Newcastle

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One moment you are not so busy, thinking the recession has hit, then suddenly everything changes and you wonder if the jobs will be done before the Christmas break.

On Thursday I let the Train take the Strain and travelled to Gateshead to start on some short bespoke projects for a number of clients.  Good journey and the battery in the PC still had 50% life left at the end.

Next day I walked in from the hotel to the office.  Set off in the dry, but by the time I was near the office a storm had brewed,  It was dark, the wind blew and snow, hail, sleet and rain fell, making the last few minutes a bit miserable.

Finished up early and caught the train back, this time I made use of the Internet connection on the train.  It was often slow and unpredictable, but was able to read my emails.

I have to admit the train is quite civilised, better than the 4 plus hour drive in the dark on a busy Friday night.

The kitchen fitting – day 4

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A running tap in the kitchen

A running tap in the kitchen

The dresser area and fridge.

The dresser area and fridge.

Thursday has been and gone.  We now have water back in the kitchen, the dishwasher is connected, but still no cooker.  The worktops are all attached and treated.  The dresser area has been constructed.  There was a small design change in the dresser area, some of the filler planks were not inserted because it would have made the top unit too wide and obscured the light switch.  It’s all coming together.  Hopefully today we will have the dresser completed and some of the doors & drawer fronts attached. 

Still to do are the cooker hood and cooker splash back, along with the worktops upstand.  Then I will have to get out the paint brush and paint the walls.

Thursday evening was in the Plough and Anchor.  Splashed out on a steak, which was cooked how I asked it to be cooked – rare.

The kitchen fitting – day 3

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Work surface in position

Work surface in position

Work surface in position

Work surface in position

The work surfaces were cut to size, and the hole drilled for the tap.  The joins between the surfaces were also cut ready for assembly.  The cutting was made difficult because the walls are not square.  One time I went downstairs to see the progress and I was confronted by knee deep shavings from the router.  Luckily this was all swept away before Rosemary materialised.  Finally a top surface of stuff was placed on the work surface.  The work surface is wood (oak), and does require treatment every few months.  Sounds rather high maintenance to me, but damage can be repaired with sand paper.

Another meal at the Plough and Anchor, for me it was fish and chips with mushy peas, and for Rosemary a pasta.  I think I have a date with the waitress, she is interested in visiting Cambridge and seeing the Georgian artefacts in the Fitzwilliam museum.  She is Georgian.  It would have been nice to make it a threesome with the second Georgian waitress, but they can’t have the same day off.

The kitchen fitting – day 2

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Drying work surface

Drying work surface

The new dresser

The new dresser

Tuesday, another day working on the kitchen.  By the end of the day the place looked like total chaos.  The work surfaces where laid around the kitchen while their undersides dried.  The cardboard boxes were building up, will have to be going to the skip to get rid of those on Thursday.  The base units where the sideboard was, were also constructed, and the fridge moved to its new location.

Ate late, went to the pub at 20:45 for a meal, Rosemary had pie of the day, while I had a side of pork spare ribs in BBQ sauce.  Yummy.  At least the pub was warm, and we thawed out a bit.

The kitchen fitting – day 1

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Day one of fitting kitchen

Day one of fitting kitchen

The kitchen has been started, this is day one work. The kitchen fitter is not an early starter and arrived after 09:00 on Monday. First step was to find the units, amongst the 119 in the sitting-room, and place them in the area where they were to be fitted. The corner unit was elusive, turned out to be the only flat pack unit. After that we left him to it.

Interestingly the corner unit is designed with big gaps behind it, and a diagonal corner, making it easier to fit in places where the walls are not straight.  Explains my problems with its forerunner.

Today we were a meanie binge, so had a curry from the local Indian takeaway in Waddesdon, Rosemary had the usual Chicken Byriani while I wanted some chilli so ate a Vindaloo. Thankfully there was enough chilli so that I was able to taste it.

The wall replastered

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Walls replastered

Walls replastered

Plaster drying out

Plaster drying out

Friday evening and the walls had been re-plastered, Saturday morning and the coving had been stuck to the walls to cover up the cracks and missing plaster in the ceiling. It’s amazing the transformation achieved by the neat walls.

Sunday was spent by me applying two coats of white emulsion to the ceiling. Alas a third coat is required. I also had to apply a layer of gloss paint (oil based) in one area. This was to seal an area of ceiling where a pipe had once leaked. This, though dry for years, still stained when a coat of emulsion was painted over the area. Hopefully problem has been solved.

