We think we may have hacked the problems with the burglar alarm. Given one's druthers, one druther not have one at all. All they seem to achieve is nuisance when they malfunction, as ours has done three or four times lately. We let ourselves be persuaded to take out a maintenance contract, and are already the poorer for having had to buy a replacement battery and a new sensor for the kitchen, not to mention the monthly payments. Oh well: we've been out a few times since the sensor was fitted, and we don't think it has misbehaved again.
Meanwhile, Jonathan has been and gone, and so, consequently, has the miserable magnolia in the hall etc, to be replaced with a pleasing pale blue-grey, and the woodwork is looking infinitely better for a fresh coat of white. He has also stocked us up with duck eggs and sausages, and will shortly bring us a load of horse to improve our dreadful soil. Useful chap to know, eh?
The carpet has been something of a challenge, however. We usually buy from a remnant shop in the industrial estate, and went back to them, but this time bought a bright terra cotta cloth off the roll. This was our first attempt to buy from the catalogue, as it were. Well, it wasn't long before we'd a phone call to say that our choice had been discontinued. The chap at the shop helpfully came round with some alternatives, and we chose one that came close, but in a rather duller tone. Though it would have done, we didn't feel terribly enthusiastic: once it had occurred to me that the colour reminded me of dog food, it didn't really stand a chance. Given that we plan to have the damn' thing for the rest of our days, we decided that it was too much of a compromise, and cancelled it before the estimator had even got back to base. The paint on the walls had turned out to be rather bluer than we'd thought, so we tore up the assumptions and went looking for a blue-grey, much to the amusement of the staff at the shop, who I'm sure have us labelled as a pair of vacillating old queens. Two of them went off and searched the swatches, and found a most acceptable carpet sample, and we liked it at once: we brought the sample home, checked it against its future surroundings, liked it and so rang and ordered it. A few hours later, the phone rang - yep: discontinued. The good news is that they could get the same colour in a slightly lighter weight, so we're going with that. And we're a hundred quid or so better off.
We'd already lifted the grotty laminate from the hall and the insane cream carpet from the landing last weekend, and schlepped a car load along to the tip. In this way, Jonathan could get a clear run at it the decorating when he began on Monday. Today, Martyn has screwed down some of the noisier floor boards on the landing, so nocturnal trips to the outhouse should be less of a disturbance. It'll be good to have the carpet down: we await a phone call - preferably to say that it has arrived and is ready to go in the fitter's van. At that point, we'll lift and dump the remaining cream carpet from the stairs. Shame, really - it seemed to be of decent quality, but was just a ridiculous colour.
The lengthening days are a great comfort. Not only to us, it seems - we've had a wren yelling at us from the trees today. The traffic is slowly increasing: a tray of peanuts on the steps is enough to bring in up to eight wood pigeons at a time, scaring off the jays: like their cowardly, bullying magpie cousins, they flee from anything bigger than themselves. We're looking forward to the return of the beautiful nuthatches, the infuriating chaffinch and - who knows? - maybe even the mallards.
No comments:
Post a Comment