Z's Kitchen Countdown - 7 - slow and steady

 I'm making progress with the List.  Today, I bought the new kitchen tap - it's got three controls, for hot, cold and filtered water.  That's the last thing on that list, apart from the tiles to go behind the Aga and on the windowsills each side.  The third windowsill behind the sink will have Corian.  The sample tile should be ready by the end of the week.  

I've chosen the flooring for the bathroom and cloakroom and they're coming on Saturday to measure up.  They expect to fit it in early September - the same time as the bathroom fitter is here, but that doesn't matter.  

The decorator has done as much as he can for now, though he had underestimated the rolls of paper he'd need for the bathroom and I've ordered more.  Hoping it arrives by Thursday, so that he can finish off on Friday, but it's okay anyway, it's got the lining paper so is clean and tidy.

The job I've been putting off is emptying the big chest freezer in the lobby at the back.  However, at last I've finished emptying the other chest freezer into the new upright freezer and I've defrosted it and switched it on again.  So tomorrow is absolutely the day for the full chest freezer.  I dread it, but I'll have to be ruthless with anything that's clearly been there too long.  I chucked out some elderly vegetable dishes from the bottom of the one in the porch and I'll be so glad to have the second one done that it'll be worth the awfulness.

We went to London for a couple of days at the weekend and had a really wonderful time.  We saw three exhibitions, at the Royal Academy and the National Gallery and two plays, at the Barbican and the Bridge Theatre.  We walked a lot. On the Saturday, from Piccadilly Circus to Trafalgar Square, then down to the Embankment until we crossed the river and kept going to the theatre.  Afterwards, across Tower Bridge and up to the railway station.  I was very happy and even managed to relax somewhat and forget about everything there is to do.

I will say, however, that the Transport for London route finder is awful.  The website used to be pretty good.  You put in where you wanted to go and it gave various options, by bus and tube.  Now I have the app too and it's useless.  It gives a circuitous route that's not even the same as the website does - the latter only gives one or two options instead of the whole range.  We wanted to get from Piccadilly to the Barbican and the app wanted us to take a bus, then the underground, then another bus.  The website was slightly better, but wanted us to go to Baker Street (which is the wrong way) and then to the Barbican.  I looked on the Tube map - it's very simple.  Piccadilly line to Kings Cross and then two stops east to the Barbican.  To add to that, they always start by trying to persuade you to go by bike, which is just silly.  

It doesn't detract from my love of London, however.  There are a lot of tourists there, looking happy, which is lovely.  A good many American accents, including a very nice couple we chatted to while we were sharing their table for a drink at the Barbican bar.  They live in Idaho, which you wouldn't think of as the most cosmopolitan state, but they have visited 70 other countries, which is a lot more than I have.

Z ponders

 Russell took an odd pleasure in not finishing a job.  I never did understand it and, since he died, I've wondered how it was that I coped with it at all, because I'm a finisher.  I can take ages to start something because, once I do, I carry on to the end and it's the finishing that gives me satisfaction.  It wasn't just that Russell lost interest, but that he actively wanted almost everything to need a small job done that he never had the least intention of carrying out.  He'd stop a workman from finishing, telling him that he'd do it himself.  He made sure I didn't do it or get someone else and undermine all my efforts - not throughout, just at the last.  

The kitchen had two new oak windows put in, one each side of the Aga on the east wall.  The only other window in the room was on the north wall, behind the sink and faces the laundry room, which is between my house and the annexe and is used by both houses.  It was one of only two windows in the house that was not replaced when the house was refurbished, 40 years ago.  It wasn't in poor condition, so I suppose I understand that, but the odder thing was that, when the deep windowsill was tiled - it must be about 50cm front to back - it ended up about three inches higher than the bottom of the window and there was a small gap at the back.  And a few of the tiles were not grouted into place.  Nor were the tiles on the left windowsill on the Aga wall.  The ones on the right were.  I was discouraged from doing it myself and that was that.

Today, I started removing the tiles behind the sink and, when I cleared enough to be able to lift the whole lot out, I discovered that there was wood and then chipboard and the old Formica surface that had been there previously was still in place.  It looks so much better now that the whole window is exposed and makes the kitchen much lighter.  I have no idea.  None at all.  I had a small baby and two other children to look after and didn't keep my eye on all the details and, when I asked, I was assured that it had been necessary.

I wish I had been the nagging sort.  I despise nagging and Russell wouldn't have liked it at all, but it would have got results.  

Anyway, though it is a lot of work and can be quite worrying, having to take responsibility for everything, at least it gets done as I want it.  And if I make a mistake or leave anything unfinished, that's up to me.

I've ordered the skip for next Thursday and Friday.

Bright College Days

Z's Kitchen Countdown - 6 - Z feels efficient

 It's all gone well in the last couple of days.  Toasted cheese didn't give me any problems at all and I got up early and did a lot more clearing in the kitchen, before spending a few more hours on lunch preparations.  I know perfectly well that everyone would have been happy with more easily prepared barbecue food but, the busier I am, the more enthusiastic I tend to get.  Anyway, there is a lot more stuff stashed away, out of the kitchen and I feel calmer for it.  The mess was starting to get to me.

I really wish I'd thought of moving the broom cupboard contents to the larder years ago.  It's so much better.  Getting to the cupboard under the stairs via a door at the end meant that most of the stuff was only accessible if I took everything at the front out and then, inevitably, I didn't bother to haul it all out again to put the stuff back, so I had to do a tedious clear out quite regularly.  The three bins fit side by side and, on a shelf, I've got the cat's food and I've various other things on the rest of the shelves. I'll put a piece of leftover flooring down, to help keep it all clean.

