I'm really sick of our local tip!
Over the last year, I've visited it on quite a few occasions and it's bloody hard work.
When we ripped out the kitchen, I painstakingly took the units apart. They were all loaded into the back of the car and despatched to said tip.
On arrival, I headed for the wood skip. But no, that was wrong. These were chipboard so need to go in the non-recyclable. Last time I looked, chipboard was wood! Never mind, I started chucking them in. I was stopped after a few minutes.
"How many units have you got love?", said the attendant woman.
"Well, there's about 5 in total", says I.
I then got given a 'look'. "We're only supposed to take two at a time"
Where is the logic in this? How many people replace a kitchen and only have two units to scrap?
On another occasion, me and H had ripped up the parquet floor in the old lounge. Again duly loaded into bags and carted off. This was wood. Proper wood.
"Sorry love, that doesn't go in there"
WHAT? It's proper wood.
Still, I shrug my shoulders and head over the the non-recyclables. Again I'm told that I've got more than my allowance.
I really don't understand what I'm supposed to do. Hang on to it and take it in 2 bags every fortnight? I'll be taking the same amount!
It almost encourages people to fly-tip.
Yesterday we cleared out one of the sheds. Filled a couple of bags with genuine junk. Of course we then had the usual collection of half empty paint tins. At the tip we got rid of the other stuff and I asked the attendant if they had a special skip for paint.
"Sorry mate, we can't take it. It's classed as hazardous waste"
"Erm, how do I get rid of it then?"
"Well we have a paint amnesty once a year"
"Ah, okay. When is that then?"
"About two months ago"
Great! The guy can tell I'm at a loss and offers this gem.
"What you want to do is empty all of the paint into one tin. We'll happily take all the empty tins. The full one just gets stuck in your wheelie bin under some other stuff. They wont check it."
Seriously.
Wednesday, August 30, 2006
Saturday, August 26, 2006
Oh Deer
Just a quick couple of pics to post up.
As most of you know, we've got some greenland towards the rear of our garden. It's pretty much surrounded by domestic gardens. I've no idea how acres work, so gonna stick with saying just over a hectare. That said, I've just done a quick calculation and for those of you still using old money, it's about 3-4 acres.
Anyway, there is much wildlife in this area, squirrels, pigeons, crows not to mention the owls. We have seen a deer a couple of times. If you went in there to look for it, you'd never find it I'm sure, but he does like to show himself every so often.
Earlier today, I was in our bedroom and noticed him in the distance. Me & H watched for a bit, and then I went to get my camera.
Being as quiet as I could I crept out to the back fence. Peering over, he was looking straight at me even though I thought I hadn't made a sound. He seemed perfectly happy though, so I took a couple of shots.
The quality isn't brilliant, but here they are...
The first one is at the maximum optical zoom for the camera (3x)
This second is using the digital zoom up to 11x, so the quality suffers a little
So there you have the reason for the awfully cheesy post title!
As most of you know, we've got some greenland towards the rear of our garden. It's pretty much surrounded by domestic gardens. I've no idea how acres work, so gonna stick with saying just over a hectare. That said, I've just done a quick calculation and for those of you still using old money, it's about 3-4 acres.
Anyway, there is much wildlife in this area, squirrels, pigeons, crows not to mention the owls. We have seen a deer a couple of times. If you went in there to look for it, you'd never find it I'm sure, but he does like to show himself every so often.
Earlier today, I was in our bedroom and noticed him in the distance. Me & H watched for a bit, and then I went to get my camera.
Being as quiet as I could I crept out to the back fence. Peering over, he was looking straight at me even though I thought I hadn't made a sound. He seemed perfectly happy though, so I took a couple of shots.
The quality isn't brilliant, but here they are...
The first one is at the maximum optical zoom for the camera (3x)
This second is using the digital zoom up to 11x, so the quality suffers a little
So there you have the reason for the awfully cheesy post title!
The hardest part of a blog entry is choosing a suitable title!
Well, now that is over (the title), we can get down to business.
