10th February 2018

Here we are again, another Saturday and both of us reporting for duty bright and breezy this morning (Don’t feel quite so bright and breezy now though !!).

An eventful week, John and Rich have been up in the week boarding and plastering upstairs. I popped up on Thursday during my lunch break to say hello as I needed some fresh air. As I had turned up, Rich popped out to get a hair cut so I hung about for a chat with the gaffer. He was plastering the ceiling in the master bedroom. All of a sudden a large dollop of plaster dropped in his left eye. We rinsed it with copious amounts of water, rang Rich to come back with some optrex but John really was in pain and struggling. The only day of the week the chemist was shut, so half hair cut Rich came back to drive John to the supermarket in Carlton. He also tried to rinse it whilst I went but we weren’t getting anywhere. Long story short, I ended up taking John to A&E and then on to Doncaster to get him the treatment he needed. He is ok although his eye is very sore, he has lots of drops and needs to go back on Monday. In other news, Rich got the van stuck in the mud and Dianne had to go up and tow him out. They don’t do things by halves them Bowns !!So, as I said, a pretty eventful week.

That said they have cracked on nicely, the little back bedroom now has its ceiling and all walls bar one plastered, the master bedroom has the ceiling plastered (thanks to rich finishing it off due to Jon’s mishap) and a wall in the master bedroom is also done.

A full complement of staff in today, and as usual no shortage of work or fun and banter. Sharon was on scraping plaster off the floor duties in the 2nd bedroom between making tea and tidying up. She was well rewarded by the gaffer as he temporarily stuck the old toilet back in which although needs flushing with a bucket, is fully functional in every other way. I’m pleased to say John was being sensible and has kept out of the dust and postponed plastering until next week but that hasn’t meant he’s taken it easy. Between them they have boarded out the rest of the bathroom, the rest of the bedroom, the rest of the landing, half way down the stairs and made a good start on the living room. The transformation is remarkable. Another fantastic job done today is the old broken bedroom window has now been replaced completing the windows from the front. The only reason it’s been left as long as it has is it was taken out often to allow the large sheets of plasterboard to be passed up through the hole to avoid having to negotiate around the new walls on the landing. A sterling effort by the boys.

I was still on wiring duty, completed the living room ring main, got the switch cables in for the living room and hall, replaced the boiler stat cable and sited it which runs from the living room to the bathroom and got all the back boxes on and fixed and all the rubber grommets in place. We decided to change the room thermostat cable as I had originally dropped it in with a view to putting it in the hall. I’d used 1.00mm twin and earth cable but JB had a suspicion it needed 3core and earth. A quick call to Alan the electrician and turns out we were both sort of right. The cable I had run in would have been fine but wouldn’t have ever taken a newer spangly stat. With that in mind, and the fact that the one I had dropped in needed completing as I’d run out, we decided to replace it with 3core and earth. We also decided to site it in the living room due to the fact that there’s no room in the hall for a rad. So I re routed all that and got the cables in and clipped up.

After the boys left, Sharon and I blitzed upstairs, gave it a good tidy and a good sweep. It’s looking amazing up there now. Spok came for a look and was suitably impressed, Sharon FaceTimed her Mum and Dad as they have not been well enough to get up for a while and again very chuffed with how we are getting on. Sharon had a conversation with the lady next door but one who’s daughter maybe looking for somewhere to rent so there may be an opportunity there. Doris next door thinks she can here the radio playing at night, she dutifully advised John and her carer confirmed that there is a ghost living there 😂😂. Fortunately none of us believe in that crap, clever ghost though as we kill the power whenever we leave !!

Day off from that job tomorrow as I’m working the real job in Kent next week and have to go tomorrow so we’re not going up there. I think we can justify half a day off.Read more