, Waggs won’t walk anywhere else until she has had her fix at the pet shop.

Now finding this kitchen shop is going to be a huge challenge. We haven’t done the route before, we know roughly the direction, and it’s across a carpark and passing loads of obstacles like parked shopping carts, walls and café tables and chairs as well as bins and so many people but I’m up for the challenge. I only hope to goodness we can get back in one piece, it will be so busy around there tomorrow.

Tuesday 19th of April 2017
Oh well, here we go. Feeling sick right now. All weekend we have been emptying our kitchen. Two large units full of crystal and china. Collectables and more. Up and down stairs trying to find space in one of the rooms if not three. Moving one unit into our sitting room and the other into our conservatory where we had a huge disaster, not our fault at all but the fault of another. One thing we asked help for which I really regret. Hub and I said we are better off on our own doing things. Putting items upstairs where we can remember where to find them again is a challenge. Remember we can’t just look and go to whatever?

Oh, the house is upside down. On top of that we are trying to sell some items and people, strangers have been coming to the house, something I’m not comfortable with.

We are absolutely exhausted. Now it’s out of our control. My house is all open to whoever. Our back gate is unlocked. Our garage door is open. Our back-door open, and our builder already after only twenty minutes has disappeared. There is another man arrived, and he is in my garage but said he will be going soon. Where? How long for?

Last night when we went to bed I was saying to Hub I won’t even have a cup of tea. All day without food. It will do me good though as I have had an Easter egg this weekend that I shouldn’t have had.

Hub had to get up at six for a silly start to his working day it was just after the pumpkin hour and Boy Wonder came in the house shouting his mouth off about how he was going to make his bacon sandwich in the morning. Oh, my God. Give me strength. For five days we have hardly eaten anything not had time to stop he has been away for a break to Scotland since he has been back he has been for two meals out and he has the nerve to shout and go crazy like that? Obviously, tensions ran high and sadly doors got almost smashed off their hinges as a bad tempered young man took revenge out on the house and Hub wasn’t his best behaviour either as he shouted at BW to get out of our room. Well seriously, kids are so selfish. Not once has he thought about how difficult this whole thing is for us.

Now I have my little Waggatail squeaking her toy, trying to put it on my lap top for me to throw for her, our dogs lives have been disturbed too as they don’t like change and haven’t had the attention they deserve this weekend. They have worked as we have really tried to get what we need for our kitchen, thank God for them. But as far as a calm house? Nope, not this house, and I think we may be here for a while like this as the builder today told me that he would only be doing the window today, not touching the door or ceiling. For pity sake, what is wrong with these people? He told me last week he would take the ceiling down the same time as the window out and door out so to get rid of the rubbish all in one go. So, I don’t know what is being done today, all I know is I’m praying… Now, who to? Good question. This isn’t one for my angels. I’m thinking this is a one for the boss.

Oh, and my joiner is coming today and our new gardener. Then there is a man coming to buy our bar stools. Oh, it’s all going on in the Fifi household. It’s not even nine in the morning, I’m starving. It’s psychological because I know I can’t get in there to do anything. I had it all planned. I was going to bring through some cottage cheese. Nice and easy, but our builder came too early. He was due at nine but came at eight fifteen. Oh well, let’s hope he will put in a full day? I wonder if he’s back yet?

I already forgot to tell him to take our blinds down. Oh heck. I just can’t remember everything. I was in there before and I was pointing to things as I was telling him what needed doing, or reminding him. He wasn’t sure where I meant so I had to point. Hopefully in the right direction. Seriously this blind thing is a pain. It’s going to be a long four weeks.

Next day
Good morning Bloggets. I’m up with the birds. Boy Wonder started work today at six a.m. He was on opening again. Hub left the house at twenty past six. My alarm went off at quarter past seven not that I slept, as I get churned up when I know Hub is travelling especially as yesterday he had a tough journey where the Little Fella had to work overtime, bless his paws he was amazing. I also had to be up early to clean our dog run again and sort more things out in the kitchen then at least try to make a cup of tea before I had to put away the water boiler again. Oh, I don’t like it at all. My house feels so unhomely. Everything is echoee. (English students, there is no such word as echoee.) It’s really disorienting when your footsteps echo and there are things all over the place that shouldn’t be there. I had a panic last night as couldn’t remember where the dog food was, but thankfully found it. It was where I left it but when you can’t see something, an inch, is as good as a miss!

I was mortified yesterday when one of the men, the person who came with the builder, you know, the builder who is meant to be doing our work? Well, who the guy was, I do not know but bless him he only was supposed to work until lunch time but stayed till three. Well he asked me had we just moved in? Oh heck, I was so ashamed. I mean, we have a cake tin in the office, a glass dish with a lid next to it with Easter cake in and cereal in the third bedroom as well as pans casserole dishes dinner sets and oven trays as well as all of our crystal and china just everywhere. We tried to keep it into piles, but our rooms are so small it’s impossible. Downstairs is much bigger and we have our two china units again out of the kitchen, one in the conservatory and it comes in two, so there is six feet of units in the middle of the floor and the other one is in the living room along with the vacuum because I don’t want the builders using it. Oh, and the speakers? The ones we had for sale on EBay? They sold straight away. Great, get them out of the house. As now they are in front of the window and they are huge. There are two tall speakers, one subwoofer and one centre thing. Whatever that means. I know the sound is great but it’s massive furniture, but we sold it so yep yep. And we got a great price on it. Only the guy who bought it though he is Polish, thankfully he’s not from Poland, but he may as well be, he lives four hours away and can’t collect until next Thursday. Hub told me I had to deal with him as he is working. I said I wasn’t happy with that, the man’s voice on the phone sounds really scary. And he is very demanding, rude actually, Hub said it’s just their way. Hahaha. Well, I know what he means as when I used to know Russian, people, they could be rather abrupt. I know when I had my eye injections, there was one lady who sometimes came and did my needles and she was terrifying. Her face was so scary and her voice so deep and serious some would say harsh. An yet she was the kindest most gentle lady in that hospital. I ended up loving her over the 16 years I travelled for eye treatment to Moscow!

So, in the meanwhile, we have four speakers in our sitting room. My house is a tip. I hate it. My friend has her family coming to stay with her for a month whilst they get their kitchen fitted, gosh how lucky they are to have a comfortable home to go to. This is like living in a tent.

Well, my builder is here now, I opened the gate for him and unlocked the back door and he had to knock on the front door as he couldn’t open the back door. Hahaha I said to him a big strapping man like you can’t open an unlocked door? EEEEEE, I think I say too much. I give him a little talking to last night over the phone as I was not best impressed with his work, or lack of it yesterday. He told me he would be two days and he is now saying he may be finished by next Monday. So, let’s see how far he gets today and if I am not happy, I am not getting him to do the kitchen fitting. My Husband has wanted our trust worthy joiner from the start but this guy said he could fit the kitchen in four days and his price was of a similar one to our good guy but the electric work is cheaper but I’m now thinking I was stupid and should have gone with our joiner. Let’s see if my sharp stick worked?

Now it’s gone very quiet in there. I think the builder has left again. Leaving this new man who came today who has already claimed my two tall cupboards for his shed. He has his eye on the tiles too. The builder has his heart of claiming a very odd box on our ceiling.
Don’t ask.
I’m scared.
Knowing this house, there is probably an attempt of a sunken bath from upstairs. I can visualise our Sons bed falling through.

My poor little Waggatail will get cabin fever over the next couple of days. I may go to our Chinese tomorrow night, and give her some work. I think our ceiling is coming down tomorrow. You know, the ceiling that should have come down either yesterday or today? Our wall isn’t even knocked out where the new sliding door is going on Friday.

My kitchen designer phoned me today. Well the other day Hub and I went to see him sign papers and he was so much better. He showed us things this time like the splash back that goes behind the cooker and the extractor fan as well as the fridge and freezers. Oh, and the plate warmer. Our builder yesterday asked as I told him we need an independent plug for our warm draw, what’s a draw warmer? Well, I had to answer. A place to warm my drawers…. (Draws slang for underwear)

It was one of those cringing Fi moments. I have many. He didn’t laugh, I didn’t laugh. It went quiet. SO, I had to kind of break the ice and tell him it was a drawer that you pull out and can warm plates or keep things warm. He told me I was posh… I’m thinking, heck you are going to fit my kitchen and you don’t know what a plate warmer is?

Oh, I have just heard his voice, so one hour into my work starting for the day he is still there. His voice is almost like my Brother in laws. The other guy who is with him sounds like a squeaky puppet. I don’t care as long as my work gets done. One good thing they haven’t put a radio on thankfully. I can’t stand it when workmen do that then leave the house for hours with that blasting.

I wouldn’t say we are half way through yet. May be just a quarter. It’s going to be a long month!

(And later on)
Okay, I’m seriously going mad now. I’m in my lounge as there is nowhere else to go what is the point of housework when the house is upside down? There isn’t a square inch upstairs to dust, I can’t really iron as stupidly the basket is right at the back of the room with the most items in…
(That was a good plan, ten points to mwah!)
As for downstairs? Oh, my where to start this kitchen Diary? I guess at the start. Not of the day as this is the second Diary I have written for today. Our builders came at half eight. Boot up the butt yesterday evening and he brought his hammer so at least he worked. Now, it’s quarter to mid-day, he has just left but the other guy stayed. The other guy asked me to lock the back door so his tools wouldn’t go a miss. Haha hahaha. Stuff the thousands of pounds worth I have in the conservatory? Well, what a hoot? This guy was leaving for an hour. He would be back for another hour’s work. My builder, the hunky monkey couldn’t do any more, so left still my ceiling is up, but as I walked through the kitchen to lock the door with the man who would be, will be, back, I went to my back door, thankfully I asked if it had been blocked up yet? He said yes. So, don’t walk through there then Fifi? I turned to the right, oh my word. The rubble? Then the tools. And blocks of something. I asked him which way could I get out, he replied this way, that’s piggin helpful? He then asked how much sight I had? I said none at all. He replied gosh, you do amazing, heheheheeh. Oh, my Bloggets, if you could have seen me, no, I wasn’t doing well, there was nothing amazing about me. I followed his voice and thought if I bump into anything just go around it. Around I went found a blank wall, oh gosh, that wasn’t there before? Well, Okay, it was, but there were tall cupboards there before. So, I got to the door. The new opening, I put my foot forward. Em, where now I asked? He said just in here. This was ridiculous, let the blooming burglars have your tools, I’m going to break a leg?

Well I climbed. Yep, climbed. Over something like a wall of wood and bricks. Not a pretty sight. I stood in kind of shock or disbelief that I had just done that. He said it’s clear now. Oh, that’s nice!!!

I got to the outside door locked it and then had to find my way back. This is all new to me. Well, as I climbed back over the wall, rubbish tool boxes and drills, builders bags and cupboard doors, I got into my dirty kitchen. Oh gosh, my gardener is due. What if he sees me struggling to get to the back door to let this builder back in later? He will know then I can’t see. But having said that, I really can’t hide that forever.

So why am I going mad?
Because in my sitting room, it’s silent my Waggatail is asleep. I can still hear the banging of the builders and the drills are in the distance though they have gone. Perhaps it’s disturbed dead people who built this house? Maybe I have goasty builders? Well, if so, let’s hope they put more hours in and clean up after themselves?

My builder came to talk with me he likes to do this, he really is nice, but as I told you before I had to have some words with him last night over the phone as I felt he was taken the Michael out of me with the little amount of work he did. So, after we had a chat about the kitchen plan and life, I have a knack of learning or finding or getting information out of people and today was no exception. The hunky builder told me he was doing this and that, so there was no need to have a conversation like that again. Hahahahhaahah. I told him as long as he works hard, I won’t be having that kind of conversation again. Cheeky chops.

After what I have learned about this guy today, wow, what a story I could write? What a life? Just a fraction of it was the fact he has seven children. I asked him from the same woman? At that point if my Hub had been in the room, he would have died with shame. He answered yes, with a laugh. Then I asked him was he a Mormon? Again thankfully, he laughed. Heck, my mouth works before my brain tells me it’s not appropriate.

So now I wait for my builder’s helper to return. I’m left with my ghosts wearing hard hats and my Waggatail. See what tomorrow brings?
This really is going to be a long four weeks.

Another day
Oh, I’m drained. So, Hub has today and tomorrow off work to quotes support me. Well, alright he is company and he is now cleaning the kitchen where as I have done it all week. So, he is a help, but as for progressing in the kitchen? Hmm. Put it this way, the builder won’t be getting the job of our kitchen.

The guys who work for him are first class. But are so afraid of the boss, the builder, they won’t do anything without his permission. I wanted my wall light in our conservatory moved to the centre of the wall and the light switch in there moved near the new door where as it was next to the door that is now blocked in so moving the wall light to the left a few inches, may be ten? And the wall switch to the right about 36 inches, so because I’m talking old measurements, and everyone works now in stupid numbers of mm. I can say I wanted the wall light moving 254mm and the switch moving 36in, so in mm that is 914.
I hate working in millimetres, but that is how it’s done now days.

