j4 | (no subject)

Thank you all for kind comments and offers of help, but honestly I don't think there is any point trying to sue people or live in a hotel and (more to the point) I think it would be more stressful than just living with the fail until it stops being fail.

We spent a large part of today in the House of Fail cleaning things (my hands got so plaster-dusted that I could have probably peeled them off and made a cast of them) and polyfillaing in the holes that weren't quite big enough to put a badger in, and have come to the conclusion that:

* overall, it's not quite as bad as despair led me to believe
* if they fix the Bloody Great Holes then it will be even less quite-as-bad
* they have actually, despite all the mess and fail, done what looks like a pretty good job of the ceilings, which is after all what we asked them to do in the first place
* we can (and will have to) get an electrician in very soon to fix the boiler/lighting fail, but electricians are less likely to leave the house in a horrible mess
* the paint will probably come off the laminate floors in the end
* the carpet is completely fvcked, but I guess that is why god made rugs
* the walls will all need painting, but we can do that while we live there, because some people seem to repaint their houses nearly as often as I change my underpants, and they don't move out completely every time[*], and in the meantime we can always put posters up or something and pretend it's the 1990s again
* okay so I guess 'home' is going to be a bit grim and half-finished for a while (and we still won't have a kitchen! That's not the builders' fault but honestly did they have to get the sink covered in paint?), but I guess that is why god made pubs

[*] Every time they paint. Not every time I change my underpants. I presume.

Also, we went to the everything-shop on Cowley Road to buy extra cleaning stuff (I cycled from there to the House Of Fail with a mop bungee-corded to my bike, big yellow spongey thing sticking out a couple of feet at the end like one of those 'long vehicle' reflecty things) and ended up buying (as well as the mop) one of those tabletop cookers, a little electric hob-in-a-box, because while we do have the magic calor gas hob-and-grill my parents lent us (the one they used when they moved into the first house I remember) we don't have any gas for it. Anyway, the man in the shop must have thought I needed cheering up because he suddenly said "You like sweets? I give you some for free. Which ones do you like?" and I was all surprised and confused but picked a pack of fruity sweets in the shape of bright-coloured hearts & was much cheered as a result. Aww. If all else fails I reckon we can go and live in the everything-shop. They have rugs and mirrors and candles and DIY stuff and cleaning stuff and, like, everything. And fruity sweets and a nice man.

Also also, we then went to

truecatachresis and

squigglyruth's barbecue, where we accidentally had lots of wine and ended up sitting outside in the dark proving that Odysseus was stupid, that democracy didn't work, and that we absolutely had to kill that bloke who's ruined Channel 4. (I don't know, I don't even watch telly! But he has. Ruined it.) All of which seems to have helped with my general attitude to the House of Fail. We are lucky to have lots of lovely friends.

We are probably going to be off the internet for most of this week as O2 and BT between them have begot fail (though I still have my iPhone); I suspect we will fairly quickly find ourselves in the Rusty Bicycle, begging the barman for a flagon of his finest foaming wifi. I'm back in work on the 17th though so after that I'll be a lot more emailable.

See you on the other side...

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Hurrah!

Glad that things are looking up. Hope that they keep doing so.

言おうか。

みんな1日単位とかで仕事してる。
どうする？
もしかしたら、1時間とかでも請け負ってくれるかもね。

Two mansions for $23 per person.

One for $18.

ま、いいか。外からのphotoだけで。

Breakers, Rosecriff and Hyatt Hotel viciny of New Port.

I'm glad things are looking up a bit. Fingers crossed everything else goes smoothly :)

Good luck. I've been through something not dissimilar myself (living in our house while extensive renovation/extension was going on) and it is completely not-fun.

Paint does come off laminate. I keep finding tiny blobs from when I did the kitchen/dining and they flick off with a dig from a thumbnail.

Cor. Keep breathing :) *hugs*

Carpet-changing and wall-painting can make for interesting (?! -ed.) house-keeping-warm type parties, some time down the line when you've recovered from the stress. As you say these are not essentials. I still haven't gutted and redone my kitchen, despite meaning to since I moved in in '04; I think I might just about have recovered from the stress of retiling the bathroom last year. (It is possible to go from "naff" through "warzone" to something plausibly nice, I'm living proof... (http://www.flickr.com/photos/crazyscot/sets/72157604970755140/))

Step 1. Make it livable in.
Step 2. Make it nice(r)...

Glad things are looking a bit more positive and good luck with the move!

Good luck!

Remember that it's you who gets to choose the wall colour, the carpet, and the kitchen—not a landlord. These are things that will make it your home.

The Rusty Bicycle is a very fine pub - I recommend lots of stress-reducing beer.

very very late comment... but my recommendation is to change the carpets *after* doing the painting :) This is probably obvious! But when we were doing our place it was very relaxing not to have to worry about paint getting onto the carpet (we didn't even bother putting down dustsheets, although we didn't have furniture at the time). You need to cut a strip away all round the edge when you get to the skirting-board stage, but a Stanley knife does the job nicely.

I quite like emulsion-type painting (less keen on gloss painting), and it's a pretty quick job: only takes 4 hrs per coat to dry.