Scary Thought

31 March 2011

What do they say about it never raining, but it pours... or whatever the saying is. Well this week has been one quote after another. It was the first week that my advertisement was back in the local rag and every man and his dog has been calling me. I have done four quotes in as many days and have been sitting up late into the night to get them done.

I think it is already starting to wear thin with Claire and the kids though. I am leaving the house at 7pm each evening and out until at least 9pm. Then I get the laptop out and immediately start writing up the quote, which takes at least an hour. I like to do it while I still have all the detail fresh in my mind. Meanwhile Claire has put the kids to bed and made me a cuppa and I ignore her for the rest of the night.

But I see it as a short term thing just to get going again. I need a few weeks of work to step into so I feel comfortable with everything financially. The last thing we want is to start dipping into our savings when we have plans for those.

Speaking of which we have had a structural survey done on the auction house we are interested in. To be fair I was in two minds about that as I felt I could already see everything that was wrong with it. I am a professional after all! But Claire insisted and of course, she was right. Turns out we may have some serious damp issues to deal with and a possibly dodgy old extension. There is a good chance we will have to pull it down and start again. It is little more than a lean-to anyway, so it would have been on the cards in any case.

Hopefully these factors will put the average buyer off and we will be able to get it even cheaper. The auction is next week, so I should be able to say if we are the proud owners of a new home in next week’s blog. Scary thought actually!

In terms of my current job, things are of course going OK. Had a run-in with the “kids” upstairs. Their constant dance music was doing my head in so I went up to complain. They told me they didn't think it was a problem as I had seen fit to wake them up at 7.30am the previous morning. I tried to keep calm and explained that any normal person is out of bed by that time during the week anyway and they might understand that if they ever get a job. I then told them to have some respect for their neighbours and think of the lady who lives upstairs. Made me feel better, but made no difference to the music volume.

Installed some very cool radiators in the bedrooms this week. They are radiators which double as full length mirrors. The radiators tubes run up the side and the mirror is central. They look great but cost an arm and a leg. Plus if you break the mirror you end up with a very expensive and pointless radiator. Not my problem though!

The rest of the flat is getting there. Maybe one week to ten days left to go. I still have some more gadgets to install. The coffee machine was delivered yesterday so I am looking forward to getting that in. The kitchen cabinets are here and will go in this week and the glass for the splashbacks is here too.

Anyway won't be long till life is back to hectic normal – just the way I like it.