Well those jobs haven’t been done. Basically, my ceiling came down today, we are left with open rafters no lights no boards on the ceiling, but the wiring has been done for the lights. So, half eleven works over for the day. Our builder didn’t even turn up. Just the guys who work for him. Our builder is coming tomorrow to board up the ceiling. Then Monday coming to plaster it. Then it will have to be left two days and the electrician is coming back on Wednesday to give us lights. So, long and short of it, nothing up there tonight but bedroom floors. At least they haven’t fallen through. But the electrician has found faults with the electrics. Not surprised the guy who had this house before us was a bit of a D.I.Y man (Do It Yourself) we have a children’s program called Bob the builder, the guy who owned this house was called, or should have been called, Bodge the builder.

Whilst he was here today, the electrician, wouldn’t you have thought he would have done more work? The movement of what I wanted him to move wouldn’t or I wouldn’t have thought it would have taken more than an hour.

So, where are we now? Our builder told us two days start and finish this part and fitting the kitchen four days max. So, by next Wednesday, that will be nine days. As for fitting the kitchen? The guy today who is lovely, he is a joiner, must be a joiner thing, as our joiner is great and this guy seems genuine too. But he did act shocked when I told him that our kitchen is coming on the 18th of May, so he would need to be here for at least two days before to remove the old kitchen. Old one? He asked? Yes, it needs taking out before the new one in? I was shocked that he was so shocked. So, do they think Hub and I will remove the kitchen? The builder and I spoke about this as he said why not put it for sale? I don’t want to do that. I asked him would he take old away? He said yes, so as far as I’m concerned, they are removing old.

So, we have dust everywhere, no lights not that it bothers us two, but Boy Wonder? And our poor dogs, how do we get them through there at nights to let them out? It’s a very long way from our middle door from the hall to the kitchen then through the conservatory and back through again, now remember poor Wagga yesterday had to jump over the hole that is between the kitchen and conservatory. A hole with big spikey bits of wood sticking out and broken tiles and flooring. LF no trouble, he thought he was just going up a step he took it in his stride, Waggs on the other hand? Well, you would think I was asking her to jump over the highest hurdle and the widest fast flowing river, or over a burning flame!

So, no ceiling until tomorrow, no plastering till Monday. No lights until Wednesday. A mess until Wednesday. Wan a know the best bit?
They kind of swept up today, what with?
Our bloody brush we use that stays outside for the (Dog Run)
Nice.

I’m furious. Half eleven and it’s a day over. Not even seen our builder today. Well, he told us he could do our kitchen in four days. The joiner today said he thinks it will be done in three days. Sad thing is, firstly the nice joiner guy is on holiday when our kitchen is due so our builder is using another person. Secondly, will the four days turn out like the two days to do this work? This should have been two days, going to be nine, so will the four days for the kitchen turn into eighteen?

So now what? Well we, may have an answer.

Good morning Bloggets. How are you all today? Me? Thank you for asking. Smile!!! I’m doing better than yesterday I have had time to calm down. Today our builder is here, it’s eleven in the morning, he has been here just over two hours so possibly will have another hour to go before he has to move on to his next job. Or the pub.

The guys he has working for him are brilliant. But if he had worked too, the job would have been finished.

We learned yesterday that the joiner who is a hard worker, and seems to be honest, is on holiday when our kitchen is due. So, who would be doing our kitchen? God knows, not the builder though, as I think his role is to organise everyone together and that is a tough job I do know that. But because until today there has only been one person on the job, apart from three hours, it’s took longer than I hoped for. I mean as I said yesterday, overnight we had no ceiling up and we don’t have electrics until next Wednesday. In the kitchen that is.

Monday the plastering work starts. More mess which is to be expected. We did learn that a fancy ceiling light I had that was designed by the person who lived in our house before us, well, the switch had normal sticky tape keeping the very dangerous wires together and there was a kind of bread tie in there too.

My Husband wants our trusty joiner to do our kitchen. But, it’s whether he will be able to gather the people to do the work together? This builder seems to know and have available workers so then you have to ask who will be fitting our kitchen? If it was this joiner who has been doing all the work so far, from knocking out the window to breaking up part of our kitchen to putting the plaster boards up, smashing part of the floor and removing a radiator, then no trouble. I would stick to these guys. But it’s not going to be and what if it’s Jo Blogs from up the road? Who has only ever fitted two kitchens before ours? Our joiner tells us, he is very experienced. We can trust him with our lives, he’s a great guy and one I can call a friend. But the builder said because he knows lots of people, he can get the kitchen done in half the time. Hmm. That is what he said though about the work he has or is, doing to prepare for the new kitchen.

It’s funny to see how the builder is in front of my Hub and my Son. He is so friendly to me and so hostile to the boys. I want to trust this guy, he is nice, just so far, this job has took so long and to be in such a mess all this time is driving me crazy. Having said that my friend’s daughter is out of her house for a month to get her kitchen done.

Right now, Boy Wonder is being wonderful and has gone with Hub to our electric shop to change the date on the kitchen equipment to be delivered earlier. I chose the Beko cheap washing machine and dryer. They are the cheapest, but reasons to pick them?
1. They both matched. It’s surprising just how many washing machines don’t match the dryers even though they are the same make.
2. The price is great. Now if they break after three years, then buy another two. Then after three more years, you may come close to the next available machines. In other words, you can buy these machines twice and not pay as much as the other brand, which was Miele. So, why only the choice of two brands? Because Beko and Miele, are the only ones we found that were blind friendly. They had proper stick out buttons and dials we can work with. The other machines were all LED digital displays. Flat panels to select your wash/dry and all sorts of visual stuff going on.

For two Beko machines it was £600 and for one Miele only, so just the washer, it was more than both of the above washing machine and dryer.

The Beko is good as far as it holds a lot of clothes and gives them a good spin but it lasts for ages whereas the Miele is much faster so for a good wash, the Beko is on for two and a half hours in comparison to the Miele which lasts one hour and five minutes.
But Miele is more than £650 just for the Washing machine alone whereas the Beko for both washer and dryer are total £600.

Our cooker, we went for a 90mm range cooker. Gas on the hob and oven electric. It’s a five burner with a wok burner in the middle. Two ovens and a grill underneath. It’s chunky and of course we needed to buy separately a splash back to go behind
Confused? Me to. My head is all over the place. A bit like our builder!!!
I wonder where he is now?
It’s really going to be a long four weeks.

I’m so fed up you have no idea. Today I feel so let down by people. Give me animals any day. Humans make me sick. I won’t bore you with too much detail but my builder turned up today to tell me he had a bad back. Yeah right. This is why he came in his work van with his joiner at nine in the morning? He has my email and mobile number. All weekend living as if we are in a shabby caravan, using the basic of kitchen tools. Learning a few things that have been done in our kitchen that worried me. Apart from the sliding door being put on so it slopes, not too much of a fault by the fitter, it’s the fault of our walls. The lovely expensive skirting board along the conservatory floor / wall, was all off. Not sure why at this point. There was no need to remove it from the wall that wasn’t interrupted.

We couldn’t find it anywhere. Our joiner well, he’s other people’s joiner too, but he couldn’t find it and it was him who noticed that the door was not quite right, it was me who asked our Son what colour the handle was on it and he told me white, though I ordered silver to match the other one.

Our joiner was asked if he wanted our job and thank God, he said yes. I haven’t told the builder yet, but will when he is finished the job he wants paying for the one he has half done. So, from last Wednesday until now Thursday without lights in our kitchen. Good job we don’t need them, but our Son does? Two days’ work by Thursday will be ten.

We got a painter through our joiner. He seems Okay so far, so next job is to buy the paint as he wanted to make a start on Sunday I think he said. Our joiner is due back on Thursday with his electrician who will be doing our kitchen. The electrician has worked for me before and he is a good guy.

I just feel like I can’t do anything around the house, I can’t exactly be creative in the kitchen. The conservatory is a real mess I mean filthy. And at the weekend I found yet more McDonalds cartons and cups one full of coffee or some kind of fluid.

All together I found three cups, two trays. Two empty chip cartons and one huge paper bag full of food. They go to the toilet too without flushing. Pure gross.

We have our rooms upstairs full of stuff. Just stuff from our kitchen. Remember we had two huge china cabinets and two tall cupboards. It all had to go somewhere. So, no room tidy apart from Boy Wonders I guess. I wouldn’t dare put anything in there. Smile. So, what to do? I tidied one of my bedroom drawers. Oh, my goodness. I took a large plastic bag of rubbish things like creams that I really don’t know what they are. I got them for Christmas’s and birthdays but a tube is a tube. And old make up.

I was psychologically ready for today, yesterday I made a huge shepherd’s pie so the boys would have dinner tonight that just needed warming up and I made a massive portion of pasta with tuna for our Son for his lunch yesterday and today as I thought the kitchen would be impossible to get near to cook. Well now what?

This really is going to be a long month one wish I hope will be finished with these builders by Thursday then never again will I need to see them.

Wednesday
My Builders came at nine. It’s now ten and they have just pulled away. I seriously think I have shot myself in the foot today. They arrived an hour ago. They just come in, so I went out the back to see them. They said they were here. Really? Well, thank goodness, it’s them and not burglars? I mean, I heard their van. I heard their tools and voices talking about measurements. So, I’m blind, but not stupid. I know you are there, you clown. I then stupidly joked and said, well, you could put your radio on and leave, now couldn’t you? They have not turned a radio on all the times they have been here.
Two minutes later?
You’ve guessed it. A radio has been turned on. Hahahahaha. Best bit, they were singing to the songs. Oh my.

The little joiner has a very high voice, he’s tiny and the very tall hunky monkey of a builder has the deepest voice, so, you can imagine. But then the song Only the lonely came on and when the drum beat, so did the hammers…. I’m not kidding, in time to the beat, the hammers were going. That’s fine, it’s called progression. But, how many times does one need to bash a nail? Hahaha. And then shock horror. The builder used the toilet and. Wait for this. Only went and blooming flushed the toilet after him? Oh, we are really getting somewhere today.

How do I know it’s ten? Because the news has just come on.

So now we are on count down until the big telling him he hasn’t got the job of my kitchen. It’s a real shame because he has got a nice side to him. Honest. He has. Just the one side though!

My Son has gone to work today but won’t be here at lunch time to save me with a cup of something. He has travelled a long way to work today. He has been asked to look after a store a drive away. It took him forty minutes to get there today. I think the traffic was bad. So, he isn’t home at lunch time, so if, I stress if. My guys are still here. My Waggatail will have crossed legs as my boy normally let’s her out in the dog run, if they are still here by half one, I will have to go around the side of the house and just hope there are no obstacles.

Oh, I hope they are all done today and all that is left is the electrician to do our lights tomorrow? I have a feeling he may do another couple of jobs, only thing is, he hasn’t given me a quote for that so will have to go out for some money tonight. Or tell them to come back when I get some cash.
Well, he’s not back yet. I hate this. My gates and doors are all open. I guess the radio is on so sounds like people are here?
My long month is coming to an end!

The Long month continues and gets worse
Well here we are. Last day of my building work… The rest of Chapter two, to be continued when my next lot of guys come in to remove the rest of the kitchen and fit the new.

After today I can relax. Well for two out of four of my next group of people. As for the joiner and electrician, I know and they have worked with me before. My joiner is our friend and a very trust worthy person. The electrician also has done work for us before and he is fine. As for the painter and builder? Yes, I said that B word, as he will be doing something I think plastering. I don’t know what they are like but our friend Mr. Joiner has recommended them so hopefully?

Oh, wait until I tell you about yesterday? Well, our guys came, yes, two men. And one of them, shock horror, was the builder. He actually put in a six-hour shift. He arrived at nine. Left at ten, but returned at quarter to eleven. Then stayed till four in the afternoon. Oh heck.
I said to him as he left, he would need a lay down when he got home as he isn’t used to working a full day? Hahahaaha. He did laugh.
Thankfully.
But he’s not come back today.
And it’s his last day. Honest. Well, that is what they have said.

The joiner is here as always, he is a good guy, and the electrician Now, he seems OK as long as you don’t mind him chewing gum in your face with his mouth wide open. Haha. Gross.

As for my builder? Must be on a sicky because of yesterday’s hours.

Now today I have to pay him the second amount of the money. Friends are saying don’t pay him until they look what it’s like? Nice, friends. Where are you today?

I think what they do is very good, just getting them to do it is not quite so good.

And the mess? Oh my, and to think I have more plastering to do in a couple of weeks. I’m not sure how I am going to clean the conservatory seriously it’s in a real mess. Everything is going to have to be scrubbed. And how? There is so much in there. My joiner is making us a new glass unit. No, that sounds wrong. He is a joiner, making glass? Nope. It’s wood, but for our glasses. And not the ones we wear, as we don’t wear any.
I wish!


Well, yesterday. Hmm. I have to say, not sure if it’s the dust getting to my brain, as it’s definitely got to my breathing with my asthma, but I had to smile to myself. Part of me, and I can’t believe I’m going to say this, will miss my builder and his little side kick of a joiner.

I said to my friend for this next part, I should put a certificate on it. I will try to keep it as clean as possible as my mini Bloggets shouldn’t know naughty words. All I can say is, it’s a good job I’m a girl of the world.

As my builder was up on his ladder thing. He turned to the little guy and said.
“Mate. Do you mind if I ask you a personal question?”” Well at this part, I gasped and closed the second door between us. Making it more difficult to hear them. I say more difficult, as really, I have lived here a while now and still struggle with the accent.

“Yeah, but I may have to black your eyes afterwards.”” Replied little joiner man.

