Spiral Staircase – What a Pain

12 August 2010

Still working hard, as ever. I am so used to jobs which take two or three weeks at the most, that this one feels like it is dragging on already. And we have hardly got started.

The builders are still on site and have moved to the upstairs. Turns out it will be slightly more complicated to put the stairs into the loft than we thought. Chris decided on a spiral staircase to make the most of the downstairs space and it fits all the building regulations and so on. But it is going to be a pain in the rear to fit. It has to go in one corner of the room downstairs, but that means that you pop up in an awkward place in the loft. Clearly the architect didn't think about the fact that the loft was to be used as a bedroom. It is now going to be a very limited space and you will have to bend over to avoid knocking your head every time you go up the stairs.

Chris says this is a sacrifice worth making and that people will take into account the limitations of an older building. I am not convinced, but it isn't my house...

Also this week we are working on the plumbing. This is a really big job. Thankfully Katy is really getting stuck in. She absolutely loves it. We have extended pipe work and dug trenches and even had to liaise with the water board to get three different water supplies. She is learning so much at the moment that I wonder if college is the right place to learn this stuff. Surely working on the job is better than anything they can teach you in a classroom.

Katy is still flavour of the month when it comes to the lads who work for the builder. They have been offering to show her how to put up plasterboard and to her credit she has pointed out to them that she works for me not them and that building is too boring anyway. She is definitely giving as good as she gets. They are not getting anywhere, but they keep trying. It makes me laugh!

At home I am in the bad books for being away from home so often. I have had to do a number of late nights and even a day on the weekend in the last two weeks. I have been reminded of my duties as a parent and the fact that it is the school holidays.

To be honest I think that Claire is just finding it hard being stuck at home with both kids every day. Money wise we can't really afford for her to be taking them out all the time and thinking of fun stuff to do at home is hard work. She has a pretty good network of friends, but as she said to me, they have all gone on holiday. I have pointed out that we had our holiday before the schools shut shop, to make sure it was more quiet. She thought that was a good idea then, but now she wants another short break.

I am pretty much convinced that is not going to happen, but she might go and stay at her Mum's for a few days. Hate to say it but the peace and quiet might just be what I need too. Am I the world's worst husband? Nah, just overworked and pretty much knackered. Nothing new there then!