Avalanche ! Run for your life !

Update for Mister_IQ

2007-07-13T21:14:00.000+01:00

There, finally. Still not entirely finished, but has been like this for the last year or so.

Needed closure on this blog, methinks.

28th April 2005

2005-05-05T09:38:00.000+01:00

The last couple of weeks have mainly involved plumbing and plasterboarding.

Looking toward the rear / garden

The left side of the kitchen units

Toward the utility room

Toward the utility room (from the rear)

12th April 2005

2005-04-22T23:39:00.000+01:00

I'm falling behind again in blogging this.

I can only show you progress in pictures.

12th April 2005

The issue with the windows was resolved quite well in the end. The supplier was offering £250, while the builder was suggesting £500. I told the builder this, and after a few days when the work was completed, he said he'd charge me £300.
However, I'd still been negotiating with the supplier at £500 and charged him VAT on it too. So a profit of £287.50 was the final result.

Do I feel guilty ?
Hell no !
The prices for the extras are hitting us hard, so we're grateful for small mercies. (we've still got the old windows too, so expect to see those on ebay any time soon)

Thursday 31st March

2005-04-06T14:50:00.000+01:00

Things started to move along nicely. I collected the roof windows and then later the flashing kits.
I received a call from the builders on Thursday to say the windows are old stock. They were manufactured in 2000 and don't fit the new flashing kits !

Following long angry conversations with the merchants, they have admittedly they shouldn't have been selling them. They are going to send out new windows and bear the cost of stripping back the slates already installed and the replacing them. I have a feeling there will be arguments over how much work that actually is though. I helped a bit by stripping off most of them on Friday night and Saturday morning.
Saturday morning, Paul also came around and did a fantastic job completing the first fix electrics all over !

Tuesday 22nd March

2005-04-04T13:13:00.001+01:00

OK, this was kind of my fault, but we messed up the roof steel. When the architect drew up the initial drawings, we asked for some minor changes internally. He did these and gave us a new set of plans. Unfortunately, when the builders arrived on site I had given them the first set of plans thinking that the only changes were minor internal ones. Unbeknownst to me, there was also a major change in the size of the ridge beam. The builders had already ordered it, so we had to bear the cost of that and hope that it can be resold. Unfortunately, the new one is much larger and expensive too.
When it arrived 5 of us tried to move it for an hour or so. We reached the alley.
The crane arrived the following day, swung it into place in about 10 minutes and disappeared.

Tuesday 22nd March
The roof has been going on, leaving the holes for the Velux roof windows.

Monday 14th March -1st floor joists

2005-04-03T14:35:00.000+01:00

Last week, the main thing happening was the first floor joists going in.
I'm still trying to catch up though, since we've been a little short of sleep.

Monday 7th March - Extension (to the family)

2005-03-08T09:57:00.000Z

Last week has been hectic.
I can't remember a lot of what happened construction wise because our new baby daughter Darcey arrived on Sunday (Mother's Day !).
I'll try to recap though. We had a lot of snow which slowed things down somewhat, but the blocks have been going up gradually. I also took Friday off work, and finished off moving the kitchen into the dining room which has worked much better than expected. We also completed the boiler move into the airing cupboard. It's not working 100% right, but that's mainly down to a scaled-up cylinder which we'll be replacing. I also witnessed the horde of wilderbeast which are scaffolders. Even the builders just stop and watch as they storm through. The air turns blue with the language and the volume on site is raised to eardrum-bursting levels.
Today, they finished the block work and are ready to start on digging the hole for the pier which the steels rest on, and then knocking down the wall. Here's a view from the top of the scaffold.

Monday 28th February - The first blocks

2005-02-28T21:46:00.000Z

Drains were all dug and in place this week. We've also decided to have a timber floor rather than solid (building inspector insisted on a steel mesh, tied into the footings with a 9" base) or block and beam (more expensive).
I've started moving the kitchen into the dining room as a temporary set-up, but we need to make the changeover as quick as possible to ensure we always have a washing machine and dishwasher. Baby could be here any day now.
The blocks arrived but it's been slow going due to the weather. They can't lay them when it's sub-zero, so as soon as they arrived nothing happened. Due to this, the builders came in on Saturday and started !
Here's Tony making sure things are on the level.

Monday 21st February - footings done

2005-02-21T09:21:00.000Z

After 2 days of additional digging, shuttering the sides of the footings and pouring concrete we're finally

done. The building inspector made us not only dig to a metre each side of the well, but step it up to about

2.5 metres deep for a further metre each way.

We've also decided to use Celcon blocks to build the walls. It's a thin joint system which doesn't use mortar, but an adhesive insted. Yay ! We're building out of lego !

The builders should be starting on the drain digging today.

Friday 15th February 2005 - Oh Well

2005-02-11T10:07:00.000Z

Fuck it !