I've hard great week off work, most relaxing. Followed a similar routine for all week really, see H off (well, wave at her from bed), get up 8.30-ish, couple of cups of coffee & breakfast whilst watching trash TV. Get dressed and then take the beast for a bit of a run. Back home and crack on with whatever jobs need to doing. Have a bite to eat then off to the gym for about an hour. Back home and by this time it's about 4.30, so disappear down to the Livvy for a couple of Magners! Glorious.
Now it's Saturday. Myself and H are having a bit of a blitz on the house today. We've got Tim, Bobs & Nicole coming later. Should be good fun. I don't think that Nicole will know much about it until tomorrow though as they're not getting here until about 7.30. Tomorrow we're going to Stow Bardolph Farms (LINK!).
Bank Holiday weekend, of course. Nothing really planned for Monday, but it'll be nice having all of next week off together.
Oh, just remembered. Note the chart to the left hand side here? That's a feed from www.last.fm Basically, you install a little plug-in to your computer, it then monitors whatever you listen to and logs it. Charts are then compiled as to your top artist, most listened to tunes etc etc. Give it a look - easiest way is to just click on my chart and goto the home page.
More later.
I've hard great week off work, most relaxing. Followed a similar routine for all week really, see H off (well, wave at her from bed), get up 8.30-ish, couple of cups of coffee & breakfast whilst watching trash TV. Get dressed and then take the beast for a bit of a run. Back home and crack on with whatever jobs need to doing. Have a bite to eat then off to the gym for about an hour. Back home and by this time it's about 4.30, so disappear down to the Livvy for a couple of Magners! Glorious.
Now it's Saturday. Myself and H are having a bit of a blitz on the house today. We've got Tim, Bobs & Nicole coming later. Should be good fun. I don't think that Nicole will know much about it until tomorrow though as they're not getting here until about 7.30. Tomorrow we're going to Stow Bardolph Farms (LINK!).
Bank Holiday weekend, of course. Nothing really planned for Monday, but it'll be nice having all of next week off together.
Oh, just remembered. Note the chart to the left hand side here? That's a feed from www.last.fm Basically, you install a little plug-in to your computer, it then monitors whatever you listen to and logs it. Charts are then compiled as to your top artist, most listened to tunes etc etc. Give it a look - easiest way is to just click on my chart and goto the home page.
More later.
Tuesday, August 22, 2006
So little to do...... so much time
Here we are, second day of first week off. Pretty damn happy.
J&D came on Saturday. Good to see them after ages. We took advantage of a sale at the local Indian restaurant. Yep! A restaurant having a sale, good eh? Absolute bargain price of £32 for a lovely takeaway for four. Really tastey too.
Saturday evening was spent having a good old chinwag.
Sunday, I banged a joint of pork in to slow roast at 8am. There is a story to be told here though. I went to the local butchers on Friday to get a nice shoulder. It was only a young girl who served me. I said I wanted a decent shoulder of pork and she picked two from the window. I picked the largest. Just over 2.2Kg for about £10.
So in it went to the oven. It was only when we got it out to carve that we realised it was actually lamb!!! Bad news - no mint sauce!. Good news - it was lovely all the same.
A nice chilling Sunday. Yesterday was pretty good too although I'm not sure where the morning went.
A few jobs to do today, so best crack on.
J&D came on Saturday. Good to see them after ages. We took advantage of a sale at the local Indian restaurant. Yep! A restaurant having a sale, good eh? Absolute bargain price of £32 for a lovely takeaway for four. Really tastey too.
Saturday evening was spent having a good old chinwag.
Sunday, I banged a joint of pork in to slow roast at 8am. There is a story to be told here though. I went to the local butchers on Friday to get a nice shoulder. It was only a young girl who served me. I said I wanted a decent shoulder of pork and she picked two from the window. I picked the largest. Just over 2.2Kg for about £10.
So in it went to the oven. It was only when we got it out to carve that we realised it was actually lamb!!! Bad news - no mint sauce!. Good news - it was lovely all the same.
A nice chilling Sunday. Yesterday was pretty good too although I'm not sure where the morning went.
