One to avoid

Having just read my friend Liz's film review, I thought I would recommend one to avoid like the plague (slightly different genre though to Collateral). Thunderbirds is absolute pants (in my book it has an equal basement rating with Charlies Angels - first movie - which couldn't even be saved by Drew Barrymore's cleavage). If there had been any strings the actors would have been hung from them and rightly so. I think even I could have done a better job. Ford obviously contributed most of the budget given the blatant product placement (maybe they were the only company who could bear to be associated with it?). Didn't help that the actor who plays Jeff Tracey has a very distictive voice. It was driving me potty, hearing the voice but not being able to place him. Claire came to my rescue and nailed him. He played the spineless secondhand car salesman come pseudo spy in True Lies. Sorry all you intellectuals out there, I actually like that film - its so ridiculous! Just couldn't accept him as a hero type as the alter ego kept on encroaching. Maybe the next one will be better... Charlies Angels second attempt was...

180! (nearly)

Building Inspector came round this morning and apart from wanting a 50mm air gap between the front roof and the insulation, he's happy with everything. Even better, he signed it all off saying he trusted us to get the gap put in. Builder busy adding extra batons to drop insulation down and make requisite space as we speak/type/blog. Next stop plasterboarding and tomorrow, we should get the radiators in, the electrics wired up and the new fuse box in.

Stand by your beds!

It's inspection time for the loft space... Hopefully all the works will be approved and matters can then continue. It's strange to think that it was only 6 weeks ago that the scaffolding went up and they are hoping to be finished in another couple. Its a sci-fi world up there with all this foil faced insulation glinting at you from walls and ceiling. A bit like Space 1999 without the hairdo's - and yes, the back garden does resemble the lunar landscape at the moment! We even have the vacuum, but that's to get rid of the dust...

There's a good reason for that...

Claire was an angel today and finished off painting the back of the house. However, she berated me about leaving the bottom right hand side of the wall unpainted meaning she had to sit on a scaffold pole feeling not overly secure and why couldn't I have done it. I pointed out that the area in question didn't need to be painted as it would be below the new roof line for the rear extension, an aspect she had overlooked. Regarding Phase II, planning permission is in and we wait for the Council to get round to rubber stamping it - 8 weeks is the current going rate I'm told.

Hmmm, textured flooring

Well, we moved back in on Saturday morning, couldn't face it Friday night and were confronted with the job of finding the hall/ stairs/ landing carpet from underneath the layer of dust, grit, plaster and accumulated debris. Plan A was to leave Claire to do this whilst I painted the back of the house - why have a scaffold and not use it? - but rain stopped play and started housework. Never mind, got to paint most of it on Sunday (the back of the house, not the carpet!), succeeding in getting the majority of the paint where it should have been (on the wall) and not on me. Rounded off the weekend with an oversight meeting. Ah well.

Don't panic!

Further to the trauma of damaging one of the few pieces of furniture that we have ever bought new, I am pleased to report that with care and judicious application of 'no more nails' our bedroom wardrobes are now back in place and in one piece - no, the doors aren't stuck together, but the carcass is again whole and structurally sound (as much as laminated chipboard can ever be). Even better, the heating and hot water are working following the successful installation of the new boiler (how sad am I to be telling you this?). Walls are going up in the loft and its quite exciting to finally see the reality as opposed to just drawings or a big empy box. The friction between builder and plumber continues and as it's the last day for the plumber to be on site, hopefully he will survive without getting a chisel embedded between his shoulder blades! Watch this space or the News at 10!

Don't try this at home

There are a number of activities that it is inadvisable to indulge in, especially on your own, in the bedroom and at 10pm. Specifically what I am referring to, of course, is dismantling wardrobes. As part and parcel the the organised mayhem that is our house, the central heating boiler is being replaced - the existing one is 26 ish years old, in the front room and sounds like a spitfire cranking up which is not condusive to a peaceful night in front of the telly. The new one will be in the loft bathroom, well out of the way. Unfortunately, the pipes and pump run under our bedroom floor, directly underneath the wardrobes (what joy!) and need to be capped off. After discovering just how many pairs of shoes, boots, sandals, trainers, flip-flops, slippers etc there actually are in the bottom of Claire's wardrobe I removed the end section and decided just to slide the remaining double out. Bad move. My language was not the approved version and I decided to leave at that point.

I'm sure it was there this morning...

Strange, when I went to work yesterday, the house was looking relatively normal. When I returned later, someone had nicked the landing ceiling and dumped a partially constructed staircase in the hall! Transpired that yesterday was not a good day for our builder. The staircase was late arriving (4pm does not equate to first thing in his book) which threw all his schedules out. Mind you at least it did arrive. At one point the suppliers seemed unsure and totally ambivalent as to when it might put in an appearance. Today he is much happier. I have just spoken to my lovely spouse to get a lunchtime update and the staircase is mainly up, the electrician is busy changing fuse boards and leaving wires all over the place, and the plumber has turned the water off prior to fitting the new boiler in the loft which he couldn't do until the stairs were up as it weighs a ton (nearly). Suffice to say, we are not resident at the moment and retire gracefully to a friends flat to sleep. Have to remember to give Naomi the good news that she has successfully named a friends hamsters as it will make her day.

Well, the girls are happy bunnies now. it may have been a Saturday, but Alan (our builder) came nevertheless and they now have a window that fits instead of a sheet of ply.. Shame he didn't arrive 15 mins earlier this morning, he could have helped me unload the 30 sheets of 8'x4' plasterboard. Still, it was fun watching him carry them upstairs and heave them into the loft! This afternoon was great fun - a family picnic in Gunnersbury Park cum birthday party for one of Naomi's friends. Forget playstation, DVD's, computers et al and get out there with a ball, bat, frisbee and a bunch of friends and run about like loonies! I think the grown ups had more fun than the kids. Indian take-away tonight and then bed time for tired childres, followed not too long after by equally tired parents. Night night all.

Deep Breath

How strange to be on the cusp and about to enter a brave new world. A couple of months ago, I had no knowledge of blogs until a friend sent me a link to one of hers. I then found one, then two and now five other people I know who also have blog sites - its obviously catching!
Even stranger that I should now be logging my first ever blog. Time will tell as to the frequency I make of this facility.
Oh well, must away home as loads to do this weekend clearing and packing. The builders are in and the new staircase is being installed next week along with the new central heating boiler - what fun, what mess! No wonder we're moving out and leaving them to it.
The girls would settle for a new bedroom window to replace the large sheet of ply. Bit of a boo boo there, they took the old window out and then found they had incorrectly measured the window... yep, you guessed it, the new one didn't fit. Ah well.