“Mhumhhhhmmmuuuhmmm.mumblemumble.””
As the deep sounding builder asked. I couldn’t hear didn’t want to but then the very high-pitched speaking joiner piped up.
“Yu whah?
Must bih, feeders.
Dih, Mr. Floppy pop out?””
Oh Gosh. Em. Well. What can I say? Feeders? Lady parts? And as for Mr. Floppy? We won’t even try to translate that.

TMI
And the language? So many naughty words. They had the radio on so they probably thought I couldn’t hear. I just wondered, what do posh people with loads of money do in these situations? I know most will leave their houses and go to their country retreat, or book into a 5-star hotel for the night. But then they come home, no way they will get out buckets, mops and cloths? I guess Molly Maids will come in handy? I mean is it really possible to make such a mess? I guess I’m becoming too anal. Hub has been telling me off it’s OK for him, in a warm office with lovely ladies bringing him hot cups of tea? All I get is cuddles from Waggatail who has been so very good. She is on my feet as we chat. She will be so happy when this is all over.

Yesterday, it was like a comedy scetch. The builders phone went. The little guy answered it. This is how it went.
“El O
Whah?
Ah canit eer yuh
Urgh
Tatah then.”
In other words, hello, I can’t hear you. Oh, goodbye then… Haha, good old English accents.
Big hunkey monkey of a builder replied. We wah?
(Who was it?)
“Ih wuh yuh Mother….
(It was your) and we all recognised a word stuck on the end?
Wah
Dih shuh wan?
(What did she want)
Then I know you have the picture, so I shall not write how they pronounced it, but tell you. His Mum called him, she was travelling down the motorway, with her caravan… And couldn’t get any signal, so decided to call her Son, to see if her phone worked. Hahahahhahahah.

Well drills are drilling, metal is getting chucked about and loud voices continue, but I have my earphones on to try not to hear any more worrying things, like yesterday again. “Ouchya, that hurt”
“Try putting your figure there?”
No, I’m not doing that, said the little high pitched man. Go on, the builder repeated. Put you finger in there? The little guy said it’s not a nice game this, I don’t like it… It’s like Russian Roulette. Hahahahah.

Moments later? How much can change.
Well I’m not laughing now. Oh, my God. Something huge has just happened. I’m so annoyed. Furious. Devastated.

Conclusion
Eleven days later for a job that was totake two days.
OK Bloggets. Here I am. What happened yesterday? Well, my builder didn’t turn up. It was to be their last day. The joiner came. So, I guess what there was to do, he could have done it, he did most of the work anyway. The electrician came. They were here by nine in the morning. My new ceiling remember was put up the day before with the plastering. All new. Well, the electrician couldn’t get the lights to work
In the ceiling.
So, what did he do? chiselled away at my new ceiling, pulling down loads more rubbish. Five holes later, he couldn’t decide what the trouble was with the lights. He said they were working when he left them a week ago, he was going to have to leave them until Tuesday now. I said no way, we have had no kitchen lights for eight days. He said well, with respect love, you and your Husband don’t exactly need lights?
Oh, don’t even get angry for me. Bloggets I got angry enough for all of us. Well, I told him firstly, my Son can see perfectly, our dogs can see, when the lights work to let them out at nights. They have to walk along a long kitchen without lights. If my Son wants to make a cup of tea or even get a drink of water, he has had to do it in the dark. Okay, so Hub and I don’t need them, does that make it Okay? Does that mean that we are happy the fact we can’t seem to need lights? Should the whole world live without any lights in their houses?

It was just after mid-day. The joiner came in my living room, closed both doors between me and the electrician. Even walked across the other side of the living room. I mean… It was like the secret service.

He whispered
“Between me and you Fiona. The builder is going crazy. The electrician said he tested it all on Wednesday last week and everything was OK. He is blaming us for hammering the wires when we put the boards up to do the work.

The electrician has done a few jobs for the builder of late that the builder has had to finish. To be honest Fiona.
(That would be a first)
I don’t think we will use them again.””

Me. I don’t give a stuff about the politics of this I had a good ceiling. Now it’s getting pulled down again and who is responsible I don’t care, it’s up to the builder to sort it out. Not my fault that he employs bad electricians.”

The electrician said he was going home. I said. No, you’re not. You are staying here until we have lights. He said, I quote.
“Sorry love, I have another job to go to!”
You can stay here I said until we have lights, it’s bad enough that now we are almost back to square one with our ceiling. He had the cheek to then say. I will give you a quote for the electric work for the kitchen fit. I gasped. The joiner said we will sort it all out when we fit the kitchen. I replied. Kitchen? Kitchen? Em. No, if you think you lot are getting this job, you can go and swivel.

The joiner then started packing up. He then got on the phone to the builder going outside to talk. The electrician then told me he could get a friend of his to come and try to get my electric working. I said no, you can get your friend to go to the job you were going to go to and stay here.

The joiner came in and said the builder would be here on Tuesday to finish the plastering and filling in the wholes. I just told him if he wants his money, he will be here tomorrow, which is today.

Six hours later, three hours after the joiner scurried off, the lights work. Now, are they safe? Bear in mind, our last lights were tied together with a bread tie and normal parcel tape. No wonder our switches got hot?

Well, today our, joiner friend came with his electrician and plumber. What a nice group of people. Especially our joiner and it was like a safe place. A feeling that we are being rescued. As for our builder? Hmm. He hasn’t arrived yet. It’s ten past three. I doubt he will come today, let’s see. If he doesn’t. I’m going to tell him not to bother. I really will have had enough. I have had enough. When the electrician left yesterday, oh boy, you should have seen the state of the floor?

They know we can’t see and we have two dogs. My Son was on a day off work. He came in among the mess after being out all day. He said. Mum. Careful there is such a mess in there. Then he hugged me and left for the day and most of the night, only coming home for bed.
I just stood there. In total disbelief. He brought his gf to the house, even though she has been in bed for two days with a really bad stomach infection. Thanks for that? She also saw the mess. I have been asking my Son to come with me for paint and flooring for a week now. So yesterday he had the day off. So, will you take me? No. He did offer to take me, when the workmen were here. I said I can’t leave them. Why not? I said I don’t want to leave the men in my house when I am not here and they ask questions all the time.

Everything has to be when he is ready, stuff what is going on in others life. He told me I have the full house to walk around. So why am I sitting on the sofa all the time? I said, because I have to stay here for the men to ask questions and to stay with Wagga who isn’t enjoying all the goings on. Also, there isn’t a room upstairs without loads of stuff on the floor. And, how exciting, walking up and down the stairs? He can be so selfish, something he has never been and wasn’t brought up like that. But if my Mums house was in such a state, no way I would walk out the house and leave her like that, now every day I have cleaned it up, he has been at work so hasn’t seen it like as bad, but yesterday he had all day. And he had a good day, enjoying every moment of it. So, I just hope I don’t get the stomach bug, and God help me but I won’t be asking him to do one more thing. What is wrong with kids these days? My friends who have daughters some help their parents, but, at a price. Normally girls can be bought, as for boys? Hmm. And that makes me proud, but I wish he would be a bit more thoughtful.

For him to climb over the mess to load the washing machine with his clothes, then just go out? I was shocked. No way he has mine or his Father’s genes in him as far as that is concerned. His father would have stayed and cleaned up the mess so I believe he was, I say was, an angel sent to me. Somehow along the way, the dark angel has corrupted him.

conclusion? Hmm. I wish we had never started. If you are thinking about getting a new kitchen, think twice then think again. It’s the heart of your home. It’s something you use every day more than once. But all of your house is upside down because of one room.

Ask yourself, can you modernise your old kitchen? Ours was beyond modernisation, but I wish I had stuck to the old horrid thing. So, what if, it was a pain with our cooker. We should have got a gas hob fitted. As for the cupboards? I just should have put up with them. Okay, none of them closed properly and they had a kind of paper rather than wood, it was all coming off. And the extractor fan wasn’t even connected to the blooming outside wall. But, I should have lived with it. Smile. Now in a month, I may be saying differently, when my kitchen is fitted. But boy, this has been hell.

Since I have started to write this, the men have come. Drilling again into our ceiling. Hub is working from home he went into the kitchen to talk with them. Oh my. Their backsides spoke more than their mouths.

They sound full of hell. It’s time to say bye to them though. We have a huge gap in our new sliding door between the wall and door. Going around feeling everything is a total pain. As for the ceiling? We just have to hope. At least when our kitchen gets fitted we will have a good person doing it so he is honest enough to tell us if something isn’t right also he won’t leave us with a rubbish ending.

I hope that when our kitchen is delivered, it all comes perfect but I bet we have doors damaged or missing parts?

Right, now I’m going to face them. I have to give them the news about the next stage. Wish me luck?
It’s been a long month

CH 2
Kitchen cry
Good morning Bloggets. It’s just a little after half eight and our lovely joiner is here with his drill and the sounds from my kitchen are of industrial machinery! Hub escaped to work, or did he ever leave work? After this weekend, I don’t think so. He was on emergency duty all last week after 5 p.m. and all weekend 24 hours. As well as again another weekend of emptying the kitchen even more, seriously, I need to decide what I want and what I don’t want when our new kitchen gets fitted.

Today the window man is back to fit the handle he was meant to fit almost three weeks ago. Also, to fit a strip on the new door part and I say, part, of the broken wall they won’t fix. Leaving us to ask our joiner who has took over the mess that we have been left in.

Those of you who have been wondering who knocked at the door on Saturday night just as I was to have a much-needed relaxing bath? After weeks of having quick showers, I decided to take a bath. I hadn’t even put the plug in my bones were aching, joints felt as if bruised. A smile on my face as had a lovely day with our besties when…. My bathroom door was knocked on shouting
Stop the water … ….!!!!!
It’s coming through the new ceiling ….!!!!
NoOoOoO
Ple’ee’eeezz
I ran down stairs and the sounds from my kitchen were just depressing. I really wanted to take a huge hammer to the ceiling right then and hand the house over to the bank and run away. I had enough. No more. Dernier cri.

Mopped up, grabbing the only dish we could find fast, the dog dish, running to the sink to empty and running back to be filled we were helpless. How? Why? Where in the bath was it coming from? Had the builders hammered through a pipe? The reason we apparently needed a new ceiling was because of a flood we had over a year ago. That was because of a full bath. Now? Not even a millimetre was in the bath as it was only running whilst I cleaned it before getting in only because I’m a bit funny with baths. They can be very clean even in a 5star hotel, I have to wash the bath before I get in…. Just call me odd.
I’m used to it.

On examination, we learned the water was pouring through…. Our new lights, well, one of them. I dare not put the light on at this stage. We put the heating on as the pipes are under the bathroom floor. After an hour, I went to try the lights. Hub stood under them to feel the heat. They went hot. Thankfully,
I, didn’t.

I really was expecting a house fire. Water and electrics don’t go hand in hand.

So that is my story so far. I think today I will see a lot of progress. At least I have faith in my joiner friend. We are getting the floor tiles lifted today, whereas before there were only a couple of them lifted at the door. I have sold our dish washer and the people are coming for it tonight and on Wednesday, our washing machine has been sold. So that goes then. My photographical skills must have been OK. Or as I said last time, are people coming to have a look at the fool who took a pic of the back door, whilst thinking aiming at the washing machine?
I don’t mind being an item of interest…

And life goes on. As we sing our song. How will we carry on?
One step forward two steps back. Trials for miles back to back. Take off your shoes, hang up your hat, together we will make our house a home, and no longer will we need to roam.
© Fiona Cummings


Another day
Good morning Bloggets. Oh, my I’m glad to wake up. My Sons alarm went off at 5.30 a.m., Hubs at 6.40 a.m. and mine at seven. Up opened the gate for my workmen and tried to attempt Boy Wonders lunch whilst filling our water boiler for my joiner and answering the door to a lady saying, and I quote Bloggets, this is what came from her mouth at ten to eight this morning.
“Good morning, big and squashy one!!!!””
Well, my flabber has never been so gassted?
Then I realised it was my lovely friendly delivery lady who does the early morning shifts. She is the one, the only one who rings the bell and waits. My lovely dear friend for where I used to live sent me a new dog bed after our Little Fella ate part of his last one.

Bless her, today is her birthday to, I can’t phone and say happy birthday, as yesterday she had to get her dog put to sleep. She had to give the answer over the phone as she dropped her girl off and had to come home whilst the vet took a look at her. Poor lady and her Husband too he loved that dog. It is such a dreadful painful time and I tell you now I am not sure I can have another guide dog after my Waggatail, as Hub and I really suffered when my Black Beauty AKA Hannah died two and a half years ago and a year and a half ago, our darling wonder dog Long Chops, AKA Suki. We still miss them and as for our Suki, gosh, she has left the biggest hole in our mind and soul that is possible.

So, back to why I am glad to have woken from my sleep? I had three dreams different times of the night about the same thing. My Mum had died and I got the call to say so. Now, most of you will know my Mum died 19 years ago. Many times, I have dreams that I have not spoken to her for so long. In my dream, I am riddled with guilt, why would I not phone her? My Dad had died, and I left her on her own for months? I wake up and I feel so bad I sit up in bed pondering how I am going to call her what to say after such a long time? Oh, it’s awful but then bang. It hits me. My Dad had died, but in real life my Mum soon followed and of course was already dead. Then I grieve. It’s awful, do you have such dreams? I feel so flat when that happens. But early morning dreams today, were different. I wanted to wake up. In my head during my dreams I was telling myself to wake, but didn’t know why? I was too busy trying to deal with the fact that my Mum had just died. Going through the motions oh gosh it was awful. I got out of bed and chased away the dawn thoughts.

