Anyway, inevitably, after a combo of wine, beer, spirits, a completely gluttonous kebab and 4.5 hours sleep, I awoke at the crack of... 9am, with a solid hangover and two friends crashed out in my building site of a flat. Little did I know that this was the beginning of one of those days. One of those days where not much seems to go right; where you're just not "feeling it". I'm sure that in a moment, once written up, I will realize that I am to blame for a good portion of the woes that followed, but until that disappointing realization, I'm blaming fate.
Last week I was proactive and spent a portion of my evenings CADing up the layout of the flat and the required stud work. Despite doing this in a completely over the top, unconventional way (using industrial design software for interior design... I know, I know I can hear the tutting) it did give me the exact quantity of wood I would to need to purchase on Saturday morning down to the millimeter. A level of precision that, due to an unexpected turn of generosity that I will come to, was not necessary.
So after rolling out of bed, and bidding farewell to Craig, one of the aforementioned crashers. Will and I headed down to Travis Perkins try our hand at amateur dramatics... We had to fit in, and make it sound like we had a clue what we were talking about. Long story short, we pretty much nailed it (excuse the pun). We were such convincing "builders" and got on so well with the guy in the yard he pretty much told us his life story and threw in some extra wood for good measure (I'm keen not to emphasis the "some", as it was not "some", it was way too much really.) This HERO will have to remain nameless so he does not loose his job...
And speaking of heroic, picture of the week goes to a William Darvill. With three 4.2m 2x3 pieces of timber. The car was going to struggle getting them up the hill to the house without doing some landscaping of its own, but not this guy, oh yeah he just walked them up the hill to the house, no mention of a hangover. Sure he nearly decapitated several pedestrians on route and moaned about a bruised shoulder the next day, but at this moment, just prior to departure, he was walking on air!
So all is going well you might think, and I have no grounds for my earlier grumble. Well upon arrival at the top of the hill the blustery showers of the day were realized and during the unloading of the wood the heavens opened. James, my very neighborly neighbor, saw the trouble we were having and ran out to help with the unload (third hero of the day). After that manic rush and feeling a little damp we headed to Chin Chin, the most local cafe for a spot of brekky; as if to spite us, the rain instantly stopped.
At this point four things happened. The first was that we waited for almost an hour for some breakfast that never came. Somehow the order never made it to the kitchen. The second was that we went outside to find it pouring down with rain once again. The third was that I found that I had left the passenger window of my car wide open and the car was, well, wet. And the fourth (along much the same lines as the third) the flat window, which was ajar to allow the 4.2m piece of timber to protrude out, had not served to keep out the rain. In fact the timber had acted like a funnel and I popped in to find a growing pool of water in my living room.
Grumbling, hungry, head pounding and with Will waiting in the (dry) back of the car, as if to be chauffeured to screw fix (our next destination), I frantically mopped up as much water as I could and dragged the offending pieces of timber all the way into the flat, before heading back down to the car. This was probably the lowest point in the day.
Screw fix was uneventful. They did not have the brazing iron that I wanted so I ended up settling for a slightly cheaper option. Upon returning home I found we had bought the wrong gas. At this point both Will and I were loosing the will and decided that it would be best if we just built something. we set about on the spacing wall which will eventually hide pipework for the new bathroom. First job was to feed wiring for sockets up through the base piece of wood.
We had finally started building works and it was going well. At least it was at first but then the cracks started to show in Will's measuring abilities. It started with a couple of cross pieces being out by a few millimeters. The sort of thing that stud work of this kind can absorb with a little hammer negotiation. He crossed the line on the last upright, no hammer was making this one fit...
At this point we cut a replacement upright and called it a day. Heading to Beerd for a Pizza, a round of Battleships and a slice of Ginger Cake. Needless to say the order for the Ginger Cake was forgotten/lost/purposefully mislaid (Oh yeah it was a conspiracy by this point).
Sunday came next, as it does. And Will had decided to take a day off. I felt refreshed and wanted to try to get the double door and the wall that supported it in. It all went quite well.
[Will popped by on his way from town to check on progress]
Really it was very uneventful in comparison to the day before and with it all done, I was even able to head into town and watch the new Superman film with Bermuda (a friend from uni).
A longer post I know and a late one to boot, but what can you do. Thanks to Will, James and the anonymous Travis Perkins man for all being super motivated and generous with your weekend time.
All that is left to be said is - Music... I can't believe you thought I forgot Emma.
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