overheard in Ikea

“…your dad tried to move the kitchen cabinet without taking all the things out of it. That was when it feel on top of him and I found him like that…”

I caught this as mother and daughter wafted past with trolley. Didn’t hear the rest of it. I’m not making this up.

This weekend the remaining fixtures and fittings (i.e. rubbish) has been gathered up and shifted out to the nearest recycling centre. Huzzah! The garden has just about got it’s original shape back and the recycling centre / tip didn’t turn me away when I showed up in a hire van half full of rubble bags, wood, polystyrene, cardboard and general crud. (General Crud led the campaign with Sergeant oh I can’t be bothered with this parenthetic gag.)

A few items of furniture have been sent to a charity organisation in the back of the van, trees which were in Jack’s garden are now in our garden, the WORMS have returned!!!! and I went on a whistle stop tour of Ikea.

Two shelves, one 2m length of kitchen cabinet cover, a pocket full of metal prongs which keep the Ikea modular shelves up – which we have somewhere in the house but which are naturally still packed some place.

We also managed to get some stuff from Safestore including my guitar and amp (huzzah!) and managed to do this run without quite being locked in despite running close to closing time.

This week’s plan is to finish the kitchen / utility rooms. Oh, and maybe fix the eco toilet upstairs which is currently not being very eco since it usually leaks after flushing and so has a constant flow of water going down the pan.

I remember when my dad told me that cars had finally become so electronically controlled so technical that he could no longer service and maintain his own car. It wasn’t worth it and it wasn’t like the Ford Cortina where he could spend a happy Sunday changing spark plugs and filter etc.

I feel the same about toilets.

Not too long ago everything was run off a ball cock valve (of sniggering responses) now I look in the cistern of our toilets and don’t understand it. Consequently there’s nothing I can fiddle with or tighten up or anything. Have to phone the plumbers again.

the key thing is

our surveyor lost the keys whilst surveying.

that was over a month ago. since then the estate agents have been adamant that they will get the locks changes and charge our surveyor. today our surveyor turned up and gave them a chub lock to fit in the door. and that was it.

second, i told the estate agent there was still rubbish in the property, in the attic and outside. they said they’d tell the current owner. the rubbish – and bizarrely a dyson hoover and wobbley step ladder and a long pole with a hook on it – are still in the property. And there’s crap in the attic. 

But when we have it tomorrow we will have control and that is the main thing. no more arsing around at other’s beck, we have house, we do with house what we wish.

Apparently it’s cheaper to hire a skip than take it down the dump in a van. Must look into this. And rubble sacks.