Hub and I last night were sneezing and coughing with the dust in the house. My asthma is really bad with the work that is getting done.
Hey, ain’t easy being wheezy you know?

Talking of our work, so far? Well, my joiner has been here since Monday, what a great guy and such a fantastic team he has too. Gosh, yesterday the plumber came with his Son. Wow, why can’t every workman be like them? So, polite and tidy. They work hard too. Then the electrician came and did his stuff. Have I found the last of the true honest British workmen in our area? I have gone through the rest of them meeting and greeting them all. Then saying bye bye never hoping to cross their paths again.

My situation so far? Now, Wednesday the 10th of May 2017. I have no kitchen. I have no door frame leading to the lounge. No skirting boards and no flooring. Our ceiling is sadly damaged with the water that came from the bath the other night. Remembering I didn’t even get my bath, I rant the water to clean the bath and suddenly Hub told me water was falling from the lights in our kitchen. New ceiling now spoiled.
My conservatory has our fridge in and there is the kitchen bin, and a table full of things we need in boxes, like plates, though I am not having any fun trying to wash dishes in the downstairs toilet in fact I’m going to use disposable plates from tonight. It’s gross.

There is a huge wall unit in the conservatory as well as our normal furniture and more boxes with kitchen things in and the planks of wooden flooring.

My painter is coming on Saturday morning at nine. Now what will he put on the walls? Oh, my word. Stupidly I looked up the colour I have picked, well, did I pick it? Firstly, as you may recall, I asked for very creamy orange. I got the colour that I was told was pale orange it’s called Ochre. Looking up that colour, I learned that it can come in a purple red or mustard? Then I went onto a page that told me this about my colour choice.

HSB, 30 degrees 83% normalised to 0255 CYMK8
There you go. Make sense of that? I have asked my angel eyes Terry to take a look at the colour orange ochre and I await her report…

Now, my very modern kitchen? If it ever happens, again, reading up on the colour ochre, here is what I learned. The most ancient of all organic pigments, the colour was used in widely in prehistoric art. Most notably in Palaeolithic murals found in a series of magnificently painted caves in France.

Oh
Well,
I love France.

So, no work tops or cooker cupboards nothing. Just dust and different levels of flooring. We have been trying to sell our white goods. All week a girl has been so excited to buy an item. Last night she was due and I received a text from her Father to say they won’t be collecting as a birthday gift, they have bought their daughter a new kitchen.
So, after me telling about six people they couldn’t have our machine, we still have it… It’s now on EBay again. Someone is coming tonight to buy our oven. They are all in the garage.

I tried to get to our freezer in there before, impossible.

I feel so sorry for our joiner as he is doing most of the work on his own. He is the salt of the earth. A friend as well so I’m so lucky. As for our window, well, the sliding doors? The company well, a person from the company came out the other day to try to make good of a mess. Our joiner said it was a disgrace how they have left it, but never mind… It’s done now.

Okay, I can’t hear you now, well my lap top, the little man in my computer is being out shouted by a sander, I think… Oh, gosh how could I forget to tell you this? Talking about selling white goods. Our dishwasher? Oh my…. Someone called Debbie bought it. They were to drive for miles to get to us. About an hour’s drive. I called the number given to confirm they were coming as they were an hour and a half late. And when waiting for people it’s awful you can’t relax. As relaxed as one can get among the dust and mess. Well Debbie answered the phone. They were driving, I’m not sure he or she at this point all I know is they are called Debbie, the person answered the phone saying it’s Debbie. But their voice was ten times deeper than my Husbands and Hubs voice is quite deep.

They had got lost. Anyhow they arrived at last and I was expecting a van or even a truck as I had said how big and heavy our D/W was. Shamrock was here and as the vehicle pulled up, she said a man got out of a tiny, car. Hub went to see the man and Sham said that he was wearing floral, flipflops. Well, as he clipped clopped down our drive, he told Hub he was late because he had dinner with his Son and the dishwasher was for his boyfriend.

As Debbie lifted with muscles the machine in his/her car, complaining to Hub about their shoes, saying they keep falling off. On the rest of the journey they went.
We do live in a interesting world.
This has been a long month.

Day. I can’t remember. A lot.
Bloggets, gosh, I am wearing earphones, no I’m not on a train, or in a busy city sitting in the shopping centre. I’m in fact in my house. A knock at my door this morning at a quarter past eight, our lovely plumbers. Father and Son, they are the sweetest couple of lads. Really the Son is so lovely as is his Dad. This weekend has been one of mixed goings on. In a simple kind of way, no sky diving or journeys veer submarine, but as simple as one can get but incredibly busy.

Right now, the sounds coming from my kitchen is one of a building sight, whilst holes are getting created right through the outside walls, I’m just waiting for the house that Jack built to crumble.

At the weekend, we were up early again, to see our painter, what would he make of the colour? Well, in fact he likes it as does Boy Wonder, it’s not exactly the colour I wanted to achieve, remember I wanted the palest of orange almost white? Well, it’s more apparently like a nectarine. Hmm. What colour is a nectarine? It’s apparently the lightest shade on one. My Son likened it to a peach. Oh my, a peach kitchen? My lovely joiner said it was a definite orange. But not tangerine orange. But the painter who you would think would know, said it was really lovely. Unless he is trying to pacify me. Haha.

Before he painted, he had to fix the damage the awful builders did before the good guys came to town. He said as everyone else has said, it’s a disgrace. Even our sliding doors are dreadful. They are difficult to open and close. They are on totally wrong and the new handle they put on is slack. It’s a real shame as the door itself is one of good quality. It’s the fitters and builders that need all sacking. The salesman was the best and the ladies in the office are wonderful, but the builders that they recommended and window fitters and I had two different ones, are rubbish.

Half an hour now the plumbers have been going constantly drilling a hole. My joiner has arrived and work on our kitchen commences. Today the floor is getting put in. Whoop whoop.

Saturday and Sunday, I placed the furniture in the conservatory differently to make room for our white goods which arrived on Saturday and Sunday. Gosh, this weekend we have received our new utilities and sold the old ones. A couple of things left to sell but we are using them right now. My bones are aching and I was in fear the other night as I was sure my hernia had come back or another one I should say, I pray not as my last operation went very wrong and I don’t think I can go for another operation on my stomach it’s been through too much already. So, I have tried to take it easier this weekend with lifting. I said to Hub it will have to be my brain and his brawn. Gosh he is strong. It’s in his genes, his Dad and brothers are big strapping lads, my Hub doesn’t resemble a big strapping lad, but he certainly has their strength and I love how versatile he is, his plumbing skills I have spoken about before and he lately has fixed an electrical problem we had as well as fixed our TV. That on top of lifting and cooking and with his job which requires many skills as well as a good brain, what a man. Smile. But this weekend he didn’t have his strong Fifi of a wifey to help him I had to just navigate. Hold and support as we transported heavy goods from our house along the side of the outside of the house into the garage and even into people’s cars/vans as they came to collect.

Any on lookers will wonder if we have opened a shop of late the amount of comings and goings.

Saturday night, at last by eight in the evening we were done. We had tried to make some food outside. We used the microwave plugged into an outside plug and cooked with the two-ringed mini hob we bought which Hub said gets white hot. Very dangerous, but hey, knobs we can use. Smile, so a simple sausage pasta with cheese for the family and me? Baked potatoes. It took ages to do, trying to find the box with our dishes in another box upstairs this time with pans in and another with microwave plate in. Then locate the fridge, yes, we know where we put it, but by this stage there was boxes of stuff everywhere as we tried to sort out more in the conservatory to make way for the white goods. Some had arrived some were to come on Sunday. As for water for the pan? Oh, don’t even ask…. Let’s just say I’m glad the plumber put the outside tap back on for us last week. Or was that our joiner, I can’t remember. It’s on any way, or, it was, before yesterday’s delivery came and for some reason, they took something off to do with the outside tap, not sure what or why, as yesterday we didn’t eat at home, more on that later.

Neighbours watching us cooking in the garden will be amused. Especially seeing us draining the pasta…

Back to 8.p.m on Saturday, time for the Euro Vision Song contest. Hub and I really love that despite what Europe give us for points. Haha, Brexit? Well, we did better this year than we have done for six years. The winner from Portugal, wow, stunning, absolutely the best song that has ever won Eurovision and I think 49 years they have entered and this is the first time they have won it, and absolutely well deserved.

Salvador Sobral, sang in Portuguese a beautiful love song. Whilst there were typical songs and gimmicks as there should be in Eurovision, like this year there were yodelling, dancing gorilla’s and other fun factors, the competition was stunning. The level of talent this year was overwhelming. But still, Portugal stood on its own, no other country could touch the competition.

Sunday, we worked hard again painter came early and another coat of fruit was painted on our walls. More dust I removed and life started to get cleaner. My lungs have probably aged ten years and I am sure I felt my first millimetre of a line on my face last night.

As one of the delivery men asked for my autograph, no, he hasn’t read my writing, smile, I had to sign for something to say it had been delivered. I told him I was blind and asked if he could show me where to sign? Haha, to which he replied. Oh my, this was funny.
“Oh, so very sorry. Just there, in the white box!””
Very nice. White box Shmite box. know what I mean?
Some people…

Hub and I were delighted to know our dogs had a great free run for an hour, though I do wonder if it’s a bit much for Waggatail. She took forever to stop making steam train sounds. As for the Little Fella? He was ready to go again.

As Hub and I took a well-earned break in the front garden enjoying a rare thing, the sun, our friend brought us some homemade cakes. Bless. Lemon ones this time. Nowhere to put them so they are in a tub in the hall right now.

Well my plumbers have left, now, the other end of the kitchen is getting drilled through, this is a different sounding drill, gosh. This one sounds really serious. Now making a hole for my cooker fan… I hope the mice don’t pay us a visit tonight?

Last night Hub and I had a walk around to our local restaurant. It was a warm sunny evening so we took the long way around and met our Son there and had a really lovely family dinner. To sit at the table again was a luxury. I can’t remember the last time we did that. It’s been weeks. We laughed talked about the world as always and had a deep and meaningful conversation as well as spoke of light subjects. The politics of life. Just breathed. Away from the stress we have at home but moreover, the work we constantly do right now, we never seem to be able to sit down for more than half an hour with the exception of the Eurovision on Saturday.

Back home, BW went out and was back late considering he had to be up today at half five in the morning. Hub woke for work at half six with horrific pains in his face with his TN. It’s stress that brings that on making it worse I am sure. Hopefully his stress is coming to an ending, unless our kitchen is damaged when it turns up on Thursday? Gosh I pray not.
Great news, the electrician is on his way, so a day of lots of stuff getting done.

The next day
Monday 22 May 2017
Good day Bloggets. After a week of being very ill, not sure if it’s something I have picked up from someone, or an infection I have got from walking into the wood outside last week, I didn’t know it was there and I think a nail went into my leg, a day after that I was violently sick for three days. Thank goodness Hub took time off work. It could even be just the way we are trying to live right now, I’m trying to clean things as we go and we are not really eating in the house I think we have cooked three times since we started our new kitchen. We have bought so many awful take outs. I don’t know how people live on them like they do. We went to McDonalds last week and honestly, the food was totally disgusting. The French fries were like spelks (splinter) from the wood off our old kitchen. As for my veggie burger? All it was, was some horrid chickpeas that I love, but these were the spicy kind and no salad, no sauce it was just awful. I wasn’t feeling good it was the middle of my illness, so that could have something to do with it, along with the fact that I have just learned that the staff in our local MC’s, employ prisoners. I guess it’s a good thing that someone does, but it does make me wonder just who is cooking my food? As for a Pizza, we ate the other night too, oh my word, it was as if someone needed a new sole for their shoes and ordered the wrong size so gave it to us with some tomato slop on it.

So, microwave meals it is for us for the meanwhile. Well I say for us, for the boys. For me? I’m not eating anything but apples from the fridge and crackers freshly opened. We are using disposable cutlery and plates. Yesterday I felt my best so we went to our local farm shop and had Sunday dinner. I ate two Yorkshire Puddings which are the same as pancake mix but put into deep round oven trays and left to rise with the heat of the oven and you have it traditionally with roast beef, roast potatoes and veg. Well I had all but the meat though I got as far as the puddings and one chunk of cauliflower. Then I felt so ill I had to sadly ask the family to hurry and we had to leave.

Last night I went into the conservatory to try to make it a little more liveable. There are things everywhere like on my sofa, I just can’t find anything now. I gave up. There are parts of plugs and tools tins and other things I am like a rabbit in headlights.

Yesterday Hub got really frustrated. On Saturday he went to town, as I said I couldn’t move that day because of whatever has been wrong with me. So, I stayed home. I asked the plumber to call after lunch as we were going out, as I hoped I would be well enough to do so. He came in the morning, luckily, I was in. He made it so I could use my cooker, not oven as no electric yet, but the gas was on. Though, he told me I wouldn’t be able to use the gas the normal way until the electric was on. So how? By striking a match… Em. No…. I asked him to fit the sink when he was here he said he would do that later. My joiner called him when he left without doing the sink, and he told him he would be with us first thing on Sunday morning, we got up early, but no plumber. Today is Monday, and I think he is coming tomorrow, unless he comes this afternoon.

