Tuesday 23rd April 2024

On the 12th March, we began the update of the house.

Decorating.

Decluttering.

New carpets.

We moved in here in February 2008, and on the day we received the keys, we had a new carpet in the front bedroom, and about 6 years back we updated the bathroom. But apart from that, nothing done inside the house.

And even the front bedroom carpet is now 15 years old, of course, so hardly new.

It is the thought of getting it done that's bad, once the process starts, generally, its fine.

We started with sorting out the books in the back room, then spent a week painting and painting.

Carpet was laid and fitted shelving installed, all during Jools's days off from work and weekends.

Then it was the turn of the side bedroom, for that we got a guy in: Dixon. Or we paid Steffan and Steffan got Dixon to do it.

Painted the room, walls and ceilings. The same colour as the back room with the same carpet too, which was laid two days later.

Then over the weekend, Dixon painted the hallway, and on Tuesday the guys came to lay more carpet, all the same as the previous two rooms.

So, its looking pretty good up there. We'll pause for now and admire our, or Dixon's work.

On the 12th March, we began the update of the house.

Decorating.

Decluttering.

New carpets.

We moved in here in February 2008, and on the day we received the keys, we had a new carpet in the front bedroom, and about 6 years back we updated the bathroom. But apart from that, nothing done inside the house.

And even the front bedroom carpet is now 15 years old, of course, so hardly new.

It is the thought of getting it done that's bad, once the process starts, generally, its fine.

We started with sorting out the books in the back room, then spent a week painting and painting.

Carpet was laid and fitted shelving installed, all during Jools's days off from work and weekends.

Then it was the turn of the side bedroom, for that we got a guy in: Dixon. Or we paid Steffan and Steffan got Dixon to do it.

Painted the room, walls and ceilings. The same colour as the back room with the same carpet too, which was laid two days later.

Then over the weekend, Dixon painted the hallway, and on Tuesday the guys came to lay more carpet, all the same as the previous two rooms.

So, its looking pretty good up there. We'll pause for now and admire our, or Dixon's work.

Also complete is the crochet blanket Jools has been making since the early autumn. She had hoped to have it done by the time we went to Iceland, but the sheer number of panels meant she over ran.

And then came the decorating and garden, but she finished it last weekend, and now the cats thank her for their new bed.

So, on Tuesday, other than the carpet being laid upstairs, there was work.

Always work.

Jools is back to working every day, so once she has left I set up the office and plan my day.

Despite the team event last week, enthusiasm for the job is hard to come by, maybe I am thinking ahead to my annual assessment on Thursday.

With retirement now 16 months away, things such as assessments seem less and less important, and so I am not stressing about it, just that, as it is everywhere, education is valued by my employer over actual experience.

I make a batch of ragu through the day. Once all the ingredients were in, the pot simmered for five hours. I also made a half batch of baguette rolls, to have with the pasta.

I would have made focaccia, but that is just to darn good and overeating too tempting.

The rolls came out very well, lovely and crispy with good crumb inside.

I heat the ragu back up, cook some pasta and serve with wine. And splendid it was too.

The evening had yet more football: Leicester v Southampton. Top of the table clash, should have been close. But wasn't, ended 5-0 to Leicester.