"Isn't it nice to think that tomorrow is a new day with no mistakes in it."

greenbee

Plumber has been so now I need to ask the flooring people questions… so have left a message with my neighbour.

And have ordered carrot seeds.

greenbee

And… not impressed that having got the electrician in at the weekend so specific work could happen today, it hasn't happened. So I paid weekend rates for no reason. They're not back until Thursday, and the electrician could have come on Wednesday.

Plumber wants to do UFH on the one date I can't do as I'm away for work, so it'll have to wait until the heat pump installation is done in June.

And I have two muntjac carcasses that I need to deal with before I go to bed. Ideally without assistance from the cats and Stinky.

greenbee

Apparnently I need to decide where the boot room radiator is going so they can do the pipework on Friday. Even thought the wall it will go on isn't actually there (should have been done last week). Am taking a deep breath and counting to 10.

UFH, radiator install and heat pump install (with new water tank) will be June 1st and take a week. Not looking foward to that… Just need to check work diary to see whether that's feasible.

Flooring neighbour is coming over tomorrow after work to make decisions about the office floor.

EssexHebridean

Just caught up with the last few months of your diary - no idea why it had disappeared from my list but it suddenly reappeared! Did have a little chuckle at mentions of Muntjac though after the other thread, I mean "WON'T SOMEONE THINK OF THE VEGETARIANS!" 😂

Still in awe of the progress you're making with house and garden too.

All the lovely Agile pricing at the moment is a definite bonus isn't it - to think that last winter a lot of us were jumping off Agile because of hideous evening pricing!

greenbee

As long as the negatively priced electricity is vegetarian EH :) I tried to take advantage of it, but only managed to import 0.8kWh today. I did use a fair amount as I only exported 36kWh of the 71.8kWh I've generated so far today - so minimised my impact on the grid.

It's been nice having the heating on - and realising that on a sunny day I can do so without importing (I also washed and dried two loads of dog bedding).

greenbee

Plumber turned up today and didn't appear to be aware that the boiler was due to come out today - he was just sent to put pipework in for a radiator. So not impressed with the communication so far. He's called and arranged to take the boiler out, but I haven't had a response from the person in the office I contacted to ask why he thought that. I sincerely hope that this isn't an indication of how they expect to work from now on. I also want to know when the oil tank will be gone - they said they'd arrange it for me, but at this rate it'll be easier to do it myself.

I'm also waiting for the builders to get back to me with their plasterer's availability (clearly with no project plan, they hadn't booked him). If he isn't available then I'll see whether my neighbour can do it. But they'll have to commit to a date for it to be ready.

On the plus side, the flooring neighbour has been round and I know what needs doing for that. Must send some messages as I can see that things are going to get complicated as we move into the utility room/office/kitchen and need to store quite a lot of stuff. I can see this dragging on forever…

I've also had the bill for the first month (except for the bricklayer) and I think we're just about on budget (at least, likely to be within the indicative cost they gave, as I still haven't had an estimate, let alone a quote). Must work out tonight which savings to move based on what other bills will be coming up.

greenbee

So plumbers did half the job … I think. They left without telling me. Boiler is out, but not the pipe from the oil tank or the chimney, and I have no idea whether they capped off the pipe in the attic that the builder had asked them to. The person who had scheduled the job doesn't work on Fridays but thankfully did return my call - but hasn't got back to me with a collection slot for the boiler currently cluttering up the drive and in the builders' way. I've asked for a. the design document that I have paid for to be provided AND for a discussion about the project plan for the rest of the work.

Not sure what we'll do about the pipe that needs capping off. Hopefully the builders can do that somehow as I'd rather it was done before the plastering. And the chimney needs to come out so the builders can make good in the plant room.

Builder is going to speak to the flooring guy at least, as presumably what I said to one/both of them doesn't make sense. If they speak to each other hopefully we'll know what's going on with the floor and can have a plan for that. But if they come up with something that delays the utility/cloakroom/kitchen work then I'll probably end up not doing that this year as I'm fed up already after a month! I'm not sure how much they can get done during May given there is stuff not done that should have been done last week/the week before.

I can thoroughly recommend NOT having bright ideas about home improvements. Mind you, the last place took 10 years.

Garden needs watering tonight, even though we have rain forecast for tomorrow - it isn't until the evening. So hopefully a nice gardening day to help with the stress. Sunday looks damp, and monday overcast.

Poor Stinky needs a proper walk, so I might just give up on work early, as I haven't been wildly productive, and take him out now even though it's still pretty warm out there.

teapot2

Sounds frustrating and exasperating, hope a nice gardening day will help 🌱🌻🫛🍅

greenbee

I can't wait for it to be over… I keep reminding myself that it WILL be over eventually.

Stinky and I had a nice long walk, he and not-Fatty have eaten. So I need to find a G&T and my book and sit in the garden before doing some (or a lot!) watering.

On the plus side, there were THREE hedgehogs in the garden when Stinky went out for a wee last night, and a polite email to a company about some dented shampoo (perfectly usable, but in metal containers) has resulted in replacements being sent out.

I just need to decompress…

greenbee

So tomorrow I need to get on with gardening:

1. Transplant mangetout and broad beans (I think I know where they will go!)
2. Quick weed of veg plot
3. Edges/mowing in veg plot then cardboard/woodchip paths
4. Weed existing borders
5. Weed new borders (cardboard/mulch isn't doing much in the way of rotting down)
6. Start pressure washing patio
7. Clear up strawberry plants
8. Work out where courgettes/squash etc will go
9. Empty bottom of hot bin
10. Sort out bags of grass clippings
11. Sow runner/borlotti/french beans
12. Dig holes by arches for runner/borlotti/french beans and start filling with compost
13. Water roses/magnolia/pots even if it's going to rain

Probably lots more… but that's a start.

Oh yes - find the bits of the irrigation system, read the instructions, and start getting it set up in order to ensure a rainy summer.