A few jobs to do today, so best crack on.
Thursday, August 17, 2006
Why Blog?
Someone that I know on another website has asked if any of the other members on there have a blog, as he's thinking about starting one.
His subject matter is to be all the wildlife that he sees on a daily basis, within a certain area. I think that this would make a great blog.
It does beg the question though as to why people do this?
This is only my take on it, but I'm sure there are plenty of others!
1. Some may do it to get an audience. Almost like preaching. "I've got something to say and now I've got an audience". Of course this relies on people actually being aware of the blog and then to carry on reading it.
2. Some may do it as a personal record, almost like a diary. Diaries are often thought of as personal things. This can still be the case. Just keep your blog secret and/or put a password on it.
But, you may not mind people seeing your ramblings of course.
3. I know of a group of women who have all recently given birth (or are pregnant). They all keep in touch with each other via their blogs. They compare notes, offer support and tell nice little stories about what their little ones have been up to.
4. Similar to the example above, some may see it as a way of keeping people informed of what you're doing.
Where does mine sit? If I had to pigeon-hole it, I guess it's a combination of 2 & 4. I originally started it to keep family and friends informed of how our house project was going. Now that the house is all but finished though, it will probably trundle along with my ramblings and a bit of news of what we're up to.
So, talking of which, what are we up to?
Well it starts off with us both having a day off tomorrow, so that's a good start.
At the weekend, J&D are visiting. First time they'll have been in absolutely ages, so should be good fun.
After that, I've got a fortnight off and H joins me for the second week. Really looking forward to it and got quite a few bits and bobs going on then too. Maybe I'll leave talking about them until nearer the time.
His subject matter is to be all the wildlife that he sees on a daily basis, within a certain area. I think that this would make a great blog.
It does beg the question though as to why people do this?
This is only my take on it, but I'm sure there are plenty of others!
1. Some may do it to get an audience. Almost like preaching. "I've got something to say and now I've got an audience". Of course this relies on people actually being aware of the blog and then to carry on reading it.
2. Some may do it as a personal record, almost like a diary. Diaries are often thought of as personal things. This can still be the case. Just keep your blog secret and/or put a password on it.
But, you may not mind people seeing your ramblings of course.
3. I know of a group of women who have all recently given birth (or are pregnant). They all keep in touch with each other via their blogs. They compare notes, offer support and tell nice little stories about what their little ones have been up to.
4. Similar to the example above, some may see it as a way of keeping people informed of what you're doing.
Where does mine sit? If I had to pigeon-hole it, I guess it's a combination of 2 & 4. I originally started it to keep family and friends informed of how our house project was going. Now that the house is all but finished though, it will probably trundle along with my ramblings and a bit of news of what we're up to.
So, talking of which, what are we up to?
Well it starts off with us both having a day off tomorrow, so that's a good start.
At the weekend, J&D are visiting. First time they'll have been in absolutely ages, so should be good fun.
After that, I've got a fortnight off and H joins me for the second week. Really looking forward to it and got quite a few bits and bobs going on then too. Maybe I'll leave talking about them until nearer the time.
Saturday, August 12, 2006
It's Back!
Here we are again!
After a long lay off, I've decide to revisit my blog and this site!
Why come back here? A couple of reasons. Firstly, this site is very easy to use. It's made for blogging, so ideal. Secondly, I don't pay for any webspace here, so I can post pictures etc here without the worry of seeing my webspace decrease!
So where did we get to?
House
Things are just about finished. I've just been writing up the final snagging list. The kitchen floor was the last major item that needed doing and that was completed last week. Unfortunately in the course of finishing it, they thought it might be a good idea to crack the cistern in the downstairs toilet. Don't ask me how! We're now without a downstairs loo, but coping.
Once the snagging is complete, we just need to finish decorating (do you ever finish decorating?)
H is busy organising the dining room as I type this. That room is really coming together too.
The bedrooms are well on the way. We have friends coming to stay towards the end of this month, so need to get this available to sleep in. Shouldn't take much doing.
So there we are. All that pain and effort has been worth it.