Right now, our joiner is working hard he has been here as ever since half eight. When he was last here, he frightened me by asking if we thought the sides of the units were right? I felt I didn’t like them. Hub looked too, he said he liked them as they had a grain like wood, I said our doors are smoothed gloss it would look odd that the sides were lined? Well, long and short of it, I went in to look after our joiner went home with the young lad that had been helping him, I must say, the lad who is the Son of the plumber, is a good find. On further investigation by a grumpy Fi, I found that the grain lines on the side, giving our units a different texture, was in fact, a film, covering the units to protect them. I pealed it off a little to reveal the same texture as our doors. Few, thank goodness. So, a lot of carefully tearing the film off is in order.

I did wonder if our joiner has fitted kitchens as he said he has, how has he never come across this kind of protective covering before? Unless our company are the only people who use such protection?

Sadly, we are some doors missing. And one door is damaged. The young lad noticed a tiny mark on our dishwasher door. So that is coming out but again, another story to that.

Hub called the aftercare on Friday, long and short of it is when we ordered, they said they can’t send out until the 30th. So long away? Well we had to call back thank goodness, we did. If I had dealt with the call I would have been able to correct the prat on the other end of the phone, but Hub did and colour shmullour. They were only going to send us the replacement door, in white? Our units are cream. Now thanks to the lady on the other end who noticed it, she told Hub and now all sorted, also it’s coming sooner. So, I wonder where the first person’s head was?

We are getting a kitchen fitted that is known to be top quality, but, sadly there are a lot of reasons I wouldn’t recommend the company. I shall tell you who they are and sum up the reasons good and bad when I have written my last leg of the blog of our kitchen diary. When will that be?

Our floor is down, our joiner has done a great job of that. It’s lovely. It’s laminate but looks like cream tiles. Our walls are kind of painted. Sadly, they need another coat. Grateful to our joiner who told me it needs another coat. I would hate to let our painter go then learn later that the old red showed through but it still is. Even though the painter has painted three coats over it. I kind of hoped that he would paint emulsion over it firstly, but he didn’t so this is why you can still see the red. I just hope another coat will do? Can you imagine if you never get rid of the red? When he was here on Saturday, I did say when you do the conservatory, you must put emulsion on first and he said he would. Bless him, he will be sick of us, as he did the walls but then the electrician came and dug a huge hole in our wall so that had to be filled, plastered and painted again. I hoped the paint work would be done before our units went in but with him having to come back again, it’s not going to be.

The painter is a nice guy, so hopefully he will be OK. It’s not our fault.

Our new cooker looks great, I can’t wait to cook on it. I love it, it looks so very accessible too. Well, apart from the gas. Smile. If I’m careful with that, it will be so good. Oh, I hate cooking, but suddenly I will love it you watch.

Our garden is a mess of cardboard and last night as we put the dogs to bed, thankfully, Hub checked on our LF, and he had a huge chunk of wood in his mouth. Well, he must have got it out of the garden, gosh that was lucky, if Hub had not looked, and how or why he did? I’m not sure, as he never puts them to bed it’s always me, but was so ill last night I couldn’t bend down to them. Well he rescued the wood and put it in the bin. I just want it all away, all in and all clean. I want to have the energy to feel better and be able to scrub my house. There are bags everywhere. Boxes and just things laying around. I hope today our dryer will be fitted and we can at last wash some clothes.

My joiner is going to make us a unit for our Christel. It will be lovely as his woodwork is stunning. Solid, heavy, and rustic. Then we can put away our glasses that are everywhere upstairs. There isn’t a space on the floor in any of the rooms. It’s a good thing our guest room is empty right now. Well of people anyhow.

Someone asked me the other day how far we are on? It’s difficult to say, as we have to wait for the work tops to be measured, then made then fitted. So that will be at least ten days from now, but the most of the work I would say is about 70% done. Excluding the paint work in the kitchen and conservatory. As for how far we are with the house being a home and clean? 1% finished. It’s all making me very down it’s a project I really wish I hadn’t started. A friend of ours said she did her kitchen and it took her a year to do and she can see. She also said never again. If we were putting like for like in, then it would be fine. And of course, if we didn’t have the builders from hell at the start it would also help. The guy who came, the plumber on Saturday, brought a real odd bod with him. I didn’t like him being in my house. I just didn’t trust him. He said to our Son, who did your plastering, I can do it better, I’m a plasterer. Well, very nice, but it’s all done now and it is what it is.

I hope my next update is telling you our kitchen is all fitted. The radiator is in and all units are fitted with doors and electricals in place. We don’t yet know if our fridge is working or freezer, dishwasher, washing machine or dryer, I just pray the man in the sky is not having a joke with us till the end and allows a smoother journey now.

I can’t say it’s been a long month any more as we are now approaching seven weeks, so into month two. I just want to see the wood for the trees now.

Next day
After the showers comes the sun. It’s really warm out there. Not that I have been out much, only to open the garage door and gates for the workmen. What a busy day. Firstly, our joiner came very early at quarter past eight, bless him, keen? Haha, I hope so. I am! Or am I?
After today I have to laugh.

It was all action as I handed over the paperwork for our work tops to make sure everything was in place quickly grabbing a cup of tea before I was a prisoner to my living room. It’s hell in my conservatory as there are drawers everywhere, I didn’t know until yesterday evening when I went to make a cup of tea and bumped into them. One fell on my foot as it was standing on its side thankfully my foot it fell on, rather than the floor, as didn’t want to damage anything. As I misjudged the door only by a few inches a blank of wood fell on me, and Hub really hurt himself as he went to the doors from work and a spanner was keeping the sides of the unit where our freezer will go together. We need hard hats. Smile.

Well today there has been loads of drilling and everyone has been here. The joiner and the others like the electrician who came fixed our cooker and other things like washing machine and dryer. Hot plate too. Now we just need a plate. The plumber has fit the radiator and the make shift sink. Great, somewhere to pour some clean fresh water into our water boiler. Also, to wash an apple. Oh my. Still no work tops that will be ages away, another story about that. But tomorrow, the plumbers Son who I really like is coming to give a hand to our joiner and get our wall units up. Wowzer. I’m blessed today. The sun really has come out.

Plugs where I thought wasn’t, is, and plugs that I thought weren’t are now.

Then the worktop company called me. It was almost impossible to hear them but between the breaks of the drills and hammers I did. Just, and she went through a check list with me. Oh, I did feel the pressure, I mean, what on earth do I know about worktops? Apart from the fact that they are nice or not?

One thing that made me bit my bottom lip. Quick, get off the phone, run into the kitchen, catch the allusive plumber before he leaves again.

The lady said I was to have no sink or worktop. Well the guys fit something that the kitchen came with today. A worktop and small sink. It was all in lovely. Of course, when they come to measure up tomorrow, they won’t measure around that will they? They need naked work top space so they can give an accurate measurement. I can’t believe I hadn’t thought of that. I presumed it would be OK considering the kitchen people provided the items.

She asked loads of questions about the situation with the current units that have just been fitted like how they are on the wall? Em, how do I know that? I would guess with screws/nails? That was the wrong answer. Haha. It’s actually not funny, if I get this wrong, we have to pay an obscene amount to get them to call back out. Also, time.

We were told that they would take seven days to come. Now, it’s seven to twelve working days. Working days?
7 to 12?
Oh, my God.

She asked me if I agreed with the work top design. I told her she would have to describe it to me as I can’t see. She did and it is what we asked for as if you can remember, our designer, hmm. Gave us a totally different work top and it wasn’t until Hub and I read very carefully the name of the one we wanted and it looked different to the one we were sent details on over the email.

So, I had to break the bad news to the plumbers that their hard work to kindly give us a makeshift sink was all in vein. Long and short of it, my joiner friend and the lovely Son of the plumber will be here tomorrow and will sort it out.

So today, things have really moved on. Lots of noise means my kitchen is on its way.

A cooker will make a huge difference. I won’t be able to make homemade food as I have no work tops, only open cupboards and we can’t find pans etc. among the mess, but, I can buy frozen chips, pies and oven them. Oh, to taste golden hot pastry? Crunchy, crunchy anything. I’m just dying here for food. I feel like an astronaut right now. I have eaten air for weeks.

We have a washing machine, dryer, wow, clothes will be washed I’m so excited. And a radiator. It’s warm today but forecast to be awful in a couple of days and for a couple of weeks, we haven’t had a radiator in the conservatory or kitchen, so it’s cool at nights in there.

My Son just came in from work I asked if he would take Waggatail around the back in her dog run to do her business as she was crossed legged. Joking, she can really hold her stuff in. Thank goodness… He did he was back in a hurry. He asked.
“Mum, do you know there is a spaniel in the back garden?””

I didn’t, but I know the lad has a dog. Long and short, it was his dog, Well Waggs doesn’t care, she went to the toilet and then BW was annoyed as I wouldn’t just leave Waggs out there with the dog, I wanted her in. He called me repressive and cruel…. Nice to see you home from work too Son.
He’s off to the gym now.

One, what if the guys opened the gate and Waggs got out? Two, I don’t know if the dog is friendly or not? Three I also don’t know if the little dog has had its vaccinations. Of course, I’m sure it will have done but my dog is loved and I’m an over protective Mum. If I were out there with her fine, but I’m not. I’m here answering phone calls all day.

I just hope the lad picks his doggy doodles up. As our dog’s mess in one space, it’s behind a fence and gate. We don’t let them run free without knowing they have been to the toilet first or our full garden would be one big toilet. We can’t just see it and pick it up.

Shame as I love spaniels I would have loved to stroke him… Hopefully the dog hasn’t eaten flowers? Especially blue ones? Did you know that blue flowers were poisons to dogs?

Now I have a sulking Waggatail who is crying at the door wanting to play with her new friend. I feel cruel. I’m too anal I have always been the same I doubt I will change.

Gosh the lads have worked really hard today. And tomorrow the young lad is back. Out of all the people the joiner has, the lad is by far the best worker. He is worth his weight in gold.

So, what’s to go? Well quite a lot, the walls have got to be all painted again. The wall cupboards have all got to go on. The dishwasher door has to be fitted. When it comes. As it was damaged and won’t be here until Thursday. The fridge and freezer have to be fitted and those doors on. They will be a nightmare. The windowsill has to be fitted as well as the frame around the door and skirting board. Lights have to be fitted in units and of course our worktops and the extractor fan and plugs have to be fitted I think unless they were done today, they have to go from white to silver casings. Our conservatory has to be cleaned and painted then we can start to fill our cupboards before our new unit our joiner is making us will be ready to put the Chrystal and china in. I would say to be safe another two weeks. But at least hot pie and chips and that is what is on the menu tomorrow as our shopping arrives at five in the evening. Tonight? I think after a couple of days of microwave meals for the family, it’s a Chinese meal for them, I may have the same. As I am fine now, apart from my leg is still burning, my stomach is great, will take it easy though. It will be nice to have a walk with Wagga along to our local restaurant. The Pizza places are well off my list as for MC’s? not on your Nelly. How anyone can eat that paper food is beyond me.

Gosh the smell of soldering is awful it doesn’t even smell safe.
Talking of safe, I hope the plumber will remember to bring me a gas safe certificate?

Well it’s almost five now and the lad has just been in again to do something to our radiators in the lounge bless him, he is a real hard worker. There is hilarity coming from my kitchen. I hope we are all laughing from now on.

I wrote that half an hour ago and after a quick peep in the kitchen, I’m delighted to say that I have tried my cooker, no way I have cooked in it or on it yet, but learned of the digits. It’s a range cooker electric ovens and grill and gas top and it is so easy the buttons are huge clumpy and classy. A bit like me. Hahahaha. The sad news is my joiner has another job so won’t be able to finish off Thursday and Friday. I am dreading telling Hub that one. He is late from work today. He has had to stay behind tomorrow too. So, he will be tired. He hoped apart from our bit paint and work tops everything would be done in the kitchen this week. But I may tell him it won’t, after a bath is ran for him and he has eaten. Slowly slowly.

Our kids have gone out for a drive and it’s a beautiful evening, so Sham is wearing a cute sun dress she is so sweet like a little girl. Oh, I hear the distant sound of an ice cream van. I so wish I could run out there and find it? It’s beautiful out there, may grab half an hour before dinner. Tomorrow we will make more progress and I just hope that the work tops go well for the measurements. Later Gators.

It’s later
Here I am again oh the sun is lovely out there, but I’m in waiting for a man. Haha. Seriously, someone is coming to measure, and not for me for the box, though I did wonder this time last week if that was going to be the case, he is coming to measure our new work tops, well the space to fit them. Thank goodness, the young lad turned up today with the joiner and hopefully they will get so much done. I also pray they take the rubbish from the back garden. I wish our joiner was working here this week as then it would all be finished totally by the weekend. Why drag on to next week? Hub was so fed up when I told him. At lease, we have an oven now. And a sink. I may try to tackle my lovely sofa in the conservatory tonight. It’s been used as a dumping station. I wonder if I will ever get it clean again? Thankfully it’s leather as if it was material, well, it would have been fit for the bin now. When the first lot of dodgy builders came, they were putting concrete on it. I was removing stones from it, then tools have been placed on top of it. And then there are all of our bags and just thick dust.

