Well, Saturday was fun although not
particularly successful, mission-wise. We had intended to shop for tonal lift
objects for Lesley's new bathroom after visiting the conservatory place. After a drive
through the badlands of Medway Industrial Estate we eventually found it only to
discover it wasn’t open on the weekend. Why we, as project managers, didn’t
check this out first, I am unclear.
Then, by the time we had looked around for
something ornamental (a.k.a. tat) for
the bathroom (found three options to be considered, but Lesley wouldn’t
countenance the orange china parrot for some reason), we were hungry and tired
from the heat, so came home for a late lunch. That was the end of shopping for Saturday
– it was too hot to go out again.
Sunday we went out again, this time to
Wickes to check out the kitchen. Yes, Lesley still loves the Heritage Bone
style she chose last year – glad to see chemo hasn’t affected her brain overly
much. We made an appointment with their designer to come to the house on
Tuesday. Went to Sainsbury’s somewhere in the south east, but I have no idea
where. Shopped for meals for the next few days. I am constantly amazed (don’t
know why it still strikes me) by the amount of shelf and freezer space given
over to ready-made food. However it does make shopping easier as I can by-pass
those aisles (except maybe for where the Gu puddings are located…). Dinners
have been planned – goat’s cheese and walnut salad, chicken thighs filled with
boursin cheese and wrapped in bacon, burgers, nachos. We had a lovely beef
curry at the neighbours’ place Sunday evening and came home well-fed and
well-wined ready to fall asleep.
Monday has faded into the recesses of my
memory (some kind of shopping – for required bathroom accessories), but I know
I made the goat’s cheese, walnut and nectarine salad for dinner – it was very yummy.
Tuesday was rather productive (note British understatement).
First achievement included
decisions about the kitchen: The kitchen designer came in the morning and she heard
the desires/wants/needs/unwanted and went away to do the drawing up. My hunch
is it will end up almost the same as what Lesley had drawn up last year. Well,
I hope so as that was efficient and effective use of space, and workable except
for the sink being beside the wall with nowhere to put anything waiting to be
washed. (Drawn up by a rather young man, so what more could be expected?) Charlotte
also took measurements of the under stairs cupboard to see if my plan for
fitting a drawer for the vacuum cleaner and a pullout cupboard/drawer could be
implemented to make good use of otherwise useless/unusable space. We are
meeting Charlotte on Saturday at 11am at the store to look at her drawings plus
stoves, microwaves, range hoods etc.
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| Tonal lift down low in the bathroom |
The second achievement was deciding
on and purchasing tonally uplifting tat for the bathroom: At the shop called
Home, I think, the assistant there arranged the artificial flowers in a vase
for Lesley and I don’t think she charged for her time. Score! It looks pretty
good, I think, and certainly relieves the beige-ness. I do believe that
chickens would look better but, for some reason, Lesley won’t take that advice …
Then it was off to the
conservatory people where the third achievement occurred - she has decided on using these guys and has a better idea of what will work, look stylish and be in keeping with her house. We had a good chat with the owner and one other staff
member, with the upshot that the owner drove us to his place to view his
conservatory so Lesley could see it in the flesh.
She may end up with a straight
ended conservatory, but at least she will NOT have a lean to style. (Here's their website http://www.t2twindows.com/
They seem to be well made, sturdy and attractive.) She will have a proper roof,
not glass; and will probably choose between a gable end (either glass above the
door or filled in) or Edwardian. The Victorian style, which is my favourite, has
standard angles of 135 degrees so their advice is that it isn’t practical for
narrow-ish conservatories as it chops too much useable space off. Mmmm, I'm not convinced. Today we are
going to buy a couple of spray cans and mark it all out on the ground outside
so she can 'see' the size. The guys are coming on Saturday arvo to measure and
do some drawings on the fly so she can get more of a picture. All they need is
cake and coffee. She will buy cake and I will make pikelets (with jam and
cream, methinks) as there is still no stove …
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| Incinerated buns - I decided discretion was the better part of valour and didn't take a photo while they were under the grill in flames ... |
Dinner was burgers with
beetroot, fried onions, tomato, lettuce, with some mushrooms and salad on the
side. The preparation was not without excitement. I managed to set fire to the
buns under the grill when I was preparing salad. I left them out on the front
grass, and while I was unsure if Chatham’s birdlife eats charred bread, I
notice that this morning it has all gone!
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