Other Stuff
Workwise both of us are both still doing the same things and both pretty damn happy!
I'm coming up to a busy period now though. With two weeks holiday at the end of August (2nd week both of us) that should be okay.
Talking of holiday, we had a week in July with the old folks out in France. Most enjoyable. I'll maybe say more and post some pics later.
Right. That'll do for now. I've never been good at writing loads in any single entry and I'm not gonna change now!
Until the next time....
After a long lay off, I've decide to revisit my blog and this site!
Why come back here? A couple of reasons. Firstly, this site is very easy to use. It's made for blogging, so ideal. Secondly, I don't pay for any webspace here, so I can post pictures etc here without the worry of seeing my webspace decrease!
So where did we get to?
House
Things are just about finished. I've just been writing up the final snagging list. The kitchen floor was the last major item that needed doing and that was completed last week. Unfortunately in the course of finishing it, they thought it might be a good idea to crack the cistern in the downstairs toilet. Don't ask me how! We're now without a downstairs loo, but coping.
Once the snagging is complete, we just need to finish decorating (do you ever finish decorating?)
H is busy organising the dining room as I type this. That room is really coming together too.
The bedrooms are well on the way. We have friends coming to stay towards the end of this month, so need to get this available to sleep in. Shouldn't take much doing.
So there we are. All that pain and effort has been worth it.
Other Stuff
Workwise both of us are both still doing the same things and both pretty damn happy!
I'm coming up to a busy period now though. With two weeks holiday at the end of August (2nd week both of us) that should be okay.
Talking of holiday, we had a week in July with the old folks out in France. Most enjoyable. I'll maybe say more and post some pics later.
Right. That'll do for now. I've never been good at writing loads in any single entry and I'm not gonna change now!
Until the next time....
Friday, February 17, 2006
The End
This may well be my final posting on here.
Not because I'm giving up, but because I've finally sussed this web authoring business and my Blog will now be linked to our home page......
http://www.jack-attack.co.uk
See you there!
Not because I'm giving up, but because I've finally sussed this web authoring business and my Blog will now be linked to our home page......
http://www.jack-attack.co.uk
See you there!
Saturday, January 14, 2006
Progress
Well after the totally dead period over Christmas, a few things have been happening.
Firstly, the electricians have been back and started fitting some of the new lights. We used to have very old fashioned eye-bulb type spots in the kitchen landing room and our bedroom. The new ones are the small halogen type things. They do look pretty damn cool. Don't have any photos of them yet, so that'll have to wait.
Today we paid a visit to the building merchants and sorted out all of the bathroom gear. We've got a three week lead time on that.
We've cracked into painting today. Initially a sealing coat on the plaster. Today we managed to do the day room and part of the new lounge. I did the new bedroom before Christmas, so well over half of it already.
I guess the most exciting thing for us today though was the installation of the granite work surface in the kitchen. It looks fantastic. This photo doesn't do it justice. Tiles still to be fitted in there which will finish it off nicely. Then the floor will be the last thing.
Anyway, here's the photo.......
Firstly, the electricians have been back and started fitting some of the new lights. We used to have very old fashioned eye-bulb type spots in the kitchen landing room and our bedroom. The new ones are the small halogen type things. They do look pretty damn cool. Don't have any photos of them yet, so that'll have to wait.
Today we paid a visit to the building merchants and sorted out all of the bathroom gear. We've got a three week lead time on that.
We've cracked into painting today. Initially a sealing coat on the plaster. Today we managed to do the day room and part of the new lounge. I did the new bedroom before Christmas, so well over half of it already.
I guess the most exciting thing for us today though was the installation of the granite work surface in the kitchen. It looks fantastic. This photo doesn't do it justice. Tiles still to be fitted in there which will finish it off nicely. Then the floor will be the last thing.
Anyway, here's the photo.......
Saturday, December 24, 2005
Getting back to life continues.........
This week saw frantic activity to get the kitchen in a usable state. The kitchen fitters were pretty much there, but trying to tie the plumber down was a nightmare. It seems that everyone wants things finishing in time for Christmas!