We are walking on top of broken boxes on our floor in the kitchen. It’s fine. Just messy. And you have to be careful that you don’t trip up if one comes loose. My poor dogs have been so restricted in the garden it’s too dangerous out there especially after LF was found in his bed with a lump of wood in his mouth.

Our friend asked us last night if we were going on a holiday this year. I said no, I didn’t say not this or next or even the year after. BW keeps asking if we want to go with him and Shamrock somewhere. No. Not for ages. Our kitchen is our holiday. Heck. I need one after it? I’m not going to get a tan in there, am I? Mind you, wait until I get that gas going?

Talking of holidays, I thought it was so lovely last night as I went to our emails and discovered an email from the wonderful kind people from the South of France who contacted us to ask if we were OK after the dreadful massacre which occurred in the north of England a couple of days ago. After what France has been through, I was so touched. This couple are true angels, I did feel so very sad though that we won’t ever see these people or their house again an yet they gave us such a perfect holiday. I will never forget. Probably the last holiday our Son will ever have with us alone. I would guess next one will be with his girlfriend, wife or child. Gosh, I hope in that order.

My Husband has gone to work in a clean shirt today as always, but it’s so not ironed as well as I like, I was just too tired last night. My ironing board is in a right mess I need a new one, but I think I will try to make do with what I have got. Everything is so crushed all over our house. It’s in a worse state than when we first moved in here. I have to learn the washing machine tonight then the dryer. I put the new oven on to warm something up last night and wow, it’s amazing. I’m going to love that. And to have something that I can control, is wonderful. I even like the sound of it as it starts. I said to Hub, it’s like a bus… haha. He was a bit like what? But I mean it’s so powerful. Our last oven was as if a fly was breathing.

The walk last night to our local restaurant was nice, just to get out. It was a warm evening going but coming back was much cooler. Windy even. Waggatail worked so well. LF kept having a sit whilst I caught up to Him and Hub, as they are like Jack Flash, whoever he, was, I just know he went fast. Smile.

LF sits for a while, a few seconds until I am in earshot then off they run again. I’m not slow, just they are ridiculously fast. There is about forty steps between us.

I have just had the phone call to say that the man is on his way so I best go for now, gosh he sounded very efficient. I feel as if I’m going to take an exam. Why? Not sure a lot of money rests on this man. If it goes wrong, we have to pay a fortune for him to call out again. I think it’s a bit of a shock considering how much money we are going to pay for his work tops. The list is so strict. I hope the guys have removed the baby sink we have in there at the moment. I have no internet so I think the electric has been switched off. Why? Not sure. Another day of blooming resetting our heating system and lighting.

I’m not going to know myself when they all leave.
Or am I?
Actually, yes, I am.
At least these guys are so polite and well behaved even the young lad today knocked on the living room door and asked me if I wanted a cup of tea. Bless. I would be proud if he were my Son. Mind you, let me take those words back ever so quickly, no, I wouldn’t. Why? Oh, I forgot to tell you last night, as I was talking to him about his beautiful Spaniel, he told me he was a hunting dog. Oh, that did it.

Such a quiet polite lovely young lad, how can he do such cruelty? It’s so beyond me. I wonder when we, if, we, move onto the next land, will we remember this land? I doubt it as why can’t we remember the land we were in before this one? Don’t get me on regression? I have written before about me being regressed. How are we to learn anything if we can’t remember where we were and what we did the time before we came?

Some would say it’s not for us to remember. Well if it’s for our maker, or decider, then he, she, it, will never create a perfect world and if it’s possible to have a perfect world, why not?

Right on that note I shall go and try to do something productive. What? Not sure. I can’t even find my duster X

The last week
Good morning Bloggets. A quick update on how our kitchen is doing. Today is Bank Holiday in the UK even so, our joiner and painter are coming. Another weekend of Hub and me working, trying to clear and clean the conservatory. Gosh it was filthy with all the dust and grit the dust was so thick you could almost pick it up with your hands. The heat was unbearable too. 28°, so in our conservatory where it’s all glass, you can imagine.

We pulled up the plastic from the floor in the kitchen as it was dangerous as it was starting to come up, Hub and I kept getting our foot under it. It was put down to protect our new floor. Hopefully our joiner will put new down today as obviously, our kitchen isn’t finished yet.

The guys came out last Thursday to measure the work tops for quartz surfaces. They were OK and apart from the joiner getting a few things wrong, they didn’t say anything was so wrong that they couldn’t continue the work, but it involved the joiner having to come out to remove something he put up too far to the left and he put the extractor fan too far to the right so for them to get the work tops straight work had to be done. what I have learned from this project, well two of many things, firstly, when buying a kitchen from the company we bought from, they say you have to check everything out to see if it’s all there and perfect condition within 24 hours, or they won’t play. This is ridiculous, as put it this way our joiner and his pal came on Friday to take away the carboard boxes from our kitchen, and to give you a rough idea on how many there were, they filled the trailer and a big van then came back and did the same again. So how are you meant to remove everything from your boxes and check it out in that time? Then if you are taking things out of their boxes, isn’t that going to make it more possible to damage the units?

Secondly, if you are considering a new kitchen think about the work tops. Marble marks easily and you have to be so very careful with it also you are recommended to get them treat every six months. Just to keep them nice. You can only wash them with washing up liquid or a special cleaner too. Whereas quartz, you get the same affect but don’t have to get it treat, don’t have to use a special product though they do say try to use dish soap only and it doesn’t mark like marble. But, quartz, we were told by our kitchen designer that it would take from the measuring date no more than seven days. Hmm. Then weeks later, we learn actually, it’s between seven and 12 working, days. So not even just days, but working. We received an email before the guys came out to say 7 to 10 working days but when they came out, 10, became 12.

So, next Monday is D, day for us. The work tops will be put in, thank God. And I hope our plumber will come on the same day and give us a sink.

Hub cleaned all the units out at the bottom and me at the top. Poor Hub has done his back in. Not too serious just hurts. The units were full of bits of wood and dust. I cleaned the conservatory windows, that is a lot of glass as our room is huge. I had a casualty of a tortoise I have had since I was eleven. Don’t worry, not a real one, but china. Hub broke a huge wine glass that was massive he hated it. It was the length of my arm I used to put candles in it. I loved it but he hated it and called it tac. Haha. And someone, not us, sadly broke our wall light but didn’t tell us, thankfully they cleaned most of the glass up. Our electrician brought the light in, no bulbs or glass around it. It went in the bin, sad as I liked that it was like two candles in candle sticks. BW went to the local shop for us to buy a new one. I wished I could have gone on my own and chose it, but I left it up to him and what we have is well, Okay. Hub and I tried to put it together on Friday night, impossible. I hate being beat. But things from abroad now days are just not easy to do they make them as complicated as possible and nothing makes sense. Boy Wonder spent ages and he had to use a spanner and undo things I was too afraid to take apart as thought it couldn’t be, so I chickened out and left it to him. Thank God for him. I see him about ten minutes per day, no joke, and about five minutes per week, he is an angel to us.

We are totally exhausted. Just trying to get around the house it’s so messy. There are things in every room. Even our sitting room which is the tidiest out of all rooms, has from the conservatory, a coffee table and four dining chairs as well as the wine rack and the vacuum. Oh, as for our windowsill? What a mess that is. There are two plants from our conservatory and four door handles as well as a couple of small boxes that belong to the kitchen, and a packet of screws. As I said this is the tidiest room.

Our oven is in, working well I love it. It’s such a pleasure to have something that works. Something you don’t need sight for to use. Okay, I left the gas on the other day, but hey ho! We have washing machine, hmm. I’m still on the fence with that. Moor on that later.

I hope we will get the fridge and freezer in action today as well as the dish washer. I hate using just water and soap to clean dishes. We have a make shift sink right now we were given from the kitchen people. What a difference that has made. We still have to boil water in the conservatory. Our old fridge is in there too. I’m kind of seeing the wood for the trees now.

We have a meeting with the window people next week. They are making it very official. Well, bring it on. It’s been a long two months. My body hurts we are covered in bruises I have two big scratches down my arms and the mark on my leg where the nail went in is still prominent, but hey, my kitchen will be lovely…. x

2nd June
My kitchen Diary. Gosh, catch up. I escaped my living room yesterday and had a lovely day out at my absolute favourite tea shop fifteen minutes away from home. It’s very dog friendly and we sat in the garden. My friend is a puppy walker and her big lad, who is 9 months was so well behaved especially as the garden had flint stones rather than nice comfy grass. He is going to make a fantastic guide dog he is so well behaved. He has the cutest face real puppy like, but his body, gosh, it’s more like an ironing board. It’s so long. He is adorable though.

Oh, to sit at a table, to be served, was rather lovely. I made sure I filled my boots.

The smell of roses was just beautiful. The atmosphere was delightful. I have been there when it was so cold, and like yesterday when it was read hot and it’s a real feel good place to be. In a beautiful village.

The village is so quaint. Real English chocolate box! There are little greens a four-faced clock which has North, South, East and West on each face telling you, if you can see… Which side of the village you are? My friend kindly told me what the clock was like.

There are lovely shrubs trees and hanging baskets. Such village like fragrances. No pollution and drivers drive with care, not like maniacs as they do in my city.

Everyone speaks as they pass you by I could easily live there, I would love to one day, but sadly it’s far too far from Hubs work. It already takes him one hour to get to work each way, so his two hours in transit would turn into busy traffic time of 2 hours 45 minutes.

It’s peaceful though, so quiet. So, calming. It’s the best treat. From the description on line they have scattered old fashioned cake tins laying around and I know they use quaint utensils.

Back to the kitchen. My joiner is here again. It was funny this morning I’m standing at our little dolly sink washing a plate and I hear him knocking on the window next to me. So, I opened it, we exchange a polite hello. I wait, he hasn’t come in. He always just comes in. Nope, not today, he must be taking things from the garden to put in his van, like rubbish? Well, little did I know that the poor thing was also waiting on the other side of the glass. Hahaha. I hadn’t opened the door. I was sure I had unlocked it. He is filling his van with all the rubbish from the house and garden. My handles are now on the doors in fact almost everything is done, but some things were missing so we have not been able to complete the job also I’m having plastic frame I know that isn’t what it’s called, but you know what I mean? The wood that goes around the door, well ours will be plastic just like the skirting boards and they won’t come until next week. Possibly the end… We have our windowsill to put on again plastic as I don’t want to pay for painting now or later. I hoped that would get done today but the boards have to be ordered in.

All my shelves went in yesterday, well apart from the glass one in one of the display cupboards as they didn’t send the things they rest on. I’m so up to date with my wording, aren’t I?

The second lot of plastic covering on the floor comes up today, and on Monday, I hope our work tops will go on and our new sink will be fitted. Our plumber has to remove the temp one we had and put in the new one, hopefully we will have a certificate by then for the gas?

Today I will wash again the conservatory and try to clean the furniture in there. The sofa is filthy. It’s leather so I hope the dust will come off it.

I will clean the floors, glass etc and put things away and back where they belong.

Our guy is a guden. I can still trust him. I bet he will be glad to see the back of my house. He has done 90% of the work on his own bless him. Hub has done loads of removing of the covering of the units, oh, did I tell you about that? Our joiner asked us to have a look as he didn’t like the looks of the side of the units. They were a different texture to the fronts. I didn’t like it, but Hub tried to pacify me by saying he liked it. It looked like wood. Well, if I wanted wood, I would have got wood. I wanted modern glossy look. When our guys went home, I had a look. I thought there is no way that should be like that? I kind of picked a little off where you wouldn’t really see it.

Well, it came off. I told Hub, he said, oh gosh, it’s plastic like a film? Is this for protection whilst in transport? I said yes, I think so. Well we began the task of removing the film.

After we did quite a bit, I had a horrid feeling of Déjà vu, as I remembered a really cheap and nasty coffee table I bought I felt the plastic on the top of it and I started to pick it off, thinking it was the film for protection during transit.
Well, it wasn’t.
Oops

So, what if we did the same again? Especially when my joiner said he was going to have to put white caps rather than the silver ones that were provided for my glass splash back, but not to worry, as they will match the (WHITE) units.
Our units, are cream. Oh, to say we had a sweat on is an understatement. Hurry home Boy Wonder?

On our Sons return, we said to him, can you look at the units and let us know what color they are? He said yes.
His walk from our lounge to the kitchen was a long one, then he answered.
White.
Oh, heck. I remained calm, not to influence him. If he thought that was the wrong answer, he would change it to keep us happy.
So, I asked. Pure white Son?
“Hmm. Not quite pure white, kind of off white.””

Well, that will do for me.
I did say where they all the same color and he said yes.

So, we have either peeled off the tops of our new kitchen, or that was a film put on for protection. I tell you though, it must have took Hub five hours to remove it and me joining him for two half hour sessions of monotonous moments.

The mystery of our wall colours continues. As I said in a previous blog, some say peach, some say light orange, some say orangey, more emphasis on the ee. Some say apricot and Shamrock said lemon… I guess it’s at least bright.

Though the painter did try his best the walls are still a mess as is the ceiling from the previous builders. Which reminds me we have a meeting this Tuesday to quotes discuss the work the dreadful builders they, recommended did. It’s very sad that we couldn’t have a perfect job done because of those blooming, badly behaved buffoons calling themselves builders.

