Well almost! We spent a good 2-3 hours putting plants in pots and generally tidying up the back-garden. There’s a little bit to do out the front tomorrow, but we’re more-or-less sorted. A good day for it weather-wise – not too hot, not too cold – just right! We finished off by having tea and …
Read More
Category:House and Garden
Ralph and the Wet-Room
Ralph’s here for a few days, continuing to convert our shower-room into a wet-room. During this visit, he’s mainly concentrated on the false wall needed to hide the waste flow coming from the re-positioned loo. Other jobs included planning out the electrics for the new bits and pieces and plumbing in the thermostatic mixer. If …
Read More
Another manic Saturday
Here we go then… deep breath… 7. 45am – Lee to the local Parcels office to pick up mystery parcel. CHECK 10.00am – Front path and side path pressure washed. CHECK 11.15am – OCA Magazine final design, final proof read and signed-off for printing. CHECK 12.00 noon – Truckloads of little jobs to sort relating …
Read More
Another Brick in the Wall…
Ralph’s been here this week from Tuesday to Friday making excellent progress with the wet-room. This week he’s positioned the towel rail and the loo and also fitted the wooden frame for the false wall. Nice one Ralph – we appreciate your expertise and fantastic attention to detail! Steve PalmerI got into blogging quite late …
Read More
Easter Sunday (2011)
It’s a gorgeous day here again today – not quite as warm as yesterday but just right for doing stuff around the garden! …and more stuff! …and more stuff!! …and more stuff!!! Of we go then – I pressure-washed the back-garden patio, then I did the same to the front pathway, then I removed the …
Read More
Spring..and a man’s thoughts turn to…
…tidying-up the garage! Yes, it’s that time of year again, the sun is shining and there’s not a cloud in the sky – so we’re going to give the garage some love and attention! The target in previous years has always been to try and clear it sufficiently to get both of our cars away. …
Read More
Pipe Dreams
Ralph’s been here this week progressing our wet-room project. This week he turned his attention to connecting-up the water supply to the wall-mounted loo, the shower and the new basin. Next phase: the framework for the false-wall and the fitting of the gulley. Wet Articles Wet, wet, wet (week 1) Wet, Wet, Wet …and the …
Read More
Squeeze my Box (Part 2)
I picked up a bargain on Amazon this week in the shape of the Logitech Squeezebox Radio. It’s a neat device that looks and behaves like a radio except that it gets its signal via your router – so no dodgy reception issues, even with our very s-l-o-w internet connection. It also receives Internet-only radio …
Read More
What a Gorgeous Day!
After a cold start and a frost overnight, today turned into a gorgeous day! Maybe a little cold, but what a beautiful blue sky! So, after a quick visit to Asda with Lee for a top-up shop, by way of Central Garage (to get Ann’s alloy replaced), we hit the garden for a massive tidy-up. …
Read More
Wet, Wet, Wet
Ralph’s here this week, for phase 2, weaving his plumbing and project management skills on our ex-shower-room that will ultimately become a ‘wet-room’. There’s not much to see currently except: floor-boards, exposed cabling, plaster-board and lots of empty space!, but he has the vision and we have the cash! Steve PalmerI got into blogging quite …
Read More
Turning our wet room into err, a Wet-Room!
For a while now, having tried to swing a cat in the shower room – we found we couldn’t! – either we (or the cats) are getting larger or the room is shrinking, whatever is it, there just doesn’t seem to be enough room in there anymore. Add to that, the fact that it never …
Read More
Lounge Wizards
We turned into Lounge Lizards Wizards today, and stripped it all out ready for Honor’s decorating skills next Thursday and Friday. I think we were both amazed at how dirty everything had become since we last gave everything a good clean!!! Steve PalmerI got into blogging quite late in life, not publishing my first post …
Read More
Boiler in the Bag
Thanks our good friend Tom who recommended Scott, we’ve been able to replace our ageing boiler with a nice shiny new one. It’s infinitely more efficient and should pay for itself with about four years. As part of the upgrade, we’ve got a new digital seven-day timer that will allow us to set a different …
Read More
Honor amongst Decorators
Honor popped round tonight to give us a quote for ‘freshening-up’ the dining-room and lounge. Ideally, it’ll all be done whilst we’re away on holiday when Lee cat-sits for us. Nice! Steve PalmerI got into blogging quite late in life, not publishing my first post until 2004 – well into my 40s! My lifelong love …
Read More
Another busy Sunday!