Of course, without a plumber, we wouldn't have a sink, a washing machine, a dishwasher* nor a cooker. Still, Wednesday came and they managed to get it all done. Last night I did some home-cooking for the first time in about a fortnight - didn't half taste good!
Here's what the kitchen looks like now. Bits of finishing to be done, then the tiling, then the floor, then decorating!
* - Don't dishwashers need loads of stuff?!?! Salt, tablets, rinse aid etc
We were determined to have a tree as well. Bought one last Sunday and brought it in on Wednesday evening. Had to go and buy another stand because bits were missing from the old one - probably lost in the foundations somewhere!
WW made a start on decorating it last night. We had to get some new lights and she'd bought some from Tesco. Needless to say - these didn't work no matter how many spare bulbs I tried. So, back to Tesco this morning to exchange them - except they didn't have one set of lights in the whole store. Never mind, one of the local shops was able to povide where the multi-national failed.
Here's the tree (before & after)
Doesn't the blank plaster wall look lovely!!!
Of course, without a plumber, we wouldn't have a sink, a washing machine, a dishwasher* nor a cooker. Still, Wednesday came and they managed to get it all done. Last night I did some home-cooking for the first time in about a fortnight - didn't half taste good!
Here's what the kitchen looks like now. Bits of finishing to be done, then the tiling, then the floor, then decorating!
* - Don't dishwashers need loads of stuff?!?! Salt, tablets, rinse aid etc
We were determined to have a tree as well. Bought one last Sunday and brought it in on Wednesday evening. Had to go and buy another stand because bits were missing from the old one - probably lost in the foundations somewhere!
WW made a start on decorating it last night. We had to get some new lights and she'd bought some from Tesco. Needless to say - these didn't work no matter how many spare bulbs I tried. So, back to Tesco this morning to exchange them - except they didn't have one set of lights in the whole store. Never mind, one of the local shops was able to povide where the multi-national failed.
Here's the tree (before & after)
Doesn't the blank plaster wall look lovely!!!
Sunday, December 18, 2005
We got our lounge back!
Having lived solely in our bedroom for the past two months or so. It was fantastic to be able to move back into the lounge.
Quick reminder..........
This was at the end of October
This was last night, after a supreme effort by WW
Looking forward to getting the kitchen back this week, after two weeks without it!!!
Hopefully all the cabinets etc will be finished off tomorrow and the plumbing Tue or Wed (fingers crossed)
Quick reminder..........
This was at the end of October
This was last night, after a supreme effort by WW
Looking forward to getting the kitchen back this week, after two weeks without it!!!
Hopefully all the cabinets etc will be finished off tomorrow and the plumbing Tue or Wed (fingers crossed)
Wednesday, December 14, 2005
Sunday, December 04, 2005
Garden & Kitchen
Quick photo update.
The Hedge was finally ripped out towards the end of the week.
As a reminder, this is what it used to look like........
And the same view yesterday morning.........
I also took advantage of not having a fence (yet) and got this view of the house.......
And a couple of "before" shots of the kitchen........
The Hedge was finally ripped out towards the end of the week.
As a reminder, this is what it used to look like........
And the same view yesterday morning.........
I also took advantage of not having a fence (yet) and got this view of the house.......
And a couple of "before" shots of the kitchen........
Monday, November 28, 2005
France........ more..........
Got a spare few minutes, so a bit of an explanation.
The place in France is Chillé. It's in the Charente region.
My parents moved there in August and have been having some renovations done on it all this year. Should be totally finished by Christmas.
This is what the main interior used to look like.......
And this was what it looked like the other day.........
Myself and WW flew out on Thursday and came back yesterday. A most relaxing few days with much good food, wine, and company.
The place in France is Chillé. It's in the Charente region.
My parents moved there in August and have been having some renovations done on it all this year. Should be totally finished by Christmas.
This is what the main interior used to look like.......
And this was what it looked like the other day.........
Myself and WW flew out on Thursday and came back yesterday. A most relaxing few days with much good food, wine, and company.