Yesterday, the builders found a well. So, after a whole 3 days of smooth work we've ground to a halt.
OK, it's not quite as bad as it sounds. I mean, it is a deep well, and could go even deeper (they haven't hit the bottom yet and they're down to 3 metres), but if it goes much further the engineer will design some steel to go over it. Then we just pour concrete over the top.
Still, it puts us back a day or two right at the beginning.

UPDATE : It looks like they've hit the bottom at just past 3 metres. If so, they'll have to dig around it for a metre or so (2 days) and then we can pour concrete. If not, the engineer will design some steels to put across it, dig around it even more and then pour concrete.

Saturday 29th January - Starting Work

2005-01-29T16:47:00.000Z

Man Alive ! 2 posts in as many days !

I've decided I'm going to keep a track of the extension here. So here's the first piece of work done.
I took down the rear wall today, in preparation for the builders starting (no Handy Andy to help me).

The new foundations will be going in where that old wall was, then a new wall will go up on ground and first floor. We're filling in the courtyard with a two storey extension basically.

Friday 28th January 2005

2005-01-28T15:11:00.000Z

Wow. I really am a rubbish blogger. Such a long time.

What has passed ?

Still no sign of loony tenant. I sorted through his crap stored in the garage and discovered things of value totalling precisely£0. I have acquired a couple of CDs and DVDs which I didnt already own, given away the R&B and binned everything else. I have a crappy Epson C82 still to give away if anyone wants it.

The baby bump is getting bigger and bigger. We are less prepared than we should be. In particular, regarding the extension.

We have finally decided on which builders we are going for; The Swindon brothers. They've done work for a couple of friends and neighbours so we know the quality is good. We also know they aren't always great at finishing jobs, but then with builders I think it's better to know what problems to expect, because there will be something with any of them. First dig into the ground is due to start on 7th Feb. We'll see.

I had a birthday.

Friday 22nd October 2004

2004-10-22T15:24:00.000+01:00

OK, so it's not the end of Loony Tenant.

We let him go, still owing us some money (a few hundred) because we're stupid, trusting people. Now, I can't contact him. I know where he's working in Amsterdam and I managed to speak to him once, but now I just get someone else's voicemail. I have his address because I forwarded some mail, but travelling to the Netherlands to collect seems a waste of time. Anyone know any Dutch heavies ?

Tuesday 19th October 2004

2004-10-19T14:53:00.000+01:00

No update for ages, I know.

What's happened ?

Looney Tenant has moved out. Went to Amsterdam of all places. It was just time to go and be weird somewhere else. He does owe us some money but he has some stuff stored in our garage as security. It's probably body parts.

Our planning permission came through. Now we have to wait for construction drawings to be completed and submitted, then we can start.

The mother-in-law gets more annoying by the week. I'm kind of used to it. She's been frustratingly ignorant and selfish for at least the 15 years I've known her.
Sometimes, it's just the little things. She decided that she is going to honour us with her presence next month and come over from Ireland. She also decided that she wants to bring Mrs RB's nephew with her (Mrs RB's sister lives in Ireland too).
Now, Mrs RB's sister doesn't want him away from her as he's only five, we don't really have the room for him to stay, and we know that we'll just be lumbered with him as soon as they arrive.
We love him, but we both work so looking after him means taking precious time off.
They tell the MIL this, and she says "oh, but he's been begging me to come".
He's five, for fuck's sake. He hasn't begged for a trip on a plane. He's begged for sweets and TV, but not a journey to England.
She's basically a drama junkie. She loves to argue and feel put-upon.

9th August 2004

2004-08-09T15:48:00.000+01:00

No post for a while. Just been too damn busy, and it's too damn hot.

Anyway, our plans for the extension have been drawn up and submitted now. So now we just have to keep fingers crossed that the mighty approval people at the council give us the go-ahead to build.

I hope so, it'll add a lot of value to the house and hence more flexibility when we do eventually move. We've talked about it a lot. Should we trade locations and get something larger by moving ? Would we stay in the UK ? We could move a little further North and get a much bigger place, or even to Ireland, but then there's the MIL to consider with that particular option (that's a story for another time probably).

The fact of the matter is, we like the area we live in. We are just struggling (a bit) to afford to live here, in the size of house we'd ideally like. We have excellent schools nearby, we have great friends and neighbours, and the all the amenities we need. However, the thought of building our own house or buying a much larger place does tempt us. Plus, I hate the thought of reaching a certain age and realising I've always lived in the same country.

I suppose we could always come back if it didn't work. We do have consistency of schooling to consider but I imagine one can always find reasons not to do things.

/ramble.