All the family are on good form and, luckily, we'd come indoors before the heavens opened.  It rained torrentially for a long time.  I'm so sorry for holidaymakers - having grown up in a seaside holiday town, I'm always very sympathetic to them, when the weather is bad.

Tomorrow, I absolutely must do paperwork.  Next week, the forecast tells us of rain again, so I guess Scott will carry on indoors, for the most part.  I've still got plenty for him to do, though he's a very quick worker.  The joiner called round, to check the window latches to order.  The window is made and he just needs to add the glass, which he will order on Monday.  So, the week after, it will be fitted - hopefully, when the skip is here, so that the old one can go in that.

I didn't tell you about the skip, I don't think.  There's a sizeable Dutch barn, which Russell kept adding to and the additions are gradually falling down.  We need to remove some of it and go back to its original size, but there's a lot of Lord-knows-what that will have to be taken away.  I asked for any teenagers to volunteer for hard work for a couple of days, and Zerlina and Gus offered.  They will come and stay for a couple of nights and Stephen and I somehow have to be ready for them.  I don't really need another job, but I want it done, so I'll just have to manage.  It's possible.  I am wildly overconfident.

Z's kitchen countdown 5

 It's been a productive day.  Wink and I went back to the tile place and showed my Lowestoft mug to the owner, who was so helpful.  He is going to do a sample tile next week, so that I can go and see if it is the right colour - I still don't know how much these tiles cost and suspect it's a lot, but I'm not too bothered about that.  Honestly, with all I'm spending this year, a couple of hundred pounds over standard price on tiles is not an issue.

As the weather had improved, Scott has been working outside much of the day, but he finished the first coat in the study.  Thomas, poor lad, took up all the cork tiles and it was a painstaking job.  They were stuck down hard.  I cleared the cloakroom cupboards except for the bottom level, where things will stay, and have started to shift kitchen stuff in there.  I've also moved the bins into the former broom cupboard, now the bin cupboard and am managing to remember not to go to the former place, so far.  I've moved enough stuff out of sight to feel more tranquil.  All the clutter and mess was starting to make me anxious.

It was Ro's birthday yesterday and the whole family, except for Squiffany, will be coming over for lunch.  I spent the evening making marinades and preparing food, having said I will go to no trouble at all.  I'm an idiot.  Finally, sometime after 8.30, I turned my attention to dinner, being very hungry.  I made toasted cheese.  And then, taking it to the dining room, I managed to tip the plate and it shot onto the carpet.  I'm happy to report that butter side down didn't apply, it did a neat flip and landed cheese side up.  I picked it up and ate it.  No visible fluff, it was fine.  There was absolutely no question that I'd do it all again.  I trust that toasted cheese at 9pm will give me neither nightmares nor indigestion.  

Z's kitchen countdown - 4 - Z pays for the kitchen

 It's raining hard and has been most of the weekend, which is what tends to happen when school holidays start.  So Scott the painter can't work outside, so he's been stripping the wallpaper in the cloakroom and bathroom and will do the lining paper next.  After that, there are still several indoor jobs to do, so I'm glad he won't leave to work somewhere else.

That was what I wrote on Monday morning, before being called away to something I don't remember.  So, to catch up from then.

The wallpaper has been stripped from both rooms, the lining paper applied and the first coat of paint, just to seal it, has been applied to the cloakroom.  From my angle, I've chosen the paint for the cloakroom, study (aka kitchen) and (actual) kitchen, though I might change it once I've seen how it looks in the study.  I've also chosen and ordered the wallpaper for the bathroom and the colour for its paintwork.

I've cleared out the larder and put everything from the broom cupboard into the larder (now, officially, the broom cupboard).  

I have decided on the colour of the painting on the tiles to go behind the Aga.  As they will be Delft-style, I wanted them to be blue, but Delft blue is too blue for the kitchen cupboards.  But I happened to have bought, recently, a Lowestoft mug in a soft grey-blue that, it suddenly occurred to me, might be the right shade.  It is.  It goes well with the cupboards but it is not green enough to be wrong for Delft.

I'd meant to go to the tile place today, but lunch out took longer than I'd expected, so I left it.  Maybe tomorrow.  I've been into the flooring place in Yagnub about new flooring in the cloakroom and bathroom.  I have yet to choose.

Scott has taken out the breeze blocks and opened up the doorway between the main kitchen and its adjunct.  He didn't need to remove the cupboards to do that.  That was a mercy.

Today is Ro's birthday and yesterday was the anniversary of moving to this house, 39 years ago.

This afternoon, I paid the whole bill for the kitchen and for its fitting.  I've already paid for the flooring in both areas - all three, in fact, as I'm also having the lobby re-floored.  

I will clear the cupboards in the cloakroom and use the space for kitchen stuff.  I'm pretty triumphant about that, as it will save me from having to have a lot of stuff just dumped randomly in boxes.  All the same, the house has a lot of random stuff, dumped.  

I've ticked off so much on the to-do list that I've been able to add more things to do.  I have, in fact, more to write, but I'm too tired.  

Z has been happier

 Pam's appointment was for 11.30, but she was asked to arrive half an hour early for the pre-appointment checks.  I'm not sure why they didn't just say 11 o'clock.  In any case, we arrived early and were seen almost straight away as the earlier appointment didn't arrive.  Perhaps they didn't notice the half hour early.

All went well and we took less time than we'd expected, so called in to see Peter on the way home.

Yesterday, I was supposed to carry on with freezers and I didn't.  I couldn't face it and started on the larder instead.  The kitchen is more chaotic than ever.  Tomorrow, I must finish emptying the larder, then clean it, then empty the broom cupboard and put stuff from there into the larder, then wonder where the hell everything from the larder is going?  I'm pretty miserable.  But it has to be done.