Nice People Thread No. 14, all Nice and Proper

michaels

Our drive has been 'looking after' someone's broken down car for about 3 years, it may actually be being moved today. The neighbours will be uset, there aren't any other chavvy looking front yards in the street to gossip/complain about....

We might even get the block paving redone and paint over the cavity wall insulation 'pox' marks. Then I want the front door painted Downing Street black and a more tasteful less twee house number.

LydiaJ

It didn't go well.

It wasn't too bad until Next Door Man stroked Speedy Dog. Next Door Dog politely indicated that she wasn't very happy about it, and Speedy Dog retaliated with concerted attempts to bite Next Door Dog that were only thwarted by the shelter behaviourist hauling her away.

Even if Speedy Dog could be persuaded to make friends with Next Door Dog, I don't think I can take on a dog that will make me constantly worry about getting into fights with other dogs when out walking.

Back to the drawing board. I miss Avatar Dog a lot.

GDB2222

PasturesNew wrote: »

Come on, as I just said above, that sort of maths doesn't work. You've also not got five kitchens.

Oh and if michaels pops up and says "poor me, I've only got one downstairs room too...." somebody might like to remind him that it's 40'x50'!

Perhaps the fairest comparison is on the basis of floor area per person?

I totally agree with Doozer that sharing a kitchen with the children is the absolute pits. However, I wouldn't want the maintenance issues associated with one kitchen per person. I rather sympathise with you Pastures that you are 100% responsible for the maintenance on your house. I notice that men have been getting a hard time on this forum recently (absolute sh1ts that we no doubt are), but we do have our uses when it comes to unblocking drains and the like.

silvercar

We have a lot of rooms, but they aren't that big. So on PN's room per person ratio we are disadvantaged. That is before I decide if the kids live at home or away.

silvercar

I decided to be MSE and cancelled an amazon order I made yesterday (dispatch not due til tomorrow) to make use of the £10 off a £50 spend. Then I find that the order is being processed and cannot be cancelled. Then the new order cannot be cancelled. So 10 tins of decking stain are arriving at some time, which turns out not to be til Thursday, so my workman suggests buying at B&Q, then taking the amazon ones back to B&Q.

Sighs.

In other news we have at last completed on the BTL.

Doozergirl

PasturesNew wrote: »

One good spot for one would be what I call "scarey/nasty corner nobody uses". In most kitchens, where there's a corner, there's either an inaccessible deep base unit (mine you can't reach into due to the excessive sink plumbing pipes), or even "nothing", just an empty corner space that's inaccessible from either side; boxed in .... Maybe a corner larder unit, ceiling to floor. of course, the smaller the house, the harder it is. Then add in services, windows, light etc locations and you have to really start with a new plan, not jigging an existing room. Of course, if one's at liberty to re-route/move anything else that'd make it easier.

My kitchen's a good size, on paper, but most of it unusable/poorly planned. It'd actually be much more useful half the size - and no space/cupboards/etc would be lost.

Great idea. Corner larder.

Doozergirl

I've read nearly all the Marie Kondo book. I marched downstairs and removed three boxes of books earlier. I have more shelves to look at but I couldn't resist it.

I'll do the touching, holding thing afterwards, but there's no point going through the holding routine if I can make an initial cull by looking.

I'm not sure if I feel bad. I've always thought that you can't have too many books, but I think one huge bookshelf made of a 5x5 square EXPEDIT with another 5x2 stacked on top is probably enough. The other one in the office will be made homeless shortly so has to be addressed. Let's see if I can let go of the home magazines.

Downstairs is full of MDF sheets.

lostinrates

Books have been an issue here.

I'm happy to let go of any 'easy reading' apart from ones that I loved as opposed to just 'nice ones'. Charity shops round here no longer want books really and recycling centre pulp lots of them, which is a shame.

Even now and again I put a box in the feed room for the girls to rifle through. I thought I might put some 'free help yourself' or ten p each, t the gate but wax over ruled as a security risk


Edit to add: A house without books to pick up to read is not a home to me. Times when guests pick up books to browse or read, include when breast feeding , when staying the night, when staying longer, when hosts are being boring and entertainment is desirable. To me a home with out a variety of honest to god real touchy books seems....not right.

I do note that its often not modern interiors friendly. Mismatched soft back books are colourful and warm, but not stately and impressive, nor to be stacked in colour toned hues IMO ( nor painstakingly recovered in paper to so make it as some have done!) or other papers to a design of ones choice....even though the outcome is impressive. Its in the 'life too short' category for me.

Things like encyclopaedias are outdated, of course, but did nobody else have imagination piqued by looking through them as a child at the pictures? I see no reason such things cannot form the beginning of google search, teaching also the important lesson that knowledge progresses....

Or the pictures in the poetry books and stories that I'm sure set some of my aesthetics for life. I cannot get rid of these, nope, no way.

Doozergirl

I put my books in colour order once. Never again.

Yorkie1

Congratulations on retirement Spirit, I like how you spent your first day :beer:

Excluding kitchen and bathroom, I have 5 rooms (2 downstairs, 3 upstairs).

My glory hole is the smallest room upstairs - not sure you could get a single bed into it; it's a study I suppose although storage room for books / violin / various old computer stuff, and a small freezer, would be more accurate

Congrats on the BTL, silvercar :j

Sorry to hear the progress update with the dog, Lydia

Dad had a visit home this weekend. In some ways his cognitive levels are vastly improved, although I don't think his empathy is there.

But then he decided he needed to move the car round - Mum had parked it on the drive bonnet first; Dad always used to park it boot first. Mum screamed at him not to do it, and he just sat and giggled at her like a naughty schoolboy, she said. He did move the car down a little, but not off the drive. He then moved it too far back up, and had to let it drift back again. So spatial awareness wasn't great.

I'm not sure whether he completely failed to appreciate that he wasn't allowed to drive, or whether he knew it and just didn't care. It does tie in with his wilfulness when at the stroke unit - he was told he couldn't use the staff toilets, said "Yes", and then proceeded to go into them and use them anyway.

His spatial navigation generally is also not trustworthy - whether he'd be able to get himself back home. He didn't manage to do it easily when on a walk from the rehab unit (shadowed by a nurse).

He'll be discharged on Wednesday. There was a long multidisciplinary meeting with him and Mum this morning. It sounds as though they are not offering any further intervention, rehab etc.

I asked Mum whether they think his cognitive levels a) have got as far as they will ever get; b) may/will improve further with time, and therapy won't assist; or c) may/will improve further with time, and therapy might assist (but isn't being offered). She wasn't sure and I have a sense that she won't push for an answer on this one.

Which would be fine, on one level, but she's an expert at martyrdom - which makes me angry when there's an option to improve your lot but you choose not to take it and then to complain about your lot.

Mum is understandably feeling as though their life might be a bit like a prison - never able to trust him being left on his own, in case he takes something 'rational' into his mind without allowing thought of the consequences to temper his actions. And I just feel as though my life is going to be fielding daily phone calls from Mum, being strong and wise for her, with nobody for me. My stress levels are up and I don't seem to be able to bring them back down again. No fun.