Tuesday 13th July

2004-07-13T10:08:00.000+01:00

OK. False alarm !
I'm not confirming that he doesn't have his ex-wife chopped up into handy bite-sized pieces somewhere, but it's NOT here.
The window my neighbour had seen was actually my garage / workshop. Our local council have changed all the bin collection times recently and we forgot last week. We couldn't fit all the bags into the wheelie bin, so I threw them in the workshop to stop the cats getting to them. Bin bags + 2 weeks = flies.

Sorry to disappoint. :(

Monday 12th July

2004-07-12T13:03:00.000+01:00

Hmmm. I just received a call from a neighbour.

The flat we let out to Looney Tenant has windows facing the road. He just walked by and saw one window filled with flies on the inside.

Could it be a leftover sandwich ? Could it be his roadkill collection ? Could it be his ex-wife ? Who knows ?

Tune in, this time tomorrow to find out !

Thursday 8th July 2004

2004-07-08T11:58:00.000+01:00

This post needs a little background history so here goes.

When my business partner and I started the company, we worked from my home (in the loft room / attic). One of my cats at the time would come and sit on the one spare chair we had, and we decided that she should have an official title. Her name is Domino (due to the rows of 2 spots on her tummy), so she had a piece of paper pinned to her chair, with the title "Dom Fellini - Operations Manager". We had a new Italian Operations Manager !

The interesting by-product of this was that when we received annoying sales / telemarketing calls, we would always suggest that they should speak to Dom Fellini, the Operations Manager, but he wasn't in at the moment. So the game was spawned, one point for referring them to DF, two points if they call again to ask for DF, 5 points if they send literature addressed to DF and a full ten points if they call and claim to have spoken to DF in the past (which they did !).

The game evolved as we became bored, and we also moved to offices so Domino could no longer sit with us. We would try to give the most ridiculous and outrageous names we could think of - Ken Tuckie, Edmund Whoppinghat, Ray Bigteeth, Peter Bigginbed, Timothy Banana and Heidi Hole were some of our favourites. We've now bored of that too though, and have discoverd sound boards.

This Tom Hanks soundboard has proved quite effective so far, but I'm bringing in a mic tomorrow to see if we can record some. I'll let you know how it goes.

Tuesday 29th June 2004

2004-06-29T13:20:00.000+01:00

OK, Looney Tenant came back from holiday yesterday.
(I forgot to mention that he left 2 weeks ago for a holiday in Cyprus - and left his key in the door, making us wonder if he was ever coming back)
Anyway, LT looks a lot more chilled and relaxed. There would seem to be one good reason for this, sex. He met up with his Russian girlfriend over there and he hasn't seen her for a while, so my guess is that they probably didn't see much sun. Hopefully it should delay any psychotic episodes for a while. Perhaps I should pay someone to go and service him regularly to help avoid having him turn deranged, break in and murder us in our beds.

25th June 2004

2004-06-25T11:58:00.000+01:00

Just for the sheer hell of it, and because I don't want to talk about anything else, here's a pic of my beautiful girl.

18th June 2004

2004-06-19T00:53:00.000+01:00

Mainly for Taz's benefit, and because I got round to doing it.
Here's my place.

Managed to get the shot from my friend's roof, while he was doing some work up there.

Wednesday 16th (Part Two)

2004-06-16T15:54:00.000+01:00

We had Scarlett's party on Saturday.

She was bought so many wonderful presents, and everyone came round for a great barbeque.
I cooked home-made turkey burgers and curried chicken kebabs.

We carried on after the kids were in bed and played football in the garden until we couldn't see the ball anymore. Loony Tenant stayed in the flat and everyone had a wonderful time.

Wednesday 16th June 2004

2004-06-16T15:43:00.000+01:00

So much to catch up on.

We met Loony Tenant in full loony mode. Mrs RB and I had a few drinks and we're sitting out in the garden. I'd gone inside to check out the latest on Worth and she decides to ask LT if he'd like to sit in the garden and have a drink. As it turns out, he's a pissed as we are and is decidedly jumpy. By the time I come back downstairs, Mrs RB has got fed up with the conversation and she wanders off to go to bed.
So, I'm left with Mr Bitter-Welsh-Divorcee-Looked After Dying Mum-Bitter About That Too Because He Had To Give Up University. The conversation goes along the lines of
LT - serious, deep question to me.
RB - mood lightening answer with serious tone to pacify him, question to him.
LT - Why are you asking me that ?
RB - It's just a question.
LT - I'm not comfortable about your wife asking me to have a drink in your garden.
RB - It's just us being friendly.
LT - serious, deep question to me.

and so it went on. I probably paint it worse than it was, but he is somewhat odd.
I'm proud-ish of my geek side, but this guy is a Database Admin and he has ZERO friends. This isn't such a bad thing I suppose, he sits in the flat (apartment) and has no friends round making noise. It could be worse.