I need to work very hard to get our house back to a home and not a building site. Hub is so ready to throw in the towel and move. I couldn’t stand the move again. He said this house is cursed and he hates it. I hope he will change when the kitchen is finally finished and we can get all the boxes put away and when our new unit will be built we can put away all our crystal glasses. We must have a hundred of them.
Gosh I am starving, I haven’t eaten yet and it’s after two in the afternoon.

We bought a Bosh fridge, one of those with three drawers in the bottom as they are meant to keep the food fresher. Well, to be honest, so far, it’s not done that much of a good job. The leaves still go limp just as they did in the old cheap fridge, good old Beco. Our freezer, Beco, I love it. Our washing machine, and dryer, both Beco, well, I’m on the fence about them. We got them because they are quiet, not as good as they were, blind friendly. Much better than the touch screen ones though that are also double the cost.

Our dish washer? Again, I will get splinters, as still on that fence. But my NEFF extractor fan is fantastic and our range cooker is wonderful.

Our joiner has done a great job everything fits like a glove. It must be like doing a ginormous jigsaw puzzle!

I think I will have one final kitchen diary to do before I’m finished. Then I may publish all my words from scary start to the grand finale. Gosh, how many words?

It’s been a long two months. And we are still going…

5 June
It’s raining hard and it’s really cold. I have had to put our heating on. Yes, in June. Outside it is 11°, inside, I don’t care, I have short sleeves on and I am so cold, so go and put long sleeves on? I kind of want to believe it’s summer.

I’m so hungry. I haven’t had anything to eat and won’t until six tonight as the men are coming to put our work tops in our kitchen this afternoon and won’t be finished till quarter to four. I pray the plumber will come and fit the sink. I don’t think I can stand the thought of using water from the downstairs bathroom again. I hope he will come because he only lives around the corner, but I have a feeling he won’t.

We bought a new wall light, because ours got broken with the work going on. Sadly, the electrician put it on the wall but the bulb has gone missing. So, does the light work? Not sure. Where has the bulb gone? I don’t know, I know there was a bulb with it as I took it from the box to look then put it back in with care along with the light, but we have a ghost so along with toothpaste, they obviously like bulbs too.

Our Joiner has done a great job, it’s going to be beautiful in there. Though I am sure he hasn’t taken on such a project before. He keeps saying our kitchen is huge. Really? It’s not. It’s 22-foot-long, 6.7 meters long by 8 foot/2 meters. There is a large wall with nothing on and a large part with sliding doors. He suggested that we painted the door, as in the wooden one that leads into the kitchen, but right now, I just want the kitchen finished. I contacted the painter but haven’t heard anything yet. To be honest I still would rather just stain it darker, but our plumber said it would look awful. It needs to be white gloss. All my doors are stained the same colour that is why I am reluctant to paint the kitchen one. Hub is very against it. We are trying to avoid paint work I know you have to get them stained, but not as much as you do when paint is involved. So, we may just go for a darker wood look. Right now, they are really light. The joiner said to paint it white as there shouldn’t be more than three colours in a kitchen. We have cream units and floor and whatever colour I have put on my walls, as well as white windowsill and skirting boards. The door will make it four colours. My friend came and she said our doors look beautiful. She is Geordie my lovely friend who gives it to me straight so would say if it looked wrong. So, I’m going with what I want and what she said.

Our new door won’t lock. Our Joiner came to fix it today but it’s still broken but the door man is coming this week to see it. That should be an interesting meeting. The Joiner also fitted a new windowsill. It looks great. Our kitchen is almost finished after the work tops and the sink, there are two small jobs to do. Finish off a trim Hub found that was missing, put clips in our glass unit because the company hadn’t sent enough out and then there is all the skirting boards to do in the kitchen and, the conservatory again, because of a bad job that the old builders did of our original work and my now joiner removed the trim around the door as he said it looked old. I wonder though if it got damaged as to be honest, the house is just over 22 years old so isn’t that old. It’s going to cost more money to get that put back.

I put my brand-new towel out at the weekend. On our posh radiator. Luckily, I went to it today and found it was absolutely soaked. The plumbers Son obviously used it when he removed our sink we were sent for by the kitchen company. It’s out now, and my new towel is in the washing machine. He is the young lad who is a good worker bless him.

Eight weeks tomorrow our work started. It will be totally finished by Thursday. All weekend Hub and I worked again, mainly to get the dirt from our conservatory. My poor sofa was full of not only dust but grit, tiny stones. Everything from planks of wood to tools and what was on the floor was placed on that I am shocked that it has no rips or marks on it. Our conservatory seams so much bigger because we don’t have a huge fridge in it now. As well as doors from cupboards and dishwashers. Well, a, dish washer.

At one time in there was our old fridge, our small freezer, our new tall built in fridge and then the freezer and our new washing machine, dryer, dishwasher and huge cooker. As well as the furniture from the conservatory. Oh, and the bin from the kitchen and a rack oh, gosh, and a tall wide dresser. My goodness, it really will look different now.

Our joiner said that we had plaster on the plastic frames in there, so I cleaned it, I just hope it has come off.

Hub and I tried to find things to put in our cupboards this weekend. My man is strong. Bless him. The boxes he carried downstairs was unreal. It’s kind of daunting when you are blind to have a huge box in your arms and feeling with your foot, where the start of the stairs is? Then trying to find the hole in the wall, the door, when you can’t use your hands? Not to mention what surprise our dogs have left us in toy form at the bottom of the stairs!

Our joiner is making us a cabinet to put our crystal in. It will be good when all that’s away. But let’s get the kitchen totally finished first.

The guys have just called me to let me know they are on their way to fit the work tops so I best go and unlock the gate and doors. They said it will take them two hours. I hope they will saw outside not in my conservatory? Though bless, it is raining.

Still waiting for things that were not in the box from our kitchen supplier. The company we used. They have a beautiful homely showroom. The meter and greeter are lovely giving you tea coffee juice if you want it and providing entertainment for the kids whilst you spend. But the after care is shocking. You have to be on the phone for ages. The first guy was going to send us a white door for our unit though it is stated clearly cream gloss, it took two weeks for those doors to arrive and the factory is an hour away. On Thursday morning, we requested some shelf pins hooks whatever you call them. They are clear though so don’t stick out a mile once in the cupboard with the glass display windows.
Today is Monday, we are still waiting.
After you are on hold for about half an hour waiting for them to answer and try to order you the correct items. We have had missing brackets, hooks whatever you call them and doors as well as handles. But, we are getting there, though I have aged at least seven years and three and a half months, in the past eight weeks.

Note to oneself. Remember to remove your little finger when closing the fridge door.
My left hand closed the fridge whilst my right hand was in the way. My little finger wasn’t happy. I put some ice on as soon as I did it.

Gosh, we sold our last item. Our old, very old freezer. It’s seven years old. It’s been in the garage for the past six years. Our last house it was in the kitchen but then found its way to the garage when we moved. Oh my. We sold it on eBay and my fear happened when he asked if he could collect it today. I don’t like people coming to the house I don’t know. I looked up his address he lives in a bit of a rough area. So, I was dreading it more. It’s half an hour’s drive from here. The name he has on eBay, is rather well, doesn’t sound like the kind of guy you would want to meet in a dark alley. So, the snob is coming out in me? He is the second English person to have bought our items. The rest have been with a strong accent from various countries. It’s been like the United Nations. But they have all been so lovely, so polite one didn’t speak English at all, but we still managed to communicate. This guy was English, broad speaking and I wasn’t keen. Oh my, the rest of the people said thank you, apart from the person who couldn’t speak English, and they took the items away they went. Heard nothing since so all Okay. This one? Well, I said it was in the garage, I opened the door it was already on wheels to make it easier for him to wheel to his car or whatever he came in. There was no thanks for that, where as other people were so polite and thanked us for making their lives easier. Apart from the one and only other English person who watched our Son carry the item to the car, put it in and didn’t even acknowledge the fact he didn’t need to lift a finger.

Well, the man today rang my bell…. Yep, Bloggets, someone rang my bell didn’t tickle our front door and run. I opened it, he grunted.
“Freezer!””
He wanted to know if it worked. I said yes, we were using it until a couple of days ago. He asked if he could plug it in? I didn’t want him in my garage, so I told him there was an outside plug. He grumbled. Where. I said there and pointed. It was right next to him.

He asked where the button was to fast frees it? I thought heck, what does he want, his dinner cooked for him?

I told him inside at the top were all the buttons. Well, he opened the door, closed it and opened it again
Gulp as he opened the door, I have never pushed any buttons in there. I leave that to the Hubster.

“Sure, it’s working?””
100%.
“Why is it warm then?””
We defrosted it so you wouldn’t have water everywhere when you put it in your vehicle. Then he said.
“I pushed the fast frees button and it hasn’t frozen, Bloggets, really, we are talking about two and a half minutes by this stage. I said it takes a while for the freezer to frees. Well, he said it needs a clean on the outside, I said yes, it’s been in our garage and we have had workmen so there has been a lot of dust with them coming and going from the garage also the first lot of builders were in there sawing. I mean, seriously, it was clean, just not immaculate, he was just a grumpy pumpy pants. No way I was getting buckets of hot soapy water out, not for a fiver. That’s what we got for it.

Well, he then went on his grumbling way and half an hour later, I received a text from him. Oh gosh. What now? He wanted to know how old it was? I told him coming up to seven years. I hope I won’t hear again from him. What on earth does he expect for £5? New, it was almost £500

Well since I started to write this, we have had yet more problems. The men came very nice to do our work tops. Forty minutes into the job, there is a problem. Long and short of it is, our joiner has come out thank God, he has as if not we would have to pay a fortune for these guys to come back out and we wouldn’t have got finished today again.

So now my splash back is off again. It scares me as it’s enormous about 3 ft long by almost that in height. Our lovely perfect corner bit has to be cut and they are leaving a line of work top to be stuck down by our joiner as he hasn’t time to wait as he has work to do himself today. Thankfully he will do it on Thursday, but why can’t anything go right? There isn’t one part of this job that has gone smoothly apart from the fact the electrics work. As in cooker, fridge, freezer, washing machine and so on. Touch wood.

I did smile when I noticed the guys voice change when he told me he will need a signature. Haha. Pass me that pen young man, I will do a smiley face if you like?

Did I tell you the other night Boy Wonder drew a picture on a box in the kitchen when he knew the workers would be here the next day? So, I joined in and drew some pictures. BW can’t believe it when I draw or write something. He thinks it’s so funny that his blind Mum can draw. I drew a flower, a heart and a cat, well, I chickened out with the cat so the poor thing didn’t have features, but hey, you should have seen its tail?

Loads to tell you about BW in a few days. His latest adventures and more.

Meanwhile I shall go for now. I’m weary. Hungry for really really fried onions. But for now, my kitchen Diary continues.

Same night
Good evening Bloggets. Still cold. It’s still raining. It’s only eight in the evening but my love has gone to bed. He is so fed up with the latest in our kitchen. I think he is going through what I went through with our last builders. It’s been a long couple of months, he expected to walk in from work today and see our lovely work tops and know we are so close to being finished. Instead, he was given the news that there was more work needed doing. It was a close call today; the guys would not be able to continue or start the work unless our joiner came out to see what needed to be done. Well thankfully our joiner did come back, though he had some work to do for himself, to face being told he had to shave some wood as the work top at the back of the kitchen was rocking, so they couldn’t fix the work top until the post was up or shaved down. They have left the work top but it is rocking so something has to be adjusted. The men left the backs of the work tops too just the one. He even left a bottle of silicone I hate that stuff. Whereas where they have fitted the other work tops, they are perfect no silicon in sight, but one bench has to be fixed as the wood needs changing underneath. With blooming awful silicone.

The glass splashback had to be removed and taken away to a safe room. So again, that will need putting back on the wall. I’m just waiting for that to break. It’s been on and off the wall a couple of times but this time, the guys said that it was on wrong. They said it was too far to the right. Great, more holes in our walls, more paint work? Or do we leave it and just put up with it? The glass splash back was too far the other way and to get the work tops perfect
they need the things on the wall to be right too. It’s the back work top that is really bothering us as now it looks like the work top has to come off, the bit in the middle that really was perfect now has to have a haircut as it’s too tall, so this is why the work top rocks. Our joiner said he will do it all on Thursday. I just hope it will be OK as he will be on his own so who will hold it whilst he screws it into the wall? Who will lift the heavy quartz to repair the wood that will be supporting the work top?

Hub had a take away Pizza as I couldn’t face cooking again without water from the kitchen. No way I was going to eat a nasty Pizza. So, I haven’t eaten. I may find some fruit in the fridge. All day I have been starving for fried onions. Not sure what that is all about.

The plumber didn’t come, he said he needed a pint. Haha. I know that feeling. I don’t think he was talking about blood, either.

The plumber said he will be here tomorrow morning at eight. I hope so. Then the work starts again by our joiner on Thursday. Please God, let everything to do with our sink be there in the box?

Another day where we haven’t received our bits of glass, well that is what they look like. In fact, they are small clips that keep the glass shelves up. Again, something else missing. We asked for them on Thursday.

If I was to give advice, I would say, don’t get a new kitchen. Put new handles on your old one. Put a new work top or tops if you can, change the floor even your cooker, but never do what we have done. Though my friend has had no trouble with hers, we just gather lots of bother for others.

