Endless DIY July 2012

We are in week 2 of 3-4 weeks of total building/DIY chaos and it is enormously stressful. I have gone into directive ‘sort the problem’ mode which FP likes the end result of, but not the process so it’s all a bit fraught. People we thought were going to do some of the work have backed out because it is an old house and too bothersome. For example, FP was trying to put in a new light at the weekend – took up one set of floorboards and there was another set underneath. None of the walls are straight etc. The division of labour works that I do the non-skilled effort and all the endless cleaning, FP does the semi-skilled stuff and we pay to get the big jobs done. Last week we had a new boiler put on floor 3 rather than floor 2 and all the floorboards were up, everything had to be out the loft – the conservatory and garage are stuffed, but then the old kitchen units are going in the garage so there are endless boxes to be moved from a to b to c which thankfully J2 is doing because to be honest we aren’t strong enough. This week we have builders in who are levelling the kitchen floor (they drilled into a hot and cold water pipe in the concrete today) and putting up new walls and windows to divide the old back bedroom in to 2 bathrooms. Week 3 all the kitchen units are being put in and week 4 is finishing off the bathrooms. I am pretty sure I shall run out of money by then so new carpets and flooring will have to wait, but hey it has been about an 8 year project so a bit longer doesn’t matter. I have been getting lots of compliments from the workmen about my stripped wood, but they laugh when I say it took about 2 years.

The lovely thing is that at the end of it all we go to India for most of August. I just have to organise the travel insurance and get someone to pick us up from the airport as from our experience that is when we are vulnerable before we find our feet and we have been tricked into exorbitant taxis etc at that point. The backpacker tour (16 people) starts in Delhi and takes us all round northern India and leaves from Calcutta. I have even found 2 battered rucksacks in the loft as they don’t like suitcases. It will be basic, but cannot be more so than Cameroon (I could be wrong). I have been doing my background reading and getting excited.

The Luton dentist was a bit optimistic with the tooth implant cost at £1k for my decayed molar. I was referred to this place in Harpenden – £2.7k not counting the cost of extraction! I said I would have it out on the NHS. The posh dentist was very full on and unctuous, all done up in his green surgeon outfit and giving me the razzle dazzle treatment. I do trust my dentist though and he says he deals with lots of cheaper botched jobs. I do like the thought of being able to chew food (which I enjoy) on both sides of my mouth for another 20 years.

I have now lost 1.5 stone and have 0.5 left to reach goal weight. I have cracked the food stuff. Zero snacking, no cheese, lots of veg and less meat. I can have one glass of wine a day, but I sneak in 2-3 and then get on the scales at weightwatchers and have put back on half a pound one week in every 3. It’s winning the war not the battle though and I am committed to going every week. After 6 months, the unattractive dieting obsessiveness is creeping up on me – the eyes narrow when I see J2’s sweetie consumption or FP’s late night biscuit munchies. Do I notice a difference health wise? I can get on and off the horse from the ground a lot easier. It was getting to the point where I was struggling and as I can’t open gates with a whip you need to be able to get on and off.

I have put my entire History book collection on Green Metropolis. That felt a bit weird as I have carried that around with me for the last 30+ years. Finishing the house is a closure of some sort. I am beginning to think about what I’ll do next, but I shall leave that until after the summer to progress.

J1 is sad because his latest girlfriend finished with him last week, A* is depressed, but doesn’t want to talk about it and J2 is avoiding getting a summer job or signing on which is a bit naughty because he can only do that because I am currently keeping him.