Remember when Sunday was the day of rest? No, me neither! More’s the pity! 🙁 Ann spent most of the day in the garden trying to rescue us from the ever-invasive weeds and then planting out bulbs for the Spring. Meanwhile, I was in the office trying to get ahead for the week because I’m …
Read More
Carpets – Phase I
In all the years we’ve lived here, we’ve only ever had the carpets cleaned once. Not surprising then, that over time, they’ve all become a bit grubby – especially the beige ones. Step forward, Nigel, the Cleaning Doctor who we met-up with a few weeks ago after seeing an advert in a local magazine. He …
Read More
Shower sorted!!!
Ralph has sorted out our leaking shower tray – nice one Ralph!!! Facilities have now been restored at Pemberley Grange!!! Steve PalmerI got into blogging quite late in life, not publishing my first post until 2004 – well into my 40s! My lifelong love of technology and communication (in all its forms), together with a …
Read More
Ralph’s here…
Ralph got to ours around 10 minutes before me (I’d been in Canterbury for most of the day). We’re having a ‘techno-chat’ tonight and then tomorrow, he’s going to sort out the leak in the shower-room. Steve PalmerI got into blogging quite late in life, not publishing my first post until 2004 – well into …
Read More
Sunday: Johnny and Mel/Lee for Lunch/David and Val popped round
Everyone was up a little earlier than planned mainly due to me getting Lee’s ‘mayday’ call just before 7am and then heading for her place. By the time I got back, Ann was already preparing the ‘breakfast feast’ – a Full English! We sat down around 9.30 and tucked-in. By the time we finished the …
Read More
Lumix G2 – First photos
This is hardly scientific – I just wanted to ‘bang-off’ a few shots without too much consideration for settings, lighting, subject etc. The interesting part for me was that all the interior shots didn’t require the flash to be used. I’m very satisfied with these, but I’ll get a chance to try some more considered …
Read More
Bed Build
Ahh, you know me with DIY assembly tasks – absolutely hopeless! – maybe it’s because I’m just no good at reading instructions that have been translated into English from Chinese!! So, with a screwdriver, a hammer and a phrase-book in hand, Ann and I attempted to assemble a new bed for the single-bedroom. Actually, it …
Read More
Lunch with Sally B (Not!)
Image by Steve Palmer (UK) via Flickr I was due to meet Sally B at Brown’s in Cambridge today for our three-monthly catch-up. But things didn’t quite work out. Lee (who’d rung to say she wasn’t feeling too well) had invited Mum down for lunch (as I was going to be out), and I agreed …
Read More
Garage
Ahhh, remember the days when garages used to contain just cars and a few related bits? I do, (just!) It’s been a while since it was like that here and for too long, our double-garage has become a sort of ‘chuck-it-in-there-and-turn-the light-out-quickly’ storage facility!!! No more! – A couple of hours of hard graft this …
Read More
Gardening time!
What a gorgeous day – the sunniest so far! Perfect then, for starting to get the garden into shape – and give the lawn its first cut of the year. Steve PalmerI got into blogging quite late in life, not publishing my first post until 2004 – well into my 40s! My lifelong love of …
Read More
Crikey! It’s a carpet!!!
I spent the morning alternating between a bit of prep work and clearing up the office – especially the floor! After an hour or so, I could see the carpet – amazing! We caught up with the gazillion of Lambing Live episodes shown last week on the BBC. Luckily, we had beef for lunch! Steve …
Read More
Flat Hunting
We took a drive down into town today to revisit an apartment in ‘The Woodyard’ off Wellington Street in Kettering Well, initial impressions were favourable. It’s a two-bedroom apartment, pretty close to town with its own parking space. Although the place was a bit grubby and the colour scheme was pretty depressing, we think it’s …
Read More
It’s been a bad week here for technology!
First, my NetBook dies and now the four home phones have more-or-less all deteriorated beyond repair. The replacements turned up today courtesy of John Lewis, and they look pretty good. The best thing about them is that you can program in someone’s number on a single phone and then copy it to all the other …
Read More
Lazy Sunday Afternoon
…and the morning too! Unusually, neither of us had that much to do today. I got the books ready for Nick, my Accountant (it’s my end-of-year), whilst Ann attacked the shower-room armed with an elbow full of grease – and the oven, with a chicken full of err.. chicken! Lee and I caught up with …
Read More
A Lady who does…
Kerry popped round for a briefing on what she’s letting herself in for! She’s very punctual and seems very organised – she loves cats too! 🙂 We’ve a couple of chunky assignments for her to begin with, in a few weeks’ time. Steve PalmerI got into blogging quite late in life, not publishing my first …
Read More
Our New Kitchen – A Step Backwards…
Having blown-out John Lewis because of their high prices and also a local supplier for lack of attention to detail (they missed an appliance off the plans!), our latest supplier has also bitten the dust. Great products, great prices, and a truly gorgeous showroom was complemented by a complete inability to meet any sort of …
Read More