Sunday, November 27, 2005
A Few Days In France
Plenty of shots to share, but here's a few to get you started.........
More (and some words) when I get time.....
More (and some words) when I get time.....
Thursday, November 24, 2005
Saturday, November 12, 2005
Wednesday, November 09, 2005
Before & After
Just a few shots while I've got a couple minutes
And a few of us getting plastered (yes, I know it's a poor joke)
And a few of us getting plastered (yes, I know it's a poor joke)
Tuesday, October 25, 2005
Sorry It's Late
Yes, having said that I will try and update this every Saturday, the last one came and went.
Maybe the guilt was enought for me to make time for it now, maybe not.
We treated ourselves to a new digital camera last weekend too. No need to borrow the one from work anymore!
It's very tiny and more powerful than the one I've been using.
Got it from Ebay at a knock down price. Brand new shipped from the states. Well pleased with it.
So, it's gonna be a photo post this one. Things have moved inside.
Old living room/new dining room...........
Those french doors that you can see in the background only went in today. Look good, don't they?
This is what our kitchen bay window looked like yesterday.......
This is what it looks like today
And looking back the other way (those blocks are where our back door used to be!)
Short and sweet again.
Maybe the guilt was enought for me to make time for it now, maybe not.
We treated ourselves to a new digital camera last weekend too. No need to borrow the one from work anymore!
It's very tiny and more powerful than the one I've been using.
Got it from Ebay at a knock down price. Brand new shipped from the states. Well pleased with it.
So, it's gonna be a photo post this one. Things have moved inside.
Old living room/new dining room...........
Those french doors that you can see in the background only went in today. Look good, don't they?
This is what our kitchen bay window looked like yesterday.......
This is what it looks like today
And looking back the other way (those blocks are where our back door used to be!)
Short and sweet again.
Saturday, October 15, 2005
Right, it's Saturday again and time for lots of photos.
A lot has been going on with the house which is great. We've had to make some very quick decisions and even this morning we went from having a tiny en-suite to having a big dressing room/walk-in-wardrobe!
Okay.......... here we go......
(once more, click photo to enlarge)
One from the front showing the fully completed roof (no guttering though) with a new dormer.
A couple of the back. Looks really good now that the scaffold is down.
This is one of the day room next to the shed to be. The roofs are going on this week. The french doors aren't to be fitted until we've removed the old bay window.
This is the usual view of the rear. Shows progress nicely.
I thought that I would add these to show the abomination of a hedge that we got free with the cottage. It really is awful. This week it goes! This pleases me greatly.
I spend getting on a week a year just keeping it in check. Not anymore!
Being replaced with a tidy 5' fence. Should give us a quite a bit of extra light too.
Finally, a couple of the inside of our new bedroom.
This second one has the en-suite now converted to a dressing room to the left hand side.
So all good. We're both very pleased today.
A PLACE IN THE SUN
Now for a couple of TOM's place in France
Very nice too eh?
Little chat today, sorry about that.
A lot has been going on with the house which is great. We've had to make some very quick decisions and even this morning we went from having a tiny en-suite to having a big dressing room/walk-in-wardrobe!
Okay.......... here we go......
(once more, click photo to enlarge)
One from the front showing the fully completed roof (no guttering though) with a new dormer.
A couple of the back. Looks really good now that the scaffold is down.
This is one of the day room next to the shed to be. The roofs are going on this week. The french doors aren't to be fitted until we've removed the old bay window.
This is the usual view of the rear. Shows progress nicely.
I thought that I would add these to show the abomination of a hedge that we got free with the cottage. It really is awful. This week it goes! This pleases me greatly.
I spend getting on a week a year just keeping it in check. Not anymore!
Being replaced with a tidy 5' fence. Should give us a quite a bit of extra light too.
Finally, a couple of the inside of our new bedroom.
This second one has the en-suite now converted to a dressing room to the left hand side.
So all good. We're both very pleased today.
A PLACE IN THE SUN
Now for a couple of TOM's place in France
Very nice too eh?
Little chat today, sorry about that.
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