Silly things that really stop progress like missing brackets. Screws, pins or whatever you call them…
And in our case, missing doors. Two. And not small doors, oh no, the big tall full size 7 foot doors, so in metres, 2.13, just for my lovely new friend Milton who has been converting my measurements into modern ways, I still talk in feet and inches. It’s English. I’m old fashioned. I still talk of lbs too when it comes to buying meat and so on.

When I say my measurements, I’m not talking 36, 24, 36.
Haha, those were the days.
I think I was that for about seven months.

I mean, how can you lose two doors? Who checks these things before leaving the Wearhouse?

If you do want to buy a new kitchen, then go to B&Q. Buy it yourself never buy from somewhere who promises you there is no waiting time then takes two weeks to send doors out and goodness knows how long to send a tiny pack of screws and so on.

I feel for Hub; the stress is getting him down. I should go and see if he is OK, but I am on the edge too with it all. And in a couple of days I will tell you of something else that is going on so this is making it worse. But that won’t be in this Diary but my normal blogs. If you can call my blogs normal. Smile.

So where are we now? Well, the splash back is off again, needs putting on. More dust and shaving to do in the kitchen as things get adjusted. Sadly, our perfect work tops that are in will look lovely but same time stupid against one work top that will be filled in by silicon. And then, will it work? I think the guys were hoping that our joiner would do the wood today whilst they were here, but the fact is, he has his own work to do moving workshops and he has to be out by a date that has already expired, so he is on borrowed time. He has paid the young lad who is the plumbers Son so won’t want to work here when he sees his money wasted whilst the lad stands around doing nothing at his end. So now it’s a waiting game. As for the cooker hood being on too far to the right, not sure what will be done about that. The guys who came to fit the work tops noticed it from the top end of the kitchen. I must say, BW noticed something to do with the hood last week, but I didn’t want to know. The good news is, we have a windowsill. The bad news is, Hub hates it. I love it as no more paint. It’s plastic. The work tops that are in well, are, in well, and look amazing. I will try to put pictures on here next week. The kitchen is looking so lovely apart from the knowledge that things are a little off set. I would say we are about 90% done. I hope by Thursday, 100% then we have our first normalish weekend. We may even go out… I think our joiner will be pleased to see the back of our job, having said that, he then has a huge bathroom job to do and he said that will be for three months. Oh my, imagine that? 12 weeks of work done to your house? I think he may age by then as he needs to get his guys to turn up to do the work.

Though it’s been so cold, I need our summer bedding on. Guess where it is? In our lovely blanket box our joiner made for us.
Guess what’s on top of the box? About forty odd crystal glasses.
Guess who has nowhere to put the glasses?
Fifi.
Our joiner said he was going to make us a cabinet for our glasses. His furniture is lovely.

Hub said we have fifteen boxes to empty. To be fair, most of the boxes have big things in them. Hub brought downstairs some plates yesterday. I took them and went to put them in our lovely deep cupboard. There were eight of them
Oh, no, wrong set, they are our posh new set that Hub bought me for Christmas. The ones I wanted are about eight years old and only come out at Christmas, now they will move on to being our everyday set. How did I know I had my new set? Because Hub said there were eight plates. My Christmas set as I call it, has seven plates. Boy Wonder as a child, my Teen in fact, dropped a plate full of dinner years ago. Smile. On Christmas day, full of, well, Christmas dinner.

To feel the plates, they feel the same. Imagine if I started to use them thinking all was OK. Then find out ten months down the line, my £6 per plate were in fact my Denby plates at £15 per plate.

Well I’m going to try to boil some water, sadly from our bathroom, then to wrest the boiler as it’s not a kettle, on top of our gas cooker as I can’t put anything on our work tops until tomorrow. So, boiling water on top of a gas hob? Wobbly? Boiling, equals dangerous Fifi. Hey this blind girl lives life on the edge.

6th of June
To say I’m furious is an understatement. So, we are missing tiny screws for our glass shelves. Hub called last Thursday to request them. They are see through. I called today to ask, where are they? And Bloggets, I’m not in the mood with answers like, you can’t see them because they are see through!
Well, okay my humour is still alive, just hides a lot of late.

I was told they couldn’t discuss anything with me, because dater protection my name isn’t on the account. They had to talk to Hub. I said he was in meetings all day at work. No time to call as you are on the phone half an hour each time.

She said get him to email to ask for your name to be put on the account. Then we can talk with you.
So, I put the phone down and emailed them. So, I may have signed an H rather than a F, I mean, how bloody stupid is that?

Good news, the plumber is here, yeah. Now, what will be missing from the sink? I did worry before as I was asked where the taps were, but thankfully they were found.
I bet you £100 that something will be missing.

I have the Plumbers money to pay him off today, if we get our gas certificate. He was due last week, the man to sign off the paperwork, but didn’t come so was due at ten but hasn’t arrived yet, I hope he comes soon as surely the sink hasn’t got long to go? So, I was to pay the lads but can’t until I have the correct paperwork.

The plumber and his Son are really nice guys.

Hub was late for work today. Why? Don’t even ask… I’m just wondering what is going on in our world. I think two kinds of gas have been released either by our Governments or beings in the sky, an anger gas and a stupid aerosol!

Hub was saying he has six hours of reviews to do. on Thursday, I have a meeting I’m not looking forward to. Mr. Windows is coming out to see me. Why? Your guess is as good as mine. All I know is, this could have been resolved over the phone, so he obviously is coming for a battle, well the mood I am in, bring it on. Wait until I lace up my boots though. Those steel cap ones.

The sliding door, slides very well, so, one may have to go sideways through it as the gap they have left is tiny, but hey ho, such is life. Locking it? Haha, that’s a joke. And if you get it locked, God help us if there is a fire. It is so awkward to unlock. Even closing it, it sticks. When we told the lovely lady over the phone, her response was.
“oh yes, we have had quite a few doors like this one, I know what the problem is, it’s fixable.””
Very nice love, well if you know what the problem is, why is there a problem?
I’m just done with half job Harry’s and hiccup Hilda’s.

My plumber came today with his Son, the young lad is the one who is a good worker. His Dad is nice too, just takes some encouraging to come out. There are some very odd sounds coming from my kitchen. It sounds as if we are getting a swimming pool fitted. Gosh I wish, can you imagine? Knowing our luck though, it would leak.

I can’t wait until Thursday for two reasons and one of them being our joiner will be finished his work and we will be at last finished. I hope.

I will tell you the other reason on Thursday. And to celebrate, I may pour myself two cups of tea. Tea, oh, that would be lovely right now. My caffeine levels should be very healthy as my five cups of tea or coffee have gone to two per day, and for a couple of weeks, two per week.

Tomorrow we will put more things in our kitchen. I think we have done about seven boxes so far. 15 to go. Will, I be able to get everything in? Hmm. Answer? Honestly? Nope.

Oh my god, the language from our kitchen is choice. Something has gone very wrong. Oh gosh please no!

I shall go for now. And try to face whatever challenge faces me today.

Monday 12th of June

Last night I had a meltdown. Everything just got on top of me. I’m so tired now of the kitchen and not being able to get everything done. The furniture is still in the middle of the floor in our conservatory waiting for the skirting boards to be fitted. We still have a few boxes upstairs and all our crystal is all over the office I need to get the house right, so I can walk without being in fear of breaking something.

I have an object in my hand, firstly, what is it? Secondly, where does it go? Finding cupboards to accommodate everything and then remembering where they are and what is in them. I know I will learn and I know it’s so much better more organised and we have electrics now that we can work without stress. Oh, a funny thing, I took a Braille sheet of Hubs and on I t I knew it had the instructions for the kitchen appliances. Well I can read basic Braille, but not contracted Braille, that’s like in sighted terms, joint up/cursive writing. I have no chance in reading that, so I decided so it
wouldn’t get lost, I would tape it to the door of our cleaning cupboard. Great idea, right? Until Hub comes along as I show him my latest brainstorm. He said in his serious way.
“Right, yes, that would be fine love. If you didn’t stick it upside down!””

Oh well. What’s wrong with him, where’s his sense of adventure? Has he never done handstands?
Today our kitchen was to be finished. But it’s not.
My joiner was due this morning and he isn’t here and it’s after mid day. It’s so not like him not to turn up and his phone is switched off too. I fear something awful has happened to him.

Next day
The joiner got in touch with me. He was on another job. Funny he called our last builders because they left our job to do other jobs. And, he is doing the same. He has a lovely daughter who came to try to help him. Our backsplash is back on the wall. Wrong screws in it, I am fed up they came with lovely silver mirrored screws but the joiner said they were not long enough, so he put white ones in. Sadly, he hasn’t filled in the holes where he first drilled into our wall. Remember the guys who came to do the work tops said he had the glass on wrong? Well he removed the glass but hasn’t filled in the holes. Also, there are bits of grey behind the glass that should have been painted so now it looks a right mess. I was so disappointed in the joiner, he has broken our floor. The lovely wooden floor he fit so well, he dropped a tool on it twice. There are two holes in it now. The awful thing is, he tried to cover the holes up but didn’t tell us. We found the holes, not much misses us. We may be blind, but we have a perfect brain and though sadly we trust people, we also find them out. And boy, have we found this joiner out. Long and short of it is, he has now left the job. We have a damaged floor. When we asked if he could repair it, and we were not nasty, I could have gone mad, he didn’t even say sorry. He told us just to put the free-standing unit two inches, over 5 cm off the wall to cover it. What? I don’t think so. I asked him to use the spare boards and repair it. He went into the garage and took the board, put it in his van and next thing, he left never to be seen again and long may that last. So, who we believed we could trust turned out to be just like the last builder we had. But worse, as we have known this guy for some time now and has done lots of work for us. I paid him for a day’s work extra to fit the skirting boards we bought and that is another story as I feel we have paid for someone else’s skirting boards as the price talking to friends, was way over what we should have paid. He has fitted them and they are great, but he hasn’t finished off the work. Also, obviously he never repaired the floor and has our spare board and it wasn’t cheap either and, there are still holes in our wall you can see and dirt behind the glass. Doors on our freezer are not on right and there are a couple of cupboards that are not on right.

The electrics done by the electrician are fantastic as is the work done by the plumber. I’m very happy with their work and if the joiner hadn’t have made such silly mistakes well, one big one with the floor, his work has been OK. Not perfect, and I’m still not sure he has ever fit a kitchen of such quality as ours. It took him four weeks for God’s sake. But we have what we have now.

No matter how much you think you trust someone, don’t. This joiner has really let us down. Hub is so upset he said we paid him cash, so, no tax would be paid by the joiner and we paid him on time and is some cases the day he did something. Like if he had to buy anything, we paid him there and then. The way he ran away and won’t answer our phone calls is pathetic and nothing short of playground behaviour.

But I’m free now of all workmen. We are slowly getting right. The perfect jobs by the plumber, electrician and the guys who fixed our work tops I must remember. The joiner’s lovely daughter, again, mind you, I think everyone is nice but then I’m let down. But next time I need any work done, I will go on recommendation only. I should have picked up tips when the joiner told me a lady didn’t pay him. Hmm. I wonder why?

Hub and I have worked really hard our garage is now back to normal as is our conservatory obviously there are things that need to be done to repair the mess the joiner left us in, but they can wait. He has lost a lot of business that is for sure as I will never recommend him to anyone. My friend has a small hotel and she was waiting to see how he did my kitchen as she needs a new one fitted in her hotel, also she wanted some furniture made and some flooring, it would have been a job costing thousands, but his childish ways have lost him that work and more. I’m sure he will be fine and carry on doing what he does best. Good luck to him. I just feel very let down and I think if my Son ever sees him, it won’t be good. He will have a few things to say to him. I had to keep a lid on things, as it was, my Son wanted to tell him what he thought a few weeks ago. I’m glad he didn’t as my son doesn’t keep cool.

We have pulled out our cooker and dragged out bits of wood, peeled off plastic from the sides of the units that were burning when we put the cooker on and Hub had to pull out a huge chunk of polystyrene from under the washing machine which the joiner blamed the plumber for. It’s been a total mess for the past ten weeks but now we are almost finished with only a few things left to put away. Again, my advice, don’t get a new kitchen fitted unless it’s by a proper company like B&Q, who fit our bathroom and they were amazing. Very clean. Helpful. Polite. And there after care has been fantastic. I wouldn’t go past them.

We bought the kitchen from Wren. The sales people were fine, the showroom was the best I have been to and the units are the best quality I can imagine. Things missing were a bit annoying, but what I have learned about the joiner, were they all missing, or not? I will never know. It takes two weeks to get anything from Wren if anything is missing, but the quality of their kitchens and the depth of the units are amazing.

Our fridge is a tall one with the three drawers and I must say, they have been fantastic for keeping things fresh, as promised. We got a Bosh fridge and a Becco freezer. A tall one. I love it as it has seven drawers so it’s so easy for me to find things, sorting out what I want where. The range cooker is wonderful. I love that. The washing machine and dryer, again same make as the freezer, is usable for those who can’t see and the extractor fan is NEFF and it’s so easy to use and so powerful. Our dish washer is Bosh again, easy to use.

So, this concludes my kitchen diary. I am sorry for any mistakes as I have no time to edit this. Just go with the flow.

This project has been so big for us both with not being able to see. Designing the kitchen, going to different places to try to buy what we need electrically. As we have to see if we can use the kitchen items before purchasing as so many things now days are not accessible. Dealing with workmen who don’t care. Constantly having to check what they have done or haven’t done. It’s been exhausting. But all done now.
(C) Fiona Cummings