Thursday 10th June 2004

2004-06-10T11:34:00.000+01:00

It's Scarlett Bear's birthday today and she's 2 years old !
We spent 10 minutes this morning sitting the bed opening presents (a wooden trainset, a wooden circus and a new outfit for her dolly (from Nanny and Grandad). We had huge fun and life seems grand. If only I didn't have to come to work.

Tuesday 8th June 2004

2004-06-08T10:35:00.000+01:00

Hell it's hot ! 28° C in my office with the fan full on.

Monday 7th June

2004-06-07T10:58:00.000+01:00

I'm tired. It was a long, drunken weekend.

Mrs Redbull started it off when she went out with friends from work for a leaving party. I'd had a few drinks at home while trying to chop, and Mrs RB rolled in at around 1am bouncing off the walls. She's funny when drunk and I told her. This made her laugh some more.
She managed to get into bed, but immediately slurred "I sink aam gonna be sick.". She swings her legs off the bed and stands... for about a nanosecond until the legs give way. She looks up at me from the floor. Drunk-logic takes hold and she 'knows' it's better to crawl to the bathroom than walk. Off she goes, still colliding with the walls. I see her reach the toilet but collapse into a heap on the floor. Knowing she'll be safe from falling off that for a while, I go downstairs to fetch a bucket. I manage to get her back into bed with the bucket placed in what I hope is the appropriate position for projectile vomit.
5.30am comes and Scarlett wakes. I go to settle her, but am diverted to the bathroom to switch off the hot tap of the bath, which I hadn't noticed Mrs RB had turned on full before leaving the bathroom.
6.30am comes and Scarlett wakes again. This time I let her climb into bed, but she fidgets until she gets out to go and play.
7.30am comes and I hear Mrs RB say "Oh, Scarlett!". I look up to see she's taken a red pen and drawn all over her tummy. I then notice she's also drawn on the wall. This is the first time she's done it but she knows pens are for drawing on paper so I tell her off and explain again.
I look to my darling wife and say "Didn't you notice her drawing on herself and the wall ?". She looks at me deadpan and says "Well, you didn't notice when she was drawing on your back."

Friday 28th May 2004

2004-05-28T13:21:00.000+01:00

We've been approved for our remortgage now, so the plan to extend our house is well underway.
Last night we had the fourth and final architect round to quote for producing drawings. He was the spit of Dave Lee Travis ! To those who are outside of the UK, and also those who are under 30, DLT was a radio DJ, mainly legendary due to the 'darts on the radio' competition he ran in the 80's. He was caught out by Noel Edmonds (another celeb at the time) on his TV show. I have a feeling they never showed this particular excerpt DLT swears like a docker (That's NSFW in case it wasn't obvious)

Interestingly enough, the last architects who came round were also dopplegangers. There was two of them, one looked like Steven Spielberg and the other like Harold Shipman, the infamous murderer of old age pensioners. Spielberg rang me with his quote a few days ago, and mentioned that he wouldn't be able to start for a couple of weeks as he was on holiday and his colleague (Shipman) was busy looking after his dying mother. Now I already had the Shipman image in my head when he told me, so it was all I could do not to snigger.
I know. I'm a bad man.

Monday 24th May 2004

2004-05-24T13:57:00.000+01:00

I've been sitting here wondering what to write.

Reading other people's blogs left me with the desire to offer opinions and select a specific thing that pissed them off that day / week. Nothing has pissed me off since post 1. I hope there's not too many high expectations of this blog.

What did I do at the weekend ?
Well Saturday, I watched the FA Cup final, drank beer on the moor with friends and all our kids. The sun was out and everyone was in fine form.
Sunday, we took Scarlett swimming. She's only two on 10th June but she's getting really strong in the water. I've been taking her swimming almost every week since she was nine weeks old. She can adjust herself from vertical to horizontal in the water and start kicking her feet now. She loves every second of it. Finished off some gardening in the afternoon, played squash (badly) and came home for dinner and a movie.

So there you go. Nothing to piss me off.

21st May 2004

2004-05-21T15:50:00.000+01:00

So, this is blogging ?

Well, here is page 1.

In the interests of conformity, I should introduce myself with the basics ;
33 years old, though I usually have to work it out as I never remember.
Married, to the most amazing, giving, thoughtful woman I have ever met.
One beautiful daughter, Scarlett, who is a whirlwind of laughter and trouble.
Worked in sales in one form or another all my life. I've worked in recruitment for 8 years, and set up my own recruitment agency with a business partner 5 years ago.
Own our own home, a cottage built in 1890.
One cat, Domino, lazy but friendly, though still not as friendly as her brother Sam who we lost to traffic in '99 (still miss you Sam !)
I spend spare time (that is time not devoted to Scarlett), with Photoshopping and attempting to learn photography.
I enjoy a drink or two, usually with friends / neighbours but gave up smoking about 4 months ago (not going too badly).