Cooking

Cooking

Eating has been a problem, mainly evening meals in a restaurant, but very kindly John and Carol took pity on us and invited us over for an evening meal on Sunday. We have set up the camp stove in the lean-to, and have treated ourselves to bacon and eggs for Sunday breakfast.

The Crooked B????

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The kitchen is in the process of being refitted. Tonight was the third night without cooking or washing facilities, so was the third night eating out. We are trying the different eateries around our local area.

Tonight is the Crooked B????. Strange establishment. It has all the looks of a place that should do well. Old world, plenty of parking. Gardens and facilities for the kids. On a main road, so plenty of passing trade. The place though seems to go from one management company to another, and never seems to do well with anyone. Years ago, like 15-20 years ago it was thriving pub. Now it seems to go through lots of mediocre management companies and short time managers.

Unusually for a pub/restaurant there is a split personality about it. It has two restaurants and a bar. I mean two totally differently managed restaurants.

There is the bar area, serving some real ale, in this case Hook Norton, and the usual lagers. Associated with this is the ‘basic” restaurant serving steaks, liver, burgers, fried mushrooms etc. Staple non adventurous food.

The other restaurant is in the function room. This is Angelo’s, originally from Waddesdon, and lately from Springhill.

When we entered I ordered our drinks, and asked for a menu.  We were taken aback, because we could not see any Italian food on the menu, and this rather basic fare.  Not to worry we ordered. While we were waiting we said how nice the function room looked, at this stage we were informed that was Angelo’s.  How do we order for food there we asked?  You walk in and order there we were told.  There was no signs advertising Angelo’s or anything else to intimate that this other restaurant existed in the building.

Our food arrived.  My mushrooms were good.  Not a lot to go wrong with possibly pre-prepared deep fried mushrooms.  My liver and gravy was OK, not special.  Rosemary’s pate looked ordinary and her risotto was the worst she has ever had.  It didn’t seem to be the correct rice, it had not absorbed any flavour from the cooking and was dry!  We are not going to eat there again, unless the next management change brings on an improvement. As for Angelo’s, it had the usual chicken served in five sauces.  Our previous experience at Springhill for lunch had been a real dissapointment, so we would be feeling rather desparate before we tried the place again.

The new kitchen, stage one the walls.

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We have embarked on a new kitchen for the house. The other had been in the house for 20 years, the doors were beginning to break at the hinges, and the drawers were closing with difficulty.

Another picture of the kitchen.The kitchen walls after they had been stripped.

First we chose the kitchen. In this time of recession you would have thought people would have been falling over each other to do you a kitchen. No. Two companies sent out people to look at the existing room, measured up and discussed the design. Weeks later, and despite nagging neither had produced a design or estimate. Eventually we went to Magnet who came out, measured up and designed the kitchen in front of our eyes. They would have installed it, but we were already down the path of independent contractors. The savings made by getting the kitchen at trade prices were quite substantial. Delivery was quick. Now the kitchen is being installed.

Wednesday and Thursday the old kitchen was ripped out, the walls had their cladding removed and the first fixing of the electrics was completed.

The plaster board

Friday the walls were dry-lined (we’ve got to do our green aka economy bit) and plastered.

Delivery

The delivery of the kitchen also took place early in the morning. Really quite neat in checking all the goods had been delivered, the driver ran a scanner over all the boxes in the house, this produced a list of missing items. So back to the lorry to search for the items. Eventually a complete list of items were accounted for, which were then signed for on the scanner.

Norwich

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Rosemary and I went to Norwich for the weekend to see Ann and Mike.  We visited Nick and Ali, and saw the great work they have been doing on their house. Much remodelling, removal of walls, moving staircases and a complete replaster of all the walls. Truely quite a change to the house and a really excellent change.  Their children had changed too!  Both much taller.

Sunday was spent on Mike’s PC sorting out the pictures and re-loading the electronic picture frame we gave them.

Bristol

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Wednesday 8th, just back from Bristol after spending three days working for a Supermarket. Not really much to report about the place. Stayed in the hotel for the two evenings, internet access was bad as I was on the wrong side of the hotel. Also spent a fortune there on the hotel bill, really Bristol could do with a few more hotels to bring down the cost a little.