It would be nice to have company

I’d nearly forgotten I was going to do a few short updates, although I have a feeling that after not blogging much at all this year I’ve lost a lot of my readership. Oh well. The reason I nearly forgot is that I’ve been playing with TweetDeck. I signed up to Twitter a couple of weeks ago, but couldn’t see the point. But Daniel Caroll suggested I get a desktop application for it, and TweetDeck was one of the ones he suggested. It’s not great, but it is better than Twitter.com. I’m trying to find things/people to sign up to.

So, going back to what’s be going on, we finally had the en suite bathroom replaced. Oddly, this is the larger of our two bathrooms. I looked at a couple of designs, but decided to keep the same basic layout. I have had the sunken bath removed though. I’ve been really pleased with the guys we had do it. They are very nice and have made an excellent job. I’ve taken a few photos so that you can see what it looks like. I still need to sort out new flooring though – although I think we’ve chosen something today. But there’s not rush as we need an electrician to look at the kitchen lights, and he will need to get under the bathroom floor. So, here’s the new bathroom







There are a couple of problems to be sorted out though. Firstly the toilet plan leaks. It’s a factory fault, so Neil, who fitted the bathroom, has organised a replacement. We think he’s coming tomorrow to fit it. He’s also got to sort out the seal on the shower door, as the door only pushes to and doesn’t seal at present.

As we were really happy with the job that Gary the tiler did, we had him back to do the kitchen (well, part of it). The tiles were really old, and I’d painted them white back in 2000. But the paint was starting to peel. It should have been straightforward. But I’d chosen pearlescent tiles, and when they were up they appeared different shades. I got a partial refund, more tiles, Gary replaced a load, and there was still a problem. Turns out they absorb water and go darker when cut, and should dry out in a couple of weeks. So the patchy appearance should disappear.

Poor Gary – he’s had to work under adverse conditions. At least when the guys were doing the bathroom we could shut the dogs out. But it wasn’t possible with the kitchen, as Gary had his cutter outside, so the back door was constantly open. And Max decided he wanted to help. That normally involved chewing bits of tile, walking off with Gary’s brush, or wandering around trying to chew his sponge. And as he liked Gary he spent a lot of time lying at his feet or under his steps! It’s a good job Gary is really fond of animals (his parents used to own a pet shop) and thought the dogs were great.

So, that’s the bathroom and kitchen dealt with. I’ll have to have a think about whether there is anything else other that photos